Should I Ship vs Trestle: Which is Better in 2026?
A comprehensive comparison of Should I Ship and Trestle covering features, pricing, use cases, and which tool is the right choice for your needs.
⚡ Quick Verdict
Choose Should I Ship if:
- →You want more affordable paid plans (from $10/mo)
- →You need a broader feature set (8 features vs 6)
- →You need npx should-i-ship scan — runs locally, source stays on your machine or unlimited free re-scans while you fix issues
Choose Trestle if:
- →You need hundreds of credential patterns plus entropy-based detection or mcp server for claude code, cursor, copilot and codex
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Should I Ship vs Trestle: At a Glance
Pricing Comparison: Should I Ship vs Trestle
Understanding the pricing differences between Should I Ship and Trestle is crucial for making the right choice. Here's how their plans compare side by side.
💡 Pricing takeaway: Both Should I Ship and Trestle offer free tiers, making it easy to try before you buy. Compare the specific plans to find the best value for your use case.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Here's how every feature from Should I Ship and Trestle stacks up.
What Makes Each Tool Unique
🔵 Unique to Should I Ship
Features available in Should I Ship but not in Trestle:
- ✓npx should-i-ship scan — runs locally, source stays on your machine
- ✓Unlimited free re-scans while you fix issues
- ✓Top 3 findings free with details and fixes; the rest locked by severity
- ✓$10 one-time unlock for every issue, exact files, and fix suggestions
- ✓AI repair prompts and a shareable report in the paid unlock
- ✓--no-upload flag for fully local scans
- ✓Markdown plus JSON output
- ✓Free browser preview for public repos
🟣 Unique to Trestle
Features available in Trestle but not in Should I Ship:
- ✓Hundreds of credential patterns plus entropy-based detection
- ✓MCP server for Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot and Codex
- ✓Native VS Code extension
- ✓Language server for Neovim, Helix, Zed and JetBrains
- ✓Pre-commit and CI scanning
- ✓Per-platform rotation playbooks (Pro)
Use Case Recommendations
Best for: Should I Ship
Should I Ship is a CLI-first launch-readiness scanner aimed at apps built with AI assistance. The premise is blunt: you built it with AI, and it checks whether it is safe to put in front of real users. The main product runs in the terminal — npx should-i-ship@latest scan from your project folder — with source code staying local and results written as Markdown plus JSON. The free scan is unlimited and can be re-run as often as you like while you fix things; it shows the top three findings ranked by severity with details and fixes, and locks the rest by severity and category. When you want the full diagnosis, you generate an unlock link and pay $10 once for the complete report: every issue, exact file locations, fix suggestions, AI repair prompts, and a shareable report. Crucially, the paid unlock uploads findings metadata only — findings, referenced file paths, scores, counts, and scan metadata — and explicitly not source code, file contents, environment variables, or ignored files, and a --no-upload flag exists for scans that should stay entirely local. There is also a free browser preview that scans a small public slice of a public repo for a fast read on the rules before installing anything. The vendor publishes aggregated, sanitized signal from stored previews showing that most scanned apps are not clean, with common findings being hardcoded credentials, API routes missing authentication, absent rate limiting, and partial input validation.
Ideal use cases:
- •Teams or individuals who need npx should-i-ship scan — runs locally, source stays on your machine
- •Teams or individuals who need unlimited free re-scans while you fix issues
- •Teams or individuals who need top 3 findings free with details and fixes; the rest locked by severity
- •Teams or individuals who need $10 one-time unlock for every issue, exact files, and fix suggestions
- •Anyone focused on cli workflows
- •Anyone focused on security workflows
Best for: Trestle
Trestle is a local secret scanner built specifically for AI-assisted development, on the premise that code an agent writes reaches more places than you intend — public commits scraped within seconds, client bundles shipped to every visitor, and today's commits training tomorrow's models. It scans every file and every commit before anything leaves your machine, recognising hundreds of real credential patterns (OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe, GitHub, AWS, Google, Slack, Sentry and more), private keys and certificates in PEM, OpenSSH, PuTTY, PKCS, DER, x509 and PGP form, plus JKS, KeePass, BIP39, URLs and headers — and it can still flag an unfamiliar key by weighing entropy, variable naming and surrounding context. The integration surface is the interesting part: an MCP server means Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot and Codex can call the scanner themselves and verify their own output before writing it, alongside a native VS Code extension and a language server for Neovim, Helix, Zed and JetBrains. The Pro tier adds remediation guidance — how to lift the secret out of source, what to put in .env locally, and per-platform rotation playbooks for AWS Secrets Manager, GitHub Actions, Vercel, Netlify, Kubernetes Secrets and Doppler, chosen from the deployment targets it finds in your repository.
Ideal use cases:
- •Teams or individuals who need hundreds of credential patterns plus entropy-based detection
- •Teams or individuals who need mcp server for claude code, cursor, copilot and codex
- •Teams or individuals who need native vs code extension
- •Teams or individuals who need language server for neovim, helix, zed and jetbrains
- •Anyone focused on security workflows
- •Anyone focused on secrets workflows
🛡️ Other AI Security & Testing Tools to Consider
Should I Ship and Trestle aren't the only options. Here are other popular tools in the same space:
Lineation
Security control plane for AI agents — zero-trust agent identity, LLM and MCP gateways, policy-as-code, and prompt-injection defense
Axtary
Payload-bound authorization for AI agents — human approval is cryptographically tied to the exact action, so a changed payload is denied
Tracecat
Open-source SOAR for AI-native security teams — agents, cases, and workflows with human approval gates
Agentmetry
Local, open-source flight recorder that tags AI agent activity with MITRE ATT&CK
ZeroLeaks
Continuous AI red teaming for agents, endpoints and MCP tools, with unlimited scans on every plan
Bot Butcher
LLM-based spam classification API for contact forms — a reCAPTCHA alternative with no visitor friction
Is one of these your tool?
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is Should I Ship better than Trestle?
It depends on your needs. Should I Ship offers 8 key features including npx should-i-ship scan — runs locally, source stays on your machine and Unlimited free re-scans while you fix issues, while Trestle provides 6 features including Hundreds of credential patterns plus entropy-based detection and MCP server for Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot and Codex. Should I Ship uses a freemium model with a free tier, while Trestle is freemium with free access available. Choose based on which features and pricing model align with your requirements.
Is Should I Ship cheaper than Trestle?
Trestle doesn't have standard paid plans, while Should I Ship starts at $10/month. Both tools offer free tiers, so you can try each before committing. Always check the official websites for the most current pricing.
Can I use Should I Ship and Trestle together?
Yes, many users combine Should I Ship and Trestle in their workflow. Should I Ship excels at npx should-i-ship scan — runs locally, source stays on your machine, while Trestle shines with hundreds of credential patterns plus entropy-based detection. Using both allows you to leverage the strengths of each tool, though this means managing two subscriptions — though free tiers can help manage costs.
What's the main difference between Should I Ship and Trestle?
While both are ai security & testing tools, Should I Ship emphasizes npx should-i-ship scan — runs locally, source stays on your machine, whereas Trestle is known for hundreds of credential patterns plus entropy-based detection. The best choice depends on your specific workflow and feature priorities.
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