HCL AppScan vs Invicti comparison

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HCL AppScan

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

HCL AppScan and Invicti are key competitors in the application security testing domain. Invicti seems to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive features and high user satisfaction, overshadowing HCL AppScan’s robust testing capabilities.

Features: HCL AppScan is noted for advanced scanning tools, detailed reporting, and addressing vulnerabilities efficiently. Invicti offers strong automation capabilities, ease of integration into existing development workflows, and streamlined processes which many users find more effective.

Room for Improvement: HCL AppScan could focus on improving its learning curve, enhancing dashboards for better usability, and offering more intuitive interfaces. Invicti should work on refining reporting features, providing more detailed scan insights, and improving report comprehensiveness.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: HCL AppScan users experience a steep deployment curve but commend its customer service. Invicti provides a simpler deployment process and receives positive feedback for responsive support, making it more accessible for quick setup and assistance.

Pricing and ROI: HCL AppScan has competitive pricing and delivers satisfactory ROI for those prioritizing comprehensive scanning. Invicti, despite a higher price point, is valued for its advanced capabilities and automation, leading to a perceived strong ROI especially by those prioritizing efficiency and thoroughness.

To learn more, read our detailed HCL AppScan vs. Invicti Report (Updated: March 2026).

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HCL AppScan vs. Invicti

March 2026

Helped 883,824 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 Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

17th

Ranking in Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

6th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (19th)

Invicti

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

11th

Ranking in Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Container Security (25th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (8th), API Security (8th), Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) category, the mindshare of HCL AppScan is 9.5%, down from 11.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Invicti is 8.3%, up from 5.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Invicti	8.3%
HCL AppScan	9.5%
Other	82.2%

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

Featured Reviews

Ravi Khanchandani

Founder Director at Techsa Services

Has improved identification of encryption and authentication issues across cloud and on-prem applications

During the learning curve of onboarding HCL AppScan, we learned that HCL has altered the portfolio and now offers HCL AppScan 360, which has a much better look and feel with an improved user interface. However, there is one feature called SCA, which stands for Software Composition Analysis, that could be improved. When I'm doing an application scan, HCL AppScan has the ability to generate information about what components are in use. For example, if I'm scanning a web application, it shows me the various components being used. It tells me whether I have Java libraries, .NET frameworks, or other log management libraries such as Log4j, and what versions of those specific components are present. I would like to see more detailed reports from the tool. Currently, you can find out the components belonging to a specific software, but if detailed reporting became available, you would be in a better position to identify vulnerabilities. For instance, I could identify that I had the Log4j vulnerability and know that I need to fix my application accordingly. If they add the features I'm describing, I would consider giving them a higher rating. However, I've only been experienced with the product for three months.

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Valavan Sivgalingam

Senior Manager, Security Engineering at ESS

Dynamic testing regularly identifies web vulnerabilities and has strong false positive confirmations

It has good false positive confirmations, confirmed issues identification, and proof of exploit-related features as part of it. We use Invicti for these things in our portfolios. The solution includes Proof-Based Scanning technology. Invicti is part of our SSDLC portfolio, and DAST dynamic testing is very important for our web applications and portfolios. For both the API endpoints and web applications, we do regular testing on a monthly basis for all our releases. Invicti does a good job. The only concern is on the performance side, but other than that, we find it really helpful in identifying web vulnerabilities. A full scan takes more time based on your website and other factors, but for us, it takes more than two to three days. The scan performance can be improved upon. When we check with them, they discuss proof-based scanning and related aspects. However, there could be intermittent results that could help us.

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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

"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution...The initial setup or installation of HCL AppScan is easy."

"It was easy to set up."

"Usually when we deploy the application, there is a process for ethical hacking. The main benefit is that, the ethical hacking is almost clean, every time. So it's less cost, less effort, less time to production."

"I like the recording feature."

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

"We use it as a security testing application."

"It identifies all the URLs and domains on its own and then performs tests and provides the results."

"It provides a better integration for our ecosystem."

More HCL AppScan pros

"Netsparker provides a more interactive interface that is more appealing."

"I am impressed with Invictus’ proof-based scanning. The solution has reduced the incidence of false positive vulnerabilities. It has helped us reduce our time and focus on vulnerabilities."

"Invicti has done a commendable job with respect to ROI, and with respect to being a cost-effective solution and one of the market leaders as an effective solution for SAST and DAST, Invicti has performed very well."

"Attacking feature: Actually, attacking is not a solo feature. It contains many attack engines, Hawk, and many properties. But Netsparker's attacking mechanism is very flexible. This increases the vulnerability detection rate. Also, Netsparker made the Hawk for real-time interactive command-line-based exploit testing. It's very valuable for a vulnerability scanner."

"When we try to manually exploit the vulnerabilities, it often takes time to realize what's going on and what needs to be done."

"I am impressed by the whole technology that they are using in this solution. It is really fast. When using netscan, the confirmation that it gives on the vulnerabilities is pretty cool. It is really easy to configure a scan in Netsparker Web Application Security Scanner. It is also really easy to deploy."

"One of the features I like about this program is the low number of false positives and the support it offers."

"Invicti is part of our SSDLC portfolio, and DAST dynamic testing is very important for our web applications and portfolios."

More Invicti pros

Cons

"There is room for improvement in the pricing model."

"AppScan is too complicated and should be made more user-friendly."

"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."

"We would like to integrate with some of the other reporting tools that we're planning to use in the future."

"The solution could improve by having a mobile version."

"IBM Security AppScan Source is rather hard to use."

"If HCL AppScan is able to alert the clients over email once the scan is complete, it would be great. Right now, HCL AppScan doesn't let me know if the scanning part is finished or not, because of which I have to come back and check mostly."

"The pricing has room for improvement."

More HCL AppScan cons

"Asset scanning could be better. Once, it couldn't scan assets, and the issue was strange. The price doesn't fit the budget of small and medium-sized businesses."

"They don't really provide the proof of concept up to the level that we need in our organization. We are a consultancy firm, and we provide consultancy for the implementation and deployment solutions to our customers. When you run the scans and the scan is completed, it only shows the proof of exploit, which really doesn't work because the tool is running the scan and exploiting on the read-only form. You don't really know whether it is actually giving the proof of exploit. We cannot prove it manually to a customer that the exploit is genuine. It is really hard to perform it manually and prove it to the concerned development, remediation, and security teams. It is currently missing the static application security part of the application security, especially web application security. It would be really cool if they can integrate a SAS tool with their dynamic one."

"They need to improve their support in the documentation. Their support mechanism is missing. Their responsiveness, technical staff, and these types of things need to be improved, and comprehensive documentation is required. They should have good self-service portal enhancement"

"Maybe the ability to make a good reporting format is needed."

"The solution needs to make a more specific report."

"The scanning time, complexity, and authentication features of Invicti could be improved."

"The custom attack preparation screen might be improved."

"Currently, there is nothing I would like to improve."

More Invicti cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool was expensive."

"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."

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

"Pricing was the main reason that we went ahead with this solution as they were the lowest in the market."

"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

"It is competitive in the security market."

"Netsparker is one of the costliest products in the market. It would help if they could allow us to scan multiple URLs on the same license."

"OWASP Zap is free and it has live updates, so that's a big plus."

"The price should be 20% lower"

"We are using an NFR license and I do not know the exact price of the NFR license. I think 20 FQDN for three years would cost around 35,000 US Dollars."

"The solution is very expensive. It comes with a yearly subscription. We were paying 6000 dollars yearly for unlimited scans. We have three licenses; basic, business, and ultimate. We need ultimate because it has unlimited scan numbers."

"Invicti is best suited for large enterprises. I don't think small and medium-sized businesses can afford it. Maintenance costs aren't that great."

"I think that price it too high, like other Security applications such as Acunetix, WebInspect, and so on."

More Invicti pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) solutions are best for your needs.

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883,824 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	31

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	13

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.

What needs improvement with HCL AppScan?

What is your primary use case for HCL AppScan?

I'm currently working with BigFix and HCL AppScan. At least three people in my company are using HCL AppScan. Since we are a reseller, we run it in both lab environments and live production applica...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Netsparker Web Application Security Scanner?

The setup cost is pretty competitive. For example, if you want to talk about the SAST license, it comes to about $150 or sometimes less than $100, depending on the conversion or the number of licen...

What needs improvement with Invicti?

At this time, there is nothing that comes to mind. However, most of the products in the market are pretty much neck-to-neck competitors. Speaking about it, there are a couple of factors which they ...

What is your primary use case for Invicti?

I have worked on a couple of products, specifically in web application security. I have worked on Invicti, and with respect to PAM, I have worked with BeyondTrust. I have not worked specifically fo...

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Product Reports

Download HCL AppScan product report

HCL AppScan

February 2026

Download Invicti product report

February 2026

Also Known As

IBM Security AppScan, Rational AppScan, AppScan

Netsparker

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

Invicti helps DevSecOps teams automate security tasks and save hundreds of hours each month by identifying web vulnerabilities that matter. Combining dynamic with interactive testing (DAST + IAST) and software composition analysis (SCA), Invicti scans every corner of an app to find what other tools miss with 99.98% accuracy, delivering on the promise of Zero Noise AppSec. Invicti helps discover all web assets — even ones that are lost, forgotten, or created by rogue departments. With an array of out-of-the-box integrations, DevSecOps teams can get ahead of their workloads to hit critical deadlines, improve processes, and communicate more effectively while reducing risk and hitting the ROI goals.

Sample Customers

Essex Technology Group Inc., Cisco, West Virginia University, APIS IT

Samsung, The Walt Disney Company, T-Systems, ING Bank