Burp Suite vs OWASP ZAP 2026 — Web App Scanners Compared
Last Updated: April 2026
Bug Bounty & Offensive Security · paid-vs-free
Burp Suite and OWASP ZAP are the two most widely used web application security scanners. Burp Suite Pro is the industry standard for professional penetration testers, while OWASP ZAP is the most popular free alternative used by developers, beginners, and automated pipelines.
| Feature | Burp Suite | OWASP ZAP |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Bug Bounty & Offensive Security | Bug Bounty & Offensive Security |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free/OSS |
| Rating | ★★★★ 4.8/5 | ★★★★ 4.5/5 |
| Open Source | No | Yes |
| Free Trial | Yes | No |
Our Verdict
Burp Suite is the gold standard for professional web app pentesting with superior features and extension ecosystem. OWASP ZAP is the best free web security scanner for DevSecOps pipelines and learning.
Manual Testing Features — Burp Suite Pro excels with its Proxy, Repeater, Intruder, Sequencer, and Collaborator modules, making it the preferred choice for professional manual penetration testing. ZAP's equivalent features are functional but less polished for advanced manual workflows.
Automated Scanning — Burp Suite's scanner is consistently rated as one of the most accurate for automated DAST with low false positive rates. ZAP's active scanner is effective for common OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities and is widely used in CI/CD pipelines via its API and Docker integration.
Extension Ecosystem — Burp Suite's BApp Store has 300+ extensions for specialized testing (GraphQL, OAuth, JWT, cloud APIs). ZAP has a good add-on marketplace but with fewer advanced penetration testing extensions.
CI/CD Integration — ZAP has a strong advantage here with official Docker images, GitHub Actions integration, and a well-documented API specifically designed for automated pipeline scanning. Burp Suite Enterprise (separate product) serves the enterprise automated scanning market.
Pricing — Burp Suite Pro costs $449/year per user. Burp Suite Enterprise starts at $6,995/year. OWASP ZAP is completely free and open-source.
Choose Burp Suite for professional penetration testing, bug bounty hunting, and advanced manual web application security testing. Choose OWASP ZAP for automated DAST in CI/CD pipelines, learning web security, and teams needing a powerful free scanner.