OWASP Zap vs PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional comparison

OWASP and PortSwigger are both solutions in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category. OWASP is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0, while PortSwigger is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.7. OWASP holds a 4.6% mindshare in SAST, compared to PortSwigger’s 2.0% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of OWASP users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of PortSwigger users who would recommend it.

OWASP Zap

Read 41 OWASP Zap reviews

9,644 Views
8,776 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

PortSwigger Burp Suite Prof...

Read 64 PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional reviews

4,847 Views
3,102 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

OWASP Zap

PortSwigger Burp Suite Prof...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional and OWASP Zap are prominent tools for web application security testing. Based on its advanced features and community support, Burp Suite seems to have a slight edge over OWASP Zap.

Features: Burp Suite offers a powerful Scanner for vulnerability detection, an Intruder for attack customization, and an Extender for community plugin integration. Its Repeater tool allows for manual testing of requests. OWASP Zap provides automated scanning, a community-driven plugin ecosystem, and supports various manual tools for security testing.

Room for Improvement: Burp Suite faces issues with false positives and lacks efficient RESTful API scanning. It also has high memory usage and needs enhanced reporting features. OWASP Zap could improve reporting and scanning coverage and should focus on better handling of false positives and expanding vulnerability detection.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both tools are mainly deployed on-premises with cloud support. Burp Suite is known for efficient customer service, though external documentation could be improved. OWASP Zap benefits from a robust community but lacks traditional support channels, relying instead on user-driven support.

Pricing and ROI: Burp Suite is commercially priced with various licensing options, generally seen as cost-effective given its capabilities, but considered expensive in some markets. OWASP Zap is free and open-source, offering significant cost savings upfront. Despite its cost-effectiveness, Burp Suite is viewed as providing a better ROI due to its extensive feature set and market presence.

To learn more, read our detailed OWASP Zap vs. PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

OWASP Zap vs. PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional

July 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

OWASP Zap

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

11th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

PortSwigger Burp Suite Prof...

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

6th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (11th), Fuzz Testing Tools (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category, the mindshare of OWASP Zap is 4.6%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is 2.0%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

Featured Reviews

Amit Beniwal

Project Manager at Al Hassan LLC

Simplifies vulnerability discovery and has high quality support

There are areas for improvement with OWASP Zap, particularly in the alignment of vulnerabilities concerning CVSS scores. Sometimes, a vulnerability initially categorized as high severity may be reduced to medium or low over time after security patches are applied. This alignment with the present severity score and CVSS score could be improved.

Read full review

Anuradha.Kapoor Kapoor

Head - Quality Control at Net Solutions

Offers efficient scanning of entire websites but presence of false positive bugs, leading to time-consuming efforts in distinguishing real bugs from false alarms

We have found that so many times, false positive bugs are there, and then we spend a lot of time basically separating them from real bugs. So that's the reason we are looking for some other tool. So we were in discussion with Acunetix. Therefore, the false positive rate is, like, something that we would like to improve. What we are looking for is if this false positive rate goes down because we were OWASP Zap tool users, which was free anyway. But there were a lot of false positives there, and we used to spend a lot of time, like, for security reasons, reproducing those bugs for the development team to fix it. So then we thought, okay, why not we go with the tool? Even if it is not very expensive. But still, every year, we have to renew the license. And we got this tool. Again, we found that in this tool also, even if it is less, there are still a lot of false positive bugs out there. So we again have to spend so much time. So we hired a security tester, who was basically using Acunetix in his previous company for almost three years, and then you said that in that scanning is very slow. The scanning is also slow. Like, sometimes the site scan takes eight hours, six to eight hours. Yeah. And whereas in Acunetix, it took three to four hours. And plus, there are no false positives. I'm not saying none but there's very little. But here, the rate sometimes is very high. These are the two features I think we would like to improve further.

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

"The reporting is quite intuitive, which gives you a clear indication of what kind of vulnerability you have that you can drill down on to gather more information."

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten. I think it's stable enough. I don't see any crashes within the application, so its stability is high."

"The solution has tightened our security."

"One valuable feature of OWASP Zap is that it is simple to use."

"They offer free access to some other tools."

"It has improved my organization with faster security tests."

"Automatic scanning is a valuable feature and very easy to use."

"The product discovers more vulnerabilities compared to other tools."

More OWASP Zap pros

"It is a time-saver application."

"The way they do the research and they keep their profile up to date is great. They identify vulnerabilities and update them immediately."

"The most valuable feature of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is the advanced features, user-friendly interface, and integration with other tools."

"With the Extender Tab, if you know how to code then you can create a plugin and add it to Burp."

"It offers flexibility, macros, and features to reduce the effort required for authenticated sessions."

"The initial setup is simple."

"It was easy to learn."

"We are mostly using it for scanning the entire website. So, we basically create a script with the entire website and then run it for different injections."

More PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional pros

Cons

"The product should allow users to customize the report based on their needs."

"The work that it does in the limited scope is good, but the scope is very limited in terms of the scanning features. The number of things it tests or finds is limited. They need to make it a more of a mainstream tool that people can use, and they can even think about having it on a proprietary basis. They need to increase the coverage of the scan and the results that it finds. That has always been Zap's limitation. Zap is a very good tool for a beginner, but once you start moving up the ladder where you want further details and you want your scan to show more in-depth results, Zap falls short because its coverage falls short. It does not have the capacity to do more."

"Reporting format has no output, is cluttered and very long."

"The forced browse has been incorporated into the program and it is resource-intensive."

"The port scanner is a little too slow."

"Too many false positives; test reports could be improved."

"It would be a great improvement if they could include a marketplace to add extra features to the tool."

"It needs more robust reporting tools."

More OWASP Zap cons

"The pricing of the solution is quite high."

"I would like to see the return of the spider mechanism instead of the crawling feature. Burp Suite's earlier version 1.7 had an excellent spider option, and it would be beneficial if Burp incorporated those features into the current version. The crawling techniques used in the current version are not as efficient as those used in earlier versions."

"BurpSuite has some issues regarding authentication with OAT tokens that need to be improved."

"I need the solution to be more user-friendly. The solution needs to be user-friendly."

"The vendor must provide documentation on how to use the new API feature."

"The solution’s pricing could be improved."

"It should provide a better way to integrate with Jenkins so that DAST (dynamic application security testing) can be automated."

"There should be a heads up display like the one available in OWASP Zap."

More PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This app is completely free and open source. So there is no question about any pricing."

"OWASP ZAP is a free tool provided by OWASP’s engineers and experts. There is an option to donate."

"The tool is open-source."

"It is open source, and we can scan freely."

"It's free and open, currently under the Apache 2 license. If ZAP does what you need it to do, selling a free solution is a very easy."

"The tool is open source."

"This is an open-source solution and can be used free of charge."

"The solution’s pricing is high."

More OWASP Zap pricing and cost advice

"It is a cheap solution, but it may not be cheaper than other solutions."

"Licensing costs are about $450/year for one use. For larger organizations, they're able to test against multiple applications while simultaneously others might have multiple versions of applications which needs to be tested which is why we have the enterprise edition."

"The price for the solution is expensive and could be cheaper. We pay an annual license and our team has several of them."

"The pricing of the solution is cost-effective and is best suited for small and medium-sized businesses."

"At $400 or $500 per license paid annually, it is a very cheap tool."

"The cost is approximately $500 for a single license, and there are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fees."

"PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is an expensive solution."

"We have one license. The price is very nominal."

More PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional pricing and cost advice

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Answers from the Community

reviewer1487928

Subdirector de Seguridad Informática e Infraestructura at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees

Nov 17, 2021

Is OWASP Zap better than PortSwigger Burp Suite Pro?

OWASP Zap and PortSwigger Burp Suite Pro have many similar features. OWASP Zap has web application scanning available with basic security vulnerabilities while Burp Suite Pro has it available with quality security vulnerabilities. Both are very comparable in terms of intercepting features, fuzzing capabilities, and encoder and decoders. Both OWASP Zap and PortSwigger Burp Suite Pro have a spide...

2 out of 3 answers

Avinash-Kumar

MCE at CGI

Mar 15, 2021

First things first both are having their own merits, however in my personal experience ZAP can replace your burpsuite for sure considering the License. Also as the latest ZAP versions are covering more advanced techniques and spidering patterns with lots of options in it, it is worth considering ZAP. However remember that burpsuite from latest versions with inbuilt chromium and it's emerging plugin support (Installable jars) you can use burp to the fullest and you can keep it as a swiss knife for your web and app pentesting. Couple of extensions in burp pro are interesting especially the race condition one. I always prefer using Burp and at instances I go with ZAP.

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reviewer1526550

Lead Security Architect at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Mar 17, 2021

Yes OWASP ZAP is a good option as it's an open source so always preferred but Burp Suite Pro will give you more options, its one of the best tool to have for pentesters so defo worth it.

Read full answer

See all 3 answers

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Is OWASP Zap better than PortSwigger Burp Suite Pro?

See all answers

What do you like most about OWASP Zap?

The best feature is the Zap HUD (Heads Up Display) because the customers can use the website normally. If we scan websites with automatic scanning, and the website has a web application firewall, i...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OWASP Zap?

OWASP might be cost-effective, however, people prefer to use the free edition available as open source.

See all answers

What do you like most about PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional?

The solution helped us discover vulnerabilities in our applications.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional?

I find the price of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional to be very cost-efficient.

See all answers

What needs improvement with PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional?

The dashboard of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional could be made more user-friendly.

See all answers

Comparisons

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs OWASP Zap

Compared 19% of the time

Acunetix vs OWASP Zap

Compared 15% of the time

Checkmarx One vs OWASP Zap

Compared 11% of the time

Qualys Web Application Scanning vs OWASP Zap

Compared 9% of the time

OpenText Dynamic Application Security Testing vs OWASP Zap

Compared 5% of the time

More OWASP Zap Competitors

Acunetix vs PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional

Compared 17% of the time

OpenText Dynamic Application Security Testing vs PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional

Compared 14% of the time

SonarQube Server (formerly SonarQube) vs PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional

Compared 8% of the time

HCL AppScan vs PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional

Compared 6% of the time

Nucleus vs PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional

Compared 6% of the time

More PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

OWASP Zap

June 2025

Download OWASP Zap product report

Buyer's Guide

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional

June 2025

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional report

Download PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional product report

Also Known As

No data available

Burp

Overview

OWASP Zap is a free and open-source web application security scanner.

The solution helps developers identify vulnerabilities in their web applications by actively scanning for common security issues.

With its user-friendly interface and powerful features, Zap is a popular choice among developers for ensuring the security of their web applications.

OWASP

Burp Suite Professional, by PortSwigger, is the world’s leading toolkit for web security testing. Over 52,000 users worldwide, across all industries and organization sizes, trust Burp Suite Professional to find more vulnerabilities, faster. With expertly-engineered manual and automated tooling, you're able to test smarter - not harder.

PortSwigger is the web security company that is enabling the world to secure the web. Over 50,000 security engineers rely on our software and expertise to secure their world.

PortSwigger

Sample Customers

1. Google 2. Microsoft 3. IBM 4. Amazon 5. Facebook 6. Twitter 7. LinkedIn 8. Netflix 9. Adobe 10. PayPal 11. Salesforce 12. Cisco 13. Oracle 14. Intel 15. HP 16. Dell 17. VMware 18. Symantec 19. McAfee 20. Citrix 21. Red Hat 22. Juniper Networks 23. SAP 24. Accenture 25. Deloitte 26. Ernst & Young 27. PwC 28. KPMG 29. Capgemini 30. Infosys 31. Wipro 32. TCS

Google, Amazon, NASA, FedEx, P&G, Salesforce

Buyer's Guide

OWASP Zap vs. PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional

July 2025

Free Report: OWASP Zap vs. PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional

Find out what your peers are saying about OWASP Zap vs. PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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