Top 10 Best Smart Contract Auditing Companies
Smart Contract auditing has been a growing industry and is always in demand in the DeFi, crypto startups in NFT, and many other spaces. However, compared to the booming market, few blockchain security companies are now.Once smart contracts are deployed, there is no looking back. Once programmed and deployed on the blockchain, it cannot be changed. So, if there is even a minor bug, the entire protocol will break and drain the entire fund. In the last two years, we have seen billions of dollars vanish into thin air due to bugs in smart contracts.
The creator of the smart contract might very easily add a backdoor to steal the money. However, human error is usually to blame. The idea of a smart contract is relatively new and has only been around for a few years. There aren't many developers with extensive experience in this area. Billions of dollars could simply be lost due to a minor error.
Therefore, it is crucial to have each smart contract element examined.
I always tell people to check out Trail of Bits. They are one of the firms in Web3 security that consistently pushes the bar in a practical sense. They don't just provide an audit. They give you all the tools you need to be successful in smart contract security as well.
The Trail of Bits team builds some of the most popular and widely used tools, like Slither, Manticore, Echidna, and Properties, among many others. They are dedicated to educating the Web3 space as well, offering tons of free educational content and blogs.
Trail of Bits is a large group, consistently rated as one of the top firms in Web3 for good reason, and I'd definitely classify myself as a fanboy.
As part of the ConsenSys team, one of the most well-known groups in Web3 behind projects like MetaMask, Infura, and Truffle, their security team is also first-class. They are a large group with a great track record.
The Diligence team is another group that values powerful fuzzing techniques and recently introduced a fuzzer-as-a-service product. To me, this indicates that they not only understand security but also understand how to scale security throughout all of Web3. You can tell that a group cares when they create tooling and educational material that improves your life, instead of hoarding it all for themselves.
They also offer formal verification tooling, similar to Trail of Bits, if you want to go the extra mile.
OpenZeppelin is another group that constantly pushes the envelope by raising the state of Web3, which is why I'm a massive fan of their work. The OpenZeppelin Contracts are the standard library for Solidity that 95% of the rest of Web3 uses and trusts to build their smart contracts.
You should hold onto every report you read from the OpenZeppelin team like gold, as the information they provide is some of the best in the business. Their team is constantly raising the bar for security.
OpenZeppelin is a large group used by some of the top protocols in the space, such as Aave, Optimism, and Compound. I really can't speak highly enough about the skills of this team.
Patrick Collins and Alex Roan, formerly of ChainLink, are the founders of Cyfrin. They are attracting the best auditors in the world.
Patrick Collins and Alex Roan are the founders of Cyfrin. Rock stars!
Hacken has five years of experience as a trusted provider of Web 3.0 cybersecurity services. These services include Smart Contract Audits, Blockchain Protocol Audits, Penetration Testing, dApp Audits, DDoS stress testing, and Bug Bounty programs.
The percentage of hacked projects audited by Hacken is the lowest among all smart contract auditors.
The best auditing company by far. To the best of my knowledge, they have had no false audits so far.
Undoubtedly, there is no question about Certik being the most promising name in the smart contract auditing industry. Founded in 2018 by professors from Columbia University and Yale University, the company has conducted more than 1,800 audits over the years.
Some of the world's most significant DeFi protocols, such as Huobi, Binance, and OKEx, rely on this company for their audit reports. Having maintained a strong reputation within the industry for years, they are primarily known for carrying out robust smart contract audits for a vast clientele. What distinguishes them from the rest is that, in addition to performing the audits, they also offer recommendations when they find vulnerabilities.
ImmuneBytes is a cybersecurity consulting firm dedicated to providing proactive and cutting-edge blockchain and crypto security solutions. Their aim is to make security a lifelong affair for enterprises.
Using the latest smart contract audit tools and penetration testing techniques, the company has worked with organizations of various sizes since its founding in 2020. These organizations include primary and mid-sized enterprises, non-profits, and small businesses, all of which have received security assistance. With more than 175 projects completed successfully, they have an excellent track record.
Clients such as Ethernity, Good Dollar, Maha Dao, Poly Trade, Retreeb, Sheesha Finance, and Sports Icon rely on them to become leaders in their respective sectors. Additionally, they have extensive knowledge in virtualization, software attacks, blockchains, and cryptography.
Spearbit is a decentralized network of security experts that is shaking up the game. Unlike traditional auditing firms, which employ teams of full-time security researchers, Spearbit sources top talent from across the Web3 ecosystem to assemble the best possible team.
You might be thinking, "Wait, wouldn't the quality vary if they have different auditors on different projects?" However, this hasn't stopped them from consistently being one of the best in the business. SpearbitDAO proves that the decentralization ethos works, as many top auditors and researchers go solo. Periodically combining them into one group makes them all the better!
A lesser-known group, Dedaub consistently delivers amazing reports. It's a bit confusing to me why so few people know about them. They are another team that offers more than just security audits. They also provide coding libraries and helpful insights on social media. As an ex-Chainlink engineer myself (technically ex-DevRel), I've seen firsthand the good work this team can do during an audit.
Trust is a solo auditor who is consistently at the top of competitive audit leaderboards. He has done fantastic work educating the entire Web3 community. I especially wanted to highlight that you don't always need to go with a firm. Solo auditors can often be less expensive while offering as much or more skill than a large firm.
He offers an auditor course, consistently provides beautiful write-ups, and has made a significant impact in keeping Web3 safe all by himself. I had the pleasure of interviewing him and received all the tips and tricks one would need to move forward and become a successful security engineer in Web3.
Slowmist is China's leading blockchain security company. They perform extensive blockchain security services that include smart contract audits, blockchain security audits, wallet security testing, and much more.
Slowmist also has a safe staking project for blockchain ecologies, which delivers real-time data on EOS, Cosmos, Vechain's growth and security patterns, and other top blockchain projects. Another interesting detail about this platform is its powerful firewall project for EOS smart contracts, named FireWall.X.
Omniscia has a centralized staff of skilled smart contract developers and auditors who specialize in building and securing intricate decentralized networks and applications. Since 2017, their engineers have built and audited distributed systems that drive multimillion-dollar economies.
They provide services such as security audits, code optimization, and collaborative development to big names in the industry. These include Polygon, Tokemak, AllianceBlock, Fetch.ai, Olympus, and Hot Cross, among others. The company has audited more than 210 blockchain projects to date, discovering over 855 high-severity issues and protecting more than 65 billion dollars.
They offer thorough yet reasonably priced smart contract audits. Their skilled staff of Solidity smart contract auditors performs audits for tokens, NFTs, crowd sales, marketplaces, gaming platforms, financial protocols, and more.
To provide project teams with industry-leading security advice, they combine static analysis, automated technologies, and a thorough manual review process. To date, over 1300 projects with more than 10 billion dollars in on-chain value are being protected.
They have a team of blockchain technology and business analytics experts with extensive knowledge of the cryptocurrency market. Their core team is renowned for its market analyses produced during the bullish market of 2017 - 2018 and for its technical project evaluations.
Initially starting as an audit and development company for smart contracts at the height of the ICO rush, they later broadened their skills to include market research, exchange analytics, security, and technical project valuation.