Socket vs Chainsaw

Questions and answers

Socket and Chainsaw are both install-time package firewalls: each one refuses a known-malicious package before the install completes. Socket is a SaaS-first vendor with deep behavioural analysis on npm. Chainsaw is a registry proxy for 16 package ecosystems that runs as SaaS, in your VPC, self-hosted or air-gapped, with a decision engine published under Apache-2.0.

Do Socket and Chainsaw both block packages at install time?

Yes. Install-time blocking is a feature of both Socket and Chainsaw, so the question will not separate them. Socket refuses through its own tooling and integrations; Chainsaw refuses as a registry proxy which each package manager points at, for npm, PyPI, Maven and 13 other ecosystems. In practice, a known-malicious npm package is refused before the install completes whether npm goes through Socket or through Chainsaw. The differences sit elsewhere: where each tool runs, whether you can read the code behind a decision, and how installs are kept from routing around the block.

Where is Socket stronger?

Socket is stronger on npm behavioural analysis, published research, pull-request tooling and track record:

• Behavioural depth on npm. Socket’s analysis of what npm packages actually do is deep and mature.
• Research. Socket’s team publishes analyses of new attacks quickly and often.
• Developer experience. Socket’s GitHub app comments on pull requests which add risky dependencies.
• Track record. Socket is an established vendor with customers you can call. Chainsaw, founded in 2026, is younger.

In practice, the easiest way to weigh Socket’s npm depth against Chainsaw is to run both in monitor mode on your own dependencies and compare what each would refuse. If you are an npm-heavy team happy with a SaaS tool, Socket is a strong choice.

Where is Chainsaw different?

Can you run it inside your own network?

Chainsaw is the option for a fully closed network: Chainsaw runs as SaaS, in your VPC, self-hosted or air-gapped from one binary, while Socket’s self-deployed registry firewall checks Socket’s API for verdicts.

Socket: SaaS-first. Socket’s Enterprise registry firewall runs as a Docker container you deploy, and the container checks Socket’s API for verdicts (Socket docs). Check with Socket how that fits an air-gapped network.

Chainsaw: SaaS, your VPC, self-hosted or fully air-gapped, all from the same binary. The VPC, self-hosted and air-gapped options are paid; the free Chainsaw CLI runs locally with no account.

Can you read the code that refuses a package?

Only Chainsaw’s code is public: the Chainsaw decision engine is open source under Apache-2.0, and Socket’s analysis runs in Socket’s cloud.

Socket: The analysis runs in Socket’s cloud and is not open source.

Chainsaw: The CLI and the decision engine are open source under Apache-2.0, published by Chain305 at github.com/chain305/chainsaw-core. A security team can read the function which returns the 403 before routing the organisation’s installs through Chainsaw, and can run the same engine locally as a CLI with no account. The hosted product, with the dashboard, policy, SSO/SCIM and audit, is not open source.

What stops a developer routing around the block?

For Chainsaw, three controls stop a bypass, each covering a different path: CI builds, developer laptops and the network.

Socket: Ask Socket how a one-line .npmrc edit is detected and closed.

Chainsaw: A CI gate which fails builds pulled from elsewhere, MDM settings which pin laptops to the proxy URL, and egress rules which block direct registry traffic, with an attestation of whether the gap is closed. For example, a one-line .npmrc edit pointing npm straight at the public registry is the bypass the three controls are built to catch.

How does a rollout start?

A Chainsaw rollout is a gradual switch: 5 seeded rules refuse from day one, and every other rule starts in monitor mode.

Chainsaw: The 5 seeded rules cover CISA KEV entries, packages first published less than 1 day ago, install scripts fetching remote URLs, import-time execution and bidi Unicode. Every other rule runs in monitor mode first, showing what the rule would refuse on your own dependencies, then switches to enforce one rule at a time, for example after a week of monitor-mode results on your dependencies.

Which ecosystems are covered?

Chainsaw is a registry proxy for 16 package ecosystems, while Socket is strongest on npm and lists other languages in Socket’s own docs.

Socket: Strongest on npm. Check Socket’s current list for the others.

Chainsaw: 16 package ecosystems through one proxy, including npm, PyPI, Maven, Cargo, Go, RubyGems, NuGet and Docker images. Take a team with Python services and Java builds: the team routes pip and Maven through the same Chainsaw policy as npm. Chainsaw evaluates 25 supply-chain signals beyond CVE (up to all 25 on npm and PyPI, 22 on RubyGems, at least 4 on every proxied ecosystem). Five seeded rules block from day one; the rest start in monitor mode.

How accurate is each one?

We publish our own numbers: on one 1,098-package corpus, Chainsaw’s refusing verdict hard-blocked 43.7% of real malware (104 of 238) and false-blocked 0.47% of top packages (4 of 860), measured without the known-malicious feed. Method and the four false blocks.

We do not publish a Socket score. An earlier side-by-side of ours compared unlike measures, and we withdrew it rather than leave an unfair number up. The fairest test is your own: run both in monitor mode on your dependencies for a week and compare what each would have refused.

Which should you choose?

The choice turns on where the tool must run and which ecosystems you install from.

Choose Socket if you are mostly on npm, a SaaS tool is acceptable, and you want pull-request comments from an established vendor.

Choose Chainsaw if the tool must run inside your own boundary or air-gapped, or if your security team wants to read the code that makes the decision. Chainsaw also fits when you need the block enforced across CI, laptops and the network, or you depend on Maven, Go, Cargo, Docker and other ecosystems beyond npm.

If the choice is still open, run both in monitor mode on your own dependencies for a week.

Can you run Socket and Chainsaw together?

Yes. Running Socket and Chainsaw together is a layered setup, because the two tools act at different points in the life of a dependency. Socket’s GitHub app reviews pull requests which add risky dependencies, and Chainsaw refuses on the install path as a registry proxy for npm, PyPI, Maven and 13 other ecosystems. Start Chainsaw in monitor mode first, alongside whatever you run today: monitor mode shows what Chainsaw would have refused without blocking any install. In a layered setup, Socket’s GitHub app flags a risky dependency during code review, and if a later install still pulls that package, Chainsaw refuses it on the install path when one of its rules matches.