Checkmarx One vs Fortify Application Defender comparison

Checkmarx and OpenText are both solutions in the Application Security Tools category. Checkmarx is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.8, while OpenText is ranked #32 with an average rating of 7.3. Checkmarx holds a 10.7% mindshare in AS, compared to OpenText’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Checkmarx users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 81% of OpenText users who would recommend it.

Checkmarx One

Read 70 Checkmarx One reviews

21,297 Views
14,284 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Fortify Application Defender

Read 11 Fortify Application Defender reviews

1,002 Views
803 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

Checkmarx One

Fortify Application Defender

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

Checkmarx One and Fortify Application Defender are two competitive solutions in the application security sector. Fortify has an edge with its comprehensive features and advanced analytics, making it a worthwhile investment for users prioritizing in-depth security.

Features: Checkmarx One is known for its integration capabilities, automated scanning, and early vulnerability detection. Fortify Application Defender offers real-time threat protection, robust analytics, and detailed insights into potential vulnerabilities.

Room for Improvement: Checkmarx One users suggest reporting enhancements, better customization options, and a less steep learning curve. Fortify Application Defender could improve its initial setup process, scalability, and onboarding experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Checkmarx One is recognized for smooth deployment and responsive customer service, with exceptional support. Fortify’s deployment is complex but reliable once operational, with effective support.

Pricing and ROI: Checkmarx One offers competitive pricing, leading to good ROI. Though Fortify Application Defender is costlier, it delivers ROI through advanced features and long-term efficiency. Users find Checkmarx more budget-friendly; Fortify attracts with potential security advancements.

To learn more, read our detailed Checkmarx One vs. Fortify Application Defender Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Checkmarx One vs. Fortify Application Defender

March 2025

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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

Checkmarx One

Ranking in Application Security Tools

3rd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (3rd), Vulnerability Management (21st), Static Code Analysis (2nd), API Security (3rd), DevSecOps (2nd), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (8th)

Fortify Application Defender

Ranking in Application Security Tools

32nd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of Checkmarx One is 10.7%, down from 15.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortify Application Defender is 0.7%, down from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Security Tools

Q&A Highlights

Shiva

Works at Saviynt

Dec 17, 2019

What is the Biggest Difference Between Checkmarx and Fortify?

Checkmarx SAST is a product supporting 20+ languages, including the modern ones (GoLang, Kotlin, Swift, Scala, Typescript, React). Its language support is constantly kept up with the current versions of the respective languages/frameworks (e.g. .NET Core 2.x etc.). Unlike Fortify, Checkmarx analyses raw (uncompiled) source code, which makes it less susceptible to changes in the built environment (e.g. no dependency on the specific version of XCode). Finally, the Checkmarx solution is available both as an on-premise and in the cloud (hosted) solution with the same capabilities. Fortify on demand (which is the cloud-only solution) is different from the on-prem one.

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Featured Reviews

Rohit Kesharwani

Manager, Engineering at 7-Eleven.

Provides good security analysis and security identification within the source code

We integrate Checkmarx into our software development cycle using GitLab's CI/CD pipeline. Checkmark has been the most helpful for us in the development stage. The solution's incremental scanning feature has impacted our development speed. The solution's vulnerability detection is around 80% to 90% accurate. I would recommend Checkmarx to other users because it is one of the good tools for doing security analysis and security identification within the source code. Overall, I rate Checkmarx a nine out of ten.

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HisaoOgata

Department Manger at Hitachi Channel

Saves time and warns about the vulnerabilities in the software, but the false positive rate should be lower

We use the solution to prevent cyberattacks Based on the alerts created by the solution during development, we modify the software we are developing. The product finds mistakes automatically. It warns us about the vulnerabilities in the software. The product saves us cost and time. The product…

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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

"The process of remediating software security vulnerabilities can now be performed (ongoing) as portions of the application are being built in advance of being compiled."

"It has all the features we need."

"The solution allows us to create custom rules for code checks."

"The most valuable features are the easy to understand interface, and it 's very user-friendly."

"The reports are very good because they include details on the code level, and make suggestions about how to fix the problems."

"The ability to track the vulnerabilities inside the code (origin and destination of weak variables or functions)."

"The solution improved the efficiency of our code security reviews. It helps tremendously because it finds hundreds of potential problems sometimes."

"The SAST component was absolutely 100% stable."

More Checkmarx One pros

"The tool's most valuable feature is software composition analysis. This feature works well with my .NET applications, providing a better understanding of library vulnerabilities."

"The information from Fortify Application Defender on how to fix and solve issues is very good compared to other solutions."

"The product saves us cost and time."

"The most valuable feature is that it analyzes data in real-time."

"The most valuable features of Fortify Application Defender are the code packages that are default."

"I find the configuration of rules in Fortify Application Defender useful. Its integration is also easy."

"Its ability to find security defects is valuable."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to automatically feed it rules what it's coupled with the WebInspect dynamic application scanning technology."

More Fortify Application Defender pros

Cons

"I would like to see the rate of false positives reduced."

"The solution sometimes reports a false auditable code or false positive."

"One area for improvement in Checkmarx is pricing, as it's more expensive than other products."

"They should make it more container-friendly and optimized for the CI pipeline. They should make it a little less heavy. Right now, it requires a SQL database, and the way the tool works is that it has an engine and then it has an analysis database in which it stores the information. So, it is pretty heavy from that perspective because you have to have a full SQL Server. They're working on something called Checkmarx Light, which is a slim-down version. They haven't released it yet, but that's what we need. There should be something a little more slimmed down that can just run the analysis and output the results in a format that's readable as opposed to having a full, really big, and thick deployment with a full database server."

"Integration into the SDLC (i.e. support for last version of SonarQube) could be added."

"The product's reporting feature could be better. The feature works well for developers, but reports generated to be shared with external parties are poor, it lacks the details one gets when viewing the results directly from the Checkmarx One platform."

"In terms of dashboarding, the solution could provide a little more flexibility in terms of creating more dashboards. It has some of its own dashboards that come out of the box. However, if I have to implement my own dashboards that are aligned to my organization's requirements, that dashboarding feature has limited capability right now."

"The integration could improve by including, for example, DevSecOps."

More Checkmarx One cons

"The solution is quite expensive."

"The workbench is a little bit complex when you first start using it."

"Support for older compilers/IDEs is lacking."

"The false positive rate should be lower."

"I encountered many false positives for Python applications."

"Fortify Application Defender could improve by supporting more code languages, such as GRAAS and Groovy."

"The biggest complaint that I have heard concerns additional platform support because right now, it only supports applications that are written in .NET and Java."

"The licensing can be a little complex."

More Fortify Application Defender cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is competitive and provides a lower TCO (total cost of ownership) for achieving application security."

"The solution's price is high and you pay based on the number of users."

"The number of users and coverage for languages will have an impact on the cost of the license."

"It is an expensive solution."

"I believe pricing is better compared to other commercial tools."

"The average deal size was usually anywhere between $120K to $175K on an annual basis, which could be divided across 12 months."

"It's relatively expensive."

"Before implementing the product I would evaluate if it is really necessary to scan so many different languages and frameworks. If not, I think there must be a cheaper solution for scanning Java-only applications (which are 90% of our applications)."

More Checkmarx One pricing and cost advice

"Fortify Application Defender is very expensive."

"The licensing is very complex, it's project based and can range from $10,000 to $200,000+ depending on the project type and size."

"The product’s price is much higher than other tools."

"The base licensing costs for the SaaS platform is about $900 USD per application, per year."

"I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten. It comes as an annual cloud subscription. The tool's pricing is around 50 lakhs."

"The price of this solution could be less expensive."

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Answers from the Community

Shiva

Works at Saviynt

Dec 17, 2019

What is the Biggest Difference Between Checkmarx and Fortify?

2 out of 5 answers

Akshay Prasad

Solving Acute Engineering Problems at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Dec 16, 2019

The major difference is that Checkmarx scans the code without compiling the code. This has a great advantage as code building issues are eliminated, scan time is very less and false positive is less to some extent. One more major this is Checkmarx learns as you eliminate false positives and does not show the same issue again. We can perform incremental scans on the codebase where the old issue is nicely marked as "Recurring" and new ones in Red as NEW. Checkmarx has a highly customizable filter creation where you can create a filter that can eliminate the common recurring issues in scans. This feature is very flexible and you can write your own filters and also, write specific patterns that are found in manual review which is a great help as coding styles differ form teams to teams.

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it_user1242723

Company Owner at BCMC

Dec 16, 2019

Looking at the Gartner report I would say that Checkmarx is way easier to set up (initial setup) compared to Micro Focus Fortify. Also, the financial strength of the Micro Focus Fortify spin/merger is a concern so investments could be at risk.

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See all 5 answers

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Financial Services Firm

24%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What alternatives are there for Fortify WebInspect and Fortify SCA?

I would like to recommend Checkmarx. With Checkmarx, you are able to have an all in one solution for SAST and SCA as well. Veracode is only a cloud solution. Hope this helps.

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What do you like most about Checkmarx?

Compared to the solutions we used previously, Checkmarx has reduced our workload by almost 75%.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Checkmarx?

The pricing is relatively expensive due to the product's quality and performance, but it is worth it.

See all answers

What do you like most about Fortify Application Defender?

I find the configuration of rules in Fortify Application Defender useful. Its integration is also easy.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortify Application Defender?

The product should integrate industry-standard code review tools internally with its system. This would streamline the coding process, as developers wouldn't need multiple tools for code review and...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Fortify Application Defender?

We use the solution for fast code review. It is integrated into our DevOps pipeline.

See all answers

Comparisons

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs Checkmarx One

Compared 43% of the time

Veracode vs Checkmarx One

Compared 12% of the time

Fortify on Demand vs Checkmarx One

Compared 6% of the time

Checkmarx SAST vs Checkmarx One

Compared 5% of the time

GitLab vs Checkmarx One

Compared 1% of the time

More Checkmarx One Competitors

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 16% of the time

Qualys Web Application Scanning vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 13% of the time

Coverity vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 13% of the time

CAST Application Intelligence Platform vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 13% of the time

Veracode vs Fortify Application Defender

Compared 8% of the time

More Fortify Application Defender Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Checkmarx One

March 2025

Download Checkmarx One product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Security Tools

March 2025

Download Fortify Application Defender product report

Also Known As

No data available

HPE Fortify Application Defender, Micro Focus Fortify Application Defender

Overview

Checkmarx One is an enterprise cloud-native application security platform focused on providing cross-tool, correlated results to help AppSec and developer teams prioritize where to focus time and resources.

Checkmarx One offers comprehensive application scanning across the SDLC:

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
API security
Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)
Container security
IaC security
Correlation, prioritization, and risk management
Codebashing secure code training
AI security
Tech partnerships extending AppSec into runtime analysis
Developer tool integrations including: CI/CD tools, development frameworks, feedback tools, IDEs, programming languages and SCMs

Checkmarx One provides everything you need to secure application development from the first line of code through deployment and runtime in the cloud. With an ever-evolving set of AppSec engines, correlation and prioritization features, and AI capabilities, Checkmarx One helps consolidate expanding lists of AppSec tools and make better sense of results. Its capabilities are designed to provide an improved developer experience to build trust with development teams and ensure the success of your AppSec program investment.

Checkmarx

Micro Focus Security Fortify Application Defender is a runtime application self-protection (RASP) solution that helps you manage and mitigate risk from homegrown or third-party applications. It provides centralized visibility into application use and abuse while protecting from software vulnerability exploits and other violations in real time.

OpenText

Sample Customers

YIT, Salesforce, Coca-Cola, SAP, U.S. Army, Liveperson, Playtech Case Study: Liveperson Implements Innovative Secure SDLC

ServiceMaster, Saltworks, SAP

Buyer's Guide

Checkmarx One vs. Fortify Application Defender

March 2025

Free Report: Checkmarx One vs. Fortify Application Defender

Find out what your peers are saying about Checkmarx One vs. Fortify Application Defender and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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