Invicti vs w3af comparison

The compared Invicti and w3af solutions aren't in the same category. Invicti is ranked #4 in DAST , with an average rating of 8.5, and holds a 8.5% mindshare in the category. w3af is ranked #41 in AS , and holds a 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Invicti users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of w3af users who would recommend it.

Invicti

Read 31 Invicti reviews

5,070 Views
1,268 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

w3af

Read 1 w3af review

966 Views
811 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Invicti

w3af

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Invicti and w3af based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Veracode, Checkmarx, OpenText and others in Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST).

To learn more, read our detailed Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Report (Updated: May 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

May 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 893,915 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

Invicti

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (10th), Container Security (24th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (8th), API Security (9th), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) (4th), Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) (5th)

w3af

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (41st)

Mindshare comparison

Invicti and w3af aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Invicti is designed for Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) and holds a mindshare of 8.5%, up 6.9% compared to last year.
w3af, on the other hand, focuses on Application Security Tools, holds 0.7% mindshare, up 0.1% since last year.

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Invicti	8.5%
Veracode	15.7%
Checkmarx One	15.0%
Other	60.8%

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

Application Security Tools Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
w3af	0.7%
SonarQube	13.6%
Checkmarx One	8.8%
Other	76.9%

Application Security Tools

Featured Reviews

Valavan Sivgalingam

Senior Manager, Security Engineering at ESS

Dynamic testing regularly identifies web vulnerabilities and has strong false positive confirmations

It has good false positive confirmations, confirmed issues identification, and proof of exploit-related features as part of it. We use Invicti for these things in our portfolios. The solution includes Proof-Based Scanning technology. Invicti is part of our SSDLC portfolio, and DAST dynamic testing is very important for our web applications and portfolios. For both the API endpoints and web applications, we do regular testing on a monthly basis for all our releases. Invicti does a good job. The only concern is on the performance side, but other than that, we find it really helpful in identifying web vulnerabilities. A full scan takes more time based on your website and other factors, but for us, it takes more than two to three days. The scan performance can be improved upon. When we check with them, they discuss proof-based scanning and related aspects. However, there could be intermittent results that could help us.

Read full review

Omar Sánchez (Mr.Tech)

Information Security Advisor, CISO & CIO, Docutek Services at Docutek Services

It's buggy and seems to try to do too many things, but having this on a USB drive has been valuable.

I tried to install this on numerous systems and eventually, with help, I got it running. It needs far too many dependencies installed and there's too much messing about to be of much use. Once running, it's buggy and begs the question can it be relied upon? Even within Kali it reports website time-outs, yet Zap or Burp are able to do a successful scan. I wanted this to work so much and be able to use it as an additional check of my results but have now binned it.

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 dashboard is really cool, and the features are really good. It tells you about the software version you're using in your web application. It gives you the entire technology stack, and that really helps. Both web and desktop apps are good in terms of application scanning. It has a lot of security checks that are easily customizable as per your requirements. It also has good customer support."

"Invicti has done a commendable job with respect to ROI, and with respect to being a cost-effective solution and one of the market leaders as an effective solution for SAST and DAST, Invicti has performed very well."

"The scanner is light on the network and does not impact the network when scans are running."

"The solution generates reports automatically and quickly."

"When we try to manually exploit the vulnerabilities, it often takes time to realize what's going on and what needs to be done."

"Invicti is part of our SSDLC portfolio, and DAST dynamic testing is very important for our web applications and portfolios."

"I am impressed with Invictus’ proof-based scanning. The solution has reduced the incidence of false positive vulnerabilities. It has helped us reduce our time and focus on vulnerabilities."

More Invicti pros

"The best free software for pen testing web applications."

Cons

"Netsparker doesn't provide the source code of the static application security testing."

"It is a good tool, as we found out with the Community Edition trial, but the price point is quite expensive for a startup or average-sized company."

"Reporting should be improved. The reporting options should be made better for end-users."

"The scannings are not sufficiently updated."

"They need to improve their support in the documentation. Their support mechanism is missing. Their responsiveness, technical staff, and these types of things need to be improved, and comprehensive documentation is required. They should have good self-service portal enhancement"

"The license could be better. It would help if they could allow us to scan multiple URLs on the same license. It's a major hindrance that we are facing while scanning applications, and we have to be sure that the URLs are the same and not different so that we do not end up consuming another license for it. Netsparker is one of the costliest products in the market. The licensing is tied to the URL, and it's restricted. If you have a URL that you scanned once, like a website, you cannot retry that same license. If you are scanning the same website but in a different domain or different URL, you might end up paying for a second license. It would also be better if they provided proper support for multi-factor authentications. In the next release, I would like them to include good multi-factor authentication support."

"They don't really provide the proof of concept up to the level that we need in our organization. We are a consultancy firm, and we provide consultancy for the implementation and deployment solutions to our customers. When you run the scans and the scan is completed, it only shows the proof of exploit, which really doesn't work because the tool is running the scan and exploiting on the read-only form. You don't really know whether it is actually giving the proof of exploit. We cannot prove it manually to a customer that the exploit is genuine. It is really hard to perform it manually and prove it to the concerned development, remediation, and security teams. It is currently missing the static application security part of the application security, especially web application security. It would be really cool if they can integrate a SAS tool with their dynamic one."

"The scanning time, complexity, and authentication features of Invicti could be improved."

More Invicti cons

"Unfortunately, once you get around the seemingly strict set of pre-requisites to install it, it is incredibly buggy."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We never had any issues with the licensing; the price was within our assigned limits."

"Invicti is best suited for large enterprises. I don't think small and medium-sized businesses can afford it. Maintenance costs aren't that great."

"We are using an NFR license and I do not know the exact price of the NFR license. I think 20 FQDN for three years would cost around 35,000 US Dollars."

"OWASP Zap is free and it has live updates, so that's a big plus."

"The solution is very expensive. It comes with a yearly subscription. We were paying 6000 dollars yearly for unlimited scans. We have three licenses; basic, business, and ultimate. We need ultimate because it has unlimited scan numbers."

"Netsparker is one of the costliest products in the market. It would help if they could allow us to scan multiple URLs on the same license."

"The price should be 20% lower"

"I think that price it too high, like other Security applications such as Acunetix, WebInspect, and so on."

More Invicti pricing and cost advice

Information not available

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

893,915 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Government

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	13

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Netsparker Web Application Security Scanner?

The setup cost is pretty competitive. For example, if you want to talk about the SAST license, it comes to about $150 or sometimes less than $100, depending on the conversion or the number of licen...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Invicti?

At this time, there is nothing that comes to mind. However, most of the products in the market are pretty much neck-to-neck competitors. Speaking about it, there are a couple of factors which they ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Invicti?

I have worked on a couple of products, specifically in web application security. I have worked on Invicti, and with respect to PAM, I have worked with BeyondTrust. I have not worked specifically fo...

See all answers

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

Comparisons

Veracode vs Invicti

Compared 9% of the time

Acunetix vs Invicti

Compared 8% of the time

OpenText Dynamic Application Security Testing vs Invicti

Compared 5% of the time

SonarQube vs Invicti

Compared 5% of the time

Snyk vs Invicti

Compared 4% of the time

More Invicti Competitors

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs w3af

Compared 18% of the time

Acunetix vs w3af

Compared 16% of the time

Waratek ARMR vs w3af

Compared 10% of the time

Checkmarx One vs w3af

Compared 10% of the time

Onapsis vs w3af

Compared 8% of the time

More w3af Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Invicti

May 2026

Download Invicti product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Security Tools

May 2026

Download w3af product report

Also Known As

Netsparker

No data available

Overview

Invicti offers advanced web application security testing focused on identifying vulnerabilities like SQL injection and cross-site scripting. Its Proof-Based Scanning minimizes false positives and integrates seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines, making it an effective tool for enterprise environments.

Invicti provides comprehensive scanning capabilities that include detecting and verifying critical vulnerabilities and security data consolidation. Its scalable scanning engine and robust API support allow for flexible testing across diverse environments, including web and API testing. Despite some drawbacks like limited single sign-on integration and slow scanning speeds for large applications, Invicti remains a popular choice for automating security assessments, ensuring compliance with standards like OWASP Top 10, PCI DSS, and GDPR.

What are the key features of Invicti?

Comprehensive Vulnerability Scanning: Detects vulnerabilities like SQL injection and XSS.
Proof-Based Scanning: Confirms exploitability and reduces false positives.
CI/CD Integration: Seamlessly integrates with development pipelines.
Security Data Consolidation: Centralizes data for better insights.
User-Friendly Interface: Facilitates easy analysis and reporting.
Scalable Scanning Engine: Supports testing in enterprise environments.
Robust API Support: Enhances flexibility in testing.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Proactive Security: Actively identifies and verifies vulnerabilities to prevent breaches.
Regulatory Compliance: Helps maintain compliance with standards like PCI DSS and GDPR.
Efficient Vulnerability Management: Aids in prioritizing remediation efforts.
Integration Capabilities: Streamlines processes with CI/CD pipeline compatibility.

In industries like finance, healthcare, and e-commerce, Invicti is implemented to bolster security through automated vulnerability assessments. Its ability to provide insightful reports and remediation suggestions assists companies in efficiently managing security risks and achieving compliance with critical regulatory standards.

Invicti

w3af is an open-source web application security scanner designed to identify vulnerabilities and ensure web application security. Its modular framework offers flexibility, making it a preferred choice for security researchers and developers aiming to fortify web environments.

Offering extensive features, w3af integrates seamlessly into the development cycle, enabling users to pinpoint and address security vulnerabilities efficiently. This tool integrates various plugins for scanning and exploiting, facilitating a comprehensive security assessment. Its adaptability allows users to customize scans according to their security needs, ensuring a thorough evaluation of application security.

What are the most important features of w3af?

Plug-in Based Architecture: Allows customization through a vast library of plugins for tailored scanning.
Comprehensive Scanning: Identifies a wide range of vulnerabilities, including SQL injection and cross-site scripting.
Integration Capabilities: Easily integrates with other security tools and continuous integration pipelines.
Active and Passive Scans: Utilizes both active and passive techniques for thorough security checks.
User-Friendly Configuration: Simplifies configuration and operation due to its intuitive design.

What benefits should users consider in w3af reviews?

Enhanced Security: Effectively detects security flaws, boosting application security.
Cost-Effective: As an open-source tool, it reduces investment in high-cost security solutions.
Scalability: Adaptable for small and large-scale applications, catering to diverse security demands.
Community Support: Extensive community support aids in issue resolution and feature enhancement.
Time-Saving: Automates security testing, allowing developers to focus on code enhancement.

In industries like e-commerce and finance, which demand stringent security measures, w3af proves invaluable. It aids in identifying potential threats early in the development process, preventing data breaches and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. Professionals in these sectors rely on w3af to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive information, streamlining security testing processes and facilitating secure software deployments.

w3af

Sample Customers

Samsung, The Walt Disney Company, T-Systems, ING Bank

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

May 2026

Download Free Report

Find out what your peers are saying about Veracode, Checkmarx, OpenText and others in Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST). Updated: May 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

893,915 professionals have used our research since 2012.

We monitor all Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.