Mend.io vs OWASP ZAP

Mend.io is a paid application-security platform covering application code, AI components and the attack surface between them. Mend AppSec combines SAST, SCA, AI-generated-code security, AI fix suggestions, dependency updates, IaC and container scanning, policy as code, SBOM management, compliance reporting and remediation workflows. Mend AI adds AI-component discovery, system-prompt hardening, automated red teaming, runtime guardrails and continuous governance. Mend Renovate Enterprise finds outdated dependencies, updates them and provides Merge Confidence ratings and workflows. Integrations include Jira, ServiceNow, Azure DevOps, Bitbucket, GitLab and GitHub, while AppSec also scans code generated through Cursor, Windsurf and Copilot. Its vulnerability database covers over 200 programming languages and draws from the NVD, security advisories and open-source issue trackers. Pricing is per contributing developer without code-size, scan-count or application-count limits; add-ons may cost extra. Listed plans are Mend Renovate Enterprise at $250 a year, Mend AI at $300 a year and Mend AppSec at $1,000 a year.

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.