Contrast Assess vs HCL AppScan

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.

HCL AppScan identifies and prioritizes software vulnerabilities and helps teams remediate them across the development lifecycle. It combines static, dynamic, interactive and open-source composition analysis for source code, running applications, APIs and dependencies. API security testing supports OpenAPI/Swagger, Postman and GraphQL, and can uncover shadow, zombie and undocumented APIs. HCL says its AI-powered analysis reduces false positives and helps prioritize critical risks. Deployment options include cloud and on-premises; Enterprise also lists private cloud. Integrations include CI systems, code repositories, issue-management services and developer tools such as Android Studio. CodeSweep is a free on-prem GitHub extension for pull-request SAST scanning, with support for more than 35 languages. AppScan Standard is designed for security experts and penetration testers assessing web applications and APIs, and supports specified 64-bit Windows versions. The 14-day trial allows five scans in total, one at a time, with a four-hour limit per scan. Its summary reports omit issue details and remediation tasks; private-site scanning, regulatory reports and IAST are also excluded.