shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Perforce?

Enterprise DevOps Tools - perforce.com

Depends. Buy if you run a large game studio or enterprise with massive binary assets and dedicated admins. Small and mid-size teams should stick to Git hosting — cheaper, simpler, easier to hire for.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 30+ public sources: G2 reviews, Reddit/HN threads, security advisories, customer case studies, and pricing analyses.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Free

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
EnterpriseCustom quote

Best for

  • Game studios with massive binary assets
  • 1000+ developer monorepos
  • Enterprises needing centralized, locked-down VCS
  • Embedded and regulated dev teams

Not for

  • Small teams — Git hosting does the job free
  • Solo devs and hobby projects
  • Anyone without admin budget or a dedicated ops person
  • Cloud-native startups wanting zero-setup tooling

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Self-hosted installs are frequently misconfigured and expose source; audit before trusting defaults

high

Helix Core RCEs in 2023 and 2026 mean you must patch promptly

medium

No public pricing; costs scale per user and server — expect budget surprises

medium

Centralized, proprietary history makes later migration to Git slow and painful

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Handles massive binary files; game-dev industry standard
  • Proven at 2,000+ developer scale (Ubisoft)
  • Free tier for teams up to 5 users
  • Includes code review via Helix Swarm
  • Broad suite: ALM, testing, static analysis, data tools

Cons

  • Quote-based pricing; licensing widely called expensive
  • Steep learning curve and heavy server admin burden
  • Critical RCE vulnerabilities disclosed in 2023 and 2026
  • Misconfigured servers routinely leak sensitive source code
  • Game developers actively shopping for Perforce alternatives

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/27/2026 - 12 sources - Runs a CVE dashboard and trust center, but 43 known CVEs including two critical Helix Core RCEs (2023, 2026).

official x2review x3security x3news x4
  • CVE-2026-6902 — Helix Core code injection/RCE, Code injection vulnerability in Helix Core server disclosed July 2026.
  • Critical pre-auth RCE chain (2023), Microsoft disclosed and patched critical Helix Core server RCE vulnerabilities, December 2023.
  • Widespread misconfigured servers, Unsecured Perforce servers continue exposing sensitive source code, per April 2026 reporting.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 2/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 2/5. Quote-based pricing; licensing widely called expensive
  • Ease of use: 2/5. Steep learning curve; heavy server admin burden
  • Feature depth: 5/5. Proven at 2,000+ devs; handles huge binaries
  • Support quality: 4/5. Praised in r/unrealengine threads
  • Security posture: 2/5. 43 CVEs; critical RCEs in 2023 and 2026
  • 761 G2 reviews across Perforce products
  • 2,000+ devs Enterprise scale Ubisoft runs on P4
  • Yes Free tier up to 5 users
  • 1995 Founded PE-owned since 2018

Pricing

Free

$0

  • Up to 5 users
  • Core versioning for small teams

Enterprise

Not disclosed

  • Per-user licensing
  • Cloud or self-hosted
  • Add-ons billed separately

Security

Runs a CVE dashboard and trust center, but 43 known CVEs including two critical Helix Core RCEs (2023, 2026).

  • CVE-2026-6902 — Helix Core code injection/RCECode injection vulnerability in Helix Core server disclosed July 2026.⁵
  • Critical pre-auth RCE chain (2023)Microsoft disclosed and patched critical Helix Core server RCE vulnerabilities, December 2023.⁴
  • Widespread misconfigured serversUnsecured Perforce servers continue exposing sensitive source code, per April 2026 reporting.⁶

What users say

Game studios vouch for its scale and support, while others gripe about complexity, cost, and admin overhead.

“Perforce and Swarm. And the things I hate about them”
Medium — user essay
“Perforce is still popular with games developers.”
Hacker News
“Realistic version control for indie teams (under 15 people)”
Reddit, r/unrealengine

Companies that use it

  • Ubisoft³
  • CD PROJEKT RED
  • Amdocs
  • Molina Healthcare
Full analysis

Based on 30+ public sources: G2 reviews, Reddit/HN threads, security advisories, customer case studies, and pricing analyses.

Enterprise VCS built for huge binary repos and 1000+ dev orgs — overkill and quote-priced for everyone else.

Methodology

Based on 30+ public sources: G2 reviews, Reddit/HN threads, security advisories, customer case studies, and pricing analyses.

Sources

  1. Perforce Products — 761 G2 Reviewsg2.com
    review
  2. Perforce Helix Core product pageperforce.com
    official
  3. Ubisoft case study — 2000+ developersperforce.com
    official
  4. Patching Perforce perforations — critical RCEmicrosoft.com
    security
  5. Code Injection in Helix Core (CVE-2026-6902)imperva.com
    security
  6. Misconfigured Perforce servers widespreadscworld.com
    security
  7. Perforce P4 licensing comparisonreleaseteam.com
    news
  8. Perforce pricing analysisget.assembla.com
    news
  9. Perforce and Swarm — things I hatemedium.com
    review
  10. 3 reasons game devs seek Perforce alternativesdiversion.dev
    news
  11. Using Perforce for small teams — r/unrealenginereddit.com
    review
  12. Perforce company profile — founded 1995summitpartners.com
    news

Rate this review

Anonymous. You can change your vote.

Loading votes…

Comments

One queue. No nested comments. Give a display name first. Limit: 200 words per comment and 7 comments per day. You can edit or delete yours.

Save a name to write a comment.

0 / 200 words

No comments yet.