Acunetix Web Application & API Security vs w3af: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)

Acunetix Web Application & API Security: DAST scanner for web apps & APIs with automated vuln detection & remediation. built by Acunetix. Core capabilities include Automated web application and API discovery and crawling, Detection of 12,000+ vulnerabilities including zero-days, Blended DAST and IAST scanning..

w3af: w3af is an open source web application security scanner that identifies over 200 types of vulnerabilities including XSS, SQL injection, and OS commanding in web applications..

Both serve the Dynamic Application Security Testing market but differ in approach, feature depth, and target audience.

Acunetix Web Application & API Security is developed by Acunetix. w3af is open-source with 4,852 GitHub stars. Vendor maturity, funding stage, and team size can be important factors when evaluating long-term viability and support quality.

Acunetix Web Application & API Security and w3af serve similar Dynamic Application Security Testing use cases: both are Dynamic Application Security Testing tools, both cover SQL Injection, Web Security, XSS. Key differences: Acunetix Web Application & API Security is Commercial while w3af is Free, w3af is open-source. Review the feature comparison above to determine which fits your requirements.