HCL AppScan vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) comparison

HCLSoftware and Sonar are both solutions in the Application Security Tools category. HCLSoftware is ranked #15 with an average rating of 7.9, while Sonar is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.2. HCLSoftware holds a 2.6% mindshare in AS, compared to Sonar’s 26.7% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of HCLSoftware users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 81% of Sonar users who would recommend it.

HCL AppScan

Read 43 HCL AppScan reviews

4,274 Views
3,278 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

SonarQube Server (formerly ...

Read 113 SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) reviews

40,107 Views
32,629 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

HCL AppScan

SonarQube Server (formerly ...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 30, 2024

HCL AppScan and SonarQube Server compete in the application security and code quality tools category. SonarQube Server appears to have the upper hand thanks to its comprehensive code analysis features and flexibility in deployment.

Features: HCL AppScan is known for its strong security testing, boasting vulnerability detection, dynamic scanning, and compliance checks. SonarQube Server focuses on code quality, offering continuous inspection, quality gates for multiple languages, and robust community support.

Room for Improvement: HCL AppScan can enhance its ease of deployment, improve integration with other security operations solutions, and expand its language support. SonarQube Server could advance its security vulnerability coverage, improve its licensing model for cloud environments, and enhance its community edition features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SonarQube Server provides both on-premises and cloud deployment options with active community support, making it a flexible choice. HCL AppScan's deployment can be more complex and may need extra technical assistance. Both offer quality customer service, though SonarQube benefits from faster community-driven support.

Pricing and ROI: HCL AppScan is noted for competitive pricing, offering high ROI for those prioritizing security. SonarQube Server, while initially more costly, is often justified by its extensive features that support long-term code quality improvements, making it a valuable investment for many development teams.

To learn more, read our detailed HCL AppScan vs. SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan vs. SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

December 2024

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Categories and Ranking

HCL AppScan

Ranking in Application Security Tools

15th

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

13th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) (1st)

SonarQube Server (formerly ...

Ranking in Application Security Tools

1st

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

113

Ranking in other categories

Software Development Analytics (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Application Security Tools category, the mindshare of HCL AppScan is 2.6%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) is 26.7%, down from 27.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Security Tools

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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Wang Dayong

Senior Software Engineering Manager at Hill

Easy to integrate and has a plug-in that supports both C and C++ languages

The product provides false reports sometimes. It also fails to understand the context of the code. It reports that a line of code has issues without considering its relation with the previous line. The product should improve the report quality. While it asks us to improve the code quality, it would be good if it also suggests how to improve the quality.

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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 provides a better integration for our ecosystem."

"The solution is easy to install. I would rate the product's setup between six to seven out of ten. The deployment time depends on the applications that need to be scanned. We have a development and operations team to take care of the product's maintenance."

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

"The product is useful, particularly in its sensitivity and scanning capabilities."

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

"The solution is easy to use."

"The HCL AppScan turnaround time for Burp Suite or any new feature request is pretty good, and that is why we are sticking with the HCL."

"The platform has valuable security features, helping us identify sensitive code issues and the possibility of internal applications' exposure to external threats."

More HCL AppScan pros

"This has improved our organization because it has helped to find Security Vulnerabilities."

"Issue Explanations: Documentation with detailed samples. Helps in growing technical knowledge and re-writing logic to conforming solutions."

"The solution's user interface is very user-friendly."

"With SonarQube's web interface, it is easy to drill down to see the individual problems, but also to look at the project from above and get the big picture, with possible larger problem areas."

"SonarQube's unit test coverage and exhaustive information at the module, project, and overall code repo levels are quite good."

"There's plenty of documentation available to users."

"SonarQube is scalable. My company has 50 users."

"I like that it covers most programming languages for source code review."

More SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) pros

Cons

"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."

"AppScan needs to improve its handling of false positives."

"IBM Security AppScan needs to add performance optimization for quickly scanning the target web applications."

"The solution often has a high number of false positives. It's an aspect they really need to improve upon."

"AppScan needs to improve its handling of false positives."

"Sometimes it doesn't work so well."

"The pricing has room for improvement."

"Improving usability could enhance the overall experience with AppScan. It would be beneficial to make the solution more user-friendly, ensuring that everyone can easily navigate and utilize its features."

More HCL AppScan cons

"If I configure a project in SonarQube, it generates a token. When we're compiling our code with SonarQube, we have to provide the token for security reasons. If IP-based connectivity is established with the solution, the project should automatically be populated without providing any additional token. It will be easy to provide just the IP address. It currently supports this functionality, but it makes a different branch in the project dashboard. From the configuration and dashboard point of view, it should have some transformations. There can be dashboard integration so that we can configure the dashboard for different purposes."

"The solution is a bit lacking on the security side, in terms of finding and identifying vulnerabilities."

"SonarQube needs to improve its ease of use, integration with third-party platforms, and scalability."

"We could use some team support, but since we are using the community version, it's not available."

"Technical support and the price could be better."

"I am not very pleased with the technical debt computation."

"There could be better integration with other products."

"This is a well-rounded solution, however, some features could be made available on the free version. The price of the solution could be reduced."

More SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"AppScan is a little bit expensive. IBM needs to work a little bit on the pricing model, decreasing the license cost."

"The solution is moderately priced."

"HCL AppScan is expensive."

"The solution is cheap."

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

"The product is moderately priced, though it's an investment due to extensive code analysis needs."

"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."

More HCL AppScan pricing and cost advice

"We're using an older version because it is the open-source flavor of it and we can continue using it at no cost. We're not paying any licensing at all, which was another factor in choosing this route so that we can learn and grow with it and not be committed to licenses and other similar things. If we choose to get something else, we have to relearn, but we don't have to relicense. Basically, we're paying no license costs."

"SonarQube price is a little bit higher than Kiuwan's. Kiuwan also gives a little bit of flexibility in terms of pricing."

"SonarQube is a cost-effective solution."

"The developer edition is based on cost per lines of code."

"The solution is cheaper than other products."

"I requested this license for one million lines of code and they accepted this."

"Can try developer version for 14 days on the free trial."

"The free version of SonarQube does everything that we need it to."

More SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Security Tools solutions are best for your needs.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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?

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

See all answers

What is your primary use case for HCL AppScan?

We use AppScan primarily for security testing and performance monitoring across our systems.

See all answers

Is SonarQube the best tool for static analysis?

I am not very familiar with SonarQube and their solutions, so I can not answer. But if you are asking me about which tools that are the best for for Static Code Analysis, I suggest you have a look...

See all answers

Which gives you more for your money - SonarQube or Veracode?

SonarQube is easy to deploy and configure, and also integrates well with other tools to do quality code analysis. SonarQube has a great community edition, which is open-source and free. Easy to use...

See all answers

How would you decide between Coverity and Sonarqube?

We researched Coverity, but in the end, we chose SonarQube. SonarQube is a tool for reviewing code quality and security. It helps to guide our development teams during code reviews by providing rem...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

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PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs HCL AppScan

Compared 8% of the time

OWASP Zap vs HCL AppScan

Compared 7% of the time

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Checkmarx One vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

Compared 16% of the time

SonarQube Cloud (formerly SonarCloud) vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

Compared 12% of the time

Coverity vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

Compared 12% of the time

GitHub Advanced Security vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

Compared 10% of the time

Veracode vs SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

Compared 9% of the time

More SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan

November 2024

Download HCL AppScan product report

Buyer's Guide

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

November 2024

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) report

Download SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) product report

Also Known As

IBM Security AppScan, Rational AppScan, AppScan

Sonar

Learn More

HCLSoftware

Sonar

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

HCLSoftware

Sonar

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.

SonarQube Server enhances code quality and security via static code analysis. It detects vulnerabilities, improves standards, and reduces technical debt, integrating into CI/CD pipelines.

SonarQube Server is a comprehensive tool for enhancing code quality and security. It offers static code analysis to identify vulnerabilities, improve coding standards, and reduce technical debt. By integrating into CI/CD pipelines, it provides automated checks for adherence to best practices. Organizations use it for code inspection, security testing, and compliance, ensuring development environments with better maintainability and fewer issues.

What are the key features of SonarQube Server?

Support for 20+ languages: Extensive programming language support suitable for diverse coding environments.
Custom coding rules: Allows for tailored rule sets to match specific coding standards.
Flexible quality gates: Define criteria for code acceptance at various intervals.
CI/CD integration: Seamless integration with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment tools.
Rich interface: User-friendly dashboard with detailed visual insights.

What benefits should users expect from SonarQube Server?

Improved code quality: Enhanced analysis contributes to fewer bugs and improved coding practices.
Security enhancements: Identifies and mitigates security vulnerabilities pre-emptively.
Maintainability: Reduces technical debt, yielding long-term development efficiency.
Customizable: Flexibility in configuration aligns with specific project needs.

Many industries implement SonarQube Server to uphold coding standards, maintain security protocols, and streamline their software development lifecycle. In sectors like finance and healthcare, adhering to regulations and ensuring reliable software is critical, making SonarQube Server invaluable. It is often integrated into CI/CD pipelines, ensuring that code changes meet set standards before deployment. This approach enhances productivity and maintains compliance with industry-specific requirements.

Sample Customers

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

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

HCL AppScan vs. SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

December 2024

Free Report: HCL AppScan vs. SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube)

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