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Aikido Security vs Fortify Application Defender comparison

 

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

Aikido Security
Ranking in Application Security Tools
20th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (15th), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (27th), Container Security (30th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (12th), Static Code Analysis (9th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (23rd), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) (9th), DevSecOps (9th), Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) (11th)
Fortify Application Defender
Ranking in Application Security Tools
32nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of Aikido Security is 1.4%, up from 0.4% 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
ProductMindshare (%)
Aikido Security1.4%
Fortify Application Defender1.5%
Other97.1%
Application Security Tools
 

Featured Reviews

B Goswami - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Manager at Zidio development
Security has shifted left and now catches vulnerabilities early in our development workflow
There are a few areas for improvement. The first is scan speed. For large repositories, initial scans can be slow. Incremental scanning helps, but full scans still take considerable time. The second thing is the false positive rate. While Auto-Triage is good, it is not perfect. Occasionally, genuine issues get filtered out and real false positives slip through. The third one is remediation guidance. Aikido Security tells you what is vulnerable, but sometimes the fix suggestions are generic. More specific, actionable remediation steps would save developer time. The fourth one is IDE integrations. It currently works best in CI/CD pipelines. A proper VS Code or JetBrains plugin for real-time scanning while coding would be a significant improvement. From a customer point of view, the following things could change. The first thing is documentation for custom rules. Aikido Security allows you to create custom scanning rules, but the documentation for this feature is surprisingly thin. I spent considerable time in community forums and with trial and error just to configure basic custom rules. Step-by-step guides with real-world examples would make this feature much more accessible. The second thing is better Slack and communication integrations. Currently, security alerts come through email and dashboard notifications, but our team lives in Slack. A more configurable Slack integration that sends contextual alerts directly to the relevant developer, not just a generic channel notification, would dramatically improve response time. The third one is historical trend reporting. While Aikido Security shows current vulnerability status well, generating historical reports showing security posture improvement over time is limited. For presenting security progress to management or stakeholders, better exportable trend reports would be very valuable.
VS
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The biggest win with Aikido Security was reducing context switching, as developers previously received vulnerability reports from multiple tools and tried to figure out ownership manually, and now most findings are visible in one place."
"Aikido Security saved me several hours each week by automating vulnerability scanning and security checks, reducing the need for manual review and helping me focus on more development."
"Aikido Security has positively impacted my organization significantly because initially we were thinking it would take a month for us to achieve SOC 2 compliance again, and with Aikido Security, we were able to get all codebase vulnerability fixes within a week for all our 13 or 14 repositories that we had."
"Aikido Security offers the best features including being very easy to use, allowing even a normal tech person with some hands-on experience to use this tool and clearly get the results they want."
"Aikido Security nests directly in our development workflow and it catches security issues before they reach production."
"Since switching to Aikido Security, I have noticed a positive impact on my team's productivity with measurable results, as we now have measurements."
"Its ability to find security defects is valuable."
"The most valuable feature is that it analyzes data in real-time."
"The most valuable features of Fortify Application Defender are the code packages that are default."
"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."
"Fortify Application Defender's most valuable features are machine learning algorithms, real-time remediation, and automatic vulnerability notifications."
"The information from Fortify Application Defender on how to fix and solve issues is very good compared to other solutions."
"Fortify Application Defender has a few drawbacks, it has its own pros and cons, but it's a good tool to use in any industry."
"It is one of those things that once you see it in action, it is pretty impressive."
 

Cons

"I think Aikido Security could improve by reducing some pricing model. Pricing is quite high for a normal user, and if they can make it a little less, it will be much better."
"The biggest challenge with Aikido Security initially was the alert volume, as connecting everything could result in hundreds or thousands of findings."
"There are a few areas for improvement. The first is scan speed; for large repositories, initial scans can be slow, and while incremental scanning helps, full scans still take considerable time."
"I think Aikido Security could be improved with more detailed remediation guidance, such as additional beginner-friendly tutorials and enhanced customization for alerts and reporting."
"However, there was one minor issue that I faced. When I had a UUID for an object in the code, Aikido Security was considering it as a secret key, which it was not."
"I think Aikido Security could be improved by addressing its Jira integration, which I feel needs a bit of work."
"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."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"The workbench is a little bit complex when you first start using it."
"The licensing can be a little complex."
"I encountered many false positives for Python applications."
"The false positive rate should be lower."
"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."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The base licensing costs for the SaaS platform is about $900 USD per application, per year."
"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."
"The price of this solution could be less expensive."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Aikido Security?
I think Aikido Security could be improved by addressing its Jira integration, which I feel needs a bit of work. For my preferences, it is a bit too rigid. They recently added the capability of havi...
What is your primary use case for Aikido Security?
My main use case for Aikido Security is to utilize it as part of our vulnerability management program, where we also scan our images, codes, and manage our SBOM. A specific example of how I use Aik...
What advice do you have for others considering Aikido Security?
Since switching to Aikido Security, I have noticed a positive impact on my team's productivity with measurable results, as we now have measurements. Before, we did not even know how many vulnerabil...
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Also Known As

No data available
HPE Fortify Application Defender, Micro Focus Fortify Application Defender
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

FinTech GoCardless ZIP CertifID HealthTech Dental Intelligence PE & Group Techstars Cronos Group Security Tech Human Security Tines HR Tech Simployer Recruitee Agency November Five Other Lighthouse (Hospitality Tech) Smokeball (LegalTech) Runna (B2C Tech) GEA Group (Manufacturing) Community fibre (Telecom) n8n (Software Development)
ServiceMaster, Saltworks, SAP
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