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Mubarak Arimiyah - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Quality Assurance Engineer at Netow Solutions Ltd
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
An open-source solution that helps with application testing
Pros and Cons
  • "We use the solution for security testing."
  • "OWASP Zap needs to extend to mobile application testing."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for security testing. 

What needs improvement?

OWASP Zap needs to extend to mobile application testing. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

OWASP Zap is stable. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The tool is open-source. 

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What other advice do I have?

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Consultant with 1,001-5,000 employees
Consultant
A cost-effective and dynamic application security testing tool, but the product reporting could be better
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is scanning the URL to drill down all the different sites."
  • "The product reporting could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case for this solution is for reviewing applications developed in-house to test for known vulnerabilities, and we deploy this product on-premises. Additionally, we use the solution to review some applications that were developed in-house and test for any general or known vulnerabilities before moving them to the production environment.

How has it helped my organization?

The product has improved our application security engagement. It helps with our in-house review and sometimes, we don't need an external third-party tester to review it. Once we get it from OWASP Zap, we have an idea of the inherent vulnerabilities in the application. This is a plus to save cost and improve our application accuracy practice.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is scanning the URL to drill down all the different sites and features embedded within the URL, like the crawler and the Spy Dream.

What needs improvement?

The product reporting could be improved. It could be changed to authorize reporting to be viewed from different perspectives to get additional regulatory requirements.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for approximately six years and are currently using the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have not explored the scalability of the system yet. We only have two users currently using it.

How are customer service and support?

We have not reached out to the technical team for support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used Net Packer.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

Implementation was done in-house.

What was our ROI?

We see a return on investment with this solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I cannot comment on licensing costs, as a different department handles it.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other options before choosing this solution.

What other advice do I have?

I rate this solution a seven out of ten. The product is good, but the reporting process could be improved. I recommend this solution to people looking for a quick DAST application and a dynamic application security testing tool. Additionally, the solution is cost-effective.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
OWASP Zap
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about OWASP Zap. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
842,690 professionals have used our research since 2012.
President & Owner at Aydayev's Investment Business Group
Real User
Provides visibility of queries, but security and the ability to search the internet for other use cases could be better
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is scalable."
  • "The ability to search the internet for other use cases and to use the solution to make applications more secure should be addressed."

What is our primary use case?

The solution has certain models. It allows the creation of a pipeline in respect of the interface or of certain content. It enables one to check that the security is as it should be. 

What is most valuable?

The solution enables a person to add the certificate and check the queries, to see if there are any that are undefined. This way, a person can have a list of the types of queries and can trace them. 

What needs improvement?

The ability to search the internet for other use cases and to use the solution to make applications more secure should be addressed. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using OWASP Zap for more than four years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The computers perform somewhat slowly when loading a large number of queries into memory. As such, I don't know if it will be possible to use cache on the disk, which would greatly increase performance. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. It can be run simultaneously for different targets. 

How are customer service and technical support?

I have not had experience with using technical support. I make use of a public community on the public website.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is a bit complex, not straightforward. It could be made easy if, lets say, a project can be defined for a certain task through the project's creation. This may simplify its use. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Zap is a very good startup. There is an alternate solution that is a bit more expensive and requires more technical knowledge than OWASP Zap, although both have a model based configuration. The interface allows one to run predefined templates, something OWASP Zap has in common with the other solution. The automation capabilities are similar, as well. 

What other advice do I have?

I used the source code design for the deployment.

I have not had experience with the code crawler, OSWAP Zap code analysis. The solution I was using is run by a search engine. My clients utilize OWASP Zap AST. They do not make use of the code crawler. 

I rate OWASP Zap as a six out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Technical Specialist(DevOps) at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Provides good automatic scanning and privacy; reporting could be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "Automatic scanning is a valuable feature and very easy to use."
  • "Reporting format has no output, is cluttered and very long."

What is our primary use case?

We are using this product at a very basic level to scan reports and then share them with the Dev team for any vulnerabilities. We use the open source version and we are end users. 

How has it helped my organization?

The solution has improved company functioning to a certain extent, but it takes a lot of time coordinating with the Dev team because we are using the open source version and not the enterprise version. It's not an awesome solution but we do get the reports we need and there is a good amount of documentation and support. 

What is most valuable?

The automatic scanning is a valuable feature and very easy. The major advantage to this solution is the privacy it offers. We are able to achieve our objectives to some extent, but only for non-business critical applications.

What needs improvement?

The reporting format could be improved. There is no output, it's cluttered and it's a very, very long report. It would be better if it were in PDF format with a short description, some findings, color coding, and easy to read. What we do now is analyze the HTML report and then rewrite our own shorter reports. I work for a Japanese company and they want the important information to show up. The reports do not really give us recommendations or the points where the vulnerability is coming from so I'd really like to see an improvement in the condition of reports. We should be able to call an API from somewhere and scan applications.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for about one year. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is not that stable and sometimes I have to re-install it and contact the internal IT team. I don't have the admin rights on the laptop. Some features can break down, for example, the browser on the scanning might not open. Slowly our team will be moving towards more critical projects coming from the U.S., Japan and India, so we are definitely planning to upscale. In the next financial year, we're planning to upscale and make it more rigorous.

How are customer service and technical support?

We are using the open source version so we have no technical support for now.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is very simple. It's just an executable file because for now, we are not using it as a part of CACD or anything else. We have just installed the open source version on the laptop which has simplified things; our toolbox opens up and we just give the URL and it does an automatic scan. So information wise and operational wise, it is easy now. Our team carried out the deployment by first reading, watching videos and taking various courses. We had help from the company security team.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I carried out an evaluation between Checkmarx and OWASP Zap.

What other advice do I have?

If you are working in a very big gaming company and you have the budget, then I'd suggest switching to the enterprise version because the open source version takes time to resolve the regulations and there are sometimes false positives. It takes a lot of effort to figure out how to resolve the vulnerability and then search the same thing in the code. If you're not from the development team, then a lot of coordination is required. Without any support, we are in a black hole sometimes. Some attacks can be very dangerous for the company and for the application. They create delays and I've had to learn how to deal with that. 

I rate this solution a six out of 10.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Rooshan Naeem - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Engineer at Eon Health
Real User
Top 5
Has a good application scanning feature but reporting needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "The application scanning feature is the most valuable feature."
  • "The reporting feature could be more descriptive."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for our security scanning for our applications. 

What is most valuable?

The application scanning feature is the most valuable feature. 

What needs improvement?

The reporting feature could be more descriptive.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using OWASP Zap for four years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Presently seven people use this solution. It is scalable. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's open source.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, i would rate the solution a seven out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
EricIgbinosun - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Security Professional at AEDC
Real User
Top 20
Fast and easy to set up but uses a lot of memory
Pros and Cons
  • "You can run it against multiple targets."
  • "There isn't too much information about it online."

What is our primary use case?

It's running on my system. I use it to scan URLs and can check things if I find something. 

What is most valuable?

There's a way to set up jobs where you can get it to run all the processes against the target to avoid doing so manually. You can run it against multiple targets. 

It is easy to set up.

The solution is stable. 

What needs improvement?

I don't have any notes for improvements.

It should have more visibility. Everybody defaults to Burp. However, this is a free version that deserves more visibility.

There isn't too much information about it online. You need to self-teach in order to really learn how to use it. There isn't a lot of documentation available. 

It takes up a lot of memory and RAM. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for roughly six months. I've used it on and off. However, I really started using it constantly over the last six months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is mostly stable. However, it requires a lot of RAM and memory. There are no bugs or glitches. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is not very scalable.

I'm the only security engineer. Only I use it in my company. 

How are customer service and support?

I've never used technical support. I'm not sure how helpful or responsive they are. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I used to use Portswigger Burp. This solution is free and has a lot of the paid versions Burp offers. I haven't used Burp Professional. I used the community version. I chose this solution as it is faster, at least compared to the community version. My understanding it the paid version of Burp is very fast.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very simple and straightforward. I didn't find any difficulty installing it on my system.

It takes about ten to 15 minutes to deploy. It depends on the machine you have. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is free to use. I don't pay any licensing fees. 

What other advice do I have?

I'm an end-user. 

I'm not sure which version of the solution I'm using. 

I would rate the solution seven out of ten. While it is free to use, it does take up a lot of memory. I also find Burp easier to use than this product.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
CEO and Founder at Indicrypt Systems
Real User
Offers good web application spidering and vulnerability assessment
Pros and Cons
    • "The automated vulnerability assessments that the application performs needs to be simplified as well as diversified."

    What is our primary use case?

    We primarily use this application for web application spidering and vulnerability assessment.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature is the spidering because, being a security person, it is very important for me to know each and every section of that application, so we cannot afford to miss any single web page or any single link on a particular website. The spidering mechanism is very good.

    What needs improvement?

    The automatic scans need improvement. The automated vulnerability assessments that the application performs needs to be simplified as well as diversified.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using the solution for 5 years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is very stable. Presently there are only around three people including me using this particular solution. I really don't think we would be needing anything more than these as of right now.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    I would say that scalability doesn't apply to this particular application. 

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Presently there is only community support available, and we are able to solve a lot of problems using the documentation with community support.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    Yes, we actually use a couple of different products but there is one specifically that we use, which is the Burp Suite.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was very straightforward.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

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

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend that you should go through the documentation really well. That's it.

    I would rate this product 8 out of 10.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Consultant at Harald A. Møller AS
    Consultant
    Has made us feel safer doing frequent deployments for web applications and has a plug-in into every major system
    Pros and Cons
    • "This solution has improved my organization because it has made us feel safer doing frequent deployments for web applications. If we have something really big, we might get some professional company in to help us but if we're releasing small products, we will check it ourselves with Zap. It makes it easier and safer."
    • "If there was an easier to understand exactly what has been checked and what has not been checked, it would make this solution better. We have to trust that it has checked all known vulnerabilities but it's a bit hard to see after the scanning."

    What is our primary use case?

    Our primary use case of this solution is to scan and check that the applications we put on the internet are safe and secure.

    How has it helped my organization?

    This solution has improved my organization because it has made us feel safer doing frequent deployments for web applications. If we are doing large deployments, we might get a professional security partner in to help us but if we're releasing small products, we will check it ourselves with Zap. It makes the process easier and safer.

    What is most valuable?

    Automatic scanning after a manual walkthrough is the most valuable feature. 

    What needs improvement?

    I would like for them to make it easier to understand exactly what has been checked and what has not been checked. We have to trust that it has checked all known vulnerabilities on all parts of the webapp, but it's a bit hard to see that after scanning. 

    I would also like for them to develop graphical reports on the scan. Based on the log, some graphical drawing could show what part of the site has been tested. I would like to see that it has tested everything that we wanted to test.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Less than one year.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Good.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    In terms of scalability, I only tried it on small applications, so I don't know, but it seems very quick. We have plans to increase usage and to also support APIs and not just the applications. All applications that will be exposed to the internet are scanned. The ones that are used internally, in the organization, are not scanned at this point in time.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    I never had to reach out to their technical support. The internet forums are great. There's so much open information on the internet so you don't really need much else. 

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We tried PortSwigger Burp suite, but only briefly. We have also used IBM AppScan for a while.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was straightforward. We didn't have to do much. There was an easy to follow guide online and there was not much to do other than to follow a straightforward tutorial. Deployment took around an hour. 

    What about the implementation team?

    I implemented it myself. 

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    It's free. It's good for us because we don't know what the extent of our use will be yet. It's good to start with something free and easy to use.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We ran IBM Appscan for a year, but it was expensive and did not deliver more value. Veracode was pretty much the same and cost the same. We then also looked at PortSwigger Burp Suite Pro, which is at a better price point and a very good expert tool. Though at this point in time, given our needs, it does not seem to give us any advantage over ZAP. Also, the forums and the internet community is excellent on ZAP and it's free.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would advise someone considering this solution to try and read about it on internet forums and see if it fits your needs.

    I would rate this solution an eight out of ten. It does what it says it will do and it's not hard to set up. It is also easy to use both automatically and manually and has a plug-in into every major build-tool, like Jenkins , Gitlab and others. You can automate it through a building process.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free OWASP Zap Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: March 2025
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free OWASP Zap Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.