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OWASP Zap vs PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional comparison

OWASP and PortSwigger are both solutions in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category. OWASP is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.2, while PortSwigger is ranked #5 with an average rating of 9.0. OWASP holds a 3.4% mindshare in SAST, compared to PortSwigger’s 2.4% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of OWASP users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of PortSwigger users who would recommend it.
OWASP Zap
Read 41 OWASP Zap reviews
  • 7,440 Views
  • 6,845 Comparison Views
88% willing to recommend
PortSwigger Burp Suite Prof...
Read 65 PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional reviews
  • 5,991 Views
  • 3,595 Comparison Views
98% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional and OWASP Zap are prominent competitors in web application security testing tools. Burp Suite often has the upper hand due to its extensive features and more integrated approach, while Zap stands out for its cost-free accessibility, benefiting budget-conscious users.

Features: Burp Suite Professional offers a comprehensive suite including Proxy, Repeater, and Intruder, with robust auto-scanning and vulnerability detection. It supports customizable payloads and extensions through an active community. OWASP Zap provides features like automated scanning, a unique Heads Up Display, and manual testing capabilities, thriving as an open-source platform that benefits from extensive community-backed enhancements.

Room for Improvement: Burp Suite users seek better integration options, improved reporting functionalities, and reduced false positives, particularly in REST API testing. OWASP Zap can enhance reporting templates and provide regular feature updates, along with improved documentation and integration features to bridge the gap with Burp's functionality.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both tools primarily deploy on-premises, with Burp Suite also available in private and hybrid clouds. Burp's direct technical support is praised for its responsiveness, while Zap's community forums serve as a primary resource due to its open-source nature.

Pricing and ROI: Burp Suite Professional is recognized for its high-value features, though its licenses might be costly for smaller businesses, yet offering substantial ROI through its reliability and comprehensive capabilities. OWASP Zap, being entirely free and open-source, is invaluable for budget-restricted organizations, despite lacking some premium features found in Burp Suite.

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To learn more, read our detailed OWASP Zap vs. PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional Report (Updated: March 2026).
Buyer's Guide
OWASP Zap vs. PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional
March 2026
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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

OWASP Zap
Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
PortSwigger Burp Suite Prof...
Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
Application Security Tools (8th), Fuzz Testing Tools (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category, the mindshare of OWASP Zap is 3.4%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is 2.4%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Static Application Security Testing (SAST) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional2.4%
OWASP Zap3.4%
Other94.2%
Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
 

Featured Reviews

NK
Nithin-K
Technical Analyst at Hexaware Technologies Limited
Open source testing tool empowers manual activities and has room to improve integration and reporting features
The improvement that has to be done for APIs focuses on manual activities where the feature exists, but it is not at the same level as what Burp Suite does with intercepting and tools such as Postman, so it needs improvement. There are limitations with authentication levels, particularly with form-based and cookie-based authentication. However, overall, we are satisfied with OWASP Zap as there are no major issues, and improving the scan engine could be beneficial. When comparing OWASP Zap and Burp Suite, the main difference besides pricing is that OWASP Zap has limitations with reporting levels and UI, which affects its reporting capabilities, whereas Burp Suite is already advancing with new AI features and scanning capabilities that OWASP Zap seems to be lacking.
Read full review
MH
Moti Huberman
Penetration Tester & Information Security Expert at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
Dedicated browser and repeater have improved my proxy testing and manual vulnerability checks
I'm hoping perhaps for something to make it easier, such as to define things where if a message or a response is such and such, automatically make a request that is such and such. Perhaps something like this because otherwise, nowadays we have to do it manually. Perhaps they can automate it a bit more. Perhaps they could add some automation to things, to see what we do manually, which it has the tools to do manually, and perhaps enable with a click of a button to do things automatically. I'm not too sure which, but I'm sure they can from a product management point of view, do things that we need to do two, three, or four steps manually regarding specific testing. For instance, we want to check something specific if it's this or if it's that. Perhaps to define it once and have it more automatic, perhaps.
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

"OWASP is the best."
"OWASP Zap is straightforward to use. If someone doesn't have the budget for tools like Burp Suite, OWASP Zap is an excellent alternative."
"We use the solution for security testing."
"You can run it against multiple targets."
"The automatic scanning is a valuable feature and very easy, and the major advantage to this solution is the privacy it offers."
"​It has improved my organization with faster security tests.​"
"It has improved my organization with faster security tests."
"Technical support is excellent."
More OWASP Zap pros
"The automated scan is what I find most useful because a lot of customers will need it. Not every domain will be looking for complete security, they just need a stamp on the security key. For these kinds of customers, the scan works really well."
"This solution provides a very good mechanism for fixing interval time; for example, we can create a schedule, and the schedule runs on time, PortSwigger Burp Suite does not hamper the node of the server and does not shut down the server if it is running, it is quite fast and easy to install as well, and it is also a budget-friendly tool."
"The feature that we have found most valuable is that it comes with pre-set configurations. They have a set of predefined options where you can pick one and start scanning. We also have the option of creating our own configurations, like how often do the applications need to be scanned."
"This solution has helped our company in many ways."
"The tool provides complimentary services. It allows you to add a lot of extensions, and you can get extensions quite often. It is quite a flexible application."
"One useful function is the ability to send requests to the repeater without making actual requests through the browser, allowing me to modify requests easily."
"This tool is more accurate than the other solutions that we use and reports fewer false positives."
"We use the solution for vulnerability assessment in respect of the application and the sites."
More PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional pros
 

Cons

"The forced browse has been incorporated into the program and it is resource-intensive."
"When comparing OWASP Zap and Burp Suite, the main difference besides pricing is that OWASP Zap has limitations with reporting levels and UI, which affects its reporting capabilities, whereas Burp Suite is already advancing with new AI features and scanning capabilities that OWASP Zap seems to be lacking."
"The product should allow users to customize the report based on their needs."
"Deployment is somewhat complicated."
"It would be nice to have a solid SQL injection engine built into Zap."
"The work that it does in the limited scope is good, but the scope is very limited in terms of the scanning features. The number of things it tests or finds is limited. They need to make it a more of a mainstream tool that people can use, and they can even think about having it on a proprietary basis. They need to increase the coverage of the scan and the results that it finds. That has always been Zap's limitation. Zap is a very good tool for a beginner, but once you start moving up the ladder where you want further details and you want your scan to show more in-depth results, Zap falls short because its coverage falls short. It does not have the capacity to do more."
"The automatic scans need improvement. The automated vulnerability assessments that the application performs needs to be simplified as well as diversified."
"The reporting feature could be more descriptive."
More OWASP Zap cons
"The reporting needs to be improved; it is very bad."
"Currently, the scanning is only available in the full version of Burp, and not in the Community version."
"The number of false positives needs to be reduced on the solution."
"PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional can improve by having more features in the free version for beginners to try."
"Currently, the scanning is only available in the full version of Burp, and not in the Community version."
"It's not so stable. Some of the security aspects aren't so stable."
"There is a lot to this product, and it would be good if when you purchase the tool, they can provide us with a more extensive user manual."
"The professional edition of Burp Suite provides some automated pen-testing scripts to detect application vulnerabilities, like SQL injection, XSS, etc. However, this component is not extremely useful."
More PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is open-source."
"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."
"This is an open-source solution and can be used free of charge."
"The solution’s pricing is high."
"This solution is open source and free."
"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."
More OWASP Zap pricing and cost advice
"This solution requires a license. It is expensive but you receive a lot of functionality for the price."
"There is no setup cost and the cost of licensing is affordable."
"The pricing of the solution is cost-effective and is best suited for small and medium-sized businesses."
"The yearly cost is about $300."
"Pricing is not very high. It was around $200."
"PortSwigger is a bit expensive."
"The pricing of the solution is reasonable. We only need to pay for the annual subscription. I rate the pricing five out of ten."
"PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is an expensive solution."
More PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional pricing and cost advice
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Answers from the Community

reviewer1487928 - PeerSpot reviewer
reviewer1487928
Subdirector de Seguridad Informática e Infraestructura at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Nov 17, 2021
Nov 17, 2021
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 quality security vulnerabilities. Both are very comparable in terms of intercepting features, fuzzing capabilities, and encoder and decoders. Both OWASP Zap and PortSwigger Burp Suite Pro have a spide...
2 out of 3 answers
AK
Avinash-Kumar
MCE at CGI
Mar 15, 2021
First things first both are having their own merits, however in my personal experience ZAP can replace your burpsuite for sure considering the License. Also as the latest ZAP versions are covering more advanced techniques and spidering patterns with lots of options in it, it is worth considering ZAP. However remember that burpsuite from latest versions with inbuilt chromium and it's emerging plugin support (Installable jars) you can use burp to the fullest and you can keep it as a swiss knife for your web and app pentesting. Couple of extensions in burp pro are interesting especially the race condition one. I always prefer using Burp and at instances I go with ZAP.
Read full answer
reviewer1526550 - PeerSpot reviewer
reviewer1526550
Lead Security Architect at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Mar 17, 2021
Yes OWASP ZAP is a good option as it's an open source so always preferred but Burp Suite Pro  will give you more options, its one of the best tool to have for pentesters so defo worth it.
Read full answer
See all 3 answers
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
University
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise21
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise35
 

Questions from the Community

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
What do you like most about PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional?
The solution helped us discover vulnerabilities in our applications.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional?
The cost of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is reasonable at approximately $500 per year per user.
See all answers
What needs improvement with PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional?
I'm hoping perhaps for something to make it easier, such as to define things where if a message or a response is such and such, automatically make a request that is such and such. Perhaps something...
See all answers
 

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
OWASP Zap
March 2026
OWASP Zap reportDownload OWASP Zap product report
Buyer's Guide
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional
March 2026
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional reportDownload PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional product report
 

Also Known As

No data available
Burp
 

Overview

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

Burp Suite Professional, by PortSwigger, is the world’s leading toolkit for web security testing. Over 52,000 users worldwide, across all industries and organization sizes, trust Burp Suite Professional to find more vulnerabilities, faster. With expertly-engineered manual and automated tooling, you're able to test smarter - not harder.

PortSwigger is the web security company that is enabling the world to secure the web. Over 50,000 security engineers rely on our software and expertise to secure their world.

PortSwigger
 

Sample Customers

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
Google, Amazon, NASA, FedEx, P&G, Salesforce
Buyer's Guide
OWASP Zap vs. PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional
March 2026
Free Report: OWASP Zap vs. PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional
Find out what your peers are saying about OWASP Zap vs. PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
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