---
name: Gitleaks
slug: gitleaks
url: https://github.com/gitleaks/gitleaks
category: Secrets
bestFor: "Searching a git history for secrets from your own machine or from CI."
freeTier: unknown
price: "Not stated"
checks:
  - secrets
freeTierNote: "The GitHub repository describes Gitleaks as a way to find secrets. The Gitleaks GitHub Action README says personal-account repositories do not need a license key, and that organization repositories do. It describes a free starter license for one organization repository. Whether the current CLI binary itself requires a paid license is not stated on those pages."
verifiedOn: "2026-10-13"
sources:
  - https://github.com/gitleaks/gitleaks
  - https://github.com/gitleaks/gitleaks-action
unknowns:
  - "Whether the current gitleaks CLI requires a license key to scan a private repository."
  - "Current prices for the paid GitHub Action tiers."
---

Gitleaks is aimed at credentials in git, which is the right tool when a key may be in an old commit rather than only in the latest file. GitHub secret scanning covers a similar problem inside GitHub, with a clearer free path for public repositories.

If you run any secret scanner, do it on a machine you control, and do not paste the findings into a chat log. Rotate anything it finds.