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PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs Tenable.io Web Application Scanning comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

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

PortSwigger Burp Suite Prof...
Ranking in Application Security Tools
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (6th), Fuzz Testing Tools (1st)
Tenable.io Web Application ...
Ranking in Application Security Tools
20th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is 2.1%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable.io Web Application Scanning is 1.3%, down from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Security Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Anuradha.Kapoor Kapoor - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers efficient scanning of entire websites but presence of false positive bugs, leading to time-consuming efforts in distinguishing real bugs from false alarms
We have found that so many times, false positive bugs are there, and then we spend a lot of time basically separating them from real bugs. So that's the reason we are looking for some other tool. So we were in discussion with Acunetix. Therefore, the false positive rate is, like, something that we would like to improve. What we are looking for is if this false positive rate goes down because we were OWASP Zap tool users, which was free anyway. But there were a lot of false positives there, and we used to spend a lot of time, like, for security reasons, reproducing those bugs for the development team to fix it. So then we thought, okay, why not we go with the tool? Even if it is not very expensive. But still, every year, we have to renew the license. And we got this tool. Again, we found that in this tool also, even if it is less, there are still a lot of false positive bugs out there. So we again have to spend so much time. So we hired a security tester, who was basically using Acunetix in his previous company for almost three years, and then you said that in that scanning is very slow. The scanning is also slow. Like, sometimes the site scan takes eight hours, six to eight hours. Yeah. And whereas in Acunetix, it took three to four hours. And plus, there are no false positives. I'm not saying none but there's very little. But here, the rate sometimes is very high. These are the two features I think we would like to improve further.
Harshal Deshmukh - PeerSpot reviewer
Simple tool to use, good dashboard capabilities and offers asset criticality ratings
It has good dashboard capabilities and gives good results with priority ratings, asset criticality ratings, and exposure scores for vulnerabilities. It also provides automated web application scanning, which customers appreciate because it doesn't disturb the web application or hamper the business. While testing the web application, sometimes it happens that the website or application goes down. But with Tenable.io Web Application Scanning, it doesn't affect the business. It has good unified web application scanning and exposure management.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is useful for scanning and tracing activities."
"For pentesting scenarios, this is the number one tool. It can capture the request, and there are so many functions that are very good for that. For example, a black box satellite host."
"You can download different plugins if you don't have them in the standard edition."
"The active scanner, which does an automated search of any web vulnerabilities."
"The solution scans web applications and supports APIs, which are the main features I really like."
"I personally love its capability to automatically and accurately detect vulnerabilities. So, I would say it is the Burp scanner that is THE most powerful, valuable, and an awesome feature."
"I find the attack model quite amazing, where I can write my scripts and load my scripts as well, which helps quite a bit. All the active scanning that it can do is also quite a lot helpful. It speeds up our vulnerability assessment and penetration testing. Right now, I am enjoying its in-browser, which also helps quite a bit. I'm always confused about setting up some proxy, but it really is the big solution we all want."
"The solution has a pretty simple setup."
"The most effective feature of the product is the ability to scan the entire environment."
"Tenable.io Web Application Scanning provides a detailed report, identifying functions that are complex and need to be more maintainable and readable."
"We use the tool for our websites. We have a vulnerable subdomain. The tool helps to scan it for vulnerabilities."
"The solution is stable."
"Tenable.io Web Application Scanning is very easy to use."
"Tenable provides the end analysis results covering all the published vulnerabilities and information on the market."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"The most valuable features of Tenable.io Web Application Scanning are the integration into specific use cases and scanning. All of the features of the solution are useful."
 

Cons

"In the Professional version, we cannot link it with the CI/CD process."
"The biggest drawback is reporting. It's not so good. I can download them, but they're not so informative."
"There needs to be better documentation provided. Currently, we need to buy books, or we need to review online some use cases from other professionals who have been using the solution to find out their experience. It is not easy to find out how to properly do a security assessment."
"One thing that is not up to the mark in PortSwigger is web application testing. I found some issues with its performance and reporting. They should work on these and give us a better outcome."
"A lot of our interns find it difficult to get used to PortSwigger Burp's environment."
"Integration is a big problem."
"One area that can be improved, when compared to alternative tools, is that they could provide different reporting options and in different formats like PDF or something like that."
"It would be good if the solution could give us more details about what exactly is defective."
"It isn't easy to manage vulnerabilities in Tenable."
"Tenable.io Web Application Scanning could improve by offering faster fuzzing."
"The reporting has a very limited customization capability."
"They have a general dashboard for web application scanning, but the dashboards and reporting can be improved. They probably have some features in their roadmap."
"The market is standard for vulnerability scanning, however, the posture can be improved through Tenable's prioritization engine."
"Tenable.io Web Application Scanning conducts a general scan, which wastes time. The scan needs to be specific."
"The report customization needs to be better."
"It would be great if there were a dashboard that is more user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have one license. The price is very nominal."
"The yearly cost is about $300."
"It has a yearly license. I am satisfied with its price."
"There are different licenses available that include a free version."
"The price for the solution is expensive and could be cheaper. We pay an annual license and our team has several of them."
"The solution used to be expensive. However, they have reduced the price to approximately $400.00 which is reasonable."
"Burp Suite is affordable."
"There are multiple versions available of PortSwigger Burp Suite, such as enterprise, commercial, professional, and beginners."
"I rate the product's pricing a four out of ten."
"For Tenable.io Web Application Scanning, it comes to around 6,50,000 Indian rupees, plus taxes."
"Tenable.io Web Application Scanning is expensive for small businesses."
"It follows the same licensing scheme as Tenable.io and Tenable. sc."
"The pricing is okay."
"The application is extremely affordable. There are no additional costs involved with licensing. We switched to Tenable.io Web Application Scanning from other solutions due to pricing."
"The price of the solution is reasonable compared to the competitors. The license cost is based on the number of users and the annual usage."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
I find the price of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional to be very cost-efficient.
What do you like most about Tenable.io Web Application Scanning?
The most effective feature of the product is the ability to scan the entire environment.
What needs improvement with Tenable.io Web Application Scanning?
Improvements could include providing coverage reports in the free version and features related to security reports. Also, enhancing technical support would be beneficial as there is room for improv...
What advice do you have for others considering Tenable.io Web Application Scanning?
I would recommend Tenable.io Web Application Scanning as it provides us with good reports, which help improve our code base, despite the lack of financial benefits. Overall, I would rate it seven o...
 

Also Known As

Burp
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Amazon, NASA, FedEx, P&G, Salesforce
IMDEX
Find out what your peers are saying about PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs. Tenable.io Web Application Scanning and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.