Koidex Review (2026): Pricing, Features & Honest Verdict

What is Koidex?

TLDR

Koidex is a free security vetting tool that tells you whether a package, IDE extension, browser extension, or AI model is safe to install. Search for anything across VS Code, JetBrains, npm, Chrome, and Hugging Face, and Koidex gives you a risk score based on behavioral analysis, not just known vulnerability databases. It launched on Product Hunt in February 2026 with 414 votes and hit #1 Product of the Day.

Built by Koi, an Israeli security startup that has raised $48 million from Battery Ventures and Team8, Koidex was born from a proof-of-concept that exposed a real problem. The founders built a malicious VS Code extension called “Darcula Official” that secretly exfiltrated source code from 300+ organizations, including multi-billion-dollar companies and a national court network, within one week. No existing security tool detected it. That experiment became the company. Koidex is the free, developer-facing product. The paid enterprise platform (Koi) adds organization-wide scanning and policy enforcement.

What Are Koidex’s Key Features?

Behavior-Based Risk Scoring

Unlike tools that primarily check CVE databases for known vulnerabilities, Koidex analyzes what code actually does. Its proprietary Wings AI engine examines permissions, capabilities, obfuscation patterns, unusual install/update behavior, dependency chains, and publisher reputation. The result is a multi-dimensional risk score (Low, Medium, High, Critical) with a readable summary. This catches threats that signature-based scanners miss entirely, like the GlassWorm self-propagating worm that the Koi team discovered hiding in OpenVSX extensions using invisible Unicode characters.

Unified Cross-Platform Search

One search interface covers VS Code Marketplace, JetBrains Marketplace, npm, Chrome Web Store, and Hugging Face. Most competing tools focus on a single ecosystem. Snyk covers open-source packages. Socket.dev covers npm and PyPI. Koidex is the only free tool we found that scans IDE extensions, browser extensions, AND AI models from a single interface. For developers who install extensions across multiple editors and registries, this unified coverage fills a real gap.

Real-Time IDE Background Scanning

The Koidex IDE extension (version 2.0.0) runs automatic background scans when your editor launches or when extensions update. It currently supports VS Code, VS Code Insiders, VSCodium, Cursor, Windsurf, Trae, PearAI, Positron, and Void. With 4,646 installs and a 4/5 rating on the VS Code Marketplace, adoption is growing. The real value: it catches newly malicious extensions after they update, not just at initial install time.

Active Threat Intelligence

Koidex’s risk scores are backed by the Koi research team’s active threat hunting. They have discovered and disclosed major supply chain attacks: ShadyPanda (4.3 million malicious Chrome/Edge extension installs exfiltrating data), PhantomRaven (126 malicious npm packages with 86,000+ downloads), and GlassWorm (self-propagating worm in OpenVSX). The database is continuously updated, so risk scores evolve as new threats emerge. This is not a static checklist.

Koidex is completely free for individual developers. No credit card, no signup required for the web search at dex.koi.security. The IDE extension is free for personal use. There are no paid tiers, no credit limits, and no freemium gates for the core functionality.

The enterprise platform (Koi) adds organization-wide endpoint scanning, policy enforcement, automated remediation, and a Supply Chain Gateway. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and requires a demo request. Customers include Capital One, OpenAI, Cambia, and Jump Trading. Koi reports 500,000+ endpoints protected and over $1 million ARR within 8 months of launch. For individual developers, the free Koidex tool is the entire product. For security teams, the paid Koi platform extends it with governance and compliance features.

Who is Koidex Best For?

Use Koidex if you are a developer who installs VS Code extensions, npm packages, or Hugging Face models without vetting them. Be honest: most of us do this. Koidex takes 10 seconds to search any artifact and gives you a clear risk verdict. It is especially valuable for teams using AI-powered code editors like Cursor or Windsurf, where the extension ecosystem is newer and less vetted. Security teams evaluating supply chain risk across their development toolchain will want to look at the enterprise Koi platform.

Skip Koidex if your primary ecosystem is not covered. There is no support for PyPI, Maven Central, GitHub Actions, RubyGems, or crates.io. Python and Java developers are out of luck for now. Skip it if you need granular, customizable risk reporting with your own thresholds. The free tool gives you a verdict, not a detailed audit trail. And be aware that the IDE extension sends your installed extension inventory to Koi’s servers for analysis. If your organization has strict policies about sharing tooling metadata with third parties, evaluate this carefully.

Best Koidex Alternatives

Snyk is a comprehensive application security platform covering SCA, SAST, container, and IaC scanning. Free tier available. Better if you need deep vulnerability analysis across your entire codebase and dependencies, but it does not cover IDE extensions, browser extensions, or AI models.

Socket.dev analyzes package behavior for npm, PyPI, and Go registries. Free tier available. Better if your primary concern is open-source package supply chain security, but it does not cover IDE extensions, browser extensions, or AI models like Koidex does.

Semgrep is a static analysis tool for finding bugs and vulnerabilities in your own code. Free tier available. Better if you want to scan code you write rather than third-party artifacts you install, but it serves a fundamentally different purpose than Koidex.

Final Verdict: Is Koidex Worth It?

Koidex addresses a blind spot that most developers do not think about until it is too late. We install extensions and packages constantly without checking whether they are safe. Traditional security tools were not built to vet IDE extensions or AI models. Koidex fills that gap with behavior-based scanning across five major registries, and it does it for free.

The limitations are mainly about coverage scope. No PyPI, no Maven, no GitHub Actions. The scoring methodology is proprietary and not fully transparent. And the IDE extension does phone home with your extension inventory. But for the price of free, you get a tool backed by a team that has discovered real, high-profile supply chain attacks and raised $48 million to solve this problem. If you use VS Code, Cursor, npm packages, or Chrome extensions, add Koidex to your workflow. The 10 seconds it takes to search before you install could save you from the next ShadyPanda.