Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner

Acunetix is designed to identify common web application security flaws including SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities. The scanner crawls websites and web applications to analyze code and input points for exploitable weaknesses. It provides reports that categorize vulnerabilities by severity and recommend remediation steps.

Acunetix is a commercial product that requires a paid license, though the company has historically offered a free edition with limited functionality for testing small numbers of pages. The full-featured versions are sold as subscriptions with pricing based on the scale of scanning needed. Free alternatives like OWASP ZAP exist for those who need no-cost scanning tools.

Acunetix is a commercial, automated web vulnerability scanner with a polished interface and reporting features designed for enterprise use, while OWASP ZAP is a free, open-source tool maintained by the OWASP Foundation. Acunetix generally offers more automated scanning workflows and commercial support, whereas ZAP provides greater flexibility for manual testing and is popular with security researchers. Many organizations use both depending on their needs and budget.

Acunetix includes capabilities for scanning web APIs, supporting formats such as REST and SOAP-based web services. The scanner can import API definitions like OpenAPI/Swagger specifications to test endpoints for vulnerabilities. This functionality extends its coverage beyond traditional web pages to modern API-based applications.