Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs Qualys Web Application Scanning comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 30, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
1.0
Users report over 200% ROI with PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional, valuing its efficacy in client engagement and security testing.
Sentiment score
5.5
Qualys Web Application Scanning improved visibility, reduced costs and failure rates, and increased ROI with automation, despite licensing challenges.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.0
PortSwigger Burp Suite's excellent customer service includes responsive support, comprehensive resources, and diverse contact channels, despite occasional delays.
Sentiment score
5.0
Qualys Web Application Scanning support is mostly praised for responsiveness, with minor concerns about higher-tier access and engagement.
The technical support from PortSwigger is excellent.
The technical support for PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is pretty good, and I would give it a nine.
Once we purchase the license, we have access to top-notch support.
I have dealt with Qualys's technical support, and any enhancements are challenging.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.2
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional scales well for growing teams, though Enterprise version offers better scalability for large projects.
Sentiment score
7.7
Qualys Web Application Scanning is scalable, handling multiple licenses and users, though some issues arise with concurrent scans.
At one point, there was a limitation on reporting for 100,000 assets at a time.
It is licensed for assets, so we just contact the team for additional licenses if needed.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.6
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is stable and reliable, with high ratings, though memory issues occur during extensive scans.
Sentiment score
8.5
Qualys Web Application Scanning is praised for stability and reliability, with users rating it highly and few issues reported.
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is very stable.
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is a very stable tool, and I would rate its stability as eight out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

PortSwigger Burp Suite users want faster scanning, better API testing, improved UI, lower costs, and enhanced after-sales support.
Qualys Web Application Scanning users seek improved XSS detection, simpler interface, better pricing, and enhanced integration features.
Some AI features might be added.
The dashboard of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional could be made more user-friendly.
With the growing reliance on AI, Qualys Web Application Scanning should be updated to handle AI-based applications and LLM-based attacks.
One area of improvement is reducing false positives by prioritizing agent findings over remote findings when there is a corresponding local agent finding.
I would like it to be cheaper because it is a bit expensive compared to competitors like Tenable Nessus.
 

Setup Cost

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional offers affordable, robust web security testing, ideal for small to mid-sized businesses with competitive pricing.
Qualys Web Application Scanning offers competitive pricing and flexible licensing, though some users seek improved cost-effectiveness.
The pricing for PortSwigger is very cheap, and there are benefits in terms of time and cost savings.
I find the price of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional to be very cost-efficient.
They offer discounts on bulk licenses, making it cheaper compared to competitors like Veracode DAST.
I find it a bit expensive compared to other competitors.
 

Valuable Features

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional excels in features, plugins, and affordability, making it ideal for web application testing.
Qualys Web Application Scanning offers Selenium integration, effective threat detection, and seamless CI/CD integration with a user-friendly interface.
I especially value the features for penetration testing.
The most valuable features of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional are its ease of use and its cost efficiency.
The most valuable feature of Burp Suite Professional is its ability to schedule tasks for scanning websites.
It effectively detects vulnerabilities like the OWASP Top 10 without any issues in reporting.
It is recognized as one of the best tools for web application security from a development perspective.
The product helps by providing options for remediating vulnerabilities it finds, making it really useful.
 

Categories and Ranking

PortSwigger Burp Suite Prof...
Ranking in Application Security Tools
11th
Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
Fuzz Testing Tools (1st)
Qualys Web Application Scan...
Ranking in Application Security Tools
13th
Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
9th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is 2.2%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys Web Application Scanning is 2.1%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Security Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Anuradha.Kapoor Kapoor - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers efficient scanning of entire websites but presence of false positive bugs, leading to time-consuming efforts in distinguishing real bugs from false alarms
We have found that so many times, false positive bugs are there, and then we spend a lot of time basically separating them from real bugs. So that's the reason we are looking for some other tool. So we were in discussion with Acunetix. Therefore, the false positive rate is, like, something that we would like to improve. What we are looking for is if this false positive rate goes down because we were OWASP Zap tool users, which was free anyway. But there were a lot of false positives there, and we used to spend a lot of time, like, for security reasons, reproducing those bugs for the development team to fix it. So then we thought, okay, why not we go with the tool? Even if it is not very expensive. But still, every year, we have to renew the license. And we got this tool. Again, we found that in this tool also, even if it is less, there are still a lot of false positive bugs out there. So we again have to spend so much time. So we hired a security tester, who was basically using Acunetix in his previous company for almost three years, and then you said that in that scanning is very slow. The scanning is also slow. Like, sometimes the site scan takes eight hours, six to eight hours. Yeah. And whereas in Acunetix, it took three to four hours. And plus, there are no false positives. I'm not saying none but there's very little. But here, the rate sometimes is very high. These are the two features I think we would like to improve further.
Kelvin Oladipo - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly scanning provides valuable vulnerability insights, but pricing improvements are needed
Qualys Web Application Scanning ( /products/qualys-web-application-scanning-reviews ) is user-friendly, easy to understand, easy to use, and easy to deploy. Credential scanning is very effective because it goes in-depth into the system, crawling the pages, and reporting on vulnerabilities. The product helps by providing options for remediating vulnerabilities it finds, making it really useful.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Security Tools solutions are best for your needs.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 ...
What do you like most about PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional?
The solution helped us discover vulnerabilities in our applications.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional?
I find the price of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional to be very cost-efficient.
What do you like most about Qualys Web Application Scanning?
The vulnerability management feature is a strong one. And also the patch management feature.
What needs improvement with Qualys Web Application Scanning?
I would like it to be cheaper because it is a bit expensive compared to competitors like Tenable Nessus ( /products/tenable-nessus-reviews ). After using the product for a year, I might have more s...
 

Also Known As

Burp
Qualys WAS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Amazon, NASA, FedEx, P&G, Salesforce
BskyB, Cartagena, ClearPoint Learning Systems, Connect Group, du, Fortrex Technologies, HBOR, HDI, Highlights for Children, The Lithuanian State Enterprise Centre of Registers, City of Miami Beach, Microsoft, MidlandHR, MSCI Inc., Northern Arizona University, Ofgem, Olympus Europa, PhoneFactor, RTL Nederland, ThousandEyes, VGZ Organisatie B.V.
Find out what your peers are saying about PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs. Qualys Web Application Scanning and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.