# Socket

7 Hacker News commenters recommended Socket and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Scans open source packages for malware and suspicious behavior, and people say it spots new malicious versions quickly. Common caveat: noisy alerts.

## Why people recommend it

- Accurately tracks malware implant changes (2 comments): "The only other ones I've observed during the last week that seem to be able to track this malware implant's changes were socket.dev." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48524531)) "The only ones actually re-identifying the malware implants as miasma malware samples correctly were the socket.dev folks." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48642774))
- Fast detection of new malware (2 comments): "Socket.dev, StepSecurity both close a gap here by spending tokens to scan new popular packages" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48156913)) "Socket catching it in 6 minutes is impressive" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47594582))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [AISLE](https://hackerapproved.com/p/aisle.md): 11 recommend
- [Vet](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vet.md): 5 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://socket.dev/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Socket", https://hackerapproved.com/p/socket-dev/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).