Checkmarx vs Fortify Application Defender comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Checkmarx and Fortify Application Defender based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Application Security Tools solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Checkmarx vs. Fortify Application Defender Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Q&A Highlights
Question: What is the Biggest Difference Between Checkmarx and Fortify?
Answer: Checkmarx SAST is a product supporting 20+ languages, including the modern ones (GoLang, Kotlin, Swift, Scala, Typescript, React). Its language support is constantly kept up with the current versions of the respective languages/frameworks (e.g. .NET Core 2.x etc.). Unlike Fortify, Checkmarx analyses raw (uncompiled) source code, which makes it less susceptible to changes in the built environment (e.g. no dependency on the specific version of XCode). Finally, the Checkmarx solution is available both as an on-premise and in the cloud (hosted) solution with the same capabilities. Fortify on demand (which is the cloud-only solution) is different from the on-prem one.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"We use the solution for dynamic application testing.""Vulnerability details is valuable.""Less false positive errors as compared to any other solution.""Scan reviews can occur during the development lifecycle.""It is a stable product.""What I like best about Checkmarx is that it has fewer false positives than other products, giving you better results.""The most valuable features are the easy to understand interface, and it 's very user-friendly.""It shows in-depth code of where actual vulnerabilities are."

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"Its ability to find security defects is valuable.""The most valuable features of Fortify Application Defender are the code packages that are default.""Fortify Application Defender's most valuable features are machine learning algorithms, real-time remediation, and automatic vulnerability notifications.""The product saves us cost and time.""We are able to provide out customers with a secure application after development. They are no longer left wondering if they are vulnerable to different threats within the market following deployment.""The solution helped us to improve the code quality of our organization.""The most valuable feature is that it analyzes data in real-time.""The information from Fortify Application Defender on how to fix and solve issues is very good compared to other solutions."

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Cons
"Checkmarx being Windows only is a hindrance. Another problem is: why can't I choose PostgreSQL?""Micro-services need to be included in the next release.""I think the CxAudit tool has room for improvement. At the beginning you can choose a scan of a project, but in any event the project must be scanned again (wasting time).""The tool is currently quite static in terms of finding security vulnerabilities. It would be great if it was more dynamic and we had even more tools at our disposal to keep us safe. It would help if there was more scanning or if the process was more automated.""They should make it more container-friendly and optimized for the CI pipeline. They should make it a little less heavy. Right now, it requires a SQL database, and the way the tool works is that it has an engine and then it has an analysis database in which it stores the information. So, it is pretty heavy from that perspective because you have to have a full SQL Server. They're working on something called Checkmarx Light, which is a slim-down version. They haven't released it yet, but that's what we need. There should be something a little more slimmed down that can just run the analysis and output the results in a format that's readable as opposed to having a full, really big, and thick deployment with a full database server.""Its user interface could be improved and made more friendly.""It is an expensive solution.""Checkmarx is not good because it has too many false positive issues."

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"Fortify Application Defender gives a lot of false positives.""The workbench is a little bit complex when you first start using it.""The false positive rate should be lower.""Support for older compilers/IDEs is lacking.""The biggest complaint that I have heard concerns additional platform support because right now, it only supports applications that are written in .NET and Java.""The solution is quite expensive.""The licensing can be a little complex.""The solution could improve the time it takes to scan. When comparing it to SonarQube it does it in minutes while in Fortify Application Defender it can take hours."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It is the right price for quality delivery."
  • "I believe pricing is better compared to other commercial tools."
  • "The pricing was not very good. This is just a framework which shouldn’t cost so much."
  • "The pricing is competitive and provides a lower TCO (total cost of ownership) for achieving application security."
  • "It is a good product but a little overpriced."
  • "The license has a vague language around P1 issues and the associated support. Make sure to review these in order to align them with your organizational policies."
  • "​Checkmarx is not a cheap scanning tool, but none of the security tools are cheap. Checkmarx is a powerful scanning tool, and it’s essential to have one of these products."
  • "We got a special offer for a 30% reduction for three years, after our first year. I think for a real source-code scanning tool, you have to add a lot of money for Open Source Analysis, and AppSec Coach (160 Euro per user per year)."
  • More Checkmarx Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The base licensing costs for the SaaS platform is about $900 USD per application, per year."
  • "The price of this solution could be less expensive."
  • "The licensing is very complex, it's project based and can range from $10,000 to $200,000+ depending on the project type and size."
  • "Fortify Application Defender is very expensive."
  • "The product’s price is much higher than other tools."
  • More Fortify Application Defender Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Answers from the Community
    Shiva
    Sekhar Nagasundaram - PeerSpot reviewerSekhar Nagasundaram
    User

    Fewer false positives with CX than Fortify. More integrated.

    it_user1242723 - PeerSpot reviewerit_user1242723 (Company Owner at BCMC)
    Reseller

    Looking at the Gartner report I would say that Checkmarx is way easier to set up (initial setup) compared to Micro Focus Fortify.
    Also, the financial strength of the Micro Focus Fortify spin/merger is a concern so investments could be at risk.

    Akshay Prasad - PeerSpot reviewerAkshay Prasad
    User

    The major difference is that Checkmarx scans the code without compiling the code. This has a great advantage as code building issues are eliminated,
    scan time is very less and false positive is less to some extent. One more major this is Checkmarx learns as you eliminate false positives and does not show the same issue again. We can perform incremental scans on the codebase where the old issue is nicely marked as "Recurring" and new ones in Red as NEW. Checkmarx has a highly customizable filter creation where you can create a filter that can eliminate the common recurring issues in
    scans. This feature is very flexible and you can write your own filters and also, write specific patterns that are found in manual review which is a
    great help as coding styles differ form teams to teams.

    Shiva - PeerSpot reviewerShiva (Saviynt)
    Vendor

    Thanks a lot. Thank you for the information.

    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:I would like to recommend Checkmarx. With Checkmarx, you are able to have an all in one solution for SAST and SCA as well. Veracode is only a cloud solution. Hope this helps.
    Top Answer:Compared to the solutions we used previously, Checkmarx has reduced our workload by almost 75%.
    Top Answer:The solution's price is high and you pay based on the number of users.
    Top Answer:The product does not work well with Java coding. The false positive rate should be lower. The product should introduce more licensing models and reduce the licensing cost.
    Ranking
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    23,954
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    20
    Average Words per Review
    455
    Rating
    7.7
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    Average Words per Review
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    Rating
    6.3
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    HPE Fortify Application Defender, Micro Focus Fortify Application Defender
    Learn More
    Overview

    Checkmarx is a highly accurate and flexible static code analysis product that allows organizations to automatically scan uncompiled code and identify hundreds of security vulnerabilities in all major coding languages and software frameworks. Checkmarx is available as a standalone product and can be effectively integrated into the software development lifecycle (SDLC) to streamline vulnerability detection and remediation. Checkmarx is trusted by leading organizations such as SAP, Samsung, and Salesforce.com.

    Checkmarx is a global leader in software security solutions for modern software development. Checkmarx delivers a comprehensive software security platform that unites with DevOps by scanning uncompiled source code for security vulnerabilities early in the development life cycle to reduce and remediate risk from software vulnerabilities. Using Checkmarx, teams avoid software security vulnerabilities managed via a single and unified dashboard without slowing down their delivery schedule.

    Checkmarx balances the needs of the entire organization, delivering seamless security from the start and throughout the entire software development life cycle. Checkmarx can be deployed on-premises in a private data center or hosted via a public cloud.

    Checkmarx Features

    Some of Checkmarx’s features include:

    • Source code scanning: Detect and repair more vulnerabilities before you release your code.

    • Open-source scanning: Find and eliminate the risks in your open-source code.

    • Interactive code scanning: Scan for vulnerabilities and runtime threats.

    • Open-source security for infrastructure as code: Identify and fix insecure IaC configurations that put your application at risk.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Checkmarx stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its ability to enable developers to secure their code with a single management dashboard and its high-speed scanning abilities.

    PeerSpot users note the effectiveness of these features. A CEO at a tech services company writes, “The most valuable features are the easy-to-understand interface, and it’s very user-friendly. We spend some time tuning to start scanning a new project, which is only a few clicks. A few simple tunes for custom rules and we can start our scan. We can do the work quickly and we don't need to compile the source code because Checkmarx does the work without compiling the project. The scanning is very quick. It's about 20,000 lines per hour, which is a good speed for scanning.”

    A director at a tech services company notes, “The features and technologies are very good. The flexibility and the roadmap have also been very good. They're at the forefront of delivering the additional capabilities that are required with cloud delivery, etc. Their ability to deliver what customers require and when they require is very important.”

    A senior manager at a manufacturing company writes, “The identification of verification-related security vulnerabilities is really important and one of the key things. It also identifies vulnerabilities for any kind of third-party tool coming into the system or any third-party tools that you are using, which is very useful for avoiding random hacking."

    Micro Focus Security Fortify Application Defender is a runtime application self-protection (RASP) solution that helps you manage and mitigate risk from homegrown or third-party applications. It provides centralized visibility into application use and abuse while protecting from software vulnerability exploits and other violations in real time.

    Sample Customers
    YIT, Salesforce, Coca-Cola, SAP, U.S. Army, Liveperson, Playtech Case Study: Liveperson Implements Innovative Secure SDLC
    ServiceMaster, Saltworks, SAP
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company31%
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm22%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Insurance Company5%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm21%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Manufacturing Company12%
    Government8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business38%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise50%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business17%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise72%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise56%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business12%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise75%
    Buyer's Guide
    Checkmarx vs. Fortify Application Defender
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Checkmarx vs. Fortify Application Defender and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Checkmarx is ranked 3rd in Application Security Tools with 67 reviews while Fortify Application Defender is ranked 34th in Application Security Tools with 9 reviews. Checkmarx is rated 7.6, while Fortify Application Defender is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Checkmarx writes "The report function is a great, configurable asset but sometimes yields false positives". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Fortify Application Defender writes "Reliable solution with excellent machine learning algorithms but expensive and lacking support". Checkmarx is most compared with SonarQube, Veracode, Fortify on Demand, Snyk and Sonatype Lifecycle, whereas Fortify Application Defender is most compared with Coverity, SonarQube, CAST Application Intelligence Platform, Fortify on Demand and Qualys Web Application Scanning. See our Checkmarx vs. Fortify Application Defender report.

    See our list of best Application Security Tools vendors.

    We monitor all Application Security Tools reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.