GitLab vs OWASP Zap comparison

GitLab and OWASP are both solutions in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category. GitLab is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.6, while OWASP is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0. GitLab holds a 2.4% mindshare in SAST, compared to OWASP’s 4.7% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of GitLab users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of OWASP users who would recommend it.

GitLab

Read 85 GitLab reviews

20,902 Views
3,135 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

OWASP Zap

Read 41 OWASP Zap reviews

9,644 Views
8,776 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

GitLab

OWASP Zap

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

OWASP Zap and GitLab compete in security testing and comprehensive DevOps solutions. GitLab has the upper hand with its extensive integrations, despite OWASP Zap's cost-effectiveness.

Features: OWASP Zap offers powerful security testing tools, open-source nature, and detailed reporting, while GitLab provides comprehensive DevOps capabilities, CI/CD pipelines, and a user-friendly interface.

Room for Improvement: OWASP Zap could enhance support and UI complexity, while GitLab can improve feature diversity and documentation for beginners.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GitLab provides seamless deployment and reliable commercial support, whereas OWASP Zap is easy to set up but relies on community support.

Pricing and ROI: OWASP Zap is cost-effective due to its open-source nature, offering excellent ROI for security-focused businesses. GitLab has higher upfront costs, but its integrated platform justifies long-term ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed GitLab vs. OWASP Zap Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

GitLab vs. OWASP Zap

July 2025

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Helped 864,053 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

GitLab

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

7th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (10th), Build Automation (1st), Release Automation (2nd), Rapid Application Development Software (11th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (5th), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (2nd), Fuzz Testing Tools (2nd), DevSecOps (1st)

OWASP Zap

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

11th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category, the mindshare of GitLab is 2.4%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OWASP Zap is 4.7%, up from 4.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

Featured Reviews

Rohit Kesharwani

Manager, Engineering at 7-Eleven

Improved agility and time to market with CI/CD enhancements

The CI/CD pipelines in GitLab ( /products/gitlab-reviews ) are highly valuable. Another important feature is the single source of repository, allowing efficient repository management and source code management. GitLab provides manageability by allowing us to manage source code effectively through separate repositories. Additionally, GitLab enables the creation of individual CI/CD pipelines for each repository, making software more agile. By integrating GitLab as a DevOps platform, we have enhanced agility, improved our time to market, and different teams can work collaboratively on various projects.

Read full review

Amit Beniwal

Project Manager at Al Hassan LLC

Simplifies vulnerability discovery and has high quality support

There are areas for improvement with OWASP Zap, particularly in the alignment of vulnerabilities concerning CVSS scores. Sometimes, a vulnerability initially categorized as high severity may be reduced to medium or low over time after security patches are applied. This alignment with the present severity score and CVSS score could be improved.

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 functionality of GitLab, for me, is the DevOps. Besides the normal source control based on Git, I find the Auto DevOps features most important in the solution."

"The most valuable feature of GitLab is the automatic merging of code."

"I have found the most valuable feature is security control. I also like the branching and cloning software."

"GitLab integrates well with other platforms."

"Key features allow creation of well-presented Wiki that includes ideas, development, and domains."

"The solution's most valuable features are pipelines."

"The initial setup of GitLab is pretty simple, with no complications."

"I like that you can use GitLab as a double-sided solution for both DevOps and version management. It's a good product for working in these two areas, and the user interface makes it easy to understand."

More GitLab pros

"The ZAP scan and code crawler are valuable features."

"It scans while you navigate, then you can save the requests performed and work with them later."

"You can run it against multiple targets."

"OWASP Zap is straightforward to use. If someone doesn't have the budget for tools like Burp Suite, OWASP Zap is an excellent alternative."

"OWASP is quite matured in identifying the vulnerabilities."

"The HUD is a good feature that provides on-site testing and saves a lot of time."

"It can be used effectively for internal auditing."

"The community edition updates services regularly. They add new vulnerabilities into the scanning list."

More OWASP Zap pros

Cons

"There are missing search features, particularly when searching repositories or applying filters. Additionally, I have encountered issues with the deployment of CI/CD pipelines, especially dealing with variable environments."

"I would like more Agile features in the Premium version. The Premium version should have all Agile features that exist in the Ultimate version. IBM AOM has a complete Agile implementation, but in GitLab, you only have these features if you buy the Ultimate version. It would be good if we can use these in the Premium version."

"I'm new to GitLab, so I would appreciate more documentation about the code and commands."

"We do face issues in our company when we run out of disk space."

"GitLab can improve its user interface to make conflict resolution more user-friendly."

"GitLab could consider introducing a code-scanning tool. Purchasing such tools from external markets can incur charges, which might not be favorable. Integrating these features into GitLab would streamline the pipeline and make it more convenient for users."

"It could have more security integrations and the ability to check the vulnerability of the code. I don't think it is a responsibility of Gitlab, but it would be nice to have more options to integrate with."

More GitLab cons

"There isn't too much information about it online."

"It needs more robust reporting tools."

"The port scanner is a little too slow."

"The ability to search the internet for other use cases and to use the solution to make applications more secure should be addressed."

"It would be ideal if I could try some pre-built deployment scenarios so that I don't have to worry about whether the configuration sector team is doing it right or wrong. That would be very helpful."

"It doesn't run on absolutely every operating system."

"I would like to see a version of “repeater” within OWASP ZAP, a tool capable of sending from one to 1000 of the same requests, but with preselected modified fields, changing from a predetermined word list, or manually created."

"The solution is unable to customize reports."

More OWASP Zap cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I'm not sure if they have some kind of discount. I've been negotiating with them on prices before, and I believe they weren't too happy to give discounts, but list prices are $19 per user, per month for Premium and $99 per user, per month for Ultimate. So, the difference between Premium and Ultimate is a bit bigger, and in most companies, you need to build some type of business case."

"The solution's standard license is paid annually. They have changed the pricing model and it used to be better. There is a free version available."

"The open-source version is very good and the commercial version is reasonably priced."

"My company uses the free version of GitLab, which is GitLab Community Edition. There is a licensed version also available for GitLab."

"The initial setup cost is excellent and you can add the premium features later."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the pricing a five out of ten."

"We are using the free version of GitLab."

"The solution's pricing is acceptable."

More GitLab pricing and cost advice

"The tool is open-source."

"This solution is open source and free."

"It's free and open, currently under the Apache 2 license. If ZAP does what you need it to do, selling a free solution is a very easy."

"This is an open-source solution and can be used free of charge."

"The tool is open source."

"OWASP Zap is free to use."

"The solution’s pricing is high."

"As Zap is free and open-source, with tons of features similar to those of commercial solutions, I would definitely recommend trying it out."

More OWASP Zap pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about GitLab?

I find the features and version control history to be most valuable for our development workflow. These aspects provide us with a clear view of changes and help us manage requests efficiently.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitLab?

The pricing and cost are on par with other tools and are neither too expensive nor cheap.

See all answers

What needs improvement with GitLab?

Regarding improvements, making task management is something that GitLab can potentially make easier, similar to what DevOps or Jira does.

See all answers

Is OWASP Zap better than PortSwigger Burp Suite Pro?

OWASP Zap and PortSwigger Burp Suite Pro have many similar features. OWASP Zap has web application scanning available with basic security vulnerabilities while Burp Suite Pro has it available with ...

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What do you like most about OWASP Zap?

The best feature is the Zap HUD (Heads Up Display) because the customers can use the website normally. If we scan websites with automatic scanning, and the website has a web application firewall, i...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OWASP Zap?

OWASP might be cost-effective, however, people prefer to use the free edition available as open source.

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs GitLab

Compared 29% of the time

GitHub CoPilot vs GitLab

Compared 15% of the time

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs GitLab

Compared 5% of the time

TeamCity vs GitLab

Compared 5% of the time

Tekton vs GitLab

Compared 5% of the time

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SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs OWASP Zap

Compared 18% of the time

Acunetix vs OWASP Zap

Compared 15% of the time

Checkmarx One vs OWASP Zap

Compared 11% of the time

Qualys Web Application Scanning vs OWASP Zap

Compared 9% of the time

Rapid7 AppSpider vs OWASP Zap

Compared 1% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GitLab

July 2025

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Buyer's Guide

OWASP Zap

July 2025

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Also Known As

Fuzzit

No data available

Overview

GitLab offers a secure and user-friendly platform for CI/CD pipeline management, code repository control, and collaboration, enhancing development speed and efficiency. It facilitates automation with extensive customization and tool integration, ideal for DevOps processes.

GitLab supports source code management, version control, and collaborative development. It's frequently used in CI/CD processes to automate builds and deployments while integrating DevOps practices. GitLab allows companies to manage repositories, automate pipelines, conduct code reviews, and maintain development lifecycles. The platform supports infrastructure and configuration management, enabling efficient code collaboration, deployment automation, and comprehensive repository handling. Many organizations commit and deploy developed code using GitLab's capabilities.

What are GitLab's most valuable features?

CI/CD Pipeline Management: Streamlines development through automated testing and deployment.
User-Friendly Interface: Ensures ease of collaboration and task automation.
Code Merging and Branching: Facilitates smooth code integration and version control.
Security Platform: Provides strong security features for safe development.
Tool Integration: Enhances functionality with diverse tool integration.

What benefits should users evaluate?

Development Speed: Accelerates processes through automation.
Collaboration Ease: Simplifies team interactions and workflow.
Customization Options: Offers extensive personalization for specific needs.
Comprehensive Documentation: Provides detailed guidance for users.
Secure Platform: Maintains integrity with robust security features.

In specific industries, GitLab serves as a backbone for source code management and CI/CD implementation. Companies leverage its capabilities for infrastructure management and deployment automation, thus streamlining project delivery timelines. Its ability to handle configuration management and code repositories effectively aids in maintaining development lifecycles, making it a preferred choice for organizations committed to enhancing their DevOps practices.

GitLab

OWASP Zap is a free and open-source web application security scanner.

The solution helps developers identify vulnerabilities in their web applications by actively scanning for common security issues.

With its user-friendly interface and powerful features, Zap is a popular choice among developers for ensuring the security of their web applications.

OWASP

Sample Customers

1. NASA 2. IBM 3. Sony 4. Alibaba 5. CERN 6. Siemens 7. Volkswagen 8. ING 9. Ticketmaster 10. SpaceX 11. Adobe 12. Intuit 13. Autodesk 14. Rakuten 15. Unity Technologies 16. Pandora 17. Electronic Arts 18. Nordstrom 19. Verizon 20. Comcast 21. Philips 22. Deutsche Telekom 23. Orange 24. Fujitsu 25. Ericsson 26. Nokia 27. General Electric 28. Cisco 29. Accenture 30. Deloitte 31. PwC 32. KPMG

1. Google 2. Microsoft 3. IBM 4. Amazon 5. Facebook 6. Twitter 7. LinkedIn 8. Netflix 9. Adobe 10. PayPal 11. Salesforce 12. Cisco 13. Oracle 14. Intel 15. HP 16. Dell 17. VMware 18. Symantec 19. McAfee 20. Citrix 21. Red Hat 22. Juniper Networks 23. SAP 24. Accenture 25. Deloitte 26. Ernst & Young 27. PwC 28. KPMG 29. Capgemini 30. Infosys 31. Wipro 32. TCS

Buyer's Guide

GitLab vs. OWASP Zap

July 2025

Free Report: GitLab vs. OWASP Zap

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