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PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs w3af comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (8th), Fuzz Testing Tools (1st)
w3af
Ranking in Application Security Tools
44th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is 3.3%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of w3af is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Security Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional3.3%
w3af0.7%
Other96.0%
Application Security Tools
 

Featured Reviews

MH
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.
OS
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This is a very nice tool and anybody can use it, from beginner to expert level."
"The active scanner, which does an automated search of any web vulnerabilities."
"Burp has several good features; it's cheaper than other solutions and you can scan any number of applications and it updates its database."
"BurpSuite helps us to identify and fix silly mistakes that are sometimes introduced by our developers in their coding."
"The solution is very user-friendly, and the way they do the research and keep their profile up to date is great, as they identify vulnerabilities and update them immediately."
"It is useful for scanning and tracing activities."
"PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is superior in quite a few options."
"It was easy to learn."
"The best free software for pen testing web applications."
 

Cons

"If your application uses multi-factor authentication, registration management cannot be automated."
"You can have many false positives in Burp Suite. It depends on the scale of the penetration testing."
"As with most automated security tools, there is still a high false positive issue."
"Sometimes the solution can run a little slow."
"A lot of our interns find it difficult to get used to PortSwigger Burp's environment."
"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."
"It would be good if the solution could give us more details about what exactly is defective."
"The dashboard of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional could be made more user-friendly."
"Unfortunately, once you get around the seemingly strict set of pre-requisites to install it, it is incredibly buggy."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive for us in Brazil because the currency exchange rate from a dollar to a Brazilian Real is quite steep."
"For a country such as Sri Lanka, the pricing is not reasonable."
"It is a cheap solution, but it may not be cheaper than other solutions."
"PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is an expensive solution."
"There are different licenses available that include a free version."
"It has a yearly license. I am satisfied with its price."
"The yearly cost is about $300."
"Burp Suite is affordable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise35
No data available
 

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 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 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...
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Also Known As

Burp
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Amazon, NASA, FedEx, P&G, Salesforce
Information Not Available
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