Acunetix vs Fortify Application Defender comparison

Invicti and OpenText are both solutions in the Application Security Tools category. Invicti is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.4, while OpenText is ranked #24 with an average rating of 8.0. Invicti holds a 2.3% mindshare in AS, compared to OpenText’s 1.1% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Invicti users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 81% of OpenText users who would recommend it.

Acunetix

Read 37 Acunetix reviews

6,206 Views
2,979 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Fortify Application Defender

Read 11 Fortify Application Defender reviews

1,378 Views
1,116 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

Acunetix

Fortify Application Defender

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

Acunetix and Fortify Application Defender are widely used in the application security sector. User feedback highlights Acunetix for its ease of use and direct value, while Fortify Application Defender stands out with comprehensive features suitable for those who can maximize its capabilities.

Features: Acunetix is recognized for precise scanning, detailed reporting, and actionable insights into vulnerabilities. It provides straightforward tools for quick resolutions. Fortify Application Defender is noted for its robust integration, extensive application protection, and broad feature set catering to complex environments.

Room for Improvement: Acunetix users recommend enhancing customization options and increasing adaptability to meet specialized needs. Fortify Application Defender users see a need for a more streamlined update mechanism and improved user experience during updates. Both tools identify areas that could benefit from further refinement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Acunetix receives commendation for quick setup and responsive customer service, crucial for immediate protection. Although Fortify Application Defender is effective after deployment, it requires detailed setup but maintains efficient customer support, satisfying users with comprehensive service.

Pricing and ROI: Acunetix provides competitive pricing that aligns with a fast return on investment, beneficial for cost-conscious buyers. Fortify Application Defender demands a higher initial investment but is valued for its long-term impact on security posture, appealing to those looking for sustained benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed Acunetix vs. Fortify Application Defender Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Acunetix vs. Fortify Application Defender

December 2025

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Helped 879,889 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

12th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (7th), Vulnerability Management (19th), DevSecOps (6th)

Fortify Application Defender

Ranking in Application Security Tools

24th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of Acunetix is 2.3%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortify Application Defender is 1.1%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Security Tools Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Acunetix	2.3%
Fortify Application Defender	1.1%
Other	96.6%

Application Security Tools

Featured Reviews

Rahul Kumar

Senior Engineer - Penetration Tester at a government with 10,001+ employees

Identifies vulnerabilities across bulk web applications but needs better support and cleaner reports

The best feature Acunetix offers is the centralized dashboard and the quality of reports it generates, which includes various options for selecting reports and developer options for directly sharing the reports with developers. The centralized dashboard of Acunetix gives visibility into the security aspects of mass applications; for instance, with more than 200 applications, it provides a valuable overview of findings and necessary fixes, along with a high-level summary that helps us achieve compliance through monthly and sometimes weekly scanning. In terms of reporting, Acunetix is excellent because it can generate different types of reports, such as an executive summary report, detailed reports, and developer reports that can be shared directly with developers. Acunetix positively impacts my organization by helping identify outdated libraries and applications, including legacy applications vulnerable to old attacks based on OWASP Top 10, thus aiding in compliance checks for PCI DSS and OWASP. Acunetix provides a centralized report with compliance-related aspects and a vulnerability timeline, effectively helping reduce vulnerabilities and save time.

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VinothSivam

CTO at Abcl

Useful for fast code review in devOps pipelines

I rate the tool's scalability a seven out of ten. However, I'm concerned about how it handles an increasing number of lines of code. As the complexity grows, so does the time it takes for the tool to review everything. I want more clarity on how Fortify Application Defender handles multiple threats. We have numerous endpoints, but the tool runs in our pipeline, meaning it operates in the cloud. All our code is configured there, and the tool runs integration testing, unit testing, user testing, and final production code tests. It's a day-to-day experience. It's utilized almost every day as part of our pipeline runs. Each team responsible for integration testing, human testing, user access testing, and preproduction testing runs it whenever they take a build.

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 centralized dashboard of Acunetix gives visibility into the security aspects of mass applications; for instance, with more than 200 applications, it provides a valuable overview of findings and necessary fixes, along with a high-level summary that helps us achieve compliance through monthly and sometimes weekly scanning."

"Acunetix has an awesome crawler. It gives a referral site map of near targets and also goes really deep to find all the inputs without issues. This was valuable because it helped me find some files or directories, like web admin panels without authentication, which were hidden."

"It generates automated reports."

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

"Their technical support has been very active. If I have an issue, I can reach out to them and get an answer pretty quick."

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

"By helping me patch vulnerabilities, Acunetix has led to measurable outcomes like time saved and fewer incidents."

"If an organization has 100 plus applications and wants to use an automated scanner, they should definitely go ahead with Acunetix because it is very cost-effective and will save time compared to focusing on other solutions and performing manual security assessments."

More Acunetix pros

"The most valuable feature is the ability to automatically feed it rules what it's coupled with the WebInspect dynamic application scanning technology."

"The solution helped us to improve the code quality of our organization."

"Fortify Application Defender's most valuable features are machine learning algorithms, real-time remediation, and automatic vulnerability notifications."

"Its ability to find security defects is valuable."

"We are able to provide out customers with a secure application after development. They are no longer left wondering if they are vulnerable to different threats within the market following deployment."

"The product saves us cost and time."

"The most valuable feature is that it analyzes data in real-time."

"The information from Fortify Application Defender on how to fix and solve issues is very good compared to other solutions."

More Fortify Application Defender pros

Cons

"The solution's pricing could be better."

"Acunetix needs to include agent analysis."

"Tools that would allow us to work more efficiently with the mobile environment, with Android and iOS."

"There is room for improvement in website authentication because I've seen other products that can do it much better."

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

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

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

"While we do have it integrated with other solutions, it could still offer more integrations."

More Acunetix cons

"The product should integrate industry-standard code review tools internally with its system. This would streamline the coding process, as developers wouldn't need multiple tools for code review and security checks. Many independent and open-source tools are available, from Apache to various libraries. Using multiple DevOps pipeline tools can slow the turnaround time."

"Fortify Application Defender gives a lot of false positives."

"The false positive rate should be lower."

"The solution could improve the time it takes to scan. When comparing it to SonarQube it does it in minutes while in Fortify Application Defender it can take hours."

"The biggest complaint that I have heard concerns additional platform support because right now, it only supports applications that are written in .NET and Java."

"Fortify Application Defender could improve by supporting more code languages, such as GRAAS and Groovy."

"I encountered many false positives for Python applications."

"The licensing can be a little complex."

More Fortify Application Defender cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The pricing and licensing are reasonable to a point. In order to run multiple scans at a time, we are going to have to purchase a 100 count license, which is an overkill. Though, compared to what we were paying for, the cost seems reasonable."

"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."

"The solution is expensive."

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

"The costs aren't very expensive. It costs around $3000 or $4000."

"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."

More Acunetix pricing and cost advice

"The licensing is very complex, it's project based and can range from $10,000 to $200,000+ depending on the project type and size."

"The base licensing costs for the SaaS platform is about $900 USD per application, per year."

"The price of this solution could be less expensive."

"The product’s price is much higher than other tools."

"Fortify Application Defender is very expensive."

"I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten. It comes as an annual cloud subscription. The tool's pricing is around 50 lakhs."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

University

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	16

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	8

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?

My main use case for Acunetix is using it as a web security and web vulnerability scanner. I use Acunetix in my day-to-day work to perform web vulnerability assessments for our web servers.

See all answers

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

I would rate Acunetix a 10 out of 10. I gave Acunetix a 10 because of its accuracy. My advice to others looking into using Acunetix is that it will be one of the best web vulnerability scanners, pr...

See all answers

What do you like most about Fortify Application Defender?

I find the configuration of rules in Fortify Application Defender useful. Its integration is also easy.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortify Application Defender?

The product should integrate industry-standard code review tools internally with its system. This would streamline the coding process, as developers wouldn't need multiple tools for code review and...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Fortify Application Defender?

We use the solution for fast code review. It is integrated into our DevOps pipeline.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

Invicti vs Acunetix

Compared 8% of the time

SonarQube vs Acunetix

Compared 5% of the time

HCL AppScan vs Acunetix

Compared 5% of the time

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Checkmarx One vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 16% of the time

SonarQube vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 10% of the time

Coverity Static vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 8% of the time

Klocwork vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 6% of the time

CAST Application Intelligence Platform vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 6% of the time

More Fortify Application Defender Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Acunetix

January 2026

Download Acunetix product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Security Tools

January 2026

Download Fortify Application Defender product report

Also Known As

AcuSensor

HPE Fortify Application Defender, Micro Focus Fortify Application Defender

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

Micro Focus Security Fortify Application Defender is a runtime application self-protection (RASP) solution that helps you manage and mitigate risk from homegrown or third-party applications. It provides centralized visibility into application use and abuse while protecting from software vulnerability exploits and other violations in real time.

OpenText

Sample Customers

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

ServiceMaster, Saltworks, SAP

Buyer's Guide

Acunetix vs. Fortify Application Defender

December 2025

Free Report: Acunetix vs. Fortify Application Defender

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