Bright Security DAST vs OWASP ZAP

Bright Security DAST is a dynamic application security testing tool offered as SaaS. It tests websites, web applications, APIs including REST, SOAP, and GraphQL, servers, and network devices; it also tests mobile applications on the server side. Checks include SQL injection, CSRF, XSS, XXE, and business logic vulnerabilities. Bright says it validates findings in real time and does not report issues it cannot validate, with less than 3% false positives among its verified findings. Target discovery can use a crawler, HAR recording, or GraphQL and OpenAPI schemas. Authentication objects let scans reach login-protected application and API resources. Teams can initiate scans from CI/CD pipelines and control them through the CLI or REST API without using the interface. The CLI's Repeater mode routes requests to local targets without exposing them to the internet. Bright lists SaaS, private cloud, and Repeater proxy deployment options. Scan quantity is unlimited, but the number of concurrent scans depends on the organization's engine count. Bright says scan data is held in memory temporarily and deleted after scanning. The tool cannot handle CAPTCHA during scans. Pricing is available on request, with a demo offered.

OWASP ZAP is a web application scanner and proxy for security testing. Its tools include active and passive scanning, a spider, alerts, and scan policies. ZAP’s Automation Framework uses YAML plans to coordinate jobs such as scanning, spidering, API imports, and report generation. It can import OpenAPI, GraphQL, SOAP, and Postman definitions through jobs or add-ons. GitHub Actions are available for baseline, full, and API scans via Docker-packaged scans, and the project publishes Docker images, including a minimal image for CI. Add-ons come from an online Marketplace and are generally installed or removed without restarting ZAP. The software is free and open source, with a free plan at free. It supports Linux, macOS, Windows, API use, and self-hosted deployment. Windows and Linux installers require Java 17 or later; the macOS installer includes Java 17. ZAP says it can support only its latest full release, and current releases are unsigned, though checksums are provided.