Comparison · Vexta
Vexta vs Burp Suite: an honest comparison.
Burp Suite from PortSwigger covers two jobs: Burp Suite Professional, a toolkit for hands-on web and API security testing, and Burp Suite DAST (formerly Enterprise Edition), an automated web scanner that runs on a schedule or from CI/CD. Vexta is a self-hosted scanner with optional AI triage that covers infrastructure as well as web apps, APIs and dependencies. The two overlap on automated web scanning and complement each other elsewhere.
This comparison is based on Burp Suite's public documentation and our own work with Vexta. We sell Vexta, so read it with that bias in mind, and check Burp Suite's current plans and features on their site before you decide. No paid placements, no affiliate links.
Pick Vexta if
You want one self-hosted scanner for infrastructure, web apps, APIs and dependencies that runs unattended in CI/CD.
Pick Burp Suite if
You have a dedicated pentester or app-sec engineer doing exploratory manual testing of web apps and APIs.
There is no single right answer in a Vexta vs Burp Suite decision. Both products solve the same surface problem - finding vulnerabilities before an attacker does - but they make different bets about who is operating the tool, how much manual review is acceptable, and what the report has to look like for downstream auditors.
The honest test is this: point both at the same target and compare the findings. Vexta has a free trial; check Burp Suite's website for its current trial options.
Side-by-side
Vexta vs Burp Suite: feature comparison
| Feature | Vexta | Burp Suite |
|---|---|---|
| Continuous automated scanning Burp Suite DAST runs scheduled and CI-triggered scans; Burp Suite Professional includes Burp Scanner for on-demand scans. | ✓ | ✓ |
| CI/CD-native integration Via Burp Suite DAST (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps and others). | ✓ | ✓ |
| Manual exploitation workflow (intercept, repeater, intruder) Vexta Pro includes an intercepting proxy, repeater, decoder, comparer and sequencer. Burp Suite Professional includes Proxy, Repeater and Intruder for hands-on testing. | ∼ | ✓ |
| AI-triaged findings Burp AI can investigate Burp Scanner findings, filter broken access control false positives and add impact analysis and reproduction steps. Vexta's AI triage needs your own LLM API key. | ✓ | ✓ |
| External + internal + app + dependency scanning in one tool Burp Suite focuses on web applications and APIs. | ✓ | ∼ |
| CVE matching against dependencies Burp Scanner flags known-vulnerable JavaScript libraries used by the app. | ✓ | ∼ |
| Self-host option | ✓ | ✓ |
| No-cost option | Free trial | Free Community Edition; 30-day Pro trial for business users |
Common questions
Should we use Vexta INSTEAD of Burp Suite?
It depends on what you use Burp for. Burp Suite Professional is a hands-on toolkit for pentesters and AppSec engineers, and Vexta does not replace that manual workflow. Burp Suite DAST is PortSwigger's automated web scanner; Vexta overlaps with it on web apps and APIs and also scans hosts, services and dependencies. You can run Vexta on a schedule and in CI/CD (Pro and Enterprise) and use Burp Suite Professional for periodic manual testing.
Does Vexta find the same things Burp does?
There is overlap. Both scan automatically for common web vulnerability classes such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting. Complex business-logic flaws, race conditions and multi-step authorization bypasses usually need a skilled tester working by hand, which is what Burp Suite Professional's manual tools are built for. To see the overlap on your own apps, scan the same target with both and compare the results.
Can Vexta scan single-page apps (SPAs) and APIs?
Yes. Vexta can crawl SPAs with a headless Chromium browser, and it tests REST APIs (using an OpenAPI or Swagger spec when one is published at a standard path) and GraphQL APIs. It does not test gRPC APIs. For logins the scanner cannot complete by itself, you can record a browser session with the Vexta Recorder extension (Pro and Enterprise) and scan with that session's cookies and headers.
What's the pricing comparison?
Vexta has a free trial and published monthly, quarterly and yearly plans. Burp Suite Professional is licensed per user on an annual subscription, Burp Suite DAST (formerly Enterprise Edition) is sold on subscriptions tailored to your scanning needs, and Burp Suite Community Edition is free. The pricing models differ, so see PortSwigger's current pricing and compare against your own use case.
Try Vexta on one target.
No agents to install, no card to enter, no SDR call. Start with the free trial.