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 #3 with an average rating of 7.8. HCLSoftware holds a 14.3% mindshare in DAST, compared to Rapid7’s 9.5% 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

4,583 Views
779 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Read 19 Rapid7 InsightAppSec reviews

1,572 Views
424 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: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec

July 2025

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Helped 867,445 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) (15th)

Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Ranking in Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) category, the mindshare of HCL AppScan is 14.3%, down from 23.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rapid7 InsightAppSec is 9.5%, up from 9.0% 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	14.3%
Rapid7 InsightAppSec	9.5%
Other	76.2%

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.

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 was easy to set up."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the scanning or security part."

"The solution is cheap."

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

"The most valuable feature of HCL AppScan is scanning QR codes."

"Technical support is helpful."

"It comes with all of the templates that we need. For example, we are a company that is regulated by PCI. In order to be PCI compliant, we have a lot of checks and procedures to which we have to comply."

"The most valuable feature of HCL AppScan is its integration with the SDLC, particularly during the coding phase."

More HCL AppScan pros

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

"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."

"The templates feature is very easy. You just choose the kind of attack you want on your web application, and you run it against that template and receive a report. It's great."

"The reporting functionality is excellent."

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

"The product’s most valuable feature is UI. It is easy to manage and find vulnerabilities in the application."

"Rapid7 InsightAppSec helps us in both regulatory compliance and in strengthening our security posture."

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

More Rapid7 InsightAppSec pros

Cons

"Scans become slow on large websites."

"Many silly false positives are produced."

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

"There are so many lines of code with so many different categories that I am likely to get lost. "

"Visibility is an issue for us. Our partners do not know we have integrations with some of IBM products."

"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."

"There is not a central management for static and dynamic."

"They could incorporate AI to enhance vulnerability detection and improve the product's reporting capabilities."

More HCL AppScan cons

"We get a lot of false positives during the tests."

"Rapid7 InsightAppSec needs improvement in detecting phishing pages."

"The reporting feature of Rapid7 InsightAppSec needs improvement as it currently provides basic reports."

"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."

"The dynamic scanning feature has simplified and improved the security testing process. I suggest adding a SaaS feature to the solution to support scanning SaaS applications, making it more comprehensive. It would be beneficial if the solution could also scan mobile applications. It only scans web applications and should also cover mobile applications, including firmware recommendations."

"I would like more details of what the product can do."

"There is room for improvement in the response time of customer service and support levels."

"They should add more features. I would like to see them do a little more on static analysis and also interactivity analysis. Currently, it does very basic static analysis. It could do a little more static analysis, which is something that would help. A lot more interactivity analysis should also be there. It should basically look at security during interactivity."

More Rapid7 InsightAppSec cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The solution is cheap."

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

"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 solution is moderately priced."

"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."

"HCL AppScan is expensive."

More HCL AppScan pricing and cost advice

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

"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."

"Rapid7 InsightAppSec is cheap."

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

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

13%

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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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan

September 2025

Download HCL AppScan product report

Buyer's Guide

Rapid7 InsightAppSec

August 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

July 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: July 2025.

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