HCL AppScan vs OWASP Zap comparison

HCLSoftware and OWASP are both solutions in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category. HCLSoftware is ranked #18 with an average rating of 7.0, while OWASP is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.0. HCLSoftware holds a 2.7% mindshare in SAST, compared to OWASP’s 2.7% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of HCLSoftware users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of OWASP users who would recommend it.

HCL AppScan

Read 44 HCL AppScan reviews

7,882 Views
5,675 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

OWASP Zap

Read 41 OWASP Zap reviews

9,445 Views
8,784 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

HCL AppScan

OWASP Zap

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

HCL AppScan and OWASP Zap compete in the web application security testing category. Though HCL AppScan offers advanced features and integrates well with development lifecycles, OWASP Zap stands out for its cost-effectiveness and flexibility.

Features: HCL AppScan features advanced scanning capabilities, integration into the software development lifecycle, and detects vulnerabilities like XSS and SQL injections with precision. It provides industry-specific templates and robust security-focused findings. OWASP Zap, an open-source tool, is widely accessible and known for its powerful spidering and user-friendly interface, ideal for beginners. It provides flexibility and community-driven enhancements.

Room for Improvement: HCL AppScan could reduce false positives, improve usability, and enhance customer support. Better container integration and central management for its static and dynamic scanning are also needed. OWASP Zap should focus on improving automation accuracy, enhancing reporting, and supporting diverse environments like mobile testing. Users suggest more robust updates and better documentation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: HCL AppScan offers deployment flexibility, being available on public cloud, hybrid cloud, and on-premises. However, users often wish for more responsive technical support. OWASP Zap is primarily on-premises but available on public cloud through community setups. Its open-source nature means relying on community forums for support, which can delay quick resolutions.

Pricing and ROI: HCL AppScan is expensive but valued for its detailed reports and integration features, providing a strong long-term ROI by reducing vulnerabilities and costs. OWASP Zap's main advantage is being a free, open-source solution, making it popular among small to medium businesses and startups, offering extensive features without financial barriers.

To learn more, read our detailed HCL AppScan vs. OWASP Zap Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan vs. OWASP Zap

August 2026

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Helped 908,834 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

HCL AppScan

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

18th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (23rd), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) (7th)

OWASP Zap

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

16th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category, the mindshare of HCL AppScan is 2.7%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OWASP Zap is 2.7%, down from 5.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
OWASP Zap	2.7%
HCL AppScan	2.7%
Other	94.6%

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

Featured Reviews

Ravi Khanchandani

Founder Director at Techsa Services

Has improved identification of encryption and authentication issues across cloud and on-prem applications

During the learning curve of onboarding HCL AppScan, we learned that HCL has altered the portfolio and now offers HCL AppScan 360, which has a much better look and feel with an improved user interface. However, there is one feature called SCA, which stands for Software Composition Analysis, that could be improved. When I'm doing an application scan, HCL AppScan has the ability to generate information about what components are in use. For example, if I'm scanning a web application, it shows me the various components being used. It tells me whether I have Java libraries, .NET frameworks, or other log management libraries such as Log4j, and what versions of those specific components are present. I would like to see more detailed reports from the tool. Currently, you can find out the components belonging to a specific software, but if detailed reporting became available, you would be in a better position to identify vulnerabilities. For instance, I could identify that I had the Log4j vulnerability and know that I need to fix my application accordingly. If they add the features I'm describing, I would consider giving them a higher rating. However, I've only been experienced with the product for three months.

Read full review

Amit Beniwal

Project Manager at Al Hassan LLC

Simplifies vulnerability discovery and has high quality support

There are areas for improvement with OWASP Zap, particularly in the alignment of vulnerabilities concerning CVSS scores. Sometimes, a vulnerability initially categorized as high severity may be reduced to medium or low over time after security patches are applied. This alignment with the present severity score and CVSS score could be improved.

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

"It identifies all the URLs and domains on its own and then performs tests and provides the results."

"With AppScan, we are now deploying less defects to production."

"The security and the dashboard are the most valuable features."

"I mainly use AppScan for vulnerability scanning and database bridging."

"It provides a better integration for our ecosystem."

"The solution is easy to use."

"AppScan seems to be very good at detecting reflected XSS vulnerabilities."

"Now we just send it to AppScan and we can do other stuff like defining processes or dealing with management issues."

More HCL AppScan pros

"We use the solution for security testing."

"This is a very mature tool; it is capable of facilitating the work of many security experts, and I highly recommend it for beginners and advanced users when some other tools fail to catch traffic."

"The product helps users to scan and fix vulnerabilities in the pipeline."

"One valuable feature of OWASP Zap is that it is simple to use."

"Zap is an open-source and sophisticated product that not only saves us money but also provides us with a good amount of information."

"The ZAP scan and code crawler are valuable features."

"OWASP Zap is a good tool, one of my favorites for a long time, and I would recommend it."

"The solution is good at reporting the vulnerabilities of the application."

More OWASP Zap pros

Cons

"Scans become slow on large websites."

"The solution could improve by having a mobile version."

"The databases for HCL are small and have room for improvement."

"Improvement can be done as per customer requirements."

"Currently, we are satisfied with AppScan but I am sure there are better alternatives available because this is a very old product."

"The tool should improve its output. Scanning is not a challenge anymore since there are many such tools available in the market. The product needs to focus on how its output is being used by end users. It should be also more user-friendly. One of the major challenges is in the tool's integration with applications that need to be scanned. Sometimes, the scanning is not proper."

"Many silly false positives are produced."

"Visibility is an issue for us. Our partners were not even aware that we had an integration with AppSense."

More HCL AppScan cons

"For scalability, I would rate OWASP Zap between four to five out of ten."

"It would be a great improvement if they could include a marketplace to add extra features to the tool."

"It would be ideal if I could try some pre-built deployment scenarios so that I don't have to worry about whether the configuration sector team is doing it right or wrong. That would be very helpful."

"If there was an easier to understand exactly what has been checked and what has not been checked, it would make this solution better. We have to trust that it has checked all known vulnerabilities but it's a bit hard to see after the scanning."

"As security evolves, we would like DevOps built into it. As of now, Zap does not provide this."

"Right now, I can't give it off to a team and expect them to give me a report that I'm happy with."

"We get too many false positives and that should definitely be improved."

"Lacks resources where users can internally access a learning module from the tool."

More OWASP Zap cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is cheap."

"The price of HCL AppScan is okay, in my opinion. You just buy HCL AppScan and don't pay anything anymore, meaning it is just a one-time purchase."

"The product is moderately priced, though it's an investment due to extensive code analysis needs."

"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."

"The price is very expensive."

"With the features, that they offer, and the support, they offer, AppScan pricing is on a higher level."

"The solution is moderately priced."

"The product has premium pricing and could be more competitive."

More HCL AppScan pricing and cost advice

"The tool is open-source."

"This app is completely free and open source. So there is no question about any pricing."

"The tool is open source."

"We have used the freeware version. I believe Zap only has freeware."

"OWASP ZAP is a free tool provided by OWASP’s engineers and experts. There is an option to donate."

"OWASP Zap is free to use."

"It is highly recommended as it is an open source tool."

"The solution’s pricing is high."

More OWASP Zap pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

University

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	31

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	22

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with HCL AppScan?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for HCL AppScan?

I'm currently working with BigFix and HCL AppScan. At least three people in my company are using HCL AppScan. Since we are a reseller, we run it in both lab environments and live production applica...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HCL AppScan?

AppScan is considered more cost-effective than Veracode, although I have not updated the exact pricing details. Companies often choose based on budget constraints, with Veracode being on the higher...

See all answers

Is OWASP Zap better than PortSwigger Burp Suite Pro?

OWASP Zap and PortSwigger Burp Suite Pro have many similar features. OWASP Zap has web application scanning available with basic security vulnerabilities while Burp Suite Pro has it available with ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OWASP Zap?

OWASP might be cost-effective, however, people prefer to use the free edition available as open source.

See all answers

What needs improvement with OWASP Zap?

The improvement that has to be done for APIs focuses on manual activities where the feature exists, but it is not at the same level as what Burp Suite does with intercepting and tools such as Postm...

See all answers

Comparisons

Veracode vs HCL AppScan

Compared 8% of the time

Checkmarx One vs HCL AppScan

Compared 7% of the time

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs HCL AppScan

Compared 6% of the time

Acunetix vs HCL AppScan

Compared 5% of the time

Snyk vs HCL AppScan

Compared 3% of the time

More HCL AppScan Competitors

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs OWASP Zap

Compared 11% of the time

Acunetix vs OWASP Zap

Compared 10% of the time

Veracode vs OWASP Zap

Compared 7% of the time

SonarQube vs OWASP Zap

Compared 6% of the time

Checkmarx SAST vs OWASP Zap

Compared 4% of the time

More OWASP Zap Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan

August 2026

Download HCL AppScan product report

Buyer's Guide

OWASP Zap

July 2026

Download OWASP Zap product report

Also Known As

IBM Security AppScan, Rational AppScan, AppScan

No data available

Overview

HCL AppScan offers quick vulnerability detection with effective SDLC integration and is known for its user-friendly interface and seamless security integration.

HCL AppScan provides dynamic and static scanning to identify vulnerabilities like XSS and SQL injection. It integrates well into CI/CD pipelines, supports multiple languages, and offers web and dynamic scanning, helping businesses ensure security across development lifecycles. Users benefit from API coverage, Postman integration, and its ability to function in cloud and on-premise environments, facilitating a shift from DevOps to DevSecOps practices.

What features define HCL AppScan?

User-friendly interface: Simplifies navigation and usage.
Vulnerability detection: Quickly identifies issues like XSS and SQL injection.
Integration with SDLC: Seamlessly blends with development processes.
Dynamic scanning: Offers comprehensive security evaluations.
Multiple language support: Supports diverse programming environments.

What benefits should users consider?

Scalability: Adapts to growing needs and projects.
Low false-positive rates: Delivers accurate and reliable results.
Detailed reporting: Provides comprehensive vulnerability insights.
Effective integration: Enhances CI/CD pipeline security.

HCL AppScan is leveraged in sectors requiring rigorous security checks, such as finance and healthcare, where it conducts comprehensive scans and offers insights into potential vulnerabilities. Its robust scanning capabilities aid companies in maintaining compliance and security standards.

HCLSoftware

OWASP Zap is a free and open-source web application security scanner.

The solution helps developers identify vulnerabilities in their web applications by actively scanning for common security issues.

With its user-friendly interface and powerful features, Zap is a popular choice among developers for ensuring the security of their web applications.

OWASP

Sample Customers

Essex Technology Group Inc., Cisco, West Virginia University, APIS IT

1. Google 2. Microsoft 3. IBM 4. Amazon 5. Facebook 6. Twitter 7. LinkedIn 8. Netflix 9. Adobe 10. PayPal 11. Salesforce 12. Cisco 13. Oracle 14. Intel 15. HP 16. Dell 17. VMware 18. Symantec 19. McAfee 20. Citrix 21. Red Hat 22. Juniper Networks 23. SAP 24. Accenture 25. Deloitte 26. Ernst & Young 27. PwC 28. KPMG 29. Capgemini 30. Infosys 31. Wipro 32. TCS

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan vs. OWASP Zap

August 2026

Free Report: HCL AppScan vs. OWASP Zap

Find out what your peers are saying about HCL AppScan vs. OWASP Zap and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.

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