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Contrast Security Protect vs HCL AppScan comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

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

Contrast Security Protect
Ranking in Application Security Tools
30th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HCL AppScan
Ranking in Application Security Tools
15th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (15th), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of Contrast Security Protect is 0.6%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HCL AppScan is 2.7%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Security Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Akshay Waghmare - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable DevSecOps product that gives fewer false positives
We use the product for DevSecOps.  The product gives a few false positives. We get 99 percent true positives.  Contrast Security Protect needs to improve integration.  I have been using the product for a year.  Contrast Security Protect is stable.  The solution is scalable. My company has ten…
Sthembiso Zondi - PeerSpot reviewer
Has a straightforward setup process and valuable security features
We use AppScan primarily for security testing and performance monitoring across our systems The product's features for comprehensive code analysis (static) and live environment testing (dynamic) have significantly enhanced our ability to identify and address vulnerabilities, improving overall…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product gives a few false positives. We get 99 percent true positives."
"Protect provides us with more in-depth visibility into ongoing attacks."
"The solution has excellent real-time capabilities."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is Postman."
"The UI was very intuitive."
"We use it as a security testing application."
"There's extensive functionality with custom rules and a custom knowledge base."
"It identifies all the URLs and domains on its own and then performs tests and provides the results."
"The solution is easy to use."
"Technical support is helpful."
"It is easy it is to use. It is quick to find things, because of the code scanning tools. It's quite simple to use and it is very good the way it reports the findings."
 

Cons

"Contrast Security Protect needs to improve integration."
"There's room for improvement in the initial setup."
"Protect's reporting GUI is very basic. To get all statuses from the APIs, we needed to write our own KPI dashboard to provide reports."
"AppScan needs to improve its handling of false positives."
"AppScan is too complicated and should be made more user-friendly."
"If HCL AppScan is able to alert the clients over email once the scan is complete, it would be great. Right now, HCL AppScan doesn't let me know if the scanning part is finished or not, because of which I have to come back and check mostly."
"It's a little bit basic when you talk about the Web Services. If AppScan improved its maturity on Web Services testing, that would be good."
"The databases for HCL are small and have room for improvement."
"The penetration testing feature should be included."
"The pricing has room for improvement."
"The dashboard, for AppScan or the Fortified fast tool, which we use needs to be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The solution is moderately priced."
"AppScan is a little bit expensive. IBM needs to work a little bit on the pricing model, decreasing the license cost."
"Our clients are willing to pay the extra money. It is expensive."
"Pricing was the main reason that we went ahead with this solution as they were the lowest in the market."
"The solution is cheap."
"With the features, that they offer, and the support, they offer, AppScan pricing is on a higher level."
"The price is very expensive."
"I rate the product's price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is low, and ten is high. HCL AppScan is an expensive tool."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
26%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Insurance Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Contrast Security Protect?
The product gives a few false positives. We get 99 percent true positives.
What needs improvement with Contrast Security Protect?
Contrast Security Protect needs to improve integration.
What do you like most about HCL AppScan?
The most valuable feature of HCL AppScan is its integration with the SDLC, particularly during the coding phase.
What needs improvement with HCL AppScan?
AppScan needs to improve its handling of false positives. It also requires enhancements in customer support, similar to what Veracode provides. Regularly scheduling calls with clients to discuss fe...
What is your primary use case for HCL AppScan?
The primary use case for AppScan is for security purposes. I compare AppScan with other tools such as Veracode. We use AppScan for vulnerability detection and auto-remediation of vulnerabilities wi...
 

Also Known As

Contrast Protect
IBM Security AppScan, Rational AppScan, AppScan
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Williams-Sonoma, Autodesk, HUAWEI, Chromeriver, RingCentral, Demandware.
Essex Technology Group Inc., Cisco, West Virginia University, APIS IT
Find out what your peers are saying about Contrast Security Protect vs. HCL AppScan and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.