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HCL AppScan vs Harness comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Harness
Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
31st
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Build Automation (10th), Cloud Cost Management (15th)
HCL AppScan
Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
10th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Application Security Tools (14th), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category, the mindshare of Harness is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HCL AppScan is 2.7%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
 

Featured Reviews

Linwei Yuan - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamline microservices deployment with integrated execution pipelines and comprehensive monitoring
Harness integrates all functions like execution pipelines, environment checks, and log monitoring in one place. It is very convenient since we have many microservices, so having one platform for all of them is beneficial. The dashboard allows me to monitor all core services' deployment status in one place, making it easier to find bugs and check logs.
Rishi Anupam - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable and scalable scanning solution with good reporting feature
The solution is used for the vulnerabilities scan on the network side The reporting part is the most valuable feature. The penetration testing feature should be included. I have been using the solution for four years. It is a stable solution. I rate it seven out of ten. It is a scalable…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Harness starts integrating with organizations, making everything automated without the need for manual interruption."
"Harness integrates all functions like execution pipelines, environment checks, and log monitoring in one place."
"It's a highly customizable DevOps tool."
"Harness integrates all functions like execution pipelines, environment checks, and log monitoring in one place, making it convenient."
"The UI was very intuitive."
"We are now deploying less defects to production."
"The solution offers services in a few specific development languages."
"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."
"It highlights, with several grades of severity, the types of vulnerabilities, so we can focus on the most severe security vulnerabilities in the code."
"IBM AppScan has made our work easy, as we can do four to five scans of websites at a time, which saves time when it comes to vulnerability."
"The reporting part is the most valuable feature."
"This is a stable solution."
 

Cons

"When integrating Harness with more than twenty applications in one place, it becomes less stable, causing improvements to be necessary."
"I prefer the previous less compact UI version of Harness, which showed more details on the screen."
"Even with automation, there's a requirement for manual change requests for approvals."
"There's also room for improvement in debugging pipeline issues, which can sometimes become complex."
"IBM Security AppScan needs to add performance optimization for quickly scanning the target web applications."
"Many silly false positives are produced."
"I think being able to search across more containers, especially some of the docker elements. We need a little tighter integration there. That's the only thing I can see at this point."
"They could incorporate AI to enhance vulnerability detection and improve the product's reporting capabilities."
"They could add a software component analysis tool."
"Sometimes it doesn't work so well."
"The solution's scalability can be a matter of concern because one license runs on one machine only."
"One thing which I think can be improved is the CI/CD Integration"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Pricing was the main reason that we went ahead with this solution as they were the lowest in the market."
"The tool was expensive."
"The price is very 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."
"The solution is cheap."
"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 product has premium pricing and could be more competitive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
33%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Harness?
It's a highly customizable DevOps tool.
What needs improvement with Harness?
Previously, when deploying a version that had been deployed successfully before, it sometimes failed upon trying again, which seems to be an intermittent issue about stability. I prefer the previou...
What is your primary use case for Harness?
I used Harness for CICD, and it served as the release platform that our team used for Java applications. We do Java microservices, and we used it to deploy them.
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.
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...
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...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Armory
IBM Security AppScan, Rational AppScan, AppScan
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Linedata, Openbank, Home Depot, Advanced
Essex Technology Group Inc., Cisco, West Virginia University, APIS IT
Find out what your peers are saying about HCL AppScan vs. Harness and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
846,617 professionals have used our research since 2012.