HCL AppScan vs Rapid7 InsightAppSec comparison

HCLSoftware and Rapid7 are both solutions in the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) category. HCLSoftware is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3, while Rapid7 is ranked #2 with an average rating of 7.8. HCLSoftware holds a 14.0% mindshare in DAST, compared to Rapid7’s 9.6% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of HCLSoftware users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Rapid7 users who would recommend it.

HCL AppScan

Read 43 HCL AppScan reviews

4,377 Views
700 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Read 19 Rapid7 InsightAppSec reviews

1,519 Views
425 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

HCL AppScan

Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 13, 2024

HCL AppScan and Rapid7 InsightAppSec are two leading cybersecurity solutions. Rapid7 InsightAppSec seems to have the upper hand due to its superior features despite higher costs.

Features: HCL AppScan: Comprehensive scanning capabilities, integration options, and cost-effectiveness. Rapid7 InsightAppSec: Intuitive reporting features, ease of use, user-friendly interface.

Room for Improvement: HCL AppScan: Better reporting, more frequent updates, improved deployment process. Rapid7 InsightAppSec: Better API, improved technical support responsiveness, less areas for enhancement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: HCL AppScan: Complicated deployment process, mixed customer service reviews. Rapid7 InsightAppSec: Smoother deployment, superior customer service.

Pricing and ROI: HCL AppScan: Cost-effective, good ROI. Rapid7 InsightAppSec: Higher upfront costs justified by richer feature set, higher perceived value.

To learn more, read our detailed HCL AppScan vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec

September 2025

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Helped 868,759 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 Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

1st

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (15th), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (14th)

Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Ranking in Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) category, the mindshare of HCL AppScan is 14.0%, down from 22.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rapid7 InsightAppSec is 9.6%, up from 9.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
HCL AppScan	14.0%
Rapid7 InsightAppSec	9.6%
Other	76.4%

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

Featured Reviews

Gladwin Christian

QA manager at SmartStream Technologies ltd.

A useful tool to scan applications that can be easily installed

Given that we have been using HCL AppScan for many years, I think the setup process is not difficult at all. Sometimes, some issues stop or prevent my company from moving forward with the product's setup phase. We have to call HCL's support team and engage in long discussions to smoothly carry out the setup phase. In general, the product's setup phase is not difficult in our company. The solution is deployed on an on-premises model. The licenses for the solution are available only on cloud deployments nowadays. The solution is already installed in our environment. Every time a new release or software comes out from HCL, our company does a scan, which takes maybe a day or two.

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Shritam Bhowmick

Vulnerability Management Lead at garrett

Provides reliable applications security but needs better integration options

There are areas for improvements regarding false positives. Integration capabilities are lacking, as options for integrations with other tools such as SNOW, Jira, or other integration tools are not sufficient in Rapid7 InsightAppSec. The user interface sometimes has glitches, which may prevent appropriate results during navigation, and even when we get appropriate results, it can be impossible to export them to CSV records or download files. Regarding scalability, Rapid7 InsightAppSec is not a scalable solution for our industry due to limited integration capabilities. Rapid7 relies on another tool called InsightConnect, which requires additional investment, detracting from scalability. Another area that needs improvement is the integration of AI capabilities into the platform. Both Rapid7 InsightAppSec and InsightVM need to advance in that area. In terms of behavioral and pattern recognition, identifying complex attacks such as SQL, blind SQL, JSON, and LDAP injections often results in 94% false positives. This necessitates improvement in their behavioral-based analytics feature.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Usually when we deploy the application, there is a process for ethical hacking. The main benefit is that, the ethical hacking is almost clean, every time. So it's less cost, less effort, less time to production."

"AppScan's most valuable features include its ability to identify vulnerabilities accurately, provide detailed remediation steps, and the newly introduced AI-powered features that enhance its functionality further."

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

"It was easy to set up."

"Technical support is helpful."

"We leverage it as a quality check against code."

"For me, as a manager, it was the ease of use. Inserting security into the development process is not normally an easy project to do. The ability for the developer to actually use it and get results and focuses, that's what counted."

"We are now deploying less defects to production."

More HCL AppScan pros

"It's very easy to use and user-friendly. It does the job."

"It is a very robust solution."

"The initial setup for us was easy enough. We didn't face too many issues. Deployment took maybe 30 minutes. It's quite quick and doesn't cause too much trouble at the outset."

"In Rapid7 InsightAppSec, a distinctive feature is the provision of a CDM for integrating web servers and web applications. To establish the connection between these applications, you only need to paste the provided CDN into your metadata. Once connected, every piece of information, including vulnerabilities, can be accessed. It also offers demo sessions."

"It is very convenient to get reports from the tool, which offers high-level environmental statistics."

"Relatively speaking, InsightAppSec is good compared to Insight VM."

"It uses a signature-based method to check for problems with your code and will provide an alert if anything is found."

"We have seen measurable decrease in the mean time to respond to threats by 20 percent."

More Rapid7 InsightAppSec pros

Cons

"A desktop version should be added."

"The solution often has a high number of false positives. It's an aspect they really need to improve upon."

"It has crashed at times."

"Improving usability could enhance the overall experience with AppScan. It would be beneficial to make the solution more user-friendly, ensuring that everyone can easily navigate and utilize its features."

"We have experienced challenges when trying to integrate this solution with other products. When you compare it with the other SecOps products, the quality of the output is too low. It is not a new-age product. It is very outdated."

"They should have a better UI for dashboards."

"One thing which I think can be improved is the CI/CD Integration"

"Scans become slow on large websites."

More HCL AppScan cons

"We'd like to see integrations with WAF solutions."

"The number of web applications we can scan is limited."

"Currently, InsightAppSec lacks similar functionality. Customers must wait for remediation during the developers' preparation of a new version."

"The reporting is definitely an aspect of the solution that's in need of some work. We found that we'd try to use widgets, but often getting them to work for us wasn't very clear. They need to be more user friendly or offer better instructions."

"I required a solution to manage on-premises, but I was not as satisfied as expected."

"There is room for improvement in Rapid7 InsightAppSec by giving clients the ability for extra columns on reports and enabling the extraction of remediation reports into a CSV format. Currently, the PDF format is cumbersome to go through when dealing with thousands of pages."

"Currently, InsightAppSec lacks similar functionality. Customers must wait for remediation during the developers' preparation of a new version."

"In the future, if they can have integration with a lot of ticketing systems then it would be amazing."

More Rapid7 InsightAppSec cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 solution is moderately priced."

"HCL AppScan is expensive."

"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."

"Our clients are willing to pay the extra money. It is expensive."

"The tool was expensive."

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

"AppScan is a little bit expensive. IBM needs to work a little bit on the pricing model, decreasing the license cost."

More HCL AppScan pricing and cost advice

"The price of this product is very cheap."

"They offer a good price, but I don't remember its cost. It is fair as compared to the competition. We have opted for project-based licensing, not user-based. We can add any number of users. That doesn't matter. It is worth the money."

"I rate Rapid7 InsightAppSec’s pricing an eight out of ten."

"Rapid7 InsightAppSec is cheap."

"I'm not sure how much it costs exactly, but I know it's expensive."

"Its price is competitive. It is not expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	31

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Rapid7 InsightAppSec?

In Rapid7 InsightAppSec, a distinctive feature is the provision of a CDM for integrating web servers and web applications. To establish the connection between these applications, you only need to p...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Rapid7 InsightAppSec?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Rapid7 InsightAppSec?

Our main use case for Rapid7 InsightAppSec is to perform internal assessment of applications and external facing applications. We have a cloud engine plus on-premises engine, and we have been lever...

See all answers

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Compared 28% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan

September 2025

Download HCL AppScan product report

Buyer's Guide

Rapid7 InsightAppSec

September 2025

Download Rapid7 InsightAppSec product report

Also Known As

IBM Security AppScan, Rational AppScan, AppScan

InsightAppSec

Overview

IBM Security AppScan enhances web application security and mobile application security, improves application security program management and strengthens regulatory compliance. By scanning your web and mobile applications prior to deployment, AppScan enables you to identify security vulnerabilities and generate reports and fix recommendations.

HCLSoftware

Your web applications may be complex, but your application security testing tool doesn’t need to be. InsightAppSec brings Rapid7’s proven Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) technology to the Insight platform, combining powerful application crawling and attack capabilities, flexibility in scan scope and scheduling, and accuracy in results with a modern UI, intuitive workflows, and sensible data organization. This enables you to identify XSS, SQL injection, CSRF, and other vulnerabilities with unparalleled ease. The best part? All of these capabilities are delivered via the cloud so that you’re up and running in minutes to identify the critical security risks that exist in your applications.

Rapid7

Sample Customers

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

CenterPoint Energy, CPA Australia, Hypertherm, First American Financial Corporation, Rackspace

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec

September 2025

Free Report: HCL AppScan vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Find out what your peers are saying about HCL AppScan vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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