Cequence Security vs Contrast Security Assess comparison

Cequence Security and Contrast Security are both solutions in the Application Security Tools category. Cequence Security is ranked #21 with an average rating of 10.0, while Contrast Security is ranked #30. Cequence Security holds a 0.4% mindshare in AS, compared to Contrast Security’s 1.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cequence Security users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Contrast Security users who would recommend it.

Cequence Security

Read 1 Cequence Security review

1,243 Views
323 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Contrast Security Assess

Read 11 Contrast Security Assess reviews

1,722 Views
1,119 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cequence Security

Contrast Security Assess

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cequence Security and Contrast Security Assess based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about SonarSource Sàrl, Veracode, Checkmarx and others in Application Security Tools.

To learn more, read our detailed Application Security Tools Report (Updated: January 2026).

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Application Security Tools

January 2026

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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

Cequence Security

Ranking in Application Security Tools

21st

Average Rating

10.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Bot Management (8th), API Security (4th)

Contrast Security Assess

Ranking in Application Security Tools

30th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (28th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of Cequence Security is 0.4%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Contrast Security Assess is 1.1%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Security Tools Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cequence Security	0.4%
Contrast Security Assess	1.1%
Other	98.5%

Application Security Tools

Featured Reviews

reviewer2395431

Technology Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Detect and mitigate attacks with API protection

Compliance with standards like those in Europe often requires ensuring that APIs adhere to OAuth and other security protocols. Many organizations need to verify that their APIs meet these compliance requirements. We can include information about where an API was first recorded and create a detailed chart. Some competitors already offer this feature. It is simple to integrate. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

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reviewer1605099

Director of Threat and Vulnerability Management at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

We're gathering vulnerability data from multiple environments in real time, fundamentally changing how we identify issues in applications

The solution is very accurate in identifying vulnerabilities. In cases where we are performing application assessment using Contrast Assess, and also using legacy application security testing tools, Contrast successfully identifies the same vulnerabilities that the other tools have identified but it also identifies significantly more. In addition, it has visibility into application components that other testing methodologies are unaware of. Assess also provides the option of helping developers incorporate security elements while they're writing code. It depends on whether individual developers decide to utilize the information that's provided to them from the solution, but it definitely gives them visibility into more environments. It gives them an opportunity to remediate vulnerabilities well before production deployments.

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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

"It uses machine learning algorithms to detect attacks and manage API inventory."

"This has changed the way that developers are looking at usage of third-party libraries, upfront. It's changing our model of development and our culture of development to ensure that there is more thought being put into the usage of third-party libraries."

"I am impressed with the product's identification of alerts and vulnerabilities."

"The solution is very accurate in identifying vulnerabilities. In cases where we are performing application assessment using Contrast Assess, and also using legacy application security testing tools, Contrast successfully identifies the same vulnerabilities that the other tools have identified but it also identifies significantly more. In addition, it has visibility into application components that other testing methodologies are unaware of."

"When we access the application, it continuously monitors and detects vulnerabilities."

"No other tool does the runtime scanning like Contrast does. Other static analysis tools do static scanning, but Contrast is runtime analysis, when the routes are exercised. That's when the scan happens. This is a tool that has a very unique capability compared to other tools. That's what I like most about Contrast, that it's runtime."

"Assess has an excellent API interface to pull APIs."

"It is a stable solution...Contrast Security Assess is one of the first players in this market, so they have experience and customers, especially abroad. Overall, it's a good product."

"In our most critical applications, we have a deep dive in the code evaluation, which was something we usually did with periodic vulnerability assessments, code reviews, etc. Now, we have real time access to it. It's something that has greatly enhanced our code's quality. We have actually embedded a KPI in regards to the improvement of our code shell. For example, Contrast provides a baseline where libraries and the usability of the code are evaluated, and they produce a score. We always aim to improve that score. On a quarterly basis, we have added this to our KPIs."

More Contrast Security Assess pros

Cons

"It is expensive."

"Regarding the solution's OSS feature, the one drawback that we do have is that it does not have client-side support. We'll be missing identification of libraries like jQuery or JavaScript, and such, that are client-side."

"To instrument an agent, it has to be running on a type of application technology that the agent recognizes and understands. It's excellent when it works. If we're using an application that is using an unsupported technology, then we can't instrument it at all. We do use PHP and Contrast presently doesn't support that, although it's on their roadmap. My primary hurdle is that it doesn't support all of the technologies that we use."

"The solution needs to improve flexibility...The scalability of the product is a problem in the solution, especially from a commercial perspective."

"Personalization of the board and how to make it appealing to an organization is something that could be done on their end. The reports could be adaptable to the customer's preferences."

"The out-of-the-box reporting could be improved. We need to write our own APIs to make the reporting more robust."

"I would like to see them come up with more scanning rules."

"The setup of the solution is different for each application. That's the one thing that has been a challenge for us. The deployment itself is simple, but it's tough to automate because each application is different, so each installation process for Contrast is different."

"Contrast Security Assess covers a wide range of applications like .NET Framework, Java, PSP, Node.js, etc. But there are some like Ubuntu and the .NET Core which are not covered. They have it in their roadmap to have these agents. If they have that, we will have complete coverage."

More Contrast Security Assess cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"I like the per-application licensing model... We just license the app and we look at different vulnerabilities on that app and we remediate within the app. It's simpler."

"The product's pricing is low. I would rate it a two out of ten."

"For what it offers, it's a very reasonable cost. The way that it is priced is extremely straightforward. It works on the number of applications that you use, and you license a server. It is something that is extremely fair, because it doesn't take into consideration the number of requests, etc. It is only priced based on the number of onboarded applications. It suits our model as well, because we have huge traffic. Our number of applications is not that large, so the pricing works great for us."

"The solution is expensive."

"The good news is that the agent itself comes in two different forms: the unlicensed form and the licensed form. Unlicensed gives use of that software composition analysis for free. Thereafter, if you apply a license to that same agent, that's when the instrumentation takes hold. So one of my suggestions is to do what we're doing: Deploy the agent to as many applications as possible, with just the SCA feature turned on with no license applied, and then you can be more choosy and pick which teams will get the license applied."

"It's a tiered licensing model. The more you buy, as you cross certain quantity thresholds, the pricing changes. If you have a smaller environment, your licensing costs are going to be different than a larger environment... The licensing is primarily per application. An application can be as many agents as you need. If you've got 10 development servers and 20 production servers and 50 QA servers, all of those agents can be reporting as a single application that utilizes one license."

"You only get one license for an application. Ours are very big, monolithic applications with millions of lines of code. We were able to apply one license to one monolithic application, which is great. We are happy with the licensing. Pricing-wise, they are industry-standard, which is fine."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

12%

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

24%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	6

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cequence Security?

It is expensive.

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What is your primary use case for Cequence Security?

We use the solution to detect and mitigate attacks. It helps prevent them while also protecting APIs and effectively managing API inventory.

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What advice do you have for others considering Cequence Security?

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Security Tools

January 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Contrast Security Assess

January 2026

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Also Known As

Cequence ASP, Cequence Unified API Protection Platform

Contrast Assess

Overview

Cequence, a pioneer in API security and bot management, is the only solution that delivers Unified API Protection (UAP), uniting discovery, compliance, and protection across all internal, external, third-party APIs to defend organizations against attacks, business logic abuse, and fraud. Needing less than 15 minutes to onboard an API without requiring any instrumentation, SDK, or JavaScript integration, the flexible deployment model supports SaaS, on-premises, and hybrid installations. Cequence solutions scale to handle the most demanding government, Fortune and Global 500 organizations, securing more than 8 billion daily API interactions and protecting more than 3 billion user accounts.

Cequence Unified API Protection Platform

The Cequence Unified API Protection (UAP) platform enables security teams to manage through the entire API protection lifecycle that includes support for discover, comply, and protect stages that defend against attackers and eliminates unknown and unmitigated API security risks. The Cequence UAP platform provides three integral components, API Spyder, API Sentinel, and API Spartan that target every stage of the API protection lifecycle, ensuring that customers have one platform to address all their API security issues.

API Spyder (Discover)

Cequence UAP starts with first understanding your API attack surface through API Spyder which discovers your external APIs across managed and unmanaged API infrastructure. This allows security teams to ensure that unmanaged APIs are brought under management to confirm they do not have security risks and have the proper API protection enabled. Once deployed, API Spyder provides a continuous mechanism to surface unmanaged shadow APIs that are newly implemented by internal departments but never notify the security team of their existence.

API Sentinel (Comply)

API Sentinel, a security posture management product enables security teams and development teams to work collaboratively to directly address surfaced security issues within your runtime APIs that could potentially lead to an API exploit. It can discover whether your APIs conform to Open API specifications, adhere to security and governance best practices, and test your pre-production APIs for vulnerabilities. API Sentinel lays the groundwork to ensure that you are fully aware of the risks inherent in your API applications and enables you to remediate critical security issues before they are exploited by an attacker.

Spartan (Protect)

Finally, API Spartan offers real-time detection and mitigation of automated threats and attacks, including those that are API-specific. Spartan is powered by an ML-based analytics engine that can determine in real time if application transactions are from malicious or legitimate end users. It can mitigate a wide variety of cyberattacks that include online fraud, business logic attacks, exploits, automated bot activity, and OWASP API Security Top 10 attacks.

Cequence Security

Contrast Security is the world’s leading provider of security technology that enables software applications to protect themselves against cyberattacks, heralding the new era of self-protecting software. Contrast's patented deep security instrumentation is the breakthrough technology that enables highly accurate assessment and always-on protection of an entire application portfolio, without disruptive scanning or expensive security experts. Only Contrast has sensors that work actively inside applications to uncover vulnerabilities, prevent data breaches, and secure the entire enterprise from development, to operations, to production.

Contrast Security

Sample Customers

T-Mobile, Lbrands, Ulta Beauty

Williams-Sonoma, Autodesk, HUAWEI, Chromeriver, RingCentral, Demandware.

Buyer's Guide

Application Security Tools

January 2026

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