ShieldedStack vs 5bats: which dependency security fits you?

There are two honest ways to keep bad dependencies out of your projects, and they suit very different people. ShieldedStack and 5bats both stop vulnerable or malicious packages before they reach your code — but one is built for an organisation and one for an individual, and picking the wrong one helps nobody.

ShieldedStack is an on-premises dependency firewall: a proxy that sits between your developers and the package registries, enforcing one central policy across the whole team. 5bats is a set of free, local command-line gates that each developer runs on their own machine. If you need org-wide control, an audit trail and an SBOM, this comparison ends quickly — that is ShieldedStack, and it is a good answer. 5bats is for the individual end of the same problem.

The two approaches

What ShieldedStack is

ShieldedStack is an intelligent proxy for seven package ecosystems that intercepts every download, scans for vulnerabilities and malware in real time, and applies age-based and policy controls centrally. It gives a team one enforcement point with shared visibility, an audit trail and an SBOM, and it is EU-based — built squarely for organisations that need consistent, governed control over what their developers can install.

What 5bats is

5bats is a set of free, open-source command-line gates that each developer runs locally. They block risky dependencies before install across pip, Composer, Homebrew and AI-assistant installs, with no proxy to host, no account, no dashboard, and no data leaving the machine. It is built for the individual, not the organisation.

Side-by-side

Which should you choose?

If you are an organisation that needs one enforcement point for the whole team — central policy, license and audit controls, an SBOM, and coverage across seven ecosystems including npm and NuGet — choose ShieldedStack. That is exactly what it is for, and 5bats does not try to be it. If you are a solo developer or small team who wants a free, local gate with nothing to host and nothing to sign up for, 5bats fits. The two share the same core idea — check before install, hold back releases too fresh to trust — at different scales; ShieldedStack’s work in this space even helped sharpen the freshness approach 5bats uses.

FAQ

Is there a free alternative to ShieldedStack?

5bats is a free, local one for individuals: open-source gates that block risky dependencies before install on your own machine. It does not replace ShieldedStack’s central policy, SBOM and team-wide enforcement — that is what a dependency firewall is for — but for a solo developer it covers the core check at no cost.

What is the difference between a dependency firewall and a local CVE gate?

A dependency firewall like ShieldedStack is a proxy the whole team installs through, enforcing one policy centrally with visibility and an audit trail. A local CVE gate like 5bats runs on each developer’s own machine with no shared infrastructure. Same goal, different scale: org-wide control versus individual, free, local.

Which should an enterprise use?

ShieldedStack. Central policy, license and audit controls, an SBOM and coverage across seven ecosystems are what an organisation needs and what it is built to provide. 5bats is the individual-scale option, not an enterprise platform.

The 5bats gates live under supply-chain gates — one each for Python, PHP, Homebrew, and the packages an AI assistant installs. All free, all local.