HCL AppScan vs OWASP Zap comparison

HCLSoftware and OWASP are both solutions in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category. HCLSoftware is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.3, while OWASP is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0. HCLSoftware holds a 2.5% mindshare in SAST, compared to OWASP’s 4.6% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of HCLSoftware users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of OWASP users who would recommend it.

HCL AppScan

Read 43 HCL AppScan reviews

4,583 Views
3,666 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

OWASP Zap

Read 41 OWASP Zap reviews

8,461 Views
7,700 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

HCL AppScan

OWASP Zap

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

HCL AppScan and OWASP Zap are prominent competitors in the security testing landscape. HCL AppScan holds an advantage in terms of support and deployment, whereas OWASP Zap stands out for its cost-effectiveness and feature set.

Features: HCL AppScan provides comprehensive security testing with robust automation and a vast vulnerability database, making it suitable for complex environments. It also supports extensive reporting capabilities. OWASP Zap offers essential security testing features focused on user-friendliness and dynamic analysis tools, promoting accessibility and flexibility for smaller teams.

Room for Improvement: HCL AppScan could enhance its tool integration capabilities and improve the depth of its reporting features. Additionally, users suggest better support for continuous integration processes. OWASP Zap could improve in scalability and the depth of its vulnerability analysis. Enhancing its user interface and providing more detailed documentation are also areas for OWASP Zap to focus on.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: HCL AppScan is known for quick deployment and reliable customer service, fitting enterprise environments well. The enterprise-grade support ensures businesses can integrate it smoothly into existing systems. OWASP Zap, on the other hand, is appreciated for its ease of initial setup, suitable for smaller teams, though customer support is more limited compared to HCL AppScan.

Pricing and ROI: HCL AppScan users note a high initial setup cost but recognize the ROI provided through extensive features and security insights. OWASP Zap offers a free open-source model, delivering significant ROI for budget-conscious teams thanks to its cost-effective nature without additional expenses, making it a popular choice for those with limited budgets.

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

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan vs. OWASP Zap

September 2025

Download the complete report

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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)

15th

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)

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 September 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 OWASP Zap is 4.6%, up from 4.6% 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 (%)
OWASP Zap	4.6%
HCL AppScan	2.5%
Other	92.9%

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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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

"Usually when we deploy the application, there is a process for ethical hacking. The main benefit is that, the ethical hacking is almost clean, every time. So it's less cost, less effort, less time to production."

"AppScan's most valuable features include its ability to identify vulnerabilities accurately, provide detailed remediation steps, and the newly introduced AI-powered features that enhance its functionality further."

"We are now deploying less defects to production."

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

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

"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution...The initial setup or installation of HCL AppScan is easy."

"The solution offers services in a few specific development languages."

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

More HCL AppScan pros

"It updates repositories and libraries quickly."

"The vulnerabilities that it finds, because the primary goal is to secure applications and websites."

"You can run it against multiple targets."

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

"The solution is scalable."

"OWASP is quite matured in identifying the vulnerabilities."

"OWASP Zap is a good tool, one of my favorites for a long time, and I would recommend it."

"The product helps users to scan and fix vulnerabilities in the pipeline."

More OWASP Zap pros

Cons

"The product has some technical limitations."

"Sometimes it doesn't work so well."

"I think being able to search across more containers, especially some of the docker elements. We need a little tighter integration there. That's the only thing I can see at this point."

"They could incorporate AI to enhance vulnerability detection and improve the product's reporting capabilities."

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

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

"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"

More HCL AppScan cons

"The solution is somewhat unreliable because after we get the finding, we have to manually verify each of its findings to see whether it's a false positive or a true finding, and it takes time."

"It would be beneficial to enhance the algorithm to provide better summaries of automatic scanning results."

"It would be nice to have a solid SQL injection engine built into Zap."

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

"Too many false positives; test reports could be improved."

"The documentation needs to be improved because I had to learn everything from watching YouTube videos."

"For scalability, I would rate OWASP Zap between four to five out of ten."

"Lacks resources where users can internally access a learning module from the tool."

More OWASP Zap cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"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."

"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."

"The product has premium pricing and could be more competitive."

"The tool was expensive."

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

More HCL AppScan pricing and cost advice

"OWASP ZAP is a free tool provided by OWASP’s engineers and experts. There is an option to donate."

"It's free. It's good for us because we don't know what the extent of our use will be yet. It's good to start with something free and easy to use."

"It is highly recommended as it is an open source tool."

"It is open source, and we can scan freely."

"This app is completely free and open source. So there is no question about any pricing."

"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."

"The tool is open-source."

"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

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

University

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	10
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	21

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...

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 ...

See all answers

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

Acunetix vs HCL AppScan

Compared 12% of the time

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs HCL AppScan

Compared 12% of the time

Veracode vs HCL AppScan

Compared 11% of the time

Checkmarx One vs HCL AppScan

Compared 7% of the time

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs HCL AppScan

Compared 7% of the time

More HCL AppScan Competitors

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs OWASP Zap

Compared 19% of the time

Acunetix vs OWASP Zap

Compared 14% 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

OpenText Core Application Security vs OWASP Zap

Compared 4% of the time

More OWASP Zap Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan

September 2025

Download HCL AppScan product report

Buyer's Guide

OWASP Zap

August 2025

Download OWASP Zap 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

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

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

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

HCL AppScan vs. OWASP Zap

September 2025

Free Report: HCL AppScan vs. OWASP Zap

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