We have compiled a list of the 9 best security testing tools for you.
Best Security Testing Tools
1) Burp Suite – Best for integrating your existing apps
Burp Suite is one the best security and penetration testing tools that provide fast scans, robust API, and tools to manage your security needs. It offers multiple plans to quickly meet the needs of different business sizes. It provides features to easily visualize the evolution of your security posture by using deltas and many other modifications. More than 60,000 security professionals trust this security testing tool for detecting vulnerabilities, defending against brute force attacks, etc. You can use its GraphQL API to start, schedule, cancel, update scans, and receive precise data with complete flexibility. It actively checks for various parameters to adjust the frequency of concurrent security scans automatically.
Features:
Automated OAST (Out-of-band application security testing) helps in the detection of many vulnerabilities You can integrate with platforms like Jenkins and TeamCity to visually show all vulnerabilities in your dashboard Offers tools to create a multi-user system and provide different capabilities, access, and rights to users Integrate manually created Burp Suite Pro setups into your fully automated enterprise environment Vulnerability Detection: Cross-site scripting, SQL injection, XML external entity injection, etc. API: Yes Automated Scanning: Yes
Key Specs:
Programming Languages Supported: Java, Python, and Ruby Deployment Options: Linux, macOS, and Windows Open Source: Yes Pricing: Pricing plan starts at $399 per month. Trial: Free Basic plan Link: https://portswigger.net/burp/communitydownload
2) SonarQube – Best for multiple programming languages
SonarQube is a robust open-source security tool known for its advanced security testing capabilities. It evaluates all your files to ensure all your code is clean and well maintained. You can use its powerful quality check features to catch and fix performance bottlenecks, unidentified bugs, user experience inconsistencies, security threats, etc. SonarQube’s Issue Visualizer helps track the problem across multiple methods and files and assists in faster problem-solving. It offers full support for more than 25 programming languages. It has three closed-source paid plans for enterprise and data center-grade security testing.
Features:
Identifies errors by continuously working in the background through its deployment tools Displays critical issues like memory leaks when applications tend to crash or run out of memory Provides feedback on the quality of the code that helps programmers to improve their skills Accessibility tools to check the issues from one code file to another Vulnerability Detection: Cross-site scripting, Gain privilege, Directory traversal, etc. API: Yes Automated Scanning: Yes
Key Specs:
Programming Languages Supported: Java, NET, JavaScript, PHP, etc. Deployment Options: Linux, macOS, and Windows Open Source: Yes Pricing: Free Link: https://www.sonarqube.org/
3) Zed Attack Proxy – Best for finding vulnerabilities in web applications
ZAP or Zed Attack Proxy is a penetration testing tool developed by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP). It is easy to discover and solve vulnerabilities in web applications. You can use it to effortlessly discover most of the top 10 OWASP vulnerabilities. ZAP is an ideal proxy between the client’s web browser and your server. It is one of the best tools to monitor all communications and intercept malicious attempts. This security tool provides REST-based API that can be used to integrate it with your technology stack easily. Moreover, it also offers complete development control using its API and Daemon mode.
Features:
ZAP records all requests and responses through web scans and provides alerts for any issues detected Enables Integration of security testing into the CI/CD pipeline with the help of its Jenkins Plugin Fuzzer helps you to Inject a JavaScript payload to expose vulnerabilities in your app Custom Script Add-on allows running scripts inserted into ZAP to access internal data structures Vulnerabilities Detection: Security miss-configuration, Broken authentication, Sensitive data exposure, etc. API: Yes Automated Scanning: Yes
Key Specs:
Programming Languages Supported: NodeJS, JavaScript, Python, etc. Deployment Options: Linux, macOS, and Windows. Open Source: Yes Pricing: Free Link: https://owasp.org/www-project-zap/
4) w3af – Best for generating data-rich security reports
w3af is an ideal open-source security testing tool to identify vulnerabilities and help rectify them. You can use this tool to detect 200+ vulnerabilities in websites effortlessly. It uses an advanced plugin-based architecture that allows you to add or remove features easily. It helps you to defend against SQL injection attempts, perform security tests, and generate data-rich security reports. It provides an easy-to-use GUI, a good knowledge base, an online community, and a blog to assist beginners and experienced professionals.
Features:
Provides solutions for testing multiple vulnerabilities, including XSS, SQLI, and CSF, among others Sed plugin helps modify requests and responses using various regular expressions GUI-based expert tools help in the effortless crafting and sending of custom HTTP requests Fuzzy and Manual Request Generator feature eliminates problems associated with Manual Web Application Testing Vulnerability Detection: LDAP injection, SQL injection, XSS injection API: No Automated Scanning: No
Key Specs:
Programming Languages Supported: Python only Deployment Options: Linux, macOS, and Windows Open Source: Yes Pricing: Free Link: http://w3af.org/
5) Wapiti – Best open-source vulnerability detector
Wapiti is one of the most advanced front-end and back-end vulnerability detection methods. It is a community-backed open-source security testing tool with various features to improve your security. You can use it to detect and defend against brute-force attacks on your server. It can automatically detect many server-level vulnerabilities, including potential issues in .htaccess files, unsafe databases, etc. You can use it to detect and fix potentially dangerous files on your server automatically. Moreover, this command line application can inject test payloads into your web page.
Features:
Generates data-driven vulnerability reports in HTML, XML, JSON, TXT, etc. Authentication of login forms using the Basic, Digest, NTLM, or GET/POST methods. You can pause any active security scans and resume them later It crawls your websites and conducts “black-box” scans for proper security testing Vulnerability Detection: Shellshock or Bash bug, SSRF, XXE injection, etc. API: No Automated Scanning: No
Key Specs:
Programming Languages Supported: Python Only Deployment Options: FreeBSD and Linux Open Source: Yes Pricing: Free Link: https://wapiti-scanner.github.io/
6) Snyk – Best security platform for protecting code
Snyk is an ideal tool for detecting code vulnerabilities even before deployment. It can be integrated into IDEs, reports, and workflows. Sync uses logic programming principles to spot security vulnerabilities as code is written. You can also utilize their self-learning resources to improve application security testing. Snyk’s built-in intelligence dynamically adjusts scanning frequency based on various server-wide parameters. It has pre-built integrations for Jira, Microsoft Visual Studio, GitHub, CircleCI, etc. This Tool provides multiple pricing plans to meet the unique needs of different business scales.
Features:
Allows bulk code testing to discover patterns and identify potential vulnerabilities Automatically keeps track of deployed projects and code and alerts when new vulnerabilities are detected Provides users with the ability to alter the security automation feature Direct dependency fix suggestions to improve triaging of transitive vulnerability Vulnerability Detections: Cross-site scripting, SQL injection, XML external entity injection, etc. API: Yes Automated Scanning: Yes
Key Specs:
Programming Languages Supported: JavaScript, .NET, Python, Ruby, etc. Deployment Options: Ubuntu, CentOS, and Debian Open Source: Yes Pricing: $98 per month Free Trial: Lifetime Free Basic Plan Link: https://snyk.io/
7) Vega – Best for monitoring server-client communications
Vega is a robust, open-source, multi-platform security testing tool. It helps you to discover vulnerabilities and potential dangers and provides soft warnings. You can use it as a proxy to administer all communications between server and browser. It helps you to protect servers against SQL injections, brute force attacks, and many more security threats. You can use its advanced API to build robust attack modules to perform security testing according to your needs. It is one of the best software testing tools that automatically log in to the website and check all restricted areas for vulnerabilities.
Features:
Performs SSL interceptions and analyzes all client-server communications. Provides a tactical inspection tool that includes an automatic scanner for regular testing Automatically log into websites when user credentials are provided Proxy feature enables it to block requests from a browser to the web application server Vulnerability Detections: Blind SQL injection, Header injection, Shell injection, etc. API: Yes Automated Scanning: Yes
Key Specs:
Programming Languages Supported: Java, Python, HTML, etc. Deployment Options: Linux, macOS, and Windows Open Source: Yes Pricing: Free Link: https://subgraph.com/vega/
8) SQLMap – Best for detecting SQL vulnerabilities
SQLMap is a security tool that specializes in securing SQL databases. You can use it to check for SQL injection flaws, sensitive data flaws, etc. Its advanced detection engine efficiently performs proper penetration testing. The deep scans help identify system weaknesses and server misconfigurations. You can use it to check for SQL injection flaws, sensitive data flaws, etc. It automatically recognizes passwords with a hash and supports coordinating a dictionary attack to crack them. You can secure various database management systems like MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, IBM DB2, etc.
Features:
Periodically search for vulnerabilities using stacked, time, and error-based SQL queries. It automatically obtains the current database information, the session user, and the DBMS banner Testers can easily simulate multiple attacks to check system stability and discover server vulnerabilities Attacks that are supported include enumerating users, and password hashes as well as brute-forcing table Vulnerability Detections: Cross-site scripting, SQL injection, XML external entity injection, etc. API: No Automated Scanning: Yes
Key Specs:
Programming Languages: Python, Shell, HTML, Perl, SQL, etc. Deployment Options: Linux, macOS, and Windows Open Source: Yes Pricing: Free Link: https://sqlmap.org/
9) Kali Linux – Best for injecting and password snipping
Kali Linux is one of the best security penetration testing tools for ethical hacking, load testing, and discovering vulnerabilities. Its advanced metapackages allow you to optimize for your use cases and fine-tune your servers. You can explore its highly engaging communities to get support for anything and everything you need. Kali is an ideal penetration testing tool for all security testing and can be used silently in the backend, ensuring minimum distractions. Its BackTrack feature offers tools for sniffing, digital forensics, and WLAN and LAN vulnerability assessment.
Features:
In-depth documentation with relevant information for beginners as well as veterans Provides many penetrations testing features for your web application, simulates attacks, and performs vulnerability analysis Live USB Boot Drives can be used for testing without interfering with the host operating system Vulnerability Detections: Brute Force Attacks, Network Vulnerabilities, Code Injections, etc. API: No Automated Scanning: Yes
Key Specs:
Programming Languages Supported: C and asm Deployment Options: Linux, Windows, and Android Open Source: Yes Pricing: Free Link: https://www.kali.org/
FAQs
❓ What are the best Security Testing Tools?
The best tools for security testing are:
Burp Suite SonarQube Zed Attack Proxy w3af Wapiti
🏅 What to look for in a Security Testing Tool?
Here are essential features of Security Testing Tools:
Language Support: The best security tools must be available in all the programming languages you might need for your technological needs. Automated Scanning: It should be capable of automatic scans and adjusting scan frequency based on external parameters. Penetration Testing: Your selected Tool should have proper built-in penetration testing software to perform a penetration test and discover vulnerabilities Vulnerabilities Analyzed: It must be capable of discovering all vulnerabilities in your particular use case, like web security, app security, database security, etc. Open Source: You should opt for a security testing tool with entirely open-source code to ensure easy detection of security flaws inside the Tool
