Contrast Security Assess vs Sonatype Repository Firewall comparison

Contrast Security and Sonatype are both solutions in the Application Security Tools category. Contrast Security is ranked #26 with an average rating of 8.0, while Sonatype is ranked #28 with an average rating of 8.0. Contrast Security holds a 0.9% mindshare in AS, compared to Sonatype’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Contrast Security users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Sonatype users who would recommend it.

Contrast Security Assess

Read 11 Contrast Security Assess reviews

1,439 Views
921 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Sonatype Repository Firewall

Read 4 Sonatype Repository Firewall reviews

1,174 Views
681 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Contrast Security Assess

Sonatype Repository Firewall

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

Contrast Security Assess and Sonatype Repository Firewall are security tools in software management. Despite Contrast Security Assess's competitive pricing, Sonatype Repository Firewall is favored for its superior features among users.

Features: Contrast Security Assess offers comprehensive threat detection, competitive pricing, and ease of deployment. Sonatype Repository Firewall provides automated policy enforcement, integration with development workflows, and prevention of vulnerable components.

Room for Improvement: Contrast Security Assess can improve scalability, reduce alert fatigue, and enhance adaptability. Sonatype Repository Firewall faces challenges in configuration, reporting features, and user-friendliness during setup.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Contrast Security Assess has a straightforward deployment model and reliable customer support. Sonatype Repository Firewall has a steeper learning curve but offers robust customer service.

Pricing and ROI: Contrast Security Assess is praised for its competitive setup costs, leading to significant ROI. Sonatype Repository Firewall, although pricier, offers considerable long-term ROI by enhancing security effectively.

To learn more, read our detailed Contrast Security Assess vs. Sonatype Repository Firewall Report (Updated: November 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Contrast Security Assess vs. Sonatype Repository Firewall

November 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 873,808 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) (26th)

Sonatype Repository Firewall

Ranking in Application Security Tools

28th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (13th)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of Contrast Security Assess is 0.9%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sonatype Repository Firewall is 0.6%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Security Tools Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Contrast Security Assess	0.9%
Sonatype Repository Firewall	0.6%
Other	98.5%

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

Jay-Kim

CEO at VIVANS

Accurate database support blocks malicious code with excellent support

Many companies, including ours, use Nexus Repository due to concerns about malware and critical vulnerabilities. There should be a specific method to prevent malicious packages from entering the internal network, so our company uses Nexus Repository. We usually consider adding the firewall feature…

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

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

More Contrast Security Assess pros

"The firewall is the only solution that supports Nexus Repository."

"Another thing that I like about Sonatype is that if you download something today, and five days from today it becomes vulnerable, it will notify you."

"The customer service is fantastic."

"The product's network and intrusion protection features are valuable. It also has rules and compliance features for security."

Cons

"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 solution should provide more details in the section where it shows that third-party libraries have CVEs or some vulnerabilities."

"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 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."

"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."

"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."

More Contrast Security Assess cons

"What I don't like is the lack of an option to pick up the phone and call someone for support. That is something they need to improve on. They need to have a professional services package, or they need to include that option with their services."

"There are several features lacking in the current offering, particularly concerning container support and AI packages."

"There are several features lacking in the current offering, particularly concerning container support and AI packages, like humming phase support."

"The tool needs to improve its file systems. The product should also include zero test feature."

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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"The pricing is reasonable if you're a large enterprise developing code. It's not super-expensive."

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

873,808 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

24%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Financial Services Firm

22%

Insurance Company

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Contrast Security Assess?

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

See all answers

What needs improvement with Contrast Security Assess?

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sonatype Nexus Firewall?

Also, I consider it average. Some people might consider it expensive, however, since it supports many beautiful features, I would say it is worth it.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Sonatype Nexus Firewall?

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Sonatype Nexus Firewall?

I would give the solution eight out of ten. I would look at the comparison of Sonatype to some other firewalls. There is room for improvement, especially mentioning container support and AI packages.

See all answers

Comparisons

OpenText Dynamic Application Security Testing vs Contrast Security Assess

Compared 16% of the time

Seeker Interactive vs Contrast Security Assess

Compared 11% of the time

SonarQube vs Contrast Security Assess

Compared 8% of the time

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs Contrast Security Assess

Compared 7% of the time

Qualys Web Application Scanning vs Contrast Security Assess

Compared 6% of the time

More Contrast Security Assess Competitors

JFrog Xray vs Sonatype Repository Firewall

Compared 30% of the time

Black Duck SCA vs Sonatype Repository Firewall

Compared 12% of the time

Sonatype Lifecycle vs Sonatype Repository Firewall

Compared 10% of the time

Snyk vs Sonatype Repository Firewall

Compared 9% of the time

Veracode vs Sonatype Repository Firewall

Compared 8% of the time

More Sonatype Repository Firewall Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Contrast Security Assess

November 2025

Download Contrast Security Assess product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Security Tools

October 2025

Download Sonatype Repository Firewall product report

Also Known As

Contrast Assess

Sonatype Nexus Firewall, Nexus Firewall

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

Sonatype Repository Firewall is a cloud-based security solution designed to safeguard your software supply chain against malicious components. It operates by meticulously scanning and evaluating each new component against customized governance policies, thereby effectively identifying and blocking potential threats before they infiltrate your development pipeline. What sets Sonatype Repository Firewall apart is its user-friendly setup, seamless integration with existing workflows, and remarkable scalability, making it suitable for software development environments of any size. Key features include blocking malicious components through behavioral analysis, malware scanning, and vulnerability assessment, as well as the ability to enforce custom governance policies. By utilizing this tool, organizations can enhance their software supply chain security, mitigate risks related to supply chain attacks, bolster compliance with industry standards, and ultimately reduce costs associated with security incidents.

Sonatype

Sample Customers

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

EDF, Tomitribe, Crosskey, Blackboard, Travel audience

Buyer's Guide

Contrast Security Assess vs. Sonatype Repository Firewall

November 2025

Free Report: Contrast Security Assess vs. Sonatype Repository Firewall

Find out what your peers are saying about Contrast Security Assess vs. Sonatype Repository Firewall and other solutions. Updated: November 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

873,808 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Contrast Security Assess vs. Sonatype Repository Firewall report.

See our list of best Application Security Tools vendors.

We monitor all Application Security Tools reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.