HCL AppScan vs Ixia BreakingPoint comparison

HCLSoftware and Keysight Technologies are both solutions in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category. HCLSoftware is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.3, while Keysight Technologies is ranked #34. HCLSoftware holds a 2.5% mindshare in SAST, compared to Keysight Technologies’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of HCLSoftware users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Keysight Technologies users who would recommend it.

HCL AppScan

Read 43 HCL AppScan reviews

4,377 Views
3,502 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Ixia BreakingPoint

Read 8 Ixia BreakingPoint reviews

813 Views
715 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

HCL AppScan

Ixia BreakingPoint

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

HCL AppScan and Ixia BreakingPoint are leading tools in their respective fields of cybersecurity and network testing. While HCL AppScan is praised for its cost and support, Ixia BreakingPoint is regarded as strong in features, justifying its higher expense.

Features: HCL AppScan offers comprehensive vulnerability assessments, providing detailed insights that boost security. Ixia BreakingPoint focuses on simulating real-world conditions, delivering a wide testing environment. Its threat simulation features are noted as advanced in comparison.

Room for Improvement: HCL AppScan could enhance integration with other tools, as some users find it challenging to operate seamlessly. Ixia BreakingPoint users see room for better documentation to fully understand its capabilities, though its complex features still stand out.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: HCL AppScan is easy to deploy and supported by responsive customer service. Ixia BreakingPoint, while also straightforward to set up, gets mixed feedback on its customer service, which is described as competent but in need of improvement.

Pricing and ROI: HCL AppScan is recognized for being cost-effective with a positive ROI according to users. Ixia BreakingPoint, despite a higher initial cost, is still seen to deliver strong ROI attributed to its advanced features, which many see as worth the premium.

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

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan vs. Ixia BreakingPoint

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

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)

Ixia BreakingPoint

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

34th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category, the mindshare of HCL AppScan is 2.5%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ixia BreakingPoint is 0.4%, up from 0.2% 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%
Ixia BreakingPoint	0.4%
Other	97.1%

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

Featured Reviews

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.

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Sai Prasad

Staff QA Engineer at Virsec

Works better for testing traffic, mix profile, and enrollment scenarios than other solutions

Once, when I raised a ticket regarding a hardware or software issue, the solution's support team visited our company to discuss and find out ways to solve the problem. Sometimes, they asked us to send several photos from the back and front end to identify the issue. It was time-consuming as we were occupied with some other testing simultaneously. Instead, it would have been great if they could have visited our company and rectified the problem.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"This solution saves us time due to the low number of false positives detected."

"We use it as a security testing application."

"The solution is easy to install. I would rate the product's setup between six to seven out of ten. The deployment time depends on the applications that need to be scanned. We have a development and operations team to take care of the product's maintenance."

"The reporting part is the most valuable feature."

"We leverage it as a quality check against code."

"We are now deploying less defects to production."

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

"There's extensive functionality with custom rules and a custom knowledge base."

More HCL AppScan pros

"The DDoS testing module is useful and quick to use."

"There is a virtual version of the product which is scaled to 100s of virtual testing blades."

"I like that we can test cloud applications."

"The solution has many protocols and options, making it very flexible."

"We use Ixia BreakingPoint for Layer 7 traffic generation. That's what we like."

"The most valuable feature of Ixia BreakingPoint is the ransomware and malware database for simulated attacks."

"It is a scalable solution."

Cons

"It's a little bit basic when you talk about the Web Services. If AppScan improved its maturity on Web Services testing, that would be good."

"I would love to see more containers. Many of the tools are great, they require an amount of configuration, setup and infrastructure. If most the applications were in a container, I think everything would be a little bit faster, because all our clients are now using containers."

"One thing which I think can be improved is the CI/CD Integration"

"They could add a software component analysis tool."

"Scans become slow on large websites."

"The product has some technical limitations."

"We would like to integrate with some of the other reporting tools that we're planning to use in the future."

"The penetration testing feature should be included."

More HCL AppScan cons

"The solution originally was hard to configure; I'm not sure if they've updated this to make it simpler, but if not, it's something that could be streamlined."

"The price could be better."

"The quality of the traffic generation could be improved with Ixia BreakingPoint, i.e. to get closer to being accurate in what a real user will do."

"I would appreciate some preconfigured network neighborhoods, which are predefined settings for testing networks."

"The integration could improve in Ixia BreakingPoint."

"The production traffic simulations are not realistic enough for some types of DDoS attacks."

"They should improve UI mode packages for the users."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is moderately priced."

"The solution is cheap."

"Pricing was the main reason that we went ahead with this solution as they were the lowest in the market."

"The tool was expensive."

"AppScan is a little bit expensive. IBM needs to work a little bit on the pricing model, decreasing the license cost."

"With the features, that they offer, and the support, they offer, AppScan pricing is on a higher level."

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

More HCL AppScan pricing and cost advice

"The price of the solution is expensive."

"The solution is expensive."

"The price is high. We pay for the license monthly."

"or us, the pricing is somewhere around $12,000 a year. I'm unsure as to what new licenses now cost."

"There is no differentiation in licenses for Breaking Point. For one license, you will get all the features. There is no complexity in that."

"We have a one year subscription license for $25,000 US Dollars."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

15%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

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...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan

September 2025

Download HCL AppScan product report

Buyer's Guide

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

September 2025

Download Ixia BreakingPoint product report

Also Known As

IBM Security AppScan, Rational AppScan, AppScan

No data available

Overview

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

By simulating real-world legitimate traffic, distributed denial of service (DDoS), exploits, malware, and fuzzing, BreakingPoint validates an organization’s security infrastructure, reduces the risk of network degradation by almost 80%, and increases attack readiness by nearly 70%.

Keysight Technologies

Sample Customers

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

Corsa Technology

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan vs. Ixia BreakingPoint

September 2025

Free Report: HCL AppScan vs. Ixia BreakingPoint

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