HCL AppScan vs Rapid7 InsightAppSec comparison

Why PeerSpot?

HCLSoftware and Rapid7 are both solutions in the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) category. HCLSoftware is ranked #7 with an average rating of 7.0, while Rapid7 is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.5. HCLSoftware holds a 8.6% mindshare in DAST, compared to Rapid7’s 5.6% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of HCLSoftware users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Rapid7 users who would recommend it.

HCL AppScan

Read 44 HCL AppScan reviews

8,478 Views
2,289 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Read 21 Rapid7 InsightAppSec reviews

3,592 Views
1,688 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

HCL AppScan

Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

HCL AppScan and Rapid7 InsightAppSec compete in the security solutions category. HCL AppScan has a slight advantage due to its comprehensive security setup and development process integration.

Features: HCL AppScan integrates security into the development process, providing effective vulnerability detection features like XSS and SQL injection detection, and offers extensive language support. Rapid7 InsightAppSec is noted for its ease of use, dynamic scanning capabilities, and flexibility in scan scheduling.

Room for Improvement: HCL AppScan users report issues with false positives, usability complexity, and integration challenges with other tools. Rapid7 InsightAppSec users express concerns about report complexity, false positives, limited integrations, and high pricing.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: HCL AppScan offers on-premises deployment, with mixed experiences in technical support, particularly after the IBM transition. Rapid7 InsightAppSec supports both Hybrid and Public Cloud deployments, with a satisfactory support experience needing better regional resources.

Pricing and ROI: HCL AppScan is considered expensive but provides significant ROI by reducing vulnerabilities. Rapid7 InsightAppSec is cheaper, with flexible licensing. While Fair, customers see room for cost improvements.

To learn more, read our detailed HCL AppScan vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec

August 2026

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Helped 914,262 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 Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

7th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (23rd), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (20th)

Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Ranking in Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

AI Observability (23rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) category, the mindshare of HCL AppScan is 8.6%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rapid7 InsightAppSec is 5.6%, up from 5.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Rapid7 InsightAppSec	5.6%
HCL AppScan	8.6%
Other	85.8%

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

Featured Reviews

Ravi Khanchandani

Founder Director at Techsa Services

Has improved identification of encryption and authentication issues across cloud and on-prem applications

During the learning curve of onboarding HCL AppScan, we learned that HCL has altered the portfolio and now offers HCL AppScan 360, which has a much better look and feel with an improved user interface. However, there is one feature called SCA, which stands for Software Composition Analysis, that could be improved. When I'm doing an application scan, HCL AppScan has the ability to generate information about what components are in use. For example, if I'm scanning a web application, it shows me the various components being used. It tells me whether I have Java libraries, .NET frameworks, or other log management libraries such as Log4j, and what versions of those specific components are present. I would like to see more detailed reports from the tool. Currently, you can find out the components belonging to a specific software, but if detailed reporting became available, you would be in a better position to identify vulnerabilities. For instance, I could identify that I had the Log4j vulnerability and know that I need to fix my application accordingly. If they add the features I'm describing, I would consider giving them a higher rating. However, I've only been experienced with the product for three months.

Read full review

Brandi Lea

Regional Information Security Analyst, Lead at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

Rapid risk detection has transformed how I uncover hidden vulnerabilities in new applications

Rapid7 InsightAppSec offers excellent features including a cloud-based platform that allows for detailed breakdowns of information into more digestible bits. The platform is user-friendly with a broad range of tools, although it does require quite a bit of a learning curve. It allows me to aggregate data and put it into presentations to send to executives about the security status across the entire enterprise. My favorite aspect of the user-friendly interface of Rapid7 is the primary cloud-based dashboard, which I find most useful. I love that even inside a browser, the intuitive help options are available for figuring out what things are, whether it's hovering over a particular option for insights or using right-click features that offer tools and tips on managing the vulnerabilities when found. The interface is very clean, not overly convoluted or difficult to navigate, which I do enjoy. Rapid7 has positively impacted my organization by allowing me to discover vulnerabilities, both publicly known and zero-day, much faster and efficiently than I ever did in the past, ultimately saving the company a lot of money in compliance issues, fines, and possibly even lawsuits. The number of vulnerabilities I am discovering has improved by almost thirty seven percent in the last two years alone. Remediation especially has increased significantly because I am finding these vulnerabilities faster, and Rapid7 provides tips on how to remediate or harden against them, whether through hardening options or upgrading to better versions, which does save the company money.

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

"It's honestly one of the best products in the application security portfolio."

"Scalability, and it's a very powerful tool."

"The benefits are that we can find security vulnerabilities fast, get that back to development teams, and report on those so they can act, fix the issues, and we will have secure code in place."

"The solution is easy to use."

"Now we just send it to AppScan and we can do other stuff like defining processes or dealing with management issues."

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

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

"The reporting part is the most valuable feature."

More HCL AppScan pros

"You have various attack modules, and you also have the Attack Replay feature for the attack sequence. You can reproduce an attack and see it. That is a very good feature I noticed in this solution. It helps developers as well."

"The product’s most valuable feature is UI. It is easy to manage and find vulnerabilities in the application."

"The solution is stable."

"I rate stability ten out of ten."

"I would rate the technical support from Rapid7 a ten, indicating high-quality support."

"The automatic automation of the automated authorization to the SCANNET environment is valuable."

"It is very convenient to get reports from the tool, which offers high-level environmental statistics."

"Dynamic application security scanning provides predefined templates and supports customization. The ability to scan external and internal applications, including on-premises ones, is precious. Additionally, it is a cloud platform, so we don't need to deploy servers or resources. This makes it time-efficient and cost-effective."

More Rapid7 InsightAppSec pros

Cons

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

"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."

"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."

"Visibility is an issue for us. Our partners were not even aware that we had an integration with AppSense."

"Unfortunately, there is a big discussion if it is very expensive to use it or not, and there are competitors."

"AppScan is too complicated and should be made more user-friendly."

"They should have a better UI for dashboards."

"IBM Security AppScan Source is rather hard to use."

More HCL AppScan cons

"The reporting is definitely an aspect of the solution that's in need of some work."

"There is room for improvement in the response time of customer service and support levels."

"Scanning can be better. When you add new projects for the same product, it either duplicates or replaces the scan configuration."

"In the future, if they can have integration with a lot of ticketing systems then it would be amazing."

"The number of web applications we can scan is limited."

"Customers sometimes experience issues with performance."

"Rapid7 InsightAppSec needs improvement in detecting phishing pages."

"While Rapid7 MDR is getting better with each update or version, it needs to enhance its zero-day detection for anomalous things without relying on third-party solutions like Vericode."

More Rapid7 InsightAppSec cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is moderately priced."

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

"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."

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

"The price is very expensive."

"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."

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

More HCL AppScan pricing and cost advice

"They offer a good price, but I don't remember its cost. It is fair as compared to the competition. We have opted for project-based licensing, not user-based. We can add any number of users. That doesn't matter. It is worth the money."

"Rapid7 InsightAppSec is cheap."

"Its price is competitive. It is not expensive."

"I'm not sure how much it costs exactly, but I know it's expensive."

"The price of this product is very cheap."

"I rate Rapid7 InsightAppSec’s pricing an eight out of ten."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Outsourcing Company

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

13%

Construction Company

10%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	31

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	6

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with HCL AppScan?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for HCL AppScan?

I'm currently working with BigFix and HCL AppScan. At least three people in my company are using HCL AppScan. Since we are a reseller, we run it in both lab environments and live production applica...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HCL AppScan?

AppScan is considered more cost-effective than Veracode, although I have not updated the exact pricing details. Companies often choose based on budget constraints, with Veracode being on the higher...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Rapid7 InsightAppSec?

While Rapid7 InsightAppSec is getting better with each update or version, it needs to enhance its zero-day detection for anomalous things without relying on third-party solutions like Vericode. Hav...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Rapid7 InsightAppSec?

My main use case for Rapid7 is onboarding all new applications both built in house and third party acquired, where I run them through a sandbox environment and allow Rapid7 to conduct an initial sc...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Rapid7 InsightAppSec?

If you are looking for a solution that will help identify vulnerabilities and provide remediation tips for hardening your infrastructure, I think Rapid7 does an excellent job. While I do not know t...

See all answers

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

More Rapid7 InsightAppSec Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan

September 2026

Download HCL AppScan product report

Buyer's Guide

Rapid7 InsightAppSec

September 2026

Download Rapid7 InsightAppSec product report

Also Known As

IBM Security AppScan, Rational AppScan, AppScan

InsightAppSec

Overview

HCL AppScan offers quick vulnerability detection with effective SDLC integration and is known for its user-friendly interface and seamless security integration.

HCL AppScan provides dynamic and static scanning to identify vulnerabilities like XSS and SQL injection. It integrates well into CI/CD pipelines, supports multiple languages, and offers web and dynamic scanning, helping businesses ensure security across development lifecycles. Users benefit from API coverage, Postman integration, and its ability to function in cloud and on-premise environments, facilitating a shift from DevOps to DevSecOps practices.

What features define HCL AppScan?

User-friendly interface: Simplifies navigation and usage.
Vulnerability detection: Quickly identifies issues like XSS and SQL injection.
Integration with SDLC: Seamlessly blends with development processes.
Dynamic scanning: Offers comprehensive security evaluations.
Multiple language support: Supports diverse programming environments.

What benefits should users consider?

Scalability: Adapts to growing needs and projects.
Low false-positive rates: Delivers accurate and reliable results.
Detailed reporting: Provides comprehensive vulnerability insights.
Effective integration: Enhances CI/CD pipeline security.

HCL AppScan is leveraged in sectors requiring rigorous security checks, such as finance and healthcare, where it conducts comprehensive scans and offers insights into potential vulnerabilities. Its robust scanning capabilities aid companies in maintaining compliance and security standards.

HCLSoftware

Rapid7 InsightAppSec is a cloud-based security tool offering robust web scanning capabilities with a user-friendly interface and seamless integration. It enhances dynamic application security testing through customizable modules, providing comprehensive reports and remediation guidance.

InsightAppSec delivers dynamic application security testing with features like Attack Replay and a centralized dashboard for vulnerability insights. It supports flexible deployment options and simplifies scheduling frequent scans. The tool's intuitive graphical interface and extensive scanning coverage make it valuable for identifying vulnerabilities in web applications, APIs, and e-commerce sites, ensuring compliance. However, improvements are needed in detection accuracy, reporting options, and integrations with external tools like WAF and ticketing systems. There is a need for better scan management, support for mobile applications, customized reporting options, pricing flexibility, improved support, and AI integration.

What are the key features of InsightAppSec?

Seamless Integration: Easily integrates within SDLC for automated scans.
User-Friendly Interface: Offers an intuitive graphical experience.
Robust Web Scanning: Provides extensive vulnerability scanning of web applications and APIs.
Customizable Attack Modules: Tailors testing to meet specific security needs.
Attack Replay: Facilitates re-testing of potential vulnerabilities for accuracy.
Centralized Dashboard: Offers comprehensive insights into vulnerabilities.

What benefits should users look for?

Comprehensive Reports: Delivers detailed insights into security vulnerabilities.
Remediation Guidance: Provides actionable advice to fix identified vulnerabilities.
Scalability: Supports growth by handling increased demands efficiently.
Extensive Coverage: Ensures thorough security testing across multiple platforms.
Flexible Deployment: Adapts to different operational environments.

Industries rely on InsightAppSec for vulnerability scanning to secure web applications, APIs, and e-commerce platforms. Its integration within the SDLC aids in automating scans during development. While limitations exist with certain tool integrations, its cloud-based engine and effective reporting make it essential for internal and external application security assurance.

Rapid7

Sample Customers

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

CenterPoint Energy, CPA Australia, Hypertherm, First American Financial Corporation, Rackspace

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec

August 2026

Free Report: HCL AppScan vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Find out what your peers are saying about HCL AppScan vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.

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