Contrast Assess vs FOSSA

Contrast Assess is an Interactive Application Security Testing tool that analyzes application code while the software runs. An agent instruments the application with sensors and examines libraries, frameworks, custom code, configuration, runtime control and data flow, HTTP traffic, and back-end connections. Its approach combines static, dynamic, and interactive testing. Assess can identify vulnerabilities in custom code, open-source libraries, frameworks, and application configurations, including SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and insecure configurations. It continuously monitors applications and APIs, and presents vulnerability lists with remediation guidance, application scores, route coverage, flow maps, and compliance and policy reports. It is designed for developers and AppSec teams to use in IDE, test, and QA environments. Integration with Contrast SCA can identify vulnerable third-party libraries and determine whether their vulnerable methods are called by the running application. Supported languages include Java, Kotlin, Scala, .NET Framework, .NET Core, C#, VB.NET, Node.js, Python, Go, and PHP. Contrast states that source code and binaries stay on customer servers. Assess supports API, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, web, and Windows environments; pricing is on request, and hosted and on-premises customers require application licenses.

FOSSA scans software projects for dependencies, vulnerabilities, and license issues across the development lifecycle. Its open-source dependency analysis covers more than 30 languages, and its policy engine can enforce organization-wide license, security, and quality requirements, including build-blocking rules. Teams can generate, import, export, and manage software bills of materials (SBOMs). Scanning options include CLI and CI/CD workflows, container analysis, snippet detection, Quick Import from code hosts, and enterprise binary and SBOM uploads. Quick Import scans source without running the build, so its results are less complete than a CLI scan. Documented integrations include Jira, GitHub, Slack, Bitbucket, GitLab, APIs, and OIDC providers. FOSSA offers web, Linux, API, and self-hosted options; customers can operate its on-premises deployment using Kubernetes and Helm. Free includes five projects, 10 contributing developers, and five imported SBOMs. Business is listed at $2,020,710 a year; Enterprise pricing is custom and not listed.