Best Application Security Testing Providers: Top 7 in 2025

What are application security testing providers? 

Top application security testing providers include Mend, Invicti, and Black Duck, offering a range of services like Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), and Software Composition Analysis (SCA). Some providers also provide specialized services like securing AI applications and vulnerability management.

Application security testing (AST) providers deliver tools and platforms that help organizations identify, prioritize, and remediate vulnerabilities in software. These providers offer technologies that analyze code, dependencies, APIs, and running applications to reduce security risks before and after deployment.

According to Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Application Security Testing, basic capabilities of AST solutions are SAST and SCA, with providers rated higher if they provide a broader set of testing capabilities.

Benefits of application security testing providers 

Risk reduction

AST providers help reduce risk by identifying exploitable vulnerabilities early in the development lifecycle. By using techniques like SAST and SCA during coding and build phases, teams can catch issues before they reach production, where they become costlier and riskier to fix.

Providers also deliver prioritization tools that help teams focus on high-risk issues, reducing noise and making remediation efforts more effective. Many integrate threat intelligence to assess exploitability, helping security teams focus on what matters most.

Coverage

Comprehensive application security requires testing across a wide range of application types—web, mobile, APIs, and cloud-native services. Leading AST providers offer multi-technique platforms to scan different layers, from source code to runtime environments.

Modern tools also support scanning across development pipelines, enabling coverage of all critical business applications regardless of their tech stack or hosting model. This ensures that security is not limited to flagship products but extends to internal tools and third-party integrations.

Impact on pace

Effective AST tools minimize disruption to development workflows. Fast scan times, smart issue deduplication, and automated triage help developers stay focused and productive. Integration into CI/CD pipelines ensures that security checks happen automatically, without manual steps.

Many providers also support policy enforcement, such as blocking releases with critical vulnerabilities or enforcing open-source license restrictions. This automation ensures consistent guardrails without slowing down delivery.

Compliance and governance

AST providers help meet regulatory and industry compliance requirements by generating auditable reports and ensuring policies are enforced across teams. Features like license tracking, audit trails, and issue history support governance frameworks.

Tools often include pre-built compliance mappings for standards like PCI DSS, HIPAA, and ISO 27001, simplifying the work of demonstrating due diligence during audits.

AI-era relevance

As development teams adopt AI-generated code and integrate AI models, AST providers are evolving to address new risks. Some tools now scan AI-generated code for security anti-patterns and analyze AI model interfaces (e.g., APIs) for vulnerabilities.

A few vendors also provide model-specific testing for large language models and machine learning pipelines, covering threats like prompt injection or insecure data flows. This makes them relevant for securing applications in AI-intensive environments.

Notable application security testing providers 

1. Mend.io

Mend.io is an AI Native AppSec Platform purpose-built, with AI at its core, to secure the next generation of software. Moving beyond legacy tools that simply layer on AI, Mend.io provides a proactive, AI-at-its-core solution that enables organizations with the visibility and automated remediation necessary to protect complex modern codebases. This allows organizations to secure their applications, regardless of what they’re made of, and lead the speed of innovation. 

Key features include:

• Securing AI components: Detects and remediates both component and behavioral risks specific to AI, providing AI-BoMs for full visibility.
• Ensuring the integrity of AI-generated code: Supports new development methods by discovering and remediating risks within code produced by AI powered coding tools.
• Driving risk reduction through AI-powered remediation: Utilizes AI for detection, prioritization, and remediation across the entire platform, including providing AI-based custom code fixes for continuous, autonomous security.
• Providing a holistic view of risks: Offers comprehensive visibility across the entire codebase, including custom code, open source, containers, and all AI-generated code and components, overcoming blind spots created by rapid AI adoption.

2. Invicti

Invicti is an application security testing provider built around dynamic application security testing (DAST) as its core capability. Evolving from Netsparker and Acunetix, and now enhanced with application security posture management (ASPM) features from Kondukto, Invicti focuses on finding, validating, and prioritizing real, exploitable vulnerabilities. 

Key features include:

• DAST-centric architecture: Delivers DAST as a foundational capability, not an add-on, ensuring integration, better test coverage, and more accurate results.
• Proof-based vulnerability validation: The platform confirms each vulnerability before reporting it, eliminating noise and reducing time spent on manual triage.
• AI-enhanced remediation: AI-powered tools improve scanning precision and offer guided fixes, addressing even AI-generated vulnerabilities.
• Security coverage: In addition to DAST, Invicti supports SAST, SCA, API security, container scanning, and ASPM, offering a unified view across the application landscape.
• Scalability for large portfolios: Supports governance and testing of thousands of applications across distributed teams with flexible deployment models.

Source: Invicti

3. Black Duck

Black Duck is an application security testing platform to detect and manage vulnerabilities in both proprietary and open source code throughout the software development lifecycle. Developed by Synopsys, it offers an approach that integrates multiple security testing techniques, including static, dynamic, interactive, and software composition analysis.

Key features include:

• Software composition analysis (SCA): Identifies open source components and known vulnerabilities (CVEs) across development and production environments, helping mitigate risks from widely used libraries.
• Static analysis (SAST): Detects security flaws and quality issues in proprietary code during development, enabling early remediation.
• Dynamic and interactive testing: Includes DAST and IAST capabilities to evaluate web applications and services in runtime environments, providing coverage for QA and production stages.
• IDE integration with code sight: Enables developers to find and fix security issues directly within their IDE, supporting secure coding practices without disrupting workflows.
• Polaris SaaS platform: A cloud-based platform that integrates AppSec testing into CI/CD pipelines, allowing automated and scalable testing optimized for DevSecOps environments.

Source: Black Duck

4. Veracode

Veracode is a static application security testing (SAST) platform to help organizations detect and remediate software vulnerabilities across the development lifecycle. Known for its enterprise-grade scalability and developer-focused integrations, Veracode enables teams to scan code without heavy configuration or high false-positive rates.

Key features include:

• High-accuracy static analysis: Uses whole-program analysis to find exploitable flaws with minimal false positives, reducing time spent on triage and tuning.
• Language and framework coverage: Supports scanning across hundreds of languages and frameworks, offering flexible support for complex codebases.
• Multi-stage scanning: Offers IDE, pipeline, and policy scans, allowing teams to apply the right scan type at each phase of development.
• Real-time feedback in the IDE: Helps developers identify and fix issues directly within their workflow, accelerating time to remediation.
• Integration: Provides over 40 integrations with common development tools, including IDEs, version control, and CI/CD platforms.

Source: Veracode

5. Checkmarx

Checkmarx One is a cloud-native application security platform to secure applications from code to cloud. It consolidates multiple AppSec capabilities, including SAST, SCA, DAST, API security, container scanning, and infrastructure-as-code (IaC) security, into a single, developer-centric platform. 

Key features include:

• Unified AppSec platform: Combines SAST, SCA, DAST, API security, IaC scanning, and more in one platform, enabling teams to manage application risk holistically.
• AI-powered risk prioritization: Leverages AI to reduce false positives and highlight the most critical vulnerabilities, helping teams go from detection to remediation faster.
• Developer-centric experience: Integrates directly into developer workflows through IDEs, CI/CD pipelines, and source code repositories, enabling secure coding without slowing down delivery.
• Language and framework support: Supports over 75 programming languages and 100 frameworks, making it suitable for diverse application stacks.
• Application security posture management (ASPM): Provides a centralized dashboard for risk visibility, policy enforcement, and compliance tracking across teams and tools.

Source: Checkmarx

6. Snyk

Snyk is a developer-first application security platform that focuses on integrating security testing into the development workflow. It provides a suite of tools that help developers find and fix vulnerabilities in proprietary code, open source dependencies, containers, and infrastructure-as-code (IaC). 

Key features include:

• Snyk Code (SAST): Provides IDE-native static code analysis to detect security vulnerabilities and code quality issues in proprietary code. It offers feedback and remediation advice to developers, improving secure coding practices early in the lifecycle.
• Snyk Open Source (SCA): Identifies vulnerabilities in third-party libraries and dependencies by scanning package manifests and providing automated fix pull requests, license compliance guidance, and patching options.
• Snyk Container and IaC: Analyzes container images and infrastructure-as-code configurations to detect vulnerabilities and misconfigurations before deployment. Supports Dockerfiles, Kubernetes, and Terraform.
• Developer-native integrations: Integrates with IDEs (e.g., VS Code, IntelliJ), Git repositories (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket), CI/CD tools, and ticketing systems, embedding security testing directly into existing developer workflows.
• Security intelligence and fix guidance: Backed by Snyk’s proprietary vulnerability database and curated intelligence, the platform offers remediation advice, including suggested code changes and automated fix PRs.
• Collaboration and policy controls: Enables security and development teams to set policies, monitor risk posture, and enforce guardrails.

Source: Snyk

7. OpenText (formerly Fortify)

OpenText Application Security Testing (formerly called Fortify) is a suite that secures software throughout the development lifecycle. Offering static, dynamic, and interactive testing capabilities, Fortify helps organizations build secure software at scale. 

Key features include:

• Fortify Static Code Analyzer (SAST): Performs analysis of source code to detect security vulnerabilities early in the SDLC. It supports over 30 languages and integrates with IDEs and CI tools for seamless developer adoption.
• Fortify WebInspect (DAST): Provides dynamic testing of running applications to uncover runtime vulnerabilities in web apps and services. It includes features such as crawl and audit engines, authentication support, and customizable scan policies.
• Interactive application security testing (IAST): Offers vulnerability detection during functional testing by instrumenting applications and analyzing runtime behavior to surface actionable findings.
• OpenText Fortify Software Security Center: A centralized platform for managing AppSec testing, results, policy enforcement, and compliance reporting. It enables correlation across SAST, DAST, and other methods.
• Deployment flexibility: Offers both on-premises and cloud-native options (Fortify on Demand), making it suitable for hybrid environments and varying compliance requirements.

Source: OpenText

Evaluation criteria for selecting an application security testing provider

Adoption by developers

A key factor in evaluating AST providers is how well their tools integrate into developer workflows. Solutions should offer IDE plugins, command-line tools, and integrations with source control, CI/CD systems, and issue trackers. This reduces friction and encourages consistent use of security tools throughout development.

Usability also matters—tools with clean UIs, actionable results, and remediation guidance help developers fix issues faster. Developer adoption tends to be higher with platforms that prioritize speed, minimize false positives, and support real-time feedback directly within the IDE.

Coverage

Effective security testing requires broad coverage across languages, frameworks, platforms, and application types. Leading providers support not only web and mobile apps but also APIs, containers, infrastructure-as-code, and cloud-native environments.

Support for multiple testing types (SAST, DAST, SCA, IAST, etc.) within a single platform ensures that vulnerabilities can be caught at different stages. Broader coverage helps ensure all assets—internal tools, legacy systems, and third-party components—are included in security assessments.

Scale and performance

Enterprise-grade AST platforms must scale across thousands of applications and support large, distributed development teams. Performance considerations include scan speed, parallel processing capabilities, and support for incremental or differential scans to avoid unnecessary delays.

The ability to manage testing across multiple business units, integrate with governance frameworks, and provide role-based access control (RBAC) is essential for managing security at scale.

Cost and licensing model

Pricing structures vary widely, with some providers offering per-seat, per-scan, or application-based licensing. It’s important to evaluate cost against expected usage and team size. Predictable pricing models and flexibility in licensing (e.g., support for open source or internal tools) can significantly impact total cost of ownership.

Consider also the cost of false positives and manual triage—tools that reduce noise and automate remediation can deliver better value even if their upfront cost is higher.

Accuracy

High accuracy is essential to avoid alert fatigue and reduce time spent on false positives. Look for providers that validate findings—especially in DAST and SAST tools—and offer confidence scores or exploitability ratings. Built-in prioritization, correlation across scan types, and integration with threat intelligence enhance accuracy. Tools that consistently deliver actionable and verified findings improve both security posture and developer trust in the system.

Conclusion

Application security testing providers help organizations build secure software by embedding security across the development lifecycle. Their tools allow teams to detect vulnerabilities early, enforce security policies, and scale risk management across diverse application environments. With evolving threats and increasingly complex architectures, these platforms provide the technical depth and automation needed to secure modern applications efficiently.