Looking for a Burp Suite alternative?
Burp Suite, by PortSwigger, is the de facto tool for manual web-application penetration testing — an intercepting proxy, a scanner, and a deep extension ecosystem (the BApp store) that pentesters use to probe a running app from the outside. XploitScan is a different kind of tool: a SAST-style scanner that reads your source code before you deploy, tuned for the vulnerability patterns that AI coding tools (Cursor, Lovable, Bolt, Replit, Claude Code) tend to ship in JavaScript, TypeScript, and Python. If you're looking for a Burp alternative, the honest answer is that for most teams these two tools sit at different stages and complement each other — but if what you actually want is to catch issues in the code itself before anything is running, that's where XploitScan fits.
First, the honest part: these are different tools
Burp Suite is a DAST tool — dynamic application security testing. It tests a deployed, running application by sending it real HTTP traffic and watching how it responds, usually driven by a human pentester through the intercepting proxy. XploitScan is a SAST tool — static application security testing. It reads your source code on disk and flags risky patterns before the app ever runs. One looks at the running system from the outside; the other looks at the code from the inside.
Because of that, they aren't really substitutes — they catch different classes of problem at different stages, and a mature team often runs both. We're not going to pretend XploitScan replaces a skilled pentester with Burp. What we can say honestly: if your goal is to catch insecure code as it's written — especially AI-generated code, before it ships — a static scanner you run in one command is a faster, cheaper first line of defense than standing up a dynamic pentest. It won't catch everything a pentester would, but it runs on every commit. The rest of this page lays out when each one is the right call.
When each one fits
Burp Suite is the right choice when
- → You're doing manual penetration testing of a running web app and want to intercept, modify, and replay live HTTP/HTTPS traffic
- → You need dynamic testing that exercises the deployed app's real behavior — auth flows, session handling, business logic — not just its source
- → You're a professional pentester or security team who wants Burp's mature workflow: Repeater, Intruder, the scanner, and the proxy together
- → You rely on the BApp store and Burp's extension ecosystem to customize and script your testing
- → You need to test apps where you don't have the source code, only a URL
XploitScan is the right choice when
- → You want to catch vulnerabilities in your source code before you deploy, not after the app is live
- → You're shipping JavaScript, TypeScript, or Python written largely with AI coding tools and want the patterns they tend to ship caught early
- → You don't have a pentester on staff and want something you run yourself in one command: npx xploitscan scan .
- → You want findings wired into CI — a GitHub Action with SARIF output, or PR Check Runs via the GitHub App — so issues are flagged on every push
- → You want flat, transparent, self-serve pricing rather than a per-seat professional license
Side-by-side
| Dimension | Burp Suite | XploitScan |
|---|---|---|
| Tool category | DAST — dynamic testing of a running app | SAST — static analysis of source code (210 rules: 30 free, 180 Pro) |
| What it inspects | Live HTTP traffic to/from a deployed app | Source files on disk, before deploy |
| Primary workflow | Manual, pentester-driven via intercepting proxy | Automated scan, run locally or in CI |
| Detection approach | Sends real requests, observes responses | Regex + AST + a light taint pass (not CodeQL-grade semantic analysis) |
| Languages / scope | Any web app reachable by URL (language-agnostic) | JavaScript, TypeScript, Python source |
| How you run it | Desktop app + extensions (BApp store) | npx xploitscan scan . — plus web app, GitHub Action (SARIF), GitHub App, MCP server |
| Pricing | Community edition free; Professional is a paid per-user license | Free $0, then flat $9–$99/mo, self-serve (7-day Pro trial) |
| Independent benchmark | Not measured against our held-out set (we don't run Burp on it) | Held-out third-party set 15/15 (Bearer 9/15, Semgrep 8/15); methodology at xploitscan.com/benchmark |
Where Burp Suite legitimately wins
- Dynamic testing of running apps. Burp exercises a live application the way a real attacker would — sending crafted requests and watching real responses. That catches whole classes of issues a static scanner simply can't see: runtime auth bypasses, broken access control between sessions, and logic flaws that only emerge when the app is actually running. XploitScan never runs your app, so it can't find these.
- The intercepting proxy and manual pentester workflow. Burp's proxy, Repeater, and Intruder are built for a skilled human to probe an app interactively — intercept a request, tweak it, replay it, and chain findings together. That hands-on, exploratory workflow is the core of professional pen testing, and an automated static scanner doesn't attempt to replace it.
- Extensibility and ecosystem. The BApp store and Burp's extension API let teams customize and script testing to fit specific targets and methodologies, backed by PortSwigger's research and a large practitioner community. XploitScan's surface area is deliberately narrower — a focused scanner, not a platform.
- Language-agnostic, source-optional coverage. Burp tests any web app you can reach by URL, regardless of language or framework, even when you have no source access. XploitScan needs the source and only covers JavaScript, TypeScript, and Python.
Try XploitScan on your code
Free, 5 scans/day, no account required. Run it locally with one command — npx xploitscan scan . — and your code never leaves your machine; web scans run in memory and are never stored. See what the scanner finds in your actual source before you decide how it fits alongside dynamic testing.
XploitScan maps findings to SOC 2, ISO 27001, OWASP Top 10, and CWE for reference — informational mapping to help organize remediation, not a certification. XploitScan is built by Cipherline LLC, Fairfield CT.