Acunetix vs CodeSonar comparison

Invicti and CodeSecure are both solutions in the Application Security Tools category. Invicti is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.3, while CodeSecure is ranked #32 with an average rating of 7.0. Invicti holds a 2.9% mindshare in AS, compared to CodeSecure’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of Invicti users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of CodeSecure users who would recommend it.

Acunetix

Read 33 Acunetix reviews

3,069 Views
2,419 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

CodeSonar

Read 7 CodeSonar reviews

1,826 Views
1,129 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Acunetix

CodeSonar

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

Acunetix and CodeSonar compete in the security testing and analysis sector. CodeSonar appears to have the upper hand due to its robust feature set despite the higher price point.

Features: Acunetix offers automated scanning, ease of integration, and efficiency. CodeSonar delivers advanced static analysis, deeper vulnerability identification, and comprehensive analysis.

Room for Improvement: Acunetix needs more advanced vulnerability analysis and improved reporting tools. It also requires enhancement in technical depth. CodeSonar could improve with a more streamlined configuration process and better user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Acunetix is known for straightforward deployment and responsive customer service, suitable for teams with limited IT resources. CodeSonar's deployment is complex, but its knowledgeable support team is helpful.

Pricing and ROI: Acunetix offers competitive setup costs and quick ROI, making it suitable for budget-conscious users. CodeSonar, while more expensive, provides lasting returns through enhanced software quality.

To learn more, read our detailed Acunetix vs. CodeSonar Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Acunetix vs. CodeSonar

June 2025

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Helped 860,592 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 Application Security Tools

16th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (13th), Vulnerability Management (22nd), DevSecOps (6th)

CodeSonar

Ranking in Application Security Tools

32nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Static Code Analysis (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of Acunetix is 2.9%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CodeSonar is 1.5%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Security Tools

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.

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Mathieu ALBRESPY

Intigration Developer at ez-Wheel

Nice interface, quick to deploy, and easy to expand

This is the first time I've used this kind of software. It was the only one we could apply to analyze with MISRA rules. At my new company, I tried to use Klocwork. I tried to use it, just once so I cannot compare it exactly with CodeSonar. I also have a plugin for my Visual Studio and I try to make it work. It's not easy, however, I don't think that we have this kind of functionality with CodeSonar. It can do some incremental analysis. However, since this feature is also available on CodeSonar, it would be a good idea to have a plugin on Visual Studio just to have a quick analysis.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I find it to be one of the most comprehensive tools, with support for manual intervention."

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

"The automated approach to these repetitive discovery attempts would take days to do manually and therefore it helps reduce the time needed to do an assessment."

"The product is really easy to use."

"The solution is highly stable."

"The most important feature is that it's a web-based graphical user interface. That is a great addition. Also, the ability to schedule scans is great."

"One of the features that I feel is groundbreaking, that I would like to see expanded on, is the IAS feature: The Interactive Application Security Testing module that gets loaded onto an application on a server, for more in-depth, granular findings. I think that is really neat. I haven't seen a lot of competitors doing that."

"Our developers can run the attacks directly from their environments, desktops."

More Acunetix pros

"What I like best about CodeSonar is that it has fantastic speed, analysis and configuration times. Its detection of all runtime errors is also very good, though there were times it missed a few. The configuration of logs by CodeSonar is also very fantastic which I've not seen anywhere else. I also like the GUI interface of CodeSonar because it's very user friendly and the tool also shows very precise logs and results."

"It has been able to scale."

"The most valuable features of CodeSonar were all the categorized classes provided, and reports of future bugs which might occur in the production code. Additionally, I found the buffer overflow and underflow useful."

"CodeSonar’s most valuable feature is finding security threats."

"The tool is very good for detecting memory leaks."

"The most valuable feature of CodeSonar is the catching of dead code. It is helpful."

"There is nice functionality for code surfing and browsing."

Cons

"The solution can be improved by adding the ability to scan subdomains automatically, and by providing reports that can be exported to external databases to share with other solutions."

"The solution is generally stable, however, there might be room for improvement regarding glitches or bugs."

"Currently only supports web scanning."

"Acunetix should improve by further reducing false positives and providing more customized reports, plus better integration with newer tools such as GitHub and Azure DevOps."

"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 vulnerability identification speed should be improved."

"When monitoring the traffic we always have issues with the bandwidth consumption and the throttling of traffic."

"The jargon used makes it difficult for project managers to understand the issues, and the technical explanations used make it difficult for developers to understand issues. These things should be simplified much more. That would be very helpful for us when explaining to them what needs to be fixed. The report output needs to be simplified."

More Acunetix cons

"In a future release, the solution should upgrade itself to the current trends and differentiate between the languages. If there are any classifications that can be set for these programming languages that would be helpful rather than having everything in the generic category."

"There could be a shared licensing model for the users."

"It would be beneficial for the solution to include code standards and additional functionality for security."

"CodeSonar could improve by having better coding rules so we did not have to use another solution, such as MISRA C."

"In terms of areas for improvement, the use case for CodeSonar was good, but compared to other tools, it seems CodeSonar isn't a sound static analysis tool, and this is a major con I've seen from it. Right now, in the market, people prefer sound static analysis tools, so I would have preferred if CodeSonar was developed into a sound static analysis tool formally, in terms of its algorithms, so then you can see it extensively used in the market because at the moment, here in India, only fifty to sixty customers use CodeSonar. If the product is developed into a sound static analysis tool, it could compete with Polyspace, and from its current fifty customers, that number could go up to a hundred."

"It was expensive."

"The scanning tool for core architecture could be improved."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When compared with other products, the pricing is a little bit high. But it gives value for the price. It serves the purpose and is worthwhile for the price we pay."

"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."

"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."

"Implementing Acunetix needs a medium or larger business agency, because you need some money to get Acunetix. It is costly, but if you care about your agency's security, then maybe it's a cost that might help you in the future."

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

"The cost is based on two types of licenses, ConsultLite, and ConsultPlus, as well as the number of domains that are scanned."

"The solution is expensive."

More Acunetix pricing and cost advice

"Our organization purchased a license to use the solution."

"The application’s pricing is high compared to other tools."

"Pricing is a bit costly."

"The solution's price depends on the number of licenses needed and the source code for the project."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

23%

Computer Software Company

12%

University

10%

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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.

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What is your primary use case for Acunetix Vulnerability Scanner?

Most of the customers who use Acunetix are looking for security testing. The primary use case is performing penetration testing. The main use cases include vulnerability scanning, security testing,...

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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

What do you like most about CodeSonar?

CodeSonar’s most valuable feature is finding security threats.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CodeSonar?

The application’s pricing is high compared to other tools. I rate its pricing a four out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with CodeSonar?

Our license model allows one user per license. Currently, we have limitations for VPN profiles. We can’t share the key with other users. There could be a shared licensing model for the users. It wi...

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Invicti vs Acunetix

Compared 7% of the time

PortSwigger Burp Suite Enterprise Edition vs Acunetix

Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 55% of the time

Coverity vs CodeSonar

Compared 23% of the time

Polyspace Code Prover vs CodeSonar

Compared 7% of the time

Axivion Static Code Analysis vs CodeSonar

Compared 3% of the time

Understand vs CodeSonar

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Acunetix

June 2025

Download Acunetix product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Security Tools

June 2025

Download CodeSonar 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

GrammaTech enables organizations to develop software applications more efficiently, on-budget, and on-schedule by helping to eliminate harmful defects that can cause system failures, enable data breaches, and ultimately increase corporate liabilities in today’s connected world. GrammaTech is the developer of CodeSonar, the most powerful source and binary code analysis solution available today. Extraordinarily precise, CodeSonar finds, on average, 2 times more serious defects in software than other static analysis solutions. Designed for organizations with zero tolerance for defects and vulnerabilities in their applications, CodeSonar provides static analysis for applications where reliability and security are paramount - widely used by software developers in avionics, medical, automotive, industrial control, and other mission-critical applications. Some of GrammaTech's customers include Toyota, GE, Hyundai, Kawasaki, LG, Lockheed Martin, NASA, Northrop Grumman, Panasonic, and Samsung.

CodeSecure

Sample Customers

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

Viveris, Micrel Medical Devices, Olympus, SOFTEQ, SONY

Buyer's Guide

Acunetix vs. CodeSonar

June 2025

Free Report: Acunetix vs. CodeSonar

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