Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner vs extended-xss-search: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner is a free security scanning tool. extended-xss-search is a free security scanning tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best security scanning fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of available product data, here is our conclusion:
Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner
Development and security teams managing public-facing web applications will get the most from Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner because its crawling engine finds logic flaws and chained vulnerabilities that static scanners miss. The tool catches real exploitable paths through your site, not just isolated weaknesses; a single scan typically surfaces 40+ issues on medium-sized applications. Skip this if you need API-first scanning or are hunting for code-level defects in your build pipeline; Acunetix is purpose-built for runtime web application testing, not SAST or microservices architecture assessment.
Security teams doing bulk URL reconnaissance or rapid XSS triage will appreciate extended-xss-search because it tests multiple XSS payloads per URL instead of stopping at the first match, catching bypasses that simpler finders miss. It's free and sits on 187 GitHub stars, meaning you can deploy it in a scanning pipeline without vendor lock-in or licensing overhead. Skip this if you need interactive exploitation or DAST integration with your WAF; extended-xss-search is a scanner for finding the vulnerability, not managing remediation workflows.
