Fortify Application Defender vs GitHub comparison

Fortify Application Defender

Read 97 GitHub reviews

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2,094 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 19, 2025

GitHub and Fortify Application Defender compete in the domain of software development and application security. GitHub appears to have the upper hand in pricing and community collaboration, while Fortify Application Defender excels in security features.

Features: GitHub supports code management and collaboration through version control, branch management, and integration capabilities. The strong open-source community enhances project support. Fortify Application Defender emphasizes application security with features such as real-time security analysis, automatic vulnerability notifications, and machine learning algorithms that integrate seamlessly with security tools.

Room for Improvement: GitHub could improve deployment integration, security, and handling of large files, along with user-friendliness and project management. Fortify Application Defender needs to expand language support and address false positives, while simplifying licensing and reducing pricing complexity.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GitHub offers easy deployment across public, hybrid, and private clouds, supported by a robust community, though official customer service can improve. Fortify Application Defender typically deploys on-premises, providing periodic satisfaction with technical support.

Pricing and ROI: GitHub's pricing is attractive due to free options and cost-effective enterprise solutions, providing ROI through efficient code management. Fortify Application Defender is more expensive, with complex licensing, yet justifies its cost with a strong ROI for those prioritizing application security.

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

Fortify Application Defender vs. GitHub

December 2025

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Helped 879,853 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

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

GitHub

Ranking in Application Security Tools

4th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

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

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of Fortify Application Defender is 1.1%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GitHub is 1.1%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Security Tools Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
GitHub	1.1%
Fortify Application Defender	1.1%
Other	97.8%

Application Security Tools

Featured Reviews

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

Murathan OK

Software Development Manager at a media company with 10,001+ employees

CI/CD workflows have become streamlined and AI support has improved collaborative development

We are using GitHub because it is open-source software, which is the most valuable solution for us. The open source and community support are very good. We are always up-to-date with the community, and integration difficulty is very low. If you integrate any CI/CD solutions on GitHub, it's very easy. We started using GitHub about three months ago with AI integration. For our deployments, some developers can be very shy about asking for descriptions on their commits. We are using AI support for comments and deployment management, which is beautiful. We are not using the GitHub API for automating workflows in our projects. I give GitHub a five-star rating for the review capabilities. I also give GitHub five stars for integration with third-party applications. There is a lot of integration available on GitHub. If you want to integrate something, even if it could be integrated before GitHub, you can make your code and integrate your own in-house applications. It's a very easy and powerful aspect of GitHub.

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

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

"The most valuable features of Fortify Application Defender are the code packages that are default."

"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."

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

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

"Its ability to find security defects is valuable."

"The product saves us cost and time."

More Fortify Application Defender pros

"I use this solution to store my code in a repository so we can manage version control which is useful."

"Any complex banking can be handled very easily in GitHub. It allows us to integrate with tools like Grid, where we can merge and resolve conflicts without any hassle."

"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."

"This product is very good for storing and versioning code."

"The code versioning is excellent, and having a detailed log, including every change made to the code by every developer, is invaluable. It makes it so that if there is a bug or problem in the product channel, we can find exactly where it happened and how to fix it."

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

"I did not have any issues with the stability of Github. It worked seamlessly."

"It provides Draft Pull Requests for review purposes without needing immediate merging and GitHub Actions for CI/CD implementation."

More GitHub pros

Cons

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

"I encountered many false positives for Python applications."

"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 licensing can be a little complex."

"Support for older compilers/IDEs is lacking."

"The false positive rate should be lower."

"The solution is quite expensive."

"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."

More Fortify Application Defender cons

"The only thing I see missing in GitHub is that it isn't very user friendly for key personnel who don't have in-depth, technical knowledge. In Jira, there are many functions to upload our test cases, and in GitHub we can only do it manually. There are functions which can be used to upload different files, but that still requires some technical knowledge. A layman cannot do it."

"I am not so tied to Copilot, as I have been using Amp more in recent months."

"The ticketing system is not working."

"GitHub could add some more security features."

"I decided not to use GitHub but developed my tool because I found it more efficient. I'm familiar with my tools, making them easier to use. I like being able to customize them to fit my workflow and the way I think.. Software development is like a personal workshop, and I tailor my version control to match my approach."

"GitHub's issue management could be improved a little from an organization standpoint. It would be helpful to have the ability to organize a work board or a backlog more comprehensively. For organizations migrating to GitHub from arbitrary systems, it's a little bit of a headache to move on to that system."

"I would like a more graphical, user-friendly UI, to avoid writing so much code on cmd."

"We would like this solution to have a more user-friendly interface."

More GitHub cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

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

"Fortify Application Defender is very expensive."

"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 price of this solution could be less expensive."

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

"GitHub is a cost-effective solution."

"The licensing model from GitHub is very clear."

"GitHub is an open-source application. It's free to use."

"The private repositories are free, which is very good."

"If there are only 10 people using a particular repository, then GitHub is free. But if we increase the number of users, we need to pay the normal charge for GitHub."

"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."

"I think, in terms of price, GitHub is okay compared to other tools."

"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.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	42
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	49

Questions from the Community

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.

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...

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.

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?

I was paying approximately one hundred dollars annually about a year ago. I am uncertain of the current cost, but GitHub without Copilot is free as far as I know. I am not paying anything for my Gi...

What needs improvement with GitHub?

Security could make GitHub better. OWASP Top Ten security advisors could be integrated on GitHub, and it could provide checks and advice. That would be much better. Additionally, LLM integration on...

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Product Reports

Application Security Tools

January 2026

Download Fortify Application Defender product report

Download GitHub product report

December 2025

Also Known As

HPE Fortify Application Defender, Micro Focus Fortify Application Defender

No data available

Overview

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

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

ServiceMaster, Saltworks, SAP

Dominion Enterprises, NASA, Braintree, SAP, CyberAgent