Acunetix vs Fortify Application Defender comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Invicti and OpenText are both solutions in the Application Security Tools category. Invicti is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.0, while OpenText is ranked #33. Invicti holds a 2.4% mindshare in AS, compared to OpenText’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Invicti users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 81% of OpenText users who would recommend it.

Acunetix

Read 36 Acunetix reviews

11,992 Views
5,756 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Fortify Application Defender

Read 11 Fortify Application Defender reviews

3,350 Views
2,848 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

Acunetix

Fortify Application Defender

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

Acunetix and Fortify Application Defender are widely used in the application security sector. User feedback highlights Acunetix for its ease of use and direct value, while Fortify Application Defender stands out with comprehensive features suitable for those who can maximize its capabilities.

Features: Acunetix is recognized for precise scanning, detailed reporting, and actionable insights into vulnerabilities. It provides straightforward tools for quick resolutions. Fortify Application Defender is noted for its robust integration, extensive application protection, and broad feature set catering to complex environments.

Room for Improvement: Acunetix users recommend enhancing customization options and increasing adaptability to meet specialized needs. Fortify Application Defender users see a need for a more streamlined update mechanism and improved user experience during updates. Both tools identify areas that could benefit from further refinement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Acunetix receives commendation for quick setup and responsive customer service, crucial for immediate protection. Although Fortify Application Defender is effective after deployment, it requires detailed setup but maintains efficient customer support, satisfying users with comprehensive service.

Pricing and ROI: Acunetix provides competitive pricing that aligns with a fast return on investment, beneficial for cost-conscious buyers. Fortify Application Defender demands a higher initial investment but is valued for its long-term impact on security posture, appealing to those looking for sustained benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed Acunetix vs. Fortify Application Defender Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Acunetix vs. Fortify Application Defender

September 2026

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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

Acunetix

Ranking in Application Security Tools

16th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (11th), Vulnerability Management (30th), DevSecOps (8th)

Fortify Application Defender

Ranking in Application Security Tools

33rd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of Acunetix is 2.4%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortify Application Defender is 1.5%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Security Tools Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Acunetix	2.4%
Fortify Application Defender	1.5%
Other	96.1%

Application Security Tools

Featured Reviews

Rahul Kumar

Senior Engineer - Penetration Tester at a government with 10,001+ employees

Identifies vulnerabilities across bulk web applications but needs better support and cleaner reports

The best feature Acunetix offers is the centralized dashboard and the quality of reports it generates, which includes various options for selecting reports and developer options for directly sharing the reports with developers. The centralized dashboard of Acunetix gives visibility into the security aspects of mass applications; for instance, with more than 200 applications, it provides a valuable overview of findings and necessary fixes, along with a high-level summary that helps us achieve compliance through monthly and sometimes weekly scanning. In terms of reporting, Acunetix is excellent because it can generate different types of reports, such as an executive summary report, detailed reports, and developer reports that can be shared directly with developers. Acunetix positively impacts my organization by helping identify outdated libraries and applications, including legacy applications vulnerable to old attacks based on OWASP Top 10, thus aiding in compliance checks for PCI DSS and OWASP. Acunetix provides a centralized report with compliance-related aspects and a vulnerability timeline, effectively helping reduce vulnerabilities and save time.

Read full review

VinothSivam

CTO at Abcl

Useful for fast code review in devOps pipelines

I rate the tool's scalability a seven out of ten. However, I'm concerned about how it handles an increasing number of lines of code. As the complexity grows, so does the time it takes for the tool to review everything. I want more clarity on how Fortify Application Defender handles multiple threats. We have numerous endpoints, but the tool runs in our pipeline, meaning it operates in the cloud. All our code is configured there, and the tool runs integration testing, unit testing, user testing, and final production code tests. It's a day-to-day experience. It's utilized almost every day as part of our pipeline runs. Each team responsible for integration testing, human testing, user access testing, and preproduction testing runs it whenever they take a build.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The features of Acunetix have proved most effective in identifying vulnerabilities."

"There is a lot of documentation on their website which makes setting it up and using it quite simple."

"After two years it's about 300%."

"The solution is comprehensive and easy to use."

"The tool's most valuable feature is performance."

"The most important element for us is that it's very easy for developers to use, as they don't need to have any knowledge about security or threats; they just run the tool against their application and get the results."

"The scalability is good. The scalability is more than good because it can operate both as a standalone and it can be integrated as part of applications. So that really makes it a very, very versatile solution to have."

"The solution is excellent at detecting SQL injection and cross-site scripting vulnerabilities."

More Acunetix pros

"This is a great tool and the kind of support it provides is very helpful."

"The solution helped us to improve the code quality of our organization."

"Its ability to find security defects is valuable."

"Fortify Application Defender's most valuable features are machine learning algorithms, real-time remediation, and automatic vulnerability notifications."

"We are able to provide out customers with a secure application after development. They are no longer left wondering if they are vulnerable to different threats within the market following deployment."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to automatically feed it rules what it's coupled with the WebInspect dynamic application scanning technology."

"The most valuable feature is that it analyzes data in real-time."

"The product saves us cost and time."

More Fortify Application Defender pros

Cons

"There is room for improvement in the pricing."

"I believe Acunetix can improve customer support, as the dedicated support staff are often unfamiliar with problems and troubleshooting, leading to communication gaps that delay issue resolution."

"There are quite a few false positives that come out. It's mostly based upon finding XSS vulnerabilities, even though we know that XSS vulnerabilities do not exist within some of the web applications because of some frameworks we're using."

"There are some versions of the solution that are not as stable as others."

"In terms of additional features, we are currently missing some tools that would allow us to work more efficiently with the mobile environment, with Android and iOS."

"One of the biggest problems I've had with Acunetix is that it's hard to replicate things manually because you don't get the raw packet."

"The time to fix issues is not too quick, so in the case of time-restricted projects for some customers, this might become a problem."

"There is room for improvement in website authentication because I've seen other products that can do it much better."

More Acunetix cons

"The biggest complaint that I have heard concerns additional platform support because right now, it only supports applications that are written in .NET and Java."

"The solution could improve the time it takes to scan. When comparing it to SonarQube it does it in minutes while in Fortify Application Defender it can take hours."

"Support for older compilers/IDEs is lacking."

"Fortify Application Defender gives a lot of false positives."

"The licensing is very complex, it's project based and can range from $10,000 to $200,000+ depending on the project type and size."

"Fortify Application Defender could improve by supporting more code languages, such as GRAAS and Groovy."

"I encountered many false positives for Python applications."

"The product should integrate industry-standard code review tools internally with its system. This would streamline the coding process, as developers wouldn't need multiple tools for code review and security checks. Many independent and open-source tools are available, from Apache to various libraries. Using multiple DevOps pipeline tools can slow the turnaround time."

More Fortify Application Defender cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is exceptionally high."

"I would say that Acunetix is expensive because there are products on the market with similar features that are equally or better-priced."

"All things considered, I think it has a good price/value ratio."

"Acunetix was around the same price as all the other vendors we looked at, nothing special."

"It is a bit expensive. If you need to check five applications, you have to pay almost 14,000. It is an agreement for two years at 7,000 per year for only five applications. You cannot change the applications in the license. So, you are stuck with the same license for the five applications for one full year."

"The pricing and licensing are reasonable to a point. In order to run multiple scans at a time, we are going to have to purchase a 100 count license, which is an overkill. Though, compared to what we were paying for, the cost seems reasonable."

"The pricing is a little high, and moreover, it's kind of domain-based."

"The cost is based on two types of licenses, ConsultLite, and ConsultPlus, as well as the number of domains that are scanned."

More Acunetix pricing and cost advice

"The price of this solution could be less expensive."

"The base licensing costs for the SaaS platform is about $900 USD per application, per year."

"The licensing is very complex, it's project based and can range from $10,000 to $200,000+ depending on the project type and size."

"I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten. It comes as an annual cloud subscription. The tool's pricing is around 50 lakhs."

"Fortify Application Defender is very expensive."

"The product’s price is much higher than other tools."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

16%

Construction Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	19

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	8

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Acunetix Vulnerability Scanner?

In a typical enterprise environment, Acunetix is mainly used for visibility, detection, and investigation across network traffic. The main use cases usually fall into a few core areas, with primary...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Acunetix Vulnerability Scanner?

I advise that Acunetix is the best option. Invest time in proper initial configuration and scope definitions. The tool is powerful, but its effectiveness depends heavily on how the authenticated ar...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Acunetix?

Everything is perfect and good, including the pricing and all related aspects.

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Comparisons

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Compared 7% of the time

OpenText Dynamic Application Security Testing vs Acunetix

Compared 5% of the time

OWASP Zap vs Acunetix

Compared 5% of the time

Checkmarx One vs Acunetix

Compared 4% of the time

HCL AppScan vs Acunetix

Compared 4% of the time

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SonarQube vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 16% of the time

Checkmarx One vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 10% of the time

Veracode vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 7% of the time

Klocwork vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 6% of the time

NSFOCUS WVSS vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortify Application Defender Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Acunetix

September 2026

Download Acunetix product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Security Tools

September 2026

Download Fortify Application Defender product report

Also Known As

AcuSensor

HPE Fortify Application Defender, Micro Focus Fortify Application Defender

Overview

Acunetix is a dynamic application security tool used globally for web application vulnerability scanning, focusing on SQL injection and cross-site scripting.

Acunetix provides a comprehensive web vulnerability assessment platform designed for identifying and remediating security threats. Users benefit from its ability to schedule scans, boasting a fast detection rate for common vulnerabilities. The tool's centralized dashboard helps organizations with compliance monitoring and features such as crawling and login sequence enhancements, contributing depth to its security assessments. Despite high praise for its integration capabilities and automated scanning that saves time, pricing and false positives present challenges. Organizations often use Acunetix to maintain internal security and evaluate pre-release environments.

What are Acunetix's main features?

Comprehensive Reporting: Detailed reports assist in security analysis and compliance audits.
User-Friendly Interface: Simple navigation enhances user experience.
Scheduled Scans: Automation of scans allows for continuous monitoring.
Fast Detection: Quickly identifies vulnerabilities like SQL injection and cross-site scripting.
Integration Capabilities: Scalable solutions with compatibility across applications.
Crawling & Login Sequence: Improves depth in security analysis.

What benefits should businesses look for in reviews?

Low False Positive Rate: Accurate vulnerability detection saves time in analysis.
Time Efficiency: Automated scans reduce manual workload, improving team productivity.
Scalability: Integration features help accommodate growth and complexity.
Compliance Support: Centralized dashboard supports regulatory compliance checks.

In industries like finance, healthcare, and technology, Acunetix assists in protecting sensitive data through robust scanning and reporting capabilities. Its ability to perform dynamic assessments makes it a chosen tool in regulatory environments and development settings, offering both internal security inspections and pre-release evaluations.

Invicti

Fortify Application Defender offers strong protection by identifying and resolving security defects using machine learning and real-time remediation. Its user-friendly interface simplifies integration in CI/CD workflows and supports security scanning across operating systems and compilers.

Fortify Application Defender is a comprehensive tool for static code analysis and security scanning. It integrates machine learning algorithms to identify vulnerabilities quickly and offers real-time remediation solutions. Its seamless integration with WebInspect allows for tailored rule sets that significantly improve defense against application-specific threats. The tool's efficiency in static and software composition analysis provides actionable repair insights. As part of a DevOps pipeline, it aids in maintaining code quality, helping organizations protect sensitive information within their applications. Additionally, it supports multiple operating systems and environments, allowing users to scan for vulnerabilities in both code and libraries effectively.

What are the key features of Fortify Application Defender?

Security Defect Identification: Uses advanced algorithms to detect security flaws.
Real-time Remediation: Provides immediate solutions for vulnerabilities.
WebInspect Integration: Customizable rule sets enhance protection.
Actionable Insights: Delivers clear repair strategies.
User-friendly Configuration: Easy set-up in CI/CD pipelines.

What benefits should users consider when evaluating Fortify Application Defender?

Scalable Integration: Works with multiple operating systems and compilers.
Improved Code Quality: Prevents exposure of sensitive data.
Efficient Scanning: Reduces time to identify threats.
Customizable Rules: Enhances security measures specific to applications.

Fortify Application Defender is commonly used in industries like banking and finance to secure applications by inspecting source code for vulnerabilities. Companies can integrate it seamlessly into their DevOps pipelines, ensuring that their applications are protected against cyberattacks while maintaining high code quality. They can thereby avoid common risks such as IP and password exposure by leveraging static code analysis and other integrated technologies available within this tool.

OpenText

Sample Customers

Joomla!, Digicure, Team Random, Credit Suisse, Samsung, Air New Zealand

ServiceMaster, Saltworks, SAP

Buyer's Guide

Acunetix vs. Fortify Application Defender

September 2026

Free Report: Acunetix vs. Fortify Application Defender

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