Rapid7 AppSpider vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) comparison

Rapid7 and Sonar are both solutions in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category. Rapid7 is ranked #32, while Sonar is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3. Rapid7 holds a 0.5% mindshare in SAST, compared to Sonar’s 23.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Rapid7 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 81% of Sonar users who would recommend it.

Rapid7 AppSpider

Read 14 Rapid7 AppSpider reviews

865 Views
137 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SonarQube Server (formerly ...

Read 116 SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) reviews

35,651 Views
11,770 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

Rapid7 AppSpider

SonarQube Server (formerly ...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

SonarQube Server and Rapid7 AppSpider compete in application security and code quality. SonarQube is favored for code quality features, while Rapid7 AppSpider leads in web application security testing.

Features: SonarQube's features include supporting over 20 programming languages, highlighting issues via custom-defined checks, and offering a strong open-source community. It integrates seamlessly with tools like Jenkins. Rapid7 AppSpider excels with detailed reporting and facilitates easy data mining, providing users with comprehensive insights into vulnerabilities.

Room for Improvement: SonarQube can improve by accelerating analysis time and simplifying settings navigation for multi-language projects. Enhanced support for more languages and better mobile application scanning are also needed. Rapid7 AppSpider is criticized for its slow scan speeds and limited integration capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SonarQube offers flexible deployment options and effective community-driven support, ideal for versatile organizational settings. Rapid7 AppSpider faces scalability issues but functions well in traditional environments like on-premises setups.

Pricing and ROI: SonarQube is known for its cost-effectiveness, especially with its free community version and optional commercial plugins. This model makes it suitable for budget-conscious organizations. Although more expensive, Rapid7 AppSpider offers significant ROI through its robust security features and fixed pricing model.

To learn more, read our detailed Rapid7 AppSpider vs. SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Rapid7 AppSpider vs. SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

June 2025

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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

Rapid7 AppSpider

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

32nd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SonarQube Server (formerly ...

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

116

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (1st), Software Development Analytics (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category, the mindshare of Rapid7 AppSpider is 0.5%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) is 23.9%, down from 27.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

Featured Reviews

Rizwan-Alam

Head Information Security at Akhtar Fuiou Technologies

Easy automated web app scanning, but gives many false positives and isn't always stable

One of the challenges I have with AppSpider is that it gives you a lot of false positives, especially when compared to other solutions. This is the main aspect that I hope to see Rapid7 improve on. Beyond reducing false positives, I would also like to see them implement better reporting features, particularly in the executive summary type of reports which need to be user-friendly and easily understood by non-technical people. The recommendations and solutions on these reports could always be improved to make them more relevant, too. Lastly, the stability isn't that great, and sometimes it becomes non-responsive. I feel like the stability of the application is very average and currently needs more work.

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Sthembiso Zondi

Head of Software Engineering at ronaldmariah@gmail.com

Consistent improvements in code quality and security with effective integration and reliable technical support

The features of SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) that I find most useful are the suggestions received from reviewing the code. When they review the code, they provide suggestions on how to fix it, and we find those very useful from a development perspective. We use SonarQube Server's (formerly SonarQube) centralized management and visualization of code quality metrics on the dashboard because that's the executive dashboard that we send to the executives to show where we are in terms of quality, security, and where the company can improve. We use that for organizational improvement purposes. The ability to tailor metrics tracking in SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) has been beneficial to my team. There are team-specific dashboards which are related to specific repositories they utilize, and we have that aggregative dashboard that shows the whole organization's performance. We can drill down per specific repository, which makes it easier for the team to improve specific things.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is really accurate and the rate of false positives is very low."

"When it is set up properly, it can do scanning on web apps with multiple engines automatically."

"The setup is usually straightforward."

"It scans all the components developed within a web application."

"I like the ability the product has to detect vulnerabilities quickly, when it has been released in our environment, then displaying them to us."

"The most valuable feature is the reporting, which is compliant with international standards."

"AppSpider's most valuable feature is reporting - everything is stored in the local database so it can be sent to other machines."

"Rapid7 AppSpider is good at managing different applications. It uses applets and generates reports to cover the PCA/GDPR compliance requirements."

More Rapid7 AppSpider pros

"The most valuable feature of this solution is that it is free."

"Apart from the security point of view, I like that it makes it easy to detect code smells and other issues in terms of code quality and standards."

"SonarQube is admin friendly."

"The solution can verify vulnerabilities, code smells, and hotspots. It makes the software more secure and it helps make a junior or novice developer sharper."

"SonarQube is scalable. My company has 50 users."

"Using SonarQube benefits us because we are able to avoid the inclusion of malware in our applications."

"The stability is good."

"The features of SonarQube that I find most valuable for identifying code smells are its comprehensive code analysis capabilities, which cover various aspects of code sustainability."

More SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) pros

Cons

"Support response times are slow and can be improved."

"The product should offer a GUI in Japanese and provide Japanese reports for end-users."

"The tech support is responsive but issues remain unresolved."

"One of the challenges I have with AppSpider is that it gives you a lot of false positives, especially when compared to other solutions."

"AppSpider could improve in the area of integration. They need to add more integration opportunities."

"There are some glitches with stability, and it is an area for improvement."

"The enterprise interface is too simple. It should be more customizable."

"It needs better integration with mobile applications."

More Rapid7 AppSpider cons

"The scanning part could be improved in SonarQube. We have used Coverity for scanning, and we have the critical issues reported by Coverity. When we used SonarQube for scanning and looked at the results, it seems that some of them have incorrect input. This part can be improved for C and C++ languages."

"A robust credential scanner would be a huge bonus as it would remove the need for yet another niche product."

"The product provides false reports sometimes."

"For improvement, this solution could be offered on Docker and the cloud and the support for this solution could be improved. Customizing rules could also be made simpler."

"After scanning our code and generating a report, it would be helpful if SonarQube could also generate a solution to fix vulnerabilities in the report."

"If the product could assist us with fixing issues by giving us more pointers then it would help to resolve more of the warnings without such a commitment in terms of time."

"Ease of use/interface."

"Although it has Sonar built into it, it is still lacking. Customization features of identifying a particular attack still need to be worked on. To give you an example: if we want to scan and do a false positive analysis, those types of features are missing. If we want to rescan something from a particular point that is a feature that is also missing. It’s in our queue. That will hopefully save a lot of time."

More SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"AppSpider is closed-source software and you need to acquire a license in order to use it."

"The price of Rapid7 AppSpider cost 9,000 annually but there is limited usage. Large companies are able to negotiate a better price or a better deal for the usage with the vendor."

"The price is pretty fair."

"It is expensive if you want to buy the Enterprise version that is able to scan multiple applications at once."

"The licensing cost depends on the number of users."

"We are using the Community edition of SonarQube."

"SonarQube is an open-source product that can be used free of charge."

"I requested this license for one million lines of code and they accepted this."

"The beauty of this solution is the free open-source version is capable enough in doing pretty much what an enterprise-level version can do."

"It is very expensive. Its price should be improved."

"We use the solution free of cost."

"There is both a free and licensed version. The free version has limitations on development languages and support."

"This is open source."

More SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rapid7 AppSpider?

The price is not high, but for Japanese customers, localization may incur additional costs.

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What needs improvement with Rapid7 AppSpider?

For Japanese customers, localization is needed. The product should offer a GUI in Japanese and provide Japanese reports for end-users.

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What is your primary use case for Rapid7 AppSpider?

Our clients use AppSpider to address security concerns for their websites. It is particularly used by customers who require security assessments.

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Is SonarQube the best tool for static analysis?

I am not very familiar with SonarQube and their solutions, so I can not answer. But if you are asking me about which tools that are the best for for Static Code Analysis, I suggest you have a look...

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Which gives you more for your money - SonarQube or Veracode?

SonarQube is easy to deploy and configure, and also integrates well with other tools to do quality code analysis. SonarQube has a great community edition, which is open-source and free. Easy to use...

See all answers

How would you decide between Coverity and Sonarqube?

We researched Coverity, but in the end, we chose SonarQube. SonarQube is a tool for reviewing code quality and security. It helps to guide our development teams during code reviews by providing rem...

See all answers

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Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

GitHub Advanced Security vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

Compared 11% of the time

SonarQube Cloud (formerly SonarCloud) vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Rapid7 AppSpider

May 2025

Download Rapid7 AppSpider product report

Buyer's Guide

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

May 2025

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) report

Download SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) product report

Also Known As

AppSpider

Sonar

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Rapid7

Sonar

Overview

SPAs, APIs, mobile—the evolution of application technology is measured in months, not years. Is your web application security testing tool designed to keep up? AppSpider lets you collect all the information needed to test all the apps so that you aren’t left with gaping application risks.

Our dynamic application security testing (DAST) solution crawls to the deepest, darkest corners of even the most modern and complex apps to effectively test for risk and get you the insight you need to remediate faster. With AppSpider on your side (or, rather, all of your sides), you’ll be able to scan all the apps today and always be ready for whatever comes next.

Rapid7

SonarQube Server enhances code quality and security via static code analysis. It detects vulnerabilities, improves standards, and reduces technical debt, integrating into CI/CD pipelines.

SonarQube Server is a comprehensive tool for enhancing code quality and security. It offers static code analysis to identify vulnerabilities, improve coding standards, and reduce technical debt. By integrating into CI/CD pipelines, it provides automated checks for adherence to best practices. Organizations use it for code inspection, security testing, and compliance, ensuring development environments with better maintainability and fewer issues.

What are the key features of SonarQube Server?

Support for 20+ languages: Extensive programming language support suitable for diverse coding environments.
Custom coding rules: Allows for tailored rule sets to match specific coding standards.
Flexible quality gates: Define criteria for code acceptance at various intervals.
CI/CD integration: Seamless integration with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment tools.
Rich interface: User-friendly dashboard with detailed visual insights.

What benefits should users expect from SonarQube Server?

Improved code quality: Enhanced analysis contributes to fewer bugs and improved coding practices.
Security enhancements: Identifies and mitigates security vulnerabilities pre-emptively.
Maintainability: Reduces technical debt, yielding long-term development efficiency.
Customizable: Flexibility in configuration aligns with specific project needs.

Many industries implement SonarQube Server to uphold coding standards, maintain security protocols, and streamline their software development lifecycle. In sectors like finance and healthcare, adhering to regulations and ensuring reliable software is critical, making SonarQube Server invaluable. It is often integrated into CI/CD pipelines, ensuring that code changes meet set standards before deployment. This approach enhances productivity and maintains compliance with industry-specific requirements.

Sonar

Sample Customers

Microsoft

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Rapid7 AppSpider vs. SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

June 2025

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