There are two ways a company's secrets end up in the wrong hands: someone accidentally commits an API key to a public repo, or an employee's password gets stolen in a breach and resold on the dark web. Both are boring, both happen constantly, and both are entirely preventable with the right scanner running in the background. This category splits cleanly into two groups of tools — ones that scan your code and live sites for secrets you left exposed, and ones that watch the dark web for credentials that already leaked somewhere else. Here are 7 real tools from our catalog, several of which list each other as direct alternatives.
Catching secrets in code and live sites
KeySentry — 25+ key formats, no install required
KeySentry goes through a GitHub repository looking for accidentally-committed passwords, API keys and sensitive files — the digital equivalent of checking your pockets before publishing.
For who: security researchers, developers and DevSecOps teams who want a quick scan without installing anything, via its web interface.
Price: free, MIT license, available as CLI, web interface (Netlify-hosted) and Docker.
Strengths: detects 25+ API key formats using entropy detection in addition to regex, and offers a web UI alongside the CLI for zero-install scanning.
Limits: coverage is broadly similar to established tools like GitLeaks or TruffleHog, so there's little upside if you're already using one of those; it's a community tool with no long-term maintenance guarantee.
KeyHunter — finds leaked keys, then actually tests if they still work
KeyHunter is a fast, free command-line tool that searches GitHub for leaked API keys and then actually tests each one to confirm whether it still works — instead of just flagging text that looks like a key.
For who: security researchers and developers auditing their own repos who want to know which leaks are urgent, not just which strings match a pattern.
Price: free, MIT license, written in Rust, available via Docker.
Strengths: live-validates found keys across 20+ providers, and runs fast parallel scans with token rotation.
Limits: CLI only, no web interface, and it requires comfort with the command line.
KeyLeak Detector — checks your live site, not just your git history
KeyLeak Detector catches a mistake almost every web team makes eventually: accidentally leaving a real API key or database password visible in a deployed website's code where anyone can copy it.
For who: web development, DevOps and security teams managing CI/CD pipelines who need to check what's actually live, not just what's in git.
Price: free, MIT license, 100% local processing, no data sent anywhere.
Strengths: live-validates keys across 14+ providers, and also catches Supabase/Firebase misconfigurations (exposed RLS rules) — a gap most secret scanners miss.
Limits: only scans the deployed site, not git history, so it complements rather than replaces GitLeaks/TruffleHog; young tool with a small community.
ScanTower — a full external security report card, secrets included
ScanTower is a website security checkup you can run without installing anything — point it at your site's address and it comes back with a report card grading how exposed you are, from A+ to F.
For who: agencies managing multiple client sites, ecommerce owners, WordPress site owners and developers doing a pre-launch check.
Price: free tier (1 site, 15 scans/month); Pro $12.99/mo (20 sites, 500 scans); Agency $99.99/mo (200 sites, 2,000 scans); standalone secrets scanner free with no signup.
Strengths: runs 30+ automated checks with real-browser scanning and screenshots, and produces client-ready PDF reports — broader than a pure secrets scanner.
Limits: it's a black-box external scanner that only sees what a visitor sees, so it doesn't replace server- or code-side scanning.
Watching the dark web for credentials that already leaked
Flare — 160+ forums and 58,000+ Telegram channels monitored
Flare keeps watch over the dark web, hidden Telegram channels and other hard-to-reach corners of the internet for signs that your company's logins or data have leaked, then helps automate the cleanup.
For who: security teams in finance, healthcare, tech, ecommerce, government and law enforcement.
Price: free trial available, paid tiers quote-only.
Strengths: very wide coverage (160+ forums, 58,000+ Telegram channels), with native integrations into Microsoft Entra ID, Splunk, CrowdStrike, Okta and SentinelOne.
Limits: pricing isn't public, positioning overlaps closely with Breachsense and SpyCloud, and the sheer volume of sources can mean more alerts to triage.
SpyCloud — recaptured credentials feed automated remediation
SpyCloud is an enterprise-scale service that collects stolen login data recovered from the dark web and uses it to automatically fix identity security problems — resetting passwords, invalidating sessions — before attackers can exploit them.
For who: large organizations, security teams focused on workforce protection, and vendor risk management programs.
Price: quote-only, three product lines (Enterprise/Consumer/Investigations), volume discounts available.
Strengths: ties recaptured data to automated remediation rather than just alerting, spans three dedicated product lines (employees, customers, investigators), and links exposed data to real accounts via its IDLink feature.
Limits: no public pricing and a three-product structure that complicates cost evaluation; built for large organizations, not small teams.
Breachsense — alerts within minutes, covers non-human identities too
Breachsense watches the dark corners of the internet — hacker forums, ransomware leak sites, malware logs — for your company's stolen passwords and data, and tells you within minutes if something shows up.
For who: SecOps teams, incident response, MSSPs, security vendors and pentesters.
Price: quote-only across 4 tiers based on domains monitored and API call volume; free dark web scan available, 7-day trial after a demo.
Strengths: minutes-fast alerting, tracks 100+ ransomware groups, and — unlike most competitors — also monitors non-human identities like API keys and OAuth tokens, not just human passwords.
Limits: no public pricing, requires a sales demo; substantively similar to Flare/SpyCloud, with differentiation mostly in marketing.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Main angle | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| KeySentry | Repo scanning, web UI, no install | Quick zero-setup repo checks | Free |
| KeyHunter | Repo scanning + live key validation | Knowing which leaks are urgent | Free |
| KeyLeak Detector | Scans deployed sites, not just git | Catching what's actually live | Free |
| ScanTower | Full external security report card | Agencies managing multiple client sites | Free / $12.99+/mo |
| Flare | Dark web + Telegram monitoring | Widest source coverage | Quote-only |
| SpyCloud | Recaptured data + auto-remediation | Large orgs wanting automated fixes | Quote-only |
| Breachsense | Fast alerts, covers API keys too | SecOps and incident response teams | Quote-only |
The two groups solve different halves of the same problem: KeySentry, KeyHunter, KeyLeak Detector and ScanTower stop a secret from ever getting exposed in the first place, while Flare, SpyCloud and Breachsense catch it after the fact, once it's already circulating. A team with any public code should run one of the free code/site scanners as a baseline — they cost nothing and take minutes to try. Dark web monitoring is the next step up, worth the sales conversation once you have real customer or employee credentials to protect, not just API keys in a repo.