> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.sonarsource.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.sonarsource.com/sonarqube-cloud/standards/managing-quality-profiles/built-in-quality-profiles.md).
# Built-in quality profiles
SonarQube Cloud ships three built-in quality profiles (Sonar way core, extended, and comprehensive), each with a different level of strictness.
SonarQube Cloud provides three built-in quality profiles: **Sonar way core**, **Sonar way extended**, and **Sonar way comprehensive**. Each profile applies a different level of strictness. Pick the one that matches your team’s experience with SonarQube and how much friction you want in your workflow.
The three profiles are general profiles, so you can apply one of them to all languages in one step. On the **General** tab of the **Quality profiles** page, they’re listed first in the **All** tab. They’re also available for each supported language on the **Language-specific** tab. See [Understanding quality profiles](/sonarqube-cloud/standards/managing-quality-profiles/understanding-quality-profiles.md#profile-types) for more information.
If none of the three matches your needs, create a custom general profile with your own rule activation thresholds. See [Creating a quality profile](/sonarqube-cloud/standards/managing-quality-profiles/creating-a-quality-profile.md#creating-a-profile-for-all-languages).
**Sonar way core** is the default quality profile for every language in your organization. See [Changing default quality profile](/sonarqube-cloud/standards/managing-quality-profiles/changing-default-quality-profile.md) to change it.
## Sonar way core
Sonar way core activates:
* All security rules.
* Medium and higher severity recommended reliability rules.
* Blocker severity recommended maintainability rules.
This profile covers the most impactful rules recommended by Sonar. It helps your team focus on the issues that matter most, and it’s a good baseline for most projects.
Sonar way core also aligns with the following standards: OWASP Top 10, OWASP Mobile Top 10, CWE Top 25, OWASP ASVS, NIST SSDF, PCI DSS, DISA STIG, CASA, the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), GDPR, and SOC 2.
## Sonar way extended
Sonar way extended activates:
* All security rules.
* Low and higher severity recommended reliability rules.
* High and higher severity recommended maintainability rules.
This profile builds on Sonar way core, adding more strictness in reliability and maintainability. The rule count still stays balanced, so your team keeps a good development experience. It aligns with the same standards as Sonar way core.
## Sonar way comprehensive
Sonar way comprehensive activates:
* All security rules.
* All recommended reliability rules.
* All recommended maintainability rules.
This is Sonar’s comprehensive ruleset. It’s recommended for teams already experienced with SonarQube, or if you’re evaluating SonarQube and want to experience its complete value. It aligns with the same standards as Sonar way core.
{% hint style="info" %}
Sonar way comprehensive replaces the quality profile formerly named **Sonar way**.
In existing organizations, your projects keep the quality profiles they already use. The new built-in profiles are available as additional options.
{% endhint %}
## Other built-in profiles
Sonar way core, extended, and comprehensive are not the only built-in profiles. SonarQube also provides the *Sonar agentic AI* quality profile for agent centric development, and the **Sonar MISRA compliance** quality profiles for C and C++ safety-critical code. These profiles cover only a few languages, so they’re available only on the **Language-specific** tab. See [Quality profiles for agentic AI](/sonarqube-cloud/standards/ai-code-assurance/quality-profiles-for-agentic-ai.md) and [Understanding quality profiles](/sonarqube-cloud/standards/managing-quality-profiles/understanding-quality-profiles.md) for more information.
## Related pages
* [Understanding quality profiles](/sonarqube-cloud/standards/managing-quality-profiles/understanding-quality-profiles.md)
* [Changing default quality profile](/sonarqube-cloud/standards/managing-quality-profiles/changing-default-quality-profile.md)
* [Creating a quality profile](/sonarqube-cloud/standards/managing-quality-profiles/creating-a-quality-profile.md)
* [Quality profiles for agentic AI](/sonarqube-cloud/standards/ai-code-assurance/quality-profiles-for-agentic-ai.md)
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