Top 1 Alternative to Burp Suite (Enterprise) for DAST Security

Introduction and Context: Burp Suite (Enterprise) at a Glance

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) has been a mainstay in web and API security for years. Among the most recognizable names in this space is Burp Suite, created by PortSwigger. The original Burp Suite began as a toolkit for security practitioners—penetration testers and appsec engineers—who needed a powerful intercepting proxy, repeater, and scanner to manually and semi-automatically probe web applications. Over time, Burp evolved into an ecosystem with editions tailored to different users, culminating in Burp Suite Enterprise Edition: a centralized, automated scanning platform designed for continuous security testing across many apps.

Burp Suite became popular because it aligned closely with how real attackers behave. It runs against a live application without access to source code (unlike static testing tools), which means it can uncover runtime issues like input validation errors, injection flaws, authentication weaknesses, and access-control gaps. As organizations transitioned to DevOps and CI/CD, the need to automate these runtime checks grew. Burp Suite Enterprise Edition met that need by providing job orchestration, scheduling, and centralized reporting to scale assessments across complex portfolios.

Key components and capabilities often associated with Burp Suite (Enterprise) include:

• Intercepting proxy for HTTP/HTTPS traffic (core to the classic Burp experience)

• Automated scanning engine with active and passive checks

• Configuration policies and scanning scopes

• Scheduling, dashboards, and reporting aimed at enterprise use

• Integration points for CI/CD workflows and external systems

• Strong heritage and community adoption among security professionals

Strengths often cited by teams include:

• Well-established in its niche; widely known and trusted by security testers

• Useful for test automation when paired with the Enterprise Edition

• Mature scanning engine and policies for web and API targets

However, the market and engineering practices have evolved. Teams now run fleets of microservices, release multiple times per day, and expect security scanners to be cloud-native, scriptable, and tightly integrated into developer workflows and CI/CD. As a result, some organizations are exploring complementary or alternative DAST solutions that better match their constraints and preferences.

Overview: Top 1 Alternative to Burp Suite (Enterprise)

Here are the top 1 alternative for Burp Suite (Enterprise):

• OWASP ZAP

Why Look for Burp Suite (Enterprise) Alternatives?

Burp Suite (Enterprise) remains a respected choice, but there are practical reasons teams evaluate alternatives:

• Cost and licensing flexibility: Commercial licensing can be a barrier for startups or large organizations with many parallel pipelines. Some teams prefer open-source options to scale horizontally without adding per-scan or per-agent costs.

• CI/CD-first automation needs: While Burp Suite (Enterprise) supports automation, teams pushing dozens or hundreds of builds daily may want tools with lightweight, container-native workflows that fit naturally into infrastructure-as-code patterns.

• Integration depth and extensibility: Enterprises often need bespoke integrations with proprietary systems, custom authentication flows, or special reporting. Not all out-of-the-box features cover these needs, and teams may prefer tools with scriptable APIs and plugin ecosystems.

• Deployment footprint and control: Some organizations want to run everything self-hosted in containers with minimal central UI overhead, or they want to build their own orchestration and reporting layers around the scanner.

• Niche applicability and coverage tradeoffs: DAST focuses on runtime testing of web and APIs. Teams may need tighter alignment with API-first development (e.g., OpenAPI-driven testing, GraphQL support, or robust automation hooks) to complement existing SAST/IAST workflows.

• Reporting and collaboration: Security leaders often need specific formats and dashboards for risk tracking, trend analysis, and executive reporting. If the built-in reporting doesn’t match internal processes, an alternative with flexible reporting or a programmable API can help.

In short, teams are not necessarily replacing Burp Suite (Enterprise), but they are looking for options that meet budget, automation, and integration goals in modern DevSecOps environments.

Alternative #1: OWASP ZAP

What It Is and Who Builds It

OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) is an open-source DAST tool focused on web and API security testing. It is developed and maintained by the OWASP community. ZAP began as a practitioner-friendly intercepting proxy with both manual and automated testing capabilities. Over time, it has matured into a powerful automation-ready scanner with a rich plugin ecosystem, headless operation, and CI/CD integrations. Its open-source license (Apache-2.0) makes it attractive for teams wanting to scale testing without added licensing costs.

Primary characteristics:

• Category: DAST (web and API)

• Platforms: Web/API

• License: Open Source (Apache-2.0)

• Primary Tech: Java

• Designed for: Automated security scans; CI-friendly

What Makes It Different

ZAP’s strongest differentiator is its open-source DNA combined with robust automation features. It provides:

• A flexible automation framework and API for programmatic control

• Docker images and headless modes that fit effortlessly into pipelines

• Extensibility through add-ons and scripts to implement custom checks, authentication flows, and reporting

• A large community that contributes new rules, integrations, and documentation

These characteristics make ZAP appealing for organizations that prefer building their own DAST workflows or integrating deeply into existing engineering systems without commercial license constraints.

Core Strengths and Unique Capabilities

• Open-source and cost-effective: Scale scanning across multiple services and environments without per-seat or per-scan costs. This is helpful when you need broad, frequent coverage across microservices.

• CI-friendly and container-native: ZAP’s Docker images and headless operation integrate cleanly with CI/CD systems. You can run baseline scans on every pull request and full scans nightly or per release.

• Automation framework and REST API: Drive scans programmatically—set context, authentication, policy, and rules as code. This enables repeatable, version-controlled security testing aligned with infrastructure-as-code practices.

• Extensibility via add-ons and scripting: Tap into community add-ons or write your own. Extend authentication, create custom scanners, or tailor reports to your organization’s needs.

• Web and API coverage: Support for both browser-based web flows and APIs (including OpenAPI definitions and, with add-ons, GraphQL). This dual capability helps cover modern architectures that mix SPAs and microservices.

• Community and knowledge base: An active ecosystem that provides guidance, tutorials, and add-ons to keep pace with new frameworks and testing patterns.

How OWASP ZAP Compares to Burp Suite (Enterprise)

• Licensing and cost: ZAP is open source (Apache-2.0), which can significantly reduce costs for organizations that need to scale scanning. Burp Suite (Enterprise) is commercial; it provides enterprise-grade features out of the box but with associated licensing fees.

• Enterprise orchestration: Burp Suite (Enterprise) offers a centralized UI for scheduling, scan management, and reporting across large app portfolios. ZAP provides building blocks (automation framework, API, Docker), but centralized orchestration and dashboards typically need to be assembled via CI pipelines, custom scripts, or third-party tooling.

• Feature coverage and maturity: Both tools are well-established in the DAST niche and useful for test automation. Burp brings a long history of manual testing excellence alongside its scanner. ZAP, backed by OWASP, has strong automation support and a growing set of add-ons that help it adapt to varied use cases.

• Integration model: Burp Suite (Enterprise) integrates with CI/CD and can plug into enterprise workflows, but the approach typically revolves around its enterprise interface. ZAP fits naturally into code-first and pipeline-driven workflows, where teams define security scans as code and compose their own dashboards using existing observability or reporting tools.

• Customization versus turnkey: If you want a product that provides a ready-made management layer, Burp Suite (Enterprise) is attractive. If you prefer a toolkit to build exactly what you need—especially if you already have a DevOps platform and reporting tools—ZAP’s programmability and open-source model can be a better fit.

• Skill profiles: Teams with security specialists familiar with Burp may appreciate its enterprise UI and scanning policies. Engineering-led teams that favor scripting and automation may prefer ZAP’s API-driven approach.

In practice, some organizations use both. Burp Suite (Enterprise) can provide centralized management and reporting, while ZAP runs within developer pipelines for fast feedback during builds.

Where OWASP ZAP Shines

• Teams prioritizing automation and CI/CD: If your workflow revolves around pull requests, ephemeral environments, and nightly jobs, ZAP’s containerized operation and automation framework fit easily.

• Cost-sensitive environments: For startups, open-source-first organizations, or large enterprises facing license scaling, ZAP’s zero-cost licensing helps expand coverage.

• Custom authentication and complex flows: With scripting and add-ons, you can tailor authentication (e.g., token exchanges, multi-step logins) to your exact app behavior, checked in alongside test definitions.

• API-first development: When OpenAPI definitions are part of the development lifecycle, ZAP can target APIs directly and integrate those scans into the same pipelines that validate quality and performance.

Potential Gaps or Trade-offs

• Centralized enterprise features require assembly: ZAP does not ship with a built-in enterprise-grade management UI comparable to Burp Suite (Enterprise). You’ll likely build dashboards and scheduling using CI/CD, job runners, and your observability stack.

• Support and SLAs: Community support is active, but if you require formal SLAs and dedicated vendor support, you may need to plan accordingly or consider paid support options from third parties.

• Tuning effort: As with any DAST, achieving signal-to-noise balance may require tuning rules, contexts, authentication, and scan policies. ZAP gives you the tools, but you’ll need to invest time to tune them for your applications.

Getting Started in Practice

A common adoption path looks like this:

1. Define scope and targets: Identify which services, environments, and routes you want to scan (e.g., PR environments for baseline scans, staging for full scans).

2. Select scan types per pipeline stage:

3. Establish authentication strategies: Implement scripts or add-ons to handle login flows, tokens, and session management. Store secrets securely using your CI’s secret manager.

4. Codify policies and contexts: Treat scan rules and exclusions as code. Version-control them to maintain consistency across teams.

5. Wire into CI/CD: Use containerized headless runs. Fail builds on high-severity findings and export artifacts (report files, logs) for auditing.

6. Report and triage: Feed results into your existing issue tracker or vulnerability management tool. Track trends over time via your reporting or BI stack.

7. Iterate: Tune policies, reduce false positives, and expand coverage to new services as your architecture evolves.

Things to Consider Before Choosing a Burp Suite (Enterprise) Alternative

Before you switch or supplement your stack, evaluate the following:

• Project scope and targets:

• Language and framework support:

• Ease of setup and onboarding:

• Execution speed and resource usage:

• CI/CD integration:

• Debugging and developer experience:

• Policy tuning and false-positive management:

• Reporting and dashboards:

• Scalability:

• Security and data handling:

• Community and support:

• Total cost of ownership:

Conclusion

Burp Suite (Enterprise) remains a widely used and respected DAST platform, particularly for organizations that want a turnkey enterprise solution with centralized scheduling, management, and reporting. Its lineage in the security community and strong scanning capabilities make it a dependable choice.

That said, modern engineering practices often benefit from tools that are highly automation-friendly, container-native, and easy to scale across many services without increasing license costs. OWASP ZAP stands out as the top alternative when your priorities include:

• Deep CI/CD integration and scans-as-code

• Open-source licensing for affordable scale

• Flexible scripting and add-ons for custom flows and reporting

For many teams, the best approach is not strictly either/or. You can use Burp Suite (Enterprise) for centralized oversight while integrating OWASP ZAP into developer pipelines for fast, iterative feedback. This hybrid model leverages the strengths of both: enterprise governance and developer-centric automation. If you prefer to standardize on a single tool, weigh the trade-offs discussed above—particularly orchestration needs, support expectations, and the level of customization you’re willing to own.

Ultimately, the right DAST solution is the one that fits your applications, your pipelines, and your people. Start with a small pilot in your CI environment, measure signal-to-noise and developer impact, and expand from there. This incremental approach will help you achieve reliable, scalable security testing that keeps pace with modern delivery.