Acunetix vs OWASP Zap comparison

Invicti and OWASP are both solutions in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category. Invicti is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.4, while OWASP is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0. Invicti holds a 3.1% mindshare in SAST, compared to OWASP’s 4.5% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of Invicti users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of OWASP users who would recommend it.

Acunetix

Read 33 Acunetix reviews

5,850 Views
3,803 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

OWASP Zap

Read 41 OWASP Zap reviews

7,876 Views
7,167 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Acunetix

OWASP Zap

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

Acunetix and OWASP Zap compete in the web application security testing category. Acunetix appears to have the upper hand due to its advanced reporting and scanning features.

Features: Acunetix offers a web-based interface, the Interactive Application Security Testing (IAS) module, and comprehensive scheduling and reporting features. OWASP Zap, being open-source and free, supports automation and integration capabilities but lacks in-depth reporting.

Room for Improvement: Acunetix could enhance its IAS module, simplify manual replication of findings, and improve user interface intuitiveness. OWASP Zap would benefit from better documentation and reporting features, reduced false positives, and improved scanning speed and coverage.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Acunetix supports versatile deployment methods, both on-premises and hybrid cloud. Customer support is mixed with occasional delays. OWASP Zap mainly supports on-premises deployment with community support and a ticketing system for customer service.

Pricing and ROI: Acunetix is a premium tool with increased pricing over time, but users report positive ROI due to its comprehensive features. OWASP Zap offers great value as a free, open-source tool suitable for smaller businesses but requires more manual effort for equivalent security assurance.

To learn more, read our detailed Acunetix vs. OWASP Zap Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Acunetix vs. OWASP Zap

September 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 869,785 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Acunetix

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

12th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (16th), Vulnerability Management (23rd), DevSecOps (6th)

OWASP Zap

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

11th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category, the mindshare of Acunetix is 3.1%, up from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OWASP Zap is 4.5%, up from 4.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
OWASP Zap	4.5%
Acunetix	3.1%
Other	92.4%

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

Featured Reviews

KashifJamil

CEO at Xcelliti

Has enabled teams to improve security testing with smooth integration and high accuracy

Acunetix has a very good ratio of fewer false positives, so users don't need to retest everything. Acunetix operates smoothly with no interruptions required, and it performs at 100% efficiency without issues in scanning anything. The solution is excellent at detecting SQL injection and cross-site scripting vulnerabilities. Acunetix integrates with every type of tool, including CI/CD tools, offering 100% integration in DevOps environments. The main benefit of Acunetix is that at the first level, users can address security issues related to penetration testing, allowing them to expose vulnerabilities and ensure all required testing is completed with very few false positives.

Read full review

Amit Beniwal

Project Manager at Al Hassan LLC

Simplifies vulnerability discovery and has high quality support

There are areas for improvement with OWASP Zap, particularly in the alignment of vulnerabilities concerning CVSS scores. Sometimes, a vulnerability initially categorized as high severity may be reduced to medium or low over time after security patches are applied. This alignment with the present severity score and CVSS score could be improved.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Acunetix is the UI and the scan results are simple."

"The solution is excellent at detecting SQL injection and cross-site scripting vulnerabilities."

"It's very user-friendly for the testing teams. It's very easy for them to understand things and to fix vulnerabilities."

"Picks up weaknesses in our app setups."

"It comes equipped with an internal applicator, which automatically identifies and addresses vulnerabilities within the program."

"Overall, it's a very good tool and a very good engine."

"The tool's most valuable feature is performance."

"For us, the most valuable aspect of the solution is the log-sequence feature."

More Acunetix pros

"The product discovers more vulnerabilities compared to other tools."

"The community edition updates services regularly. They add new vulnerabilities into the scanning list."

"OWASP is quite matured in identifying the vulnerabilities."

"The solution has tightened our security."

"The solution is scalable."

"It can be used effectively for internal auditing."

"The ZAP scan and code crawler are valuable features."

"Automatic updates and pull request analysis."

More OWASP Zap pros

Cons

"I rate its stability six out of ten."

"In terms of what needs improvement, the way the licensing model is currently is not very convenient for us because initially, when we bought it, the licensing model was very flexible, but now it restricts us."

"It is difficult to create a proxy connection."

"There are some versions of the solution that are not as stable as others."

"We want to see how much bandwidth usage it consumes. When we monitor traffic we have issues with the consumption and throttling of the traffic."

"Acunetix needs to be dynamic with JavaScript code, unlike Netsparker which can scan complex agents."

"I had some issues with the JSON parameters where it found some strange vulnerabilities, but it didn't alert the person using it or me about these vulnerabilities, e.g., an error for SQL injection."

"The solution limits the number of scans. It would be much better if we could have unlimited scans."

More Acunetix cons

"For scalability, I would rate OWASP Zap between four to five out of ten."

"The technical support team must be proactive."

"The documentation needs to be improved because I had to learn everything from watching YouTube videos."

"The product reporting could be improved."

"It would be beneficial to enhance the algorithm to provide better summaries of automatic scanning results."

"The work that it does in the limited scope is good, but the scope is very limited in terms of the scanning features. The number of things it tests or finds is limited. They need to make it a more of a mainstream tool that people can use, and they can even think about having it on a proprietary basis. They need to increase the coverage of the scan and the results that it finds. That has always been Zap's limitation. Zap is a very good tool for a beginner, but once you start moving up the ladder where you want further details and you want your scan to show more in-depth results, Zap falls short because its coverage falls short. It does not have the capacity to do more."

"Sometimes, we get some false positives."

"Zap could improve by providing better reports for security and recommendations for the vulnerabilities."

More OWASP Zap cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Acunetix was around the same price as all the other vendors we looked at, nothing special."

"The solution is expensive."

"When we looked at all other vendors and what they were asking for, to provide a third of what Acunetix was capable of doing, it was an easy decision... But now that it's coming to a cost where it's line with market value, it becomes more of a competition... Acunetix is raising the cost of licensing. It's 3.5 times what we were initially quoted."

"It is a bit expensive. If you need to check five applications, you have to pay almost 14,000. It is an agreement for two years at 7,000 per year for only five applications. You cannot change the applications in the license. So, you are stuck with the same license for the five applications for one full year."

"The pricing is a little high, and moreover, it's kind of domain-based."

"The price is exceptionally high."

"All things considered, I think it has a good price/value ratio."

"I would say that Acunetix is expensive because there are products on the market with similar features that are equally or better-priced."

More Acunetix pricing and cost advice

"It's free and open, currently under the Apache 2 license. If ZAP does what you need it to do, selling a free solution is a very easy."

"The tool is open source."

"It's free. It's good for us because we don't know what the extent of our use will be yet. It's good to start with something free and easy to use."

"The solution’s pricing is high."

"OWASP ZAP is a free tool provided by OWASP’s engineers and experts. There is an option to donate."

"This is an open-source solution and can be used free of charge."

"OWASP Zap is free to use."

"It is highly recommended as it is an open source tool."

More OWASP Zap pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

University

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

10%

University

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	21

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Acunetix Vulnerability Scanner?

The tool's most valuable feature is scan configurations. We use it for external physical applications. The scanning time depends on the application's code.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Acunetix Vulnerability Scanner?

The primary use case for Acunetix Vulnerability Scanner is automated scanning and detection of security vulnerabilities in web applications, websites, and APIs.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Acunetix Vulnerability Scanner?

Acunetix supports multi-user environments effectively. Acunetix is targeted for small to mid-size teams in a DevSecOps environment, making it the best choice for small and mid-size companies, offer...

See all answers

Is OWASP Zap better than PortSwigger Burp Suite Pro?

OWASP Zap and PortSwigger Burp Suite Pro have many similar features. OWASP Zap has web application scanning available with basic security vulnerabilities while Burp Suite Pro has it available with ...

See all answers

What do you like most about OWASP Zap?

The best feature is the Zap HUD (Heads Up Display) because the customers can use the website normally. If we scan websites with automatic scanning, and the website has a web application firewall, i...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OWASP Zap?

OWASP might be cost-effective, however, people prefer to use the free edition available as open source.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

Veracode vs Acunetix

Compared 5% of the time

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs Acunetix

Compared 5% of the time

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SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs OWASP Zap

Compared 18% of the time

Checkmarx One vs OWASP Zap

Compared 10% of the time

Qualys Web Application Scanning vs OWASP Zap

Compared 9% of the time

Veracode vs OWASP Zap

Compared 9% of the time

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs OWASP Zap

Compared 5% of the time

More OWASP Zap Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Acunetix

October 2025

Download Acunetix product report

Buyer's Guide

OWASP Zap

September 2025

Download OWASP Zap product report

Also Known As

AcuSensor

No data available

Overview

Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner is an automated web application security testing tool that audits your web applications by checking for vulnerabilities like SQL Injection, Cross site scripting, and other exploitable vulnerabilities.

Invicti

OWASP Zap is a free and open-source web application security scanner.

The solution helps developers identify vulnerabilities in their web applications by actively scanning for common security issues.

With its user-friendly interface and powerful features, Zap is a popular choice among developers for ensuring the security of their web applications.

OWASP

Sample Customers

Joomla!, Digicure, Team Random, Credit Suisse, Samsung, Air New Zealand

1. Google 2. Microsoft 3. IBM 4. Amazon 5. Facebook 6. Twitter 7. LinkedIn 8. Netflix 9. Adobe 10. PayPal 11. Salesforce 12. Cisco 13. Oracle 14. Intel 15. HP 16. Dell 17. VMware 18. Symantec 19. McAfee 20. Citrix 21. Red Hat 22. Juniper Networks 23. SAP 24. Accenture 25. Deloitte 26. Ernst & Young 27. PwC 28. KPMG 29. Capgemini 30. Infosys 31. Wipro 32. TCS

Buyer's Guide

Acunetix vs. OWASP Zap

September 2025

Free Report: Acunetix vs. OWASP Zap

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