We performed a comparison between Owasp Zap and Portswigger Burp Suite Professional based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison of Results: Based on the parameters we compared, Owasp Zap seems to be a superior solution. All other things being more or less equal, our reviewers found the full version of Portswigger Burp Suite Professional to be rather expensive to purchase. Additionally, some users of Portswigger Burp Suite Professional are not so impressed by the technical support and documentation that it offers. Finally, one user of Portswigger Burp Suite Professional implied that it would be a better product if it had a HUD like Owasp Zap.
"Simple to use, good user interface."
"It has improved my organization with faster security tests."
"Fuzzer and Java APIs help a lot with our custom needs."
"The most valuable feature is scanning the URL to drill down all the different sites."
"The ZAP scan and code crawler are valuable features."
"The community edition updates services regularly. They add new vulnerabilities into the scanning list."
"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 stability of the solution is very good."
"The way they do the research and they keep their profile up to date is great. They identify vulnerabilities and update them immediately."
"It was easy to learn."
"The tool provides complimentary services. It allows you to add a lot of extensions, and you can get extensions quite often. It is quite a flexible application."
"The solution is stable."
"The most valuable feature of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is the advanced features, user-friendly interface, and integration with other tools."
"There is no other tool like it. I like the intuitiveness and the plugins that are available."
"PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional has an intercept tab that helps us to scan our APIs, set the response, and request errors."
"The most valuable features are Burp Intruder and Burp Scanner."
"Sometimes, we get some false positives."
"It doesn't run on absolutely every operating system."
"I would like to see a version of “repeater” within OWASP ZAP, a tool capable of sending from one to 1000 of the same requests, but with preselected modified fields, changing from a predetermined word list, or manually created."
"The product reporting could be improved."
"The product should allow users to customize the report based on their needs."
"The solution is somewhat unreliable because after we get the finding, we have to manually verify each of its findings to see whether it's a false positive or a true finding, and it takes time."
"As security evolves, we would like DevOps built into it. As of now, Zap does not provide this."
"The technical support team must be proactive."
"In the Professional version, we cannot link it with the CI/CD process."
"PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional could improve the static code review."
"PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional can improve by having more features in the free version for beginners to try."
"A lot of our interns find it difficult to get used to PortSwigger Burp's environment."
"The Initial setup is a bit complex."
"The solution’s pricing could be improved."
"The technical support team's response time is mostly delayed and should be improved."
"Scanning needs to be improved in enterprise and professional versions."
More PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional Pricing and Cost Advice →
OWASP Zap is ranked 7th in Static Application Security Testing (SAST) with 37 reviews while PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is ranked 5th in Static Application Security Testing (SAST) with 57 reviews. OWASP Zap is rated 7.6, while PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of OWASP Zap writes "Great for automating and testing and has tightened our security ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional writes "The solution is versatile and easy to deploy, but it needs to give more detailed security reports". OWASP Zap is most compared with SonarQube, Acunetix, Qualys Web Application Scanning, Veracode and Checkmarx One, whereas PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional is most compared with Fortify WebInspect, Acunetix, HCL AppScan, Qualys Web Application Scanning and SonarQube. See our OWASP Zap vs. PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional report.
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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.
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.
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 spider feature, and provide updates.
One big difference between the two, though, is price. OWASP Zap is free, but Burp Suite Pro requires a paid subscription (currently $399 per year). OWASP Zap is maintained by volunteers whereas Burp Suite Pro is a commercial product maintained and sold by PortSwigger, which makes me feel more confident in it. In addition, OWASP Zap provides little documentation, which may be why some people prefer Burp Suite Pro (which offers extensive documentation). Moreover, Burp Suite Pro includes more coverage than OWASP Zap. But it is also worth noting that OWASP Zap has more false positives than Burp Suite Pro.
I like Burp Suite Pro’s interface a lot more than OWASP Zap’s. Another big plus for me with Burp is its Comparer tab,which allows for easier change detection. OWASP Zap does not include this feature without extensions and a ZAP plugin is required. Another thing about OWASP Zap I dislike is that the ability to search for text in the request or server response is difficult, while Burp Suite Pro makes it easier and more accessible.
Conclusion:
In my opinion, Burp Suite Pro is better than OWASP Zap because of its features, which I feel make it a better choice for security professionals. Both OWASP Zap and Burp Suite Pro have good sets of capabilities. However, Burp Suite Pro excels in the specific capabilities I need in more ways that OWASP Zap does.