OWASP ZAP vs Safeguard DAST

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.

Safeguard DAST dynamically tests running applications, reporting findings alongside how much discovered attack surface the scan reached. Its graph-aware crawler uses Safeguard SAST call graphs, route tables, and authentication middleware. Endpoint inventories can come from OpenAPI, GraphQL introspection, gRPC reflection, and live traffic samples. Targeted payloads cover SQL, OS command, SSRF, XSS, and deserialization sink classes, with parameter shapes informing generation. Authenticated flows include form authentication, OAuth 2.0 refresh, JWT bearer, session cookies, SAML, and mutual TLS. Listed scan modes are Fast, Deep, Progressive, and Reconnaissance; Reconnaissance sends no probes. Coverage Score explains reached surface and stopping reasons, while stated coverage includes the OWASP Top 10 and API Top 10. JavaScript, JSON, and source maps are analyzed for exposed credentials, routes, endpoints, cloud references, personal data, configuration, and comments. Secret samples are redacted, ownership verification gates requests, and scope, rate, and budget limits constrain them. It supports self-hosted and web use, hybrid deployment, CI integrations, pull-request and IDE workflows, and listed infrastructure analyses. Pricing is freemium: Free plan; paid from $9/mo.