What do SAST, DAST, IAST and RASP Mean to Developers?
SAST, DAST, RASP, and IAST help identify vulnerabilities in the development phase. What are they, and when should you use them? Find out more today.
The cybersecurity SaaS market is crowded and confusing. Many tools promise one-click safety yet ship noisy dashboards that do not plug into developer workflows. The result is wasted time, alert fatigue, and exploitable gaps. This guide cuts through the noise by comparing ten vendors on strengths, delivery model, and fit for cloud-first engineering teams. Every statement links to a primary source so you can verify before you buy. If you ship fast and live in the cloud, you need security that slots into code, CI, issues, and chat rather than a separate universe of spreadsheets and shelfware.
Software Secured is a developer-focused penetration testing partner that delivers human expertise with SaaS-style delivery through our Portal, builtin quick retesting, on scoped engagements. We help engineering teams fix issues quickly with actionable, dev-first reports rather than checkbox scans.
Security tools create friction when they are built for checklists, not workflows. If a product does not map to how code ships, signals become noise.
Static Dashboards, No Context
Many dashboards dump findings without prioritization or exploitability context, forcing developers to guess what to fix first and why it matters. Gartner reviews of vulnerability management tools repeatedly cite triage overload and the need for true risk prioritization.
No Human Expertise
AI is useful, but it still misses nuance like business logic flaws, chained misconfigurations, and remediation tradeoffs. Buyers consistently seek vendors that pair automation with expert guidance and clear fixes.
Overlapping Alerts
Teams layer several tools across endpoints, cloud, and apps, then drown in duplicate or conflicting alerts. Even the most bullish analysts take note of the push toward consolidation and platformization to reduce tool sprawl.
Compliance Theater
Automated checklists can help pass audits, but without validated controls and human testing they do not reliably prevent breaches. Several vendors position compliance documentation access, but emphasize that controls still require real enforcement and monitoring.
Below is a quick fit comparison. Use it to shortlist before diving into the full reviews.
Use this table to shortlist. The full reviews below add services, dev-friendly features, pricing approach, pros, and cons.
Overview. Software Secured blends senior, human-led pentesting with SaaS delivery. The Portal tracks findings and SLAs, while included retesting confirms fixes under the same threat model. Reports are written for engineers so remediation lands without guesswork.
Key Services
Dev-friendly features
Actionable developer reports, plus common workflows through Jira and Slack to keep fixes moving during sprints.
Pricing
Project-based or subscription PTaaS; retesting included per package. Pricing starts at $5k for networking pentesting and $10k for web application pentesting.
Pros
Human-led exploits, dev-first reporting, Portal for coordination, and retesting that closes the loop.
Cons
They don’t offer standalone vulnerability scanning or attack surface management
Best Suited For. Cloud-first SaaS teams that want expert validation, clear fixes, and less back-and-forth. Software Secured
Overview. NetSPI’s PTaaS wraps engagements in the Resolve platform with real-time visibility, dashboards, asset inventory, and attack narratives so teams can manage a program rather than one-offs. NetSPI+1
Key Services
Dev-friendly features
Workflow integrations and attack narratives that translate findings into fixable work. NetSPI
Pricing
Enterprise engagements with platform access; quote-based. NetSPI
Pros
Program-level visibility, asset and narrative context, dashboards that help prioritize. NetSPI
Cons
Best fit for teams ready to run pentesting as a managed program. NetSPI
Best Suited For. Enterprises with continuous testing and reporting needs across many apps. NetSPI
Overview. Aikido is an all-in-one developer platform that unifies SAST, SCA, containers, IaC, and cloud checks. It pushes issues into Jira and signals to Slack to keep remediation in-flow. Aikido+2Aikido Docs+2
Key Services
Dev-friendly features
Native Jira ticket creation and Slack notifications for findings. Aikido Docs+1
Pricing
Self-serve SaaS tiers with enterprise options. Aikido
Pros
Fast setup, broad coverage, opinionated noise reduction. Aikido
Cons
Newer platform; validate depth on complex estates. Aikido
Best Suited For. Startups consolidating AppSec with tight Jira and Slack loops. Aikido Docs
Overview. ZAP is a widely used open-source DAST. The GitHub Action runs spidering and active scans in CI and can persist alerts back to the repo as issues so developers fix in-branch. GitHub
Key Services
Dev-friendly features
First-class GitHub Actions with workflows that open issues or fail builds on policy. GitHub
Pricing
Open source. Community and commercial support options exist via partners.
Pros
Zero license cost, pipeline-friendly, strong community. GitHub
Cons
Needs tuning and target context to avoid noise.
Best Suited For. Teams adding lightweight DAST checks to CI without vendor lock-in. GitHub
Overview. Sysdig’s runtime security builds on Falco, the CNCF open-source engine for detecting anomalous behavior in containers and Kubernetes. It adds policy, response, and cloud context for real production defense. Sysdig+1
Key Services
Dev-friendly features
Kubernetes-native workflows and rules as code make it approachable for platform teams. Sysdig
Pricing
Commercial platform plus open-source Falco.
Pros
Strong runtime depth for K8s, open rules model, production-ready detections. Sysdig
Cons
Focus is runtime rather than pre-deploy scanning.
Best Suited For. Teams that need signal during and after deploy, not just in CI. Sysdig
Overview. Aqua delivers a CNAPP that spans code to cloud with posture, workload, and runtime protections for containers, serverless, VMs, and Kubernetes. Aqua
Key Services
Dev-friendly features
Agent and agentless coverage, registry and CI integrations, and policy that follows workloads from build to runtime. Aqua
Pricing
Enterprise subscription by modules and footprint. Aqua
Pros
Lifecycle coverage, multi-cloud breadth, mature container focus. Aqua
Cons
Broad suite requires phased rollout for best results.
Best Suited For. Cloud-native orgs standardizing on one CNAPP for K8s and serverless. Aqua
Overview. Snyk provides developer security for open source, containers, and IaC, with integrations across IDEs, SCM, and CI so fixes arrive as PRs and tickets. Snyk User Docs
Key Services
Dev-friendly features
Jira issue creation and Slack alerts help teams triage in sprint. Snyk User Docs+1
Pricing
Free and paid SaaS tiers; enterprise is quote-based.
Pros
Strong developer adoption and integrations, actionable fix guidance. Snyk User Docs
Cons
Not a substitute for manual review or runtime detection depth.
Best Suited For. DevSecOps programs prioritizing shift-left across repos and pipelines. Snyk User Docs
Overview. Falcon delivers EDR and XDR with a single lightweight agent and unified console. Real Time Response and built-in SOAR help teams investigate and remediate quickly. CrowdStrike+1
Key Services
Dev-friendly features
APIs and orchestration let teams open tickets and push chat notifications as part of incident response. CrowdStrike
Pricing
Enterprise, quote-based by modules and footprint.
Pros
Fast detection and response, single agent, extensible platform. CrowdStrike
Cons
License mix can be complex for small teams.
Best Suited For. Programs that want mature endpoint through XDR capability with automation. CrowdStrike
Overview. Elastic combines SIEM and endpoint with long-retention search and open content. Built-in Cases push incidents to external systems like Jira, which keeps remediation in the developer toolchain. Elastic
Key Services
Dev-friendly features
Cases plus external connectors, including Jira and webhooks to tie detections to issues. Elastic
Pricing
SaaS or self-managed subscriptions; usage-based tiers.
Pros
Strong data workflows, external connectors, affordable long-term telemetry. Elastic
Cons
Requires tuning and content curation for best signal quality.
Best Suited For. Threat-hunting teams that want SIEM and endpoint tied directly to tickets. Elastic
Overview. Cloudflare One provides Zero Trust SSE on Cloudflare’s global network, combining ZTNA, SWG, CASB, and DLP with APIs and Terraform so security becomes policy as code. Cloudflare Docs+3Cloudflare Docs+3Cloudflare Docs+3
Key Services
Dev-friendly features
Terraform resources and REST APIs for policy automation and deployment at scale. Cloudflare Docs+2Terraform Registry+2
Pricing
Plan-based with enterprise quotes for large deployments. Cloudflare Docs
Pros
Global edge, unified SSE stack, strong automation story. Cloudflare Docs
Cons
DLP and CASB tuning effort grows with SaaS sprawl. Cloudflare Docs
Best Suited For. Orgs consolidating Zero Trust access, web security, and SaaS governance with infra-as-code. Cloudflare Docs
Security that works feels like a developer tool. If it adds friction, engineers route around it.
If you are a cloud-first SaaS org moving fast or facing audit deadlines, pairing human pentesting with SaaS delivery hits the sweet spot. Software Secured provides senior researchers, a Portal for tracking and SLAs, and included retesting so fixes actually stick and customers see progress. Reports are written for developers, not just auditors, which means faster time to remediation. Software Secured+2Software Secured+2
If you want hands-on validation plus a clean SaaS experience, Software Secured brings expert testing, a Portal built for engineers, and retesting that proves remediation. Book a free consultation to see how quickly you can reduce risk without slowing delivery.
Modern cybersecurity SaaS solutions should function similarly to your other development tools. It should plug into code, CI, issues, and chat, show real risk, and help you fix fast. The vendors above have the best shot at doing that today. If you want hands-on validation plus a clean SaaS experience, Software Secured brings expert testing, a Portal built for engineers, and retesting that proves remediation.
Book a free consultation to see how quickly you can reduce risk without slowing delivery.
Sherif Koussa is a cybersecurity expert and entrepreneur with a rich software building and breaking background. In 2006, he founded the OWASP Ottawa Chapter, contributed to WebGoat and OWASP Cheat Sheets, and helped launch SANS/GIAC exams. Today, as CEO of Software Secured, he helps hundreds of SaaS companies continuously ship secure code.
Security
Can be easily manipulated without detection if not properly secured.
Digitally signed and can be validated on the server. Manipulation can be detected.
Size
Limited to 4KB.
Can contain much more data, up to 8KB.
Dependency
Often used for session data on the server-side. The server needs to store the session map.
Contains all the necessary information in the token. Doesn’t need to store data on the server.
Storage Location
Browser cookie jar.
Local storage or client-side cookie.
The cybersecurity SaaS market is crowded and confusing. Many tools promise one-click safety yet ship noisy dashboards that do not plug into developer workflows.
Providing the quality of the biggest names in security without the price tag and complications.
Manual penetration testing
Full time Canadian hackers
Remediation support