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PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs Qualys Web Application Scanning comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 6, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
1.0
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional offers over 200% ROI, enhancing client engagement and securing application security testing contracts effectively.
Sentiment score
2.5
Qualys Web Application Scanning delivers positive ROI, competitive licensing, scalability, and reduces failure rates with 70% time-saving automation.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.0
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional offers responsive customer support with effective documentation and community resources, ensuring quick issue resolution.
Sentiment score
3.8
Customer service is generally positive but inconsistent, with some noting efficiency while others suggest improvements in speed and engagement.
The technical support from PortSwigger is excellent.
The technical support for PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is pretty good, and I would give it a nine.
They have various options in the vulnerability management process, and when we initially bought our license, we didn't realize we needed PCI for better results, which isn't included in the default configurations.
Once we purchase the license, we have access to top-notch support.
I have dealt with Qualys's technical support, and any enhancements are challenging.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.2
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional excels in CI/CD integration but faces challenges in automation, mobile testing, and report generation.
Sentiment score
7.2
Qualys Web Application Scanning offers scalable cloud integration but faces challenges with concurrent scan limits and report limitations.
My concern remains the lack of deep dive analysis and that it produces similar vulnerability results as other tools such as Nessus based on version checks instead of real impact checks.
At one point, there was a limitation on reporting for 100,000 assets at a time.
It is licensed for assets, so we just contact the team for additional licenses if needed.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.6
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is reliable with high satisfaction, though some users report memory issues in large-scale tasks.
Sentiment score
7.9
Users praise Qualys Web Application Scanning for its stability, reliability, minimal bugs, and consistently high-performance ratings.
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is very stable.
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is a very stable tool, and I would rate its stability as eight out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional requires improvements in usability, performance, pricing, integration, and support to enhance user experience.
Qualys Web Application Scanning needs improvements in detection, usability, integration, performance, pricing, and feature set to compete effectively.
Some AI features might be added.
The dashboard of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional could be made more user-friendly.
Qualys Web Application Scanning does IP-level testing, requiring direct input of credentials, and can only scan a few pages to provide known generic vulnerabilities.
With the growing reliance on AI, Qualys Web Application Scanning should be updated to handle AI-based applications and LLM-based attacks.
One area of improvement is reducing false positives by prioritizing agent findings over remote findings when there is a corresponding local agent finding.
 

Setup Cost

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional offers competitive pricing and value for automated testing, with various license options.
Qualys Web Application Scanning offers flexible, negotiable pricing, deemed cost-effective but pricey, with discounts for bulk orders.
The pricing for PortSwigger is very cheap, and there are benefits in terms of time and cost savings.
I find the price of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional to be very cost-efficient.
They offer discounts on bulk licenses, making it cheaper compared to competitors like Veracode DAST.
I find it a bit expensive compared to other competitors.
Regarding pricing, I think for personal use, it is costly, but if organizations are ready to pay, then it is fine as they are using it.
 

Valuable Features

PortSwigger Burp Suite is praised for its extensibility, user-friendly tools, and effective vulnerability detection at a competitive price.
Qualys Web Application Scanning offers efficient vulnerability management with Selenium IDE integration, real-time monitoring, and comprehensive security features.
I especially value the features for penetration testing.
The most valuable features of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional are its ease of use and its cost efficiency.
The most valuable feature of Burp Suite Professional is its ability to schedule tasks for scanning websites.
It effectively detects vulnerabilities like the OWASP Top 10 without any issues in reporting.
Qualys Web Application Scanning is accurate and provides minimal false positives.
Credential scanning is very effective because it goes in-depth into the system, crawling the pages, and reporting on vulnerabilities.
 

Categories and Ranking

PortSwigger Burp Suite Prof...
Ranking in Application Security Tools
10th
Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
Fuzz Testing Tools (1st)
Qualys Web Application Scan...
Ranking in Application Security Tools
13th
Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is 2.1%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys Web Application Scanning is 2.0%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Security Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional2.1%
Qualys Web Application Scanning2.0%
Other95.9%
Application Security Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Anton Krivonosov - PeerSpot reviewer
A special tool for penetration testers or security specialists to conduct security assessments
We use the solution for security assessments. It's a special tool for penetration testers or security specialists PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is a standard tool in the security industry. It's a stable solution that has many features. You can download different plugins if you don't have…
AnkitSharma13 - PeerSpot reviewer
Web scanning needs improvement but offers good vulnerability detection
The downside of Qualys Web Application Scanning is that it cannot crawl automatically. If I provide an IP address and a login form, it does basic testing, but it doesn't go deep as IBM AppScan does. If Qualys Web Application Scanning could improve its crawling capability, it would be more user-friendly. Qualys Web Application Scanning does IP-level testing, requiring direct input of credentials, and can only scan a few pages to provide known generic vulnerabilities, which isn't as beneficial from my point of view. The Vulnerability Management also relies heavily on version numbers and will flag vulnerabilities based on the component version, but it doesn't check if a real fix exists, leading to flags on components that actually have workarounds available.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise35
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise27
 

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 ...
What do you like most about PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional?
The solution helped us discover vulnerabilities in our applications.
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.
What do you like most about Qualys Web Application Scanning?
The vulnerability management feature is a strong one. And also the patch management feature.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys Web Application Scanning?
The price of Qualys Web Application Scanning is reasonable compared to other vendors. Qualys Web Application Scanning is priced per application rather than per user.
What needs improvement with Qualys Web Application Scanning?
I have experience with adaptive scanning for single-page applications, which was not very effective. Generally, comparing with other tools, Qualys Web Application Scanning still needs to improve on...
 

Also Known As

Burp
Qualys WAS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Amazon, NASA, FedEx, P&G, Salesforce
BskyB, Cartagena, ClearPoint Learning Systems, Connect Group, du, Fortrex Technologies, HBOR, HDI, Highlights for Children, The Lithuanian State Enterprise Centre of Registers, City of Miami Beach, Microsoft, MidlandHR, MSCI Inc., Northern Arizona University, Ofgem, Olympus Europa, PhoneFactor, RTL Nederland, ThousandEyes, VGZ Organisatie B.V.
Find out what your peers are saying about PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs. Qualys Web Application Scanning and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
866,483 professionals have used our research since 2012.