Fortify Application Defender vs Snyk comparison

Fortify Application Defender

Read 48 Snyk reviews

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 4, 2025

Fortify Application Defender and Snyk are competing in application security. Snyk often stands out due to its extensive feature set and perceived value over Fortify Application Defender.

Features: Fortify Application Defender offers runtime application protection, attack detection, and real-time vulnerability insights. Snyk provides open-source vulnerability management, developer tool integrations, and a comprehensive database for open-source risks.

Room for Improvement: Fortify could enhance its integration with modern developer environments and optimize pricing models. It might also improve the user interface for simpler navigation. Snyk can expand its vulnerability database, offer more detailed documentation for advanced features, and improve its on-premises solutions to match market leadership.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortify Application Defender is known for seamless infrastructure integration and responsive customer service. Snyk offers robust CI/CD integration, ensuring straightforward deployment and supportive service suited for fast-paced environments.

Pricing and ROI: Fortify's moderate setup costs yield a solid ROI with its runtime protection. Snyk offers flexible pricing, focusing on proactive vulnerability management. Though initially costly, Snyk's ROI is significant, reducing open-source risk and enhancing compliance.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortify Application Defender vs. Snyk Report (Updated: July 2025).

Fortify Application Defender vs. Snyk

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Helped 865,295 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

Fortify Application Defender

Ranking in Application Security Tools

25th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Snyk

Ranking in Application Security Tools

5th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (8th), Cloud Management (15th), Container Security (6th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (2nd), Software Development Analytics (2nd), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (16th), DevSecOps (2nd), Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of Fortify Application Defender is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Snyk is 7.2%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Security Tools

Featured Reviews

Saroj-Patnaik

Software Development Engineer 3 at Ernst & Young

Reliable solution with excellent machine learning algorithms but expensive and lacking support

I primarily use Fortify Application Defender to assess whether our products can defend against applications Fortify Application Defender's most valuable features are machine learning algorithms, real-time remediation, and automatic vulnerability notifications. Fortify Application Defender gives…

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meetharoon

CEO at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees

Affordable tool boosts code scanning efficiency but faces integration hurdles

The most important feature of Snyk is its cost-effectiveness compared to other solutions such as Check Point. It is easy to consolidate Snyk across multiple entities within a large organization. Additionally, our integration of Snyk into GitHub allows us to automatically scan codebases and identify issues, which has improved efficiency.

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 tool's most valuable feature is software composition analysis. This feature works well with my .NET applications, providing a better understanding of library vulnerabilities."

"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."

"Its ability to find security defects is valuable."

"The product saves us cost and time."

"The most valuable features of Fortify Application Defender are the code packages that are default."

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

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

"The information from Fortify Application Defender on how to fix and solve issues is very good compared to other solutions."

More Fortify Application Defender pros

"The most valuable feature is that they add a lot of their own information to the vulnerabilities. They describe vulnerabilities and suggest their own mitigations or version upgrades. The information was the winning factor when we compared Snyk to others. This is what gave it more impact."

"The most effective feature in securing project dependencies stems from its ability to highlight security vulnerabilities."

"Its reports are nice and provide information about the issue as well as resolution. They also provide a proper fix. If there's an issue, they provide information in detail about how to remediate that issue."

"We use Snyk to check vulnerabilities and rectify potential leaks in GitHub."

"Snyk is a developer-friendly product."

"Provides clear information and is easy to follow with good feedback regarding code practices."

"The product's most valuable features are an open-source platform, remote functionality, and good pricing."

"It is one of the best product out there to help developers find and fix vulnerabilities quickly. When we talk about the third-party software vulnerability piece and potentially security issues, it takes the load off the user or developer. They even provide automitigation strategies and an auto-fix feature, which seem to have been adopted pretty well."

More Snyk pros

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."

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

"Support for older compilers/IDEs is lacking."

"The solution is quite expensive."

"The licensing can be a little complex."

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

"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."

"The false positive rate should be lower."

More Fortify Application Defender cons

"Compatibility with other products would be great."

"I think Snyk should add more of a vulnerability protection feature in the tool since it is an area where it lacks."

"The log export function could be easier when shipping logs to other platforms such as Splunk."

"We have seen cases where tools didn't find or recognize certain dependencies. These are known issues, to some extent, due to the complexity in the language or stack that you using. There are some certain circumstances where the tool isn't actually finding what it's supposed to be finding, then it could be misleading."

"It would be ideal if there was customization with a focus on specific cybersecurity areas or capabilities."

"There are some new features that we would like to see added, e.g., more visibility into library usage for the code. Something along the lines where it's doing the identification of where vulnerabilities are used, etc. This would cause them to stand out in the market as a much different platform."

"They need to improve the Snyk plugins and make it easier to make your optimizations based on your own needs or features."

"Offering API access in the lower or free open-source tiers would be better. That would help our customers. If you don't have an enterprise plan, it becomes challenging to integrate with the rest of the systems. Our customers would like to have some open-source integrations in the next release."

More Snyk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"Fortify Application Defender is very expensive."

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

"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."

"The solution is less expensive than Black Duck."

"The product's price is okay."

"Pricing-wise, it is not expensive as compared to other tools. If you have a couple of licenses, you can scan a certain number of projects. It just needs to be attached to them."

"The pricing is acceptable, especially for enterprises. I don't think it's too much of a concern for our customers. Something like $99 per user is reasonable when the stakes are high."

"The price of the solution is expensive compared to other solutions."

"With Snyk, you get what you pay for. It is not a cheap solution, but you get a comprehensiveness and level of coverage that is very good. The dollars in the security budget only go so far. If I can maximize my value and be able to have some funds left over for other initiatives, I want to do that. That is what drives me to continue to say, "What's out there in the market? Snyk's expensive, but it's good. Is there something as good, but more affordable?" Ultimately, I find we could go cheaper, but we would lose the completeness of vision or scope. I am not willing to do that because Snyk does provide a pretty important benefit for us."

"We are using the open-source version for the scans."

"Despite Snyk's coverage, scalability, reliability, and stability, it is available at a very competitive price."

More Snyk pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Security Tools solutions are best for your needs.

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865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Fortify Application Defender?

I find the configuration of rules in Fortify Application Defender useful. Its integration is also easy.

What needs improvement with Fortify Application Defender?

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...

What is your primary use case for Fortify Application Defender?

We use the solution for fast code review. It is integrated into our DevOps pipeline.

How does Snyk compare with SonarQube?

Snyk does a great job identifying and reducing vulnerabilities. This solution is fully automated and monitors 24/7 to find any issues reported on the internet. It will store dependencies that you a...

What do you like most about Snyk?

The most effective feature in securing project dependencies stems from its ability to highlight security vulnerabilities.

What needs improvement with Snyk?

There are a lot of false positives that need to be identified and separated. The inclusion of AI to remove false positives would be beneficial. So far, I've not seen any AI features to enhance vuln...

Checkmarx One vs Fortify Application Defender

Comparisons

Compared 20% of the time

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 13% of the time

Coverity vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 13% of the time

Qualys Web Application Scanning vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 11% of the time

WhiteHat Dynamic vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 5% of the time

More Fortify Application Defender Competitors

GitHub Advanced Security vs Snyk

Compared 11% of the time

Trivy vs Snyk

Compared 9% of the time

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs Snyk

Compared 8% of the time

Wiz vs Snyk

Compared 7% of the time

Black Duck vs Snyk

Compared 5% of the time

More Snyk Competitors

Product Reports

Application Security Tools

Download Fortify Application Defender product report

Download Snyk product report

Also Known As

HPE Fortify Application Defender, Micro Focus Fortify Application Defender

Fugue

Overview

Micro Focus Security Fortify Application Defender is a runtime application self-protection (RASP) solution that helps you manage and mitigate risk from homegrown or third-party applications. It provides centralized visibility into application use and abuse while protecting from software vulnerability exploits and other violations in real time.

OpenText

Snyk's AI Trust Platform empowers developers to innovate securely in AI-driven environments, ensuring rapid and secure software development with enhanced policy governance.

Snyk’s platform integrates AI-ready engines across the software development lifecycle, offering broad coverage with high speed and accuracy essential for fast-paced coding environments. AI-driven features include visibility, prioritization, and tailored security policies that enable proactive threat prevention and quick remediation. By focusing on LLM engineering and AI code analysis, Snyk supports secure and productive development processes. The platform's partnerships, including GenAI code assistants, enhance AI application security by addressing new threats and code velocity challenges.

What are the key features of Snyk?

Easy Integration: Snyk integrates with CI/CD pipelines, GitHub, and JIRA for seamless security management.
Multilingual Support: It offers extensive programming language support, enhancing project compatibility.
Actionable Insights: Provides accurate vulnerability detection with actionable remediation guidance.
Cloud and Container Security: Offers comprehensive checks for cloud and container environments, improving security posture.
Automation & Notifications: Automates vulnerability alerts and notifications for early threat identification in development.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Time Efficiency: Speeds up development by identifying and fixing vulnerabilities early in the software lifecycle.
Risk Reduction: Minimizes security risks with extensive vulnerability scanning and proactive alerting.
Productivity Boost: Enhances productivity by integrating security directly into developers' workflows.
Improved Compliance: Aids in maintaining license compliance and managing open-source dependencies effectively.

Snyk is implemented across industries focusing on agile development and DevSecOps, enhancing software delivery speed and security. It is widely used for continuous monitoring and adherence to security and licensing standards, especially in environments relying on Docker image security and CI/CD pipeline integration.

Sample Customers

ServiceMaster, Saltworks, SAP

StartApp, Segment, Skyscanner, DigitalOcean, Comic Relief

Fortify Application Defender vs. Snyk