HCL AppScan vs Harness comparison

Harness and HCLSoftware are both solutions in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category. Harness is ranked #18 with an average rating of 8.0, while HCLSoftware is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.3. Harness holds a 0.4% mindshare in SAST, compared to HCLSoftware ’s 2.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Harness users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of HCLSoftware users who would recommend it.

Harness

Read 5 Harness reviews

2,388 Views
334 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

HCL AppScan

Read 43 HCL AppScan reviews

4,377 Views
3,502 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Harness

HCL AppScan

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Harness and HCL AppScan based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Static Application Security Testing (SAST) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed HCL AppScan vs. Harness Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan vs. Harness

September 2025

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Helped 869,566 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

Harness

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

18th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Build Automation (7th), Cloud Cost Management (8th)

HCL AppScan

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

14th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (15th), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category, the mindshare of Harness is 0.4%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HCL AppScan is 2.5%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
HCL AppScan	2.5%
Harness	0.4%
Other	97.1%

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

Featured Reviews

Linwei Yuan

Software Engineer at Citi

Streamline microservices deployment with integrated execution pipelines and comprehensive monitoring

Harness integrates all functions like execution pipelines, environment checks, and log monitoring in one place. It is very convenient since we have many microservices, so having one platform for all of them is beneficial. The dashboard allows me to monitor all core services' deployment status in one place, making it easier to find bugs and check logs.

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Gladwin Christian

QA manager at SmartStream Technologies ltd.

A useful tool to scan applications that can be easily installed

Given that we have been using HCL AppScan for many years, I think the setup process is not difficult at all. Sometimes, some issues stop or prevent my company from moving forward with the product's setup phase. We have to call HCL's support team and engage in long discussions to smoothly carry out the setup phase. In general, the product's setup phase is not difficult in our company. The solution is deployed on an on-premises model. The licenses for the solution are available only on cloud deployments nowadays. The solution is already installed in our environment. Every time a new release or software comes out from HCL, our company does a scan, which takes maybe a day or two.

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

"Harness integrates all functions like execution pipelines, environment checks, and log monitoring in one place, making it convenient."

"The features of Harness are valuable, supporting rolling deployments, basic deployments, and blue-green deployments with zero downtime."

"Harness starts integrating with organizations, making everything automated without the need for manual interruption."

"It's a highly customizable DevOps tool."

"Harness integrates all functions like execution pipelines, environment checks, and log monitoring in one place."

"Everything in Harness is configured and runs smoothly."

"The platform has valuable security features, helping us identify sensitive code issues and the possibility of internal applications' exposure to external threats."

"It was easy to set up."

"The static scans are good, and the SaaS as well."

"IBM AppScan has made our work easy, as we can do four to five scans of websites at a time, which saves time when it comes to vulnerability."

"It's generally a very user-friendly tool. Anyone can easily learn how to scan"

"The product has valuable features for static and dynamic testing."

"It has certainly helped us find vulnerabilities in our software, so this is priceless in the end."

"It highlights, with several grades of severity, the types of vulnerabilities, so we can focus on the most severe security vulnerabilities in the code."

More HCL AppScan pros

Cons

"When integrating Harness with more than twenty applications in one place, it becomes less stable, causing improvements to be necessary."

"There's also room for improvement in debugging pipeline issues, which can sometimes become complex."

"Harness setup and configurations could be made easier to configure, which would be helpful."

"Even with automation, there's a requirement for manual change requests for approvals."

"I prefer the previous less compact UI version of Harness, which showed more details on the screen."

"When deploying multiple components to multiple environments, like production and BCP, failures sometimes occur. Improvements are needed when deploying one component to one environment."

"The dashboard, for AppScan or the Fortified fast tool, which we use needs to be improved."

"The databases for HCL are small and have room for improvement."

"There is not a central management for static and dynamic."

"They should have a better UI for dashboards."

"Scans become slow on large websites."

"AppScan needs to improve its handling of false positives."

"Many silly false positives are produced."

"AppScan needs to improve its handling of false positives."

More HCL AppScan cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The solution is moderately priced."

"I rate the product's price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is low, and ten is high. HCL AppScan is an expensive tool."

"The price of HCL AppScan is okay, in my opinion. You just buy HCL AppScan and don't pay anything anymore, meaning it is just a one-time purchase."

"The tool was expensive."

"I would rate the product's pricing a nine out of ten. The product's pricing is expensive compared to the features that they offer."

"HCL AppScan is expensive."

"The product is moderately priced, though it's an investment due to extensive code analysis needs."

"The solution is cheap."

More HCL AppScan pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

30%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	31

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Harness?

It's a highly customizable DevOps tool.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Harness?

Harness setup and configurations could be made easier to configure, which would be helpful.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Harness?

In Harness, we are basically using Canary type deployments. We have applications, web applications, and web servers. Whenever we get the WAR file with 50 servers in a load balancer, Harness will de...

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What do you like most about HCL AppScan?

The most valuable feature of HCL AppScan is its integration with the SDLC, particularly during the coding phase.

See all answers

What needs improvement with HCL AppScan?

AppScan needs to improve its handling of false positives. It also requires enhancements in customer support, similar to what Veracode provides. Regularly scheduling calls with clients to discuss fe...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for HCL AppScan?

The primary use case for AppScan is for security purposes. I compare AppScan with other tools such as Veracode. We use AppScan for vulnerability detection and auto-remediation of vulnerabilities wi...

See all answers

Comparisons

GitHub Actions vs Harness

Compared 19% of the time

Jenkins vs Harness

Compared 15% of the time

TeamCity vs Harness

Compared 10% of the time

GitLab vs Harness

Compared 9% of the time

Tekton vs Harness

Compared 9% of the time

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Acunetix vs HCL AppScan

Compared 12% of the time

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs HCL AppScan

Compared 11% of the time

Veracode vs HCL AppScan

Compared 11% of the time

OWASP Zap vs HCL AppScan

Compared 8% of the time

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs HCL AppScan

Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Build Automation

September 2025

Download Harness product report

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan

September 2025

Download HCL AppScan product report

Also Known As

Armory

IBM Security AppScan, Rational AppScan, AppScan

Overview

Harness offers a comprehensive toolset for automating deployment processes and enhancing software update efficiency. It's lauded for its CI/CD capabilities, feature flagging, and real-time deployment monitoring. Key features include an intuitive UI, secret management, and robust rollback functionalities, all contributing to improved productivity and reduced errors in DevOps environments.

Harness

IBM Security AppScan enhances web application security and mobile application security, improves application security program management and strengthens regulatory compliance. By scanning your web and mobile applications prior to deployment, AppScan enables you to identify security vulnerabilities and generate reports and fix recommendations.

HCLSoftware

Sample Customers

Linedata, Openbank, Home Depot, Advanced

Essex Technology Group Inc., Cisco, West Virginia University, APIS IT

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan vs. Harness

September 2025

Free Report: HCL AppScan vs. Harness

Find out what your peers are saying about HCL AppScan vs. Harness and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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