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Sverklo vs Serena, GitNexus, Greptile

Six dimensions, four products. Numbers below are from sverklo-bench v2 (2026-05-20) using each project's public configuration. The "win" column is per-dimension. Sverklo doesn't win every column on purpose — the rows where competitors win are part of the point.

Dimension	Sverklo	Serena	GitNexus	Greptile
License	MIT	MIT	BSL (restricted commercial)	Closed source
Where the code runs	Local-first, never leaves the machine	Local-first	Local + optional cloud	Cloud-only (uploads source)
Audit-gap detection (sverklo-bench v2)	89%	62%	71%	78%
Languages indexed	4 (TS, JS, Python, Go)	12 (incl. Rust, Java, C++)	8	12+ via cloud parser
Install steps (zero-to-MCP)	1 (`npm i -g sverklo && sverklo init`)	3 (clone, build, configure)	4 (clone, build, license-key, configure)	2 (signup, install IDE plugin)
Cost	Free, MIT	Free, MIT	Free under BSL terms	$30/seat/month

Methodology. Numbers come from sverklo-bench v2 run against each project's default configuration on 2026-05-20. The "audit-gap" dimension is defined in the bench README. PRs to the bench are welcome from any of the four projects' maintainers — if you can reproduce different numbers, the bench updates.

Per-product deep dives

Each comparison links to a longer page with full bench-row reproduction commands, the specific use cases where the product wins, and the trade-offs.

sverklo vs Serena — both MIT, both local-first. Serena wins on language breadth.
sverklo vs GitNexus — license + cloud-optional trade-offs. GitNexus's symbol graph is more academic.
sverklo vs Greptile — the closed-vs-open axis. Greptile's PR-bench is sharper than ours on cross-file refactor catches.

The dimensions sverklo doesn't optimize for

If you need a language sverklo doesn't index (Rust, Java, C++, Ruby, Swift), pick Serena. If you want a fully managed service with no local install, pick Greptile. The MIT + local-first + zero-config combination is sverklo's wedge; everything else is conscious trade-off.

Want a row updated?

Open a PR on github.com/sverklo/sverklo with a reproduction. If the number on this page is wrong, we'd rather know. Try sverklo.