Checkmarx DAST vs w3af
Checkmarx DAST
checkmarx.comw3af
w3af.orgSide by side
| Figure | Checkmarx DAST | w3af |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 1 |
| Spec score · Dynamic Application Security Testing Software | 7.7 (#11) | 8.2 (#7) |
| Deployment | Checkmarx One is offered as cloud SaaS and supports self-hosted and on-premises deployments, including for air-gapped environments. | The installation guide documents running w3af in Docker and provides installation instructions for Mac OS X. |
| Integrations | Checkmarx lists CI/CD integrations including Jenkins, TeamCity, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, Maven, Bitbucket Pipelines, CircleCI, GitLab CI, Bamboo, AWS CodeBuild, and SonarQube. | The documentation describes Metasploit integration and suggests sending vulnerabilities to an internal issue tracker through its REST API. |
| Purpose | Checkmarx DAST is a language-agnostic tool that tests live web applications and APIs by simulating real-world attacks. | w3af is an open-source web application security scanner for developers and penetration testers to identify and exploit vulnerabilities. |
| Support | Premium Support includes 24/7 coverage and a two-hour response time for critical P1 issues; Standard Support lists six hours for P1 issues during working hours on business days. | For installation issues, the guide directs users to create a ticket and include their Linux distribution, dependency-install script, pip freeze output, and Python version. |
Plans
In their own words
Checkmarx DAST
Checkmarx DAST has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
w3af
w3af is a free, open-source web application security scanner for vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. It can identify more than 200 vulnerabilities, including cross-site scripting, SQL injection, and OS command injection. Its workflow starts with crawler plugins that find URLs and injection points, continues with audit plugins that check for vulnerabilities, and can use attack plugins to exploit findings. Other plugin types cover infrastructure detection, request and response analysis, output, brute force, request modification, and evasion.
Users can scan and analyze results in a GTK graphical interface or a console. Web application payloads can interact with Metasploit when an exploit provides exec() capability. Developers can use the REST API from development languages and run it in Docker; scripts and the API also support automation. The project documents Linux and macOS installation, including running in Docker without installing w3af dependencies. It is available for Linux, macOS, web, API, and self-hosted deployment. REST API traffic over HTTP is unencrypted, so the documentation recommends added protection such as an SSL proxy for publicly reachable deployments.