Contrast Security Assess vs GitHub comparison

Read 95 GitHub reviews

3,385 Views
2,065 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Contrast Security Assess

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 19, 2025

GitHub and Contrast Security Assess serve distinct purposes in the tech ecosystem with GitHub focusing on code hosting and collaboration, whereas Contrast Security Assess specializes in security vulnerability assessment. GitHub seems to have the upper hand in project management and collaboration, while Contrast Security Assess leads in robust security features.

Features: GitHub is valued for integrated version control, seamless collaboration tools, and its user-friendly interface. Contrast Security Assess provides real-time vulnerability detection, integration with CI/CD pipelines, and interactive application security testing.

Room for Improvement: GitHub could improve its built-in security features and perhaps streamline some aspects of DevOps integration. Users also desire enhanced code review functionalities. Contrast Security Assess could benefit from simplifying its deployment process and expanding its user onboarding experience. Customers also wish for a broader set of APIs to enhance integration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GitHub offers a straightforward deployment process and accessible customer service for all users, making repository creation and collaboration easy. Contrast Security Assess presents a complex installation due to specialized security integrations but offsets this with responsive support during setup.

Pricing and ROI: GitHub has a generally lower setup cost, presenting a favorable ROI, especially for collaborative coding environments. In contrast, Contrast Security Assess requires a higher initial investment due to specialized security features but provides significant ROI for organizations focused on security insights.

To learn more, read our detailed Contrast Security Assess vs. GitHub Report (Updated: September 2025).

Contrast Security Assess vs. GitHub

September 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 872,019 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

Contrast Security Assess

Ranking in Application Security Tools

26th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (27th)

GitHub

Ranking in Application Security Tools

5th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Version Control (3rd), Agile and DevOps Services (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of Contrast Security Assess is 0.8%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GitHub is 1.0%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Security Tools Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
GitHub	1.0%
Contrast Security Assess	0.8%
Other	98.2%

Application Security Tools

Featured Reviews

Mustufa Bhavnagarwala

CyberRisk Solution Advisor at Deloitte

A stable solution that provides lots of details on web-based vulnerabilities and source code reviews

Technical support for the solution should be faster. We have to further analyze what kind of CVEs are in the reported libraries and what part of the code is affected. That analysis can be added to the report that Contrast Security Assess gives. Further analysis should be done of the third-party libraries report that it gives. The solution should provide more details in the section where it shows that third-party libraries have CVEs or some vulnerabilities. The onboarding or the setup of Contrast Security Assess can get a little easier.

Read full review

Kamalanadha Reddy

Senior DevOps Engineer at Simplify3x Software Private Limited

Improved deployment pipeline visibility with generally good support

My primary use case involves working with GitHub for code management. I have extensive experience using it for various tasks, such as creating repositories, managing pull requests, and utilizing GitHub Actions for automating workflows GitHub contributes to efficient project management by…

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

"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."

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"The most valuable feature is the continuous monitoring aspect: the fact that we don't have to wait for scans to complete for the tool to identify vulnerabilities. They're automatically identified through developers' business-as-usual processes."

"We use the Contrast OSS feature that allows us to look at third-party, open-source software libraries, because it has a cool interface where you can look at all the different libraries. It has some really cool additional features where it gives us how many instances in which something has been used... It tells us it has been used 10 times out of 20 workloads, for example. Then we know for sure that OSS is being used."

More Contrast Security Assess pros

"The most valuable aspects of GitHub are version control and parallel development. I also appreciate the forking part, which allows us to release a specific set of features to the environment."

"I find the most valuable collaboration between our peers to be a seamless collaboration between our peers. We can connect and change our code, allowing us to be agile in our projects. Since we're talking about DevOps, we're using Jenkins in our pipeline. It helps speed up the process by automating the DevOps workflow."

"You can get the differences, history of changes, and version control for various pull requests."

"The most valuable features are GitHub Actions for triggering workflows, GitHub Secrets for saving credentials without needing a third-party service, and the UI for identifying errors in the code when we commit."

"It's beneficial for managing multiple tasks and controlling versions of your product."

"GitHub is a very good tool, and people should use it more than any other, even Bitbucket."

"The control is the most valuable feature as developers can work on a single code."

"You can write the code with AI. But when it comes to implementation, you must upgrade the bits of code that will support this and generate solutions based on that architecture. Then, you need comparable code bits. Therefore, AI can propose how much a specific function can be better optimized. So, AI can help stakeholders reach tasks quicker."

More GitHub pros

Cons

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

"The product's retesting part needs improvement. The tool also needs improvement in the suggestions provided for fixing vulnerabilities. It relies more on documentation rather than on quick fixes."

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

"Contrast's ability to support upgrades on the actual agents that get deployed is limited. Our environment is pretty much entirely Java. There are no updates associated with that. You have to actually download a new version of the .jar file and push that out to your servers where your app is hosted. That can be quite cumbersome from a change-management perspective."

"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."

More Contrast Security Assess cons

"GitHub could automate the setup process more, such as creating YAML files for GitHub Actions."

"Though I haven't done much research, GitHub lacks in providing more functions like GitLab."

"The user interface on GitLab is better."

"The initial setup requires heavy documentation which can be challenging for new developers."

"The documentation needs to be more concise and easier for developers to understand."

"GitHub storage is one of the main requirements and it could improve."

"The sign in process is a bit difficult. Signing up was challenging at that time."

"It is difficult to merge a code or restore it to an older version."

More GitHub cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"If I consider the market standards, the product's price is pocket-friendly."

"We pay a licensing fee for GitHub, which could be cheaper."

"The basic licensing model is free, and if you need to have technical support and such things, then it does cost something. You only need to pay extra if you need technical support."

"GitHub is a cost-effective solution."

"GitHub is an open-source product, but when using the free-to-use version, anyone can see the code we're working on."

"My company purchased it. Before, we used to receive the free version, but then they purchased some of the features."

"I use the free version of the tool."

"We have an enterprise licensing agreement, and I am not part of the finance department so I can't say how much it costs."

More GitHub pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Security Tools solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

872,019 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

24%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	42
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	48

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Contrast Security Assess?

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

What needs improvement with Contrast Security Assess?

What advice do you have for others considering Contrast Security Assess?

Contrast Security Assess is deployed on-cloud in our organization. I would recommend Contrast Security Assess to other users. It's a really good tool. It provides lots of details on web-based vulne...

What do you like most about GitHub?

The control is the most valuable feature as developers can work on a single code.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitHub?

GitHub is very stable for me with no performance issues.

What needs improvement with GitHub?

When working with the CI/CD pipeline and somebody is writing the workflow file, it would be best to include the AI feature so if they write incorrect code, it will notify me about it in the same da...

OpenText Dynamic Application Security Testing vs Contrast Security Assess

Comparisons

Compared 20% of the time

Seeker Interactive vs Contrast Security Assess

Compared 13% of the time

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs Contrast Security Assess

Compared 9% of the time

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs Contrast Security Assess

Compared 9% of the time

Qualys Web Application Scanning vs Contrast Security Assess

Compared 9% of the time

More Contrast Security Assess Competitors

Bitbucket vs GitHub

Compared 14% of the time

Snyk vs GitHub

Compared 9% of the time

OpenText Core Application Security vs GitHub

Compared 8% of the time

Atlassian SourceTree vs GitHub

Compared 7% of the time

Mend.io vs GitHub

Compared 6% of the time

More GitHub Competitors

Product Reports

Download Contrast Security Assess product report

Contrast Security Assess

October 2025

Download GitHub product report

October 2025

Also Known As

Contrast Assess

No data available

Overview

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

GitHub is a web-based Git repository hosting service. It offers all of the distributed revision control and source code management (SCM) functionality of Git as well as adding its own features. Unlike Git, which is strictly a command-line tool, GitHub provides a Web-based graphical interface and desktop as well as mobile integration. It also provides access control and several collaboration features such as bug tracking, feature requests, task management, and wikis for every project.

Sample Customers

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

Dominion Enterprises, NASA, Braintree, SAP, CyberAgent