Tenable.io Web Application Scanning vs w3af comparison

Tenable and w3af are both solutions in the Application Security Tools category. Tenable is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.5, while w3af is ranked #41. Tenable holds a 1.4% mindshare in AS, compared to w3af’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Tenable users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of w3af users who would recommend it.

Tenable.io Web Application ...

Read 18 Tenable.io Web Application Scanning reviews

1,996 Views
1,597 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

w3af

Read 1 w3af review

543 Views
472 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Tenable.io Web Application ...

w3af

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Tenable.io Web Application Scanning and w3af based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about SonarSource Sàrl, Veracode, Checkmarx and others in Application Security Tools.

To learn more, read our detailed Application Security Tools Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Application Security Tools

January 2026

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Helped 881,114 peers since 2012

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

Tenable.io Web Application ...

Ranking in Application Security Tools

15th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

5.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

w3af

Ranking in Application Security Tools

41st

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of Tenable.io Web Application Scanning is 1.4%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of w3af is 0.5%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Security Tools Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Tenable.io Web Application Scanning	1.4%
w3af	0.5%
Other	98.1%

Application Security Tools

Featured Reviews

Jonathan-Pereira

Cyber Security Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

Centralized license management transforms asset manipulation based on functions and improves security posture

Now that the license is centralized, it's a significant feature to manipulate assets based on their functions. It provides a centralized view from end-to-end to its assets' identities and vulnerabilities. One of the greatest features is Kubernetes. The automated scanning capability is pretty standard in the market, and Tenable's prioritization engine helps improve the security posture.

Read full review

Omar Sánchez (Mr.Tech)

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.

Read full review

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881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	7

No data available

Questions from the Community

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Tenable.io Web Application Scanning?

If there were a solution, I would like to see automation and an integrated remediation solution for vulnerability or patch management.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Tenable.io Web Application Scanning?

I do not understand what API approach means; I do not understand this term. I think Tenable.io Web Application Scanning is the best option on the market at the moment. My review rating for this pro...

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Comparisons

Acunetix vs Tenable.io Web Application Scanning

Compared 14% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security vs Tenable.io Web Application Scanning

Compared 8% of the time

Qualys Web Application Scanning vs Tenable.io Web Application Scanning

Compared 8% of the time

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs Tenable.io Web Application Scanning

Compared 7% of the time

SonarQube vs Tenable.io Web Application Scanning

Compared 7% of the time

More Tenable.io Web Application Scanning Competitors

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs w3af

Compared 33% of the time

Checkmarx One vs w3af

Compared 19% of the time

Acunetix vs w3af

Compared 18% of the time

Waratek ARMR vs w3af

Compared 17% of the time

Jscrambler vs w3af

Compared 13% of the time

More w3af Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Security Tools

January 2026

Tenable.io Web Application Scanning report

Download Tenable.io Web Application Scanning product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Security Tools

January 2026

Download w3af product report

Overview

Tenable.io Web Application Scanning safely, accurately and automatically scans your web applications, providing deep visibility into vulnerabilities and valuable context to prioritize remediation.

Tenable

w3af is a Web Application Attack and Audit Framework. The project's goal is to create a framework to help you secure your web applications by finding and exploiting all web application vulnerabilities. Our framework is proudly developed using Python to be easy to use and extend, and licensed under GPLv2.0.

w3af

Sample Customers

IMDEX

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Application Security Tools

January 2026

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