Online penetration testing is a proactive cybersecurity practice that aims to identify vulnerabilities in your web app, network, mobile application, or infrastructure. Think of it as your digital security guardian scrutinizing your defenses by stimulating real cyber intrusions remotely.
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Best Online Penetration Testing Tools in 2025
Top 3 Online Pentest Tools (Compared)
| Features | Astra Pentest | Nessus | Burp Suite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scanner capacity | Unlimited continuous scans | Web apps, mobile & cloud | Web applications |
| Manual Pentest | Yes | No | Yes |
| Accuracy | Zero false positives | False positives are possible | False positives are possible |
| Vulnerability Management | Dynamic dashboard | Available at additional cost | No |
| Compliance | PCI-DSS, HIPAA, ISO27001, GDPR, and SOC2 | HIPAA, ISO, NIST, and PCI-DSS | PCI-DSS, OWASP Top 10, HIPAA, and GDPR |
| Integration | Slack, Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Jenkins, and more | IBM Security, Splunk, GitHub, and GitLab | Slack, Jira, Jenkins, GitLab, and more |
| Price | Starting at $1,999/yr | Starting at $4,236.20/yr | $449/user/yr |
Evaluation Criteria:
For the top online pentesting tools, we focused on selecting those that deliver real-world results with precision and flexibility. We evaluated their ability to handle complex scans, including bypassing login pages to ensure deep, comprehensive testing.
Accuracy was paramount—tools that minimized false positives and negatives stood out. Continuous monitoring capabilities and alignment with industry compliance standards were essential for sustained security.
Why Astra is the best in pentesting?
- We’re the only company that combines automated & manual pentest to create a one-of-a-kind pentest platform.
- Vetted scans ensure zero false positives.
- Our intelligent vulnerability scanner emulates hacker behavior & evolves with every pentest.
- Astra’s scanner helps you shift left by integrating with your CI/CD.
- Our platform helps you uncover, manage & fix vulnerabilities in one place.
- Trusted by the brands you trust like Agora, Spicejet, Muthoot, Dream11, etc.
Top 7 Online Pentest Tools To Know [Reviewed]
1. Astra Pentest
Key Features:
- Scanner Capacity: Unlimited continuous scans
- Manual pentest: Yes
- Accuracy: Zero false positives
- Vulnerability management: Offers a dynamic vulnerability management dashboard
- Compliance: PCI-DSS, HIPAA, ISO27001, GDPR, and SOC2
- Integration: Slack, Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Jenkins, and more
- Price: Starting at $1,999/yr
Astra is a leading provider of online penetration testing services that empowers businesses of all sizes to manage vulnerabilities across continents and digital assets. It assures zero false positives through a comprehensive scan that runs more than 10,000+ tests.
The reports are vetted by expert pentesters who provide manual penetration testing services and remediation assistance as needed. The penetration testing tool can test for local and international compliances like GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and ISO 27001.
Over the past year, Astra has added ICICI, UN, and Dream 11 to its already impressive roster of clients, which included Ford, Gillette, and GoDaddy, among others.
Pros
- Provides gap analysis and continuous scans.
- Leverages unique AI test cases.
- Provides publicly verifiable certificate.
- Ensures zero false positives.
- Detects business logic errors and scans behind the logins.
Limitations
- 1-week free trial is available for $7.
Experts Review
What our Customers Have to Say?
“I’m very happy with my experience with Astra Pentest. As a Vulnerability Assessor, I primarily use this for web application pentesting. The scopes are well-tested for any vulnerabilities such as XSS, SQL, and many others. Its automated testing saves most of the time, and some manual work is also needed for deep testing, which Astra also provides.” – IT Manager (Source: Gartner)
No other pentest product combines automated scanning + expert guidance like we do.
Discuss your security
needs & get started today!
2. Nessus
Key Features:
- Scanner capacity: Automated vulnerability scans for web apps, mobile & cloud
- Manual pentest: No
- Accuracy: False positives are possible
- Vulnerability management: Available at additional cost
- Compliance: HIPAA, ISO, NIST, and PCI-DSS
- Integration: IBM Security, Splunk, GitHub, and GitLab
- Price: Starting at $4,236.20/yr
Nessus is a standard online pentest tool known for its vulnerability assessments and constant updates, ensuring holistic protection and detection of vulnerabilities. Its automation capabilities and compliance checks for international standards make it easily accessible and impactful globally.
Although it also offers a community driver version, several features are only accessible through its commercial tool.
Pros
- Quick asset discovery.
- Reduces attack surface and ensures compliance.
- Malware detection and sensitive data discovery.
Limitations
- Scanning timelines can be inconsistent
- Cannot handle large volumes of data while scanning.
Experts Review
What do Customers Have to Say?
“Nessus from Tenable is one of the most used tool for scanning the systems for vulnerabilities. My organisation is using it for Vulnerability Assessment and Penetrative Testing. It has lots of features and the probability of false positive is very less.” – IT Expert (Source: Gartner)
3. Burp Suite
Key Features:
- Scanner capacity: Web applications
- Manual pentest: Yes
- Accuracy: False positives possible
- Vulnerability management: No
- Compliance: PCI-DSS, OWASP Top 10, HIPAA, and GDPR
- Integrations: Slack, Jira, Jenkins, GitLab, and more
- Price: $449/user/yr
Burp Suite is an online penetration testing tool under the Port Swigger umbrella that provides a variety of services, such as intercepting and manipulating web traffic, automating repetitive tasks, fuzzing, and brute-forcing logins.
Since it is deployed online, its wide range of tools, such as Spider, Proxy, and Repeater Intruder, help detect common vulnerabilities regardless of your geographic location. It offers an open-source Community Edition and an advanced commercial solution called the Professional Edition.
Pros
- Provides step-by-step advice for every vulnerability found.
- Can crawl through complex targets with ease based on URLs and content.
Limitations
- Crashes and socket connection errors have been reported
- It does not provide vetted online pentesting and scanning reports
Experts Review
What do Customers Have to Say?
“Burp Suite Professional is one of the most valuable tools for application security testing, offering rich capabilities for penetration testers to perform regression penetration testing on applications.” – IT security and Risk Manager (Source: Gartner)
Expert Opinion
“Although, open-source tools support testing various types of assets, choosing the right paid vulnerability scanners in combination with open-sources tools for your asset goes a long way in helping you stay ahead of vulnerabilities and be compliant towards various standards.”
4. Probely
Key Features:
- Scanner capacity: Web applications and APIs
- Manual pentest: No
- Accuracy: False positives possible
- Vulnerability management: Patch management and zero-day mitigation
- Compliance: PCI-DSS, ISO27001, HIPAA, GDPR
- Integrations: Slack, JIRA, Jenkins and GitHub
- Price: Starting at $1,180 / year
Probely is a mature online penetration testing tool for web applications and API scanning. It offers partial and incremental scans that automatically prioritize vulnerabilities based on risk and provide proof of legitimacy for each issue.
Its intuitive GUI, dynamic support, and easy integration with your CI/CD integration offer comprehensive testing opportunities even in its open-source plan.
Pros
- Detailed management reports to assist compliance audits
- Interactive dashboard
- Scalable application scanning
Limitations
- Limited functionality for detecting vulnerabilities
- Custom vulnerability scoring does not align with general scoring.
Experts Review
What do Customers Have to Say?
“Web url and API vulnerability scanner on another level. Provides reports on zero day exploit on web url ,API’s and SQL injections that would harm our applications that are accesed over web preventing further losses from attacks.” – John D., Enterprise (Source: G2)
5. Intruder
Key Features:
- Scanner capacity: Websites, servers, and cloud.
- Manual pentest: No
- Accuracy: False positives possible
- Vulnerability management: No
- Compliance: SOC 2 & ISO 27001
- Integrations: GitHub and JIRA
- Price: Starting at $1,958/yr
Intruder is an automated penetration testing software and vulnerability scanner that earned its name in cost-effective data protection. With effortless scaling capabilities for businesses of all sizes, it ensures continuous monitoring, compliance reporting, and attack surface scanning.
Moreover, its evidence-based reporting format and clear remediation steps help promote a proactive cyber risk education strategy.
Pros
- Automated scans ensure real-time alerts for exposed ports
- Vulnerability risk assessment and prioritization
Limitations
- No publicly verifiable certificates
- Lacks assurance of zero false positives
Experts Review
What do Customers Have to Say?
“The site is easy to use. Compared to other tools it took us less time to set up scans, and the process is much easier. The website is user friendly.” – IT Manager (Source: Gartner)
It is one small security loophole v/s your entire website or web application.
Get your web app audited with
Astra’s Continuous Pentest Solution.
6. Acunetix
Key Features:
- Scanner capacity: Web applications
- Manual pentest: No
- Accuracy: False positives possible
- Vulnerability management: No
- Compliance: OWASP, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, NIST
- Integrations: GitHub, JIRA, and Atlassian
- Price: Available on quote
Acunetix is a vulnerability scanner that offers effective online website penetration testing services. It promises 90% scan results even halfway through and works on different setups to help you focus on the most critical issues.
It effectively scans for over 4,500 vulnerabilities, including SQL injection and XSS scripting variants from the OWASP Top 10. Lastly, its detailed scan reports empower developers with clear remediation guidance.
Pros
- Reduces false positives with proof of concept
- Automates regular scans
Limitations
- Lack of transparency with no official pricing plans
- Vulnerability proof of exploits can be complex for beginners
Experts Review
What do Customers Have to Say?
“Turn-key solution for 100% automated pen-testing, and can likely catch some obvious problems, but more in-depth testing is definitely required.” – IT Manager (Source: Gartner)
7. Rapid7
Key Features:
- Scanner Capacity: Web Applications and Cloud Infrastructure
- Manual pentest: Yes
- Accuracy: False positives possible
- Vulnerability management: Yes
- Compliance: CIS, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS
- Integrations: ServiceNow Security Operations, LogRhythm NDR, and ManageEngine
- Price: Available on quote
Last but not least, Rapid7 is a popular online pentesting tool that offers vulnerability scans, pentests, and Security Orchestration and Automation Response (SOAR) as part of its diverse portfolio.
It aims to deliver aims to deliver sustainable security solutions with end-to-end vulnerability management.
Pros
- Perfect for beginners and experts alike.
- Continuous addition of risk checks
Limitations
- Customer support turnaround can be slow
- No expert remediation is available
Experts Review
7 Benefits of Using Online Penetration Testing Tools
1. Leverage Automated Security Scans
In the fast-paced DevOps environment, security often takes a back seat when releasing new features and functional updates. As such, in addition to ad-hoc scans, penetration testing helps you continuously scan your assets.
By automating security scans through online penetration testing tools, you can conduct regular scans and run regression tests to ensure the security of all major updates before they are released.
2. Monitor and Manage Vulnerabilities Seamlessly
Online pentest tools often offer interactive dashboards with real-time reporting, easy asset tracking, graphical representations, and exhaustive reporting capabilities with step-by-step remediation. This simplifies vulnerability scanning and makes vulnerability management much easier.
3. Get Continuous Feedback on Developments
Online pentest tools that can be seamlessly integrated with your company’s CI/CD pipeline offer your developers continuous feedback regarding the security stature of every code update, especially in staging environments.
This helps you foster a DevSecOps environment where security testing is an integral part of software development, minimizing the gap between vulnerability discovery and remediation.
4. Enhance Customer Confidence
Security is slowly but surely becoming one of the key factors that influence business owners’ choice of vendors. Continuously being secured by both defensive and offensive security measures inspires trust among clients.
Integrating security with your regular business functions shows your approach to protecting your clients’ data and privacy, which can be crucial for Government and Financial Institution contracts.
5. Facilitate Speedy Remediations
Online penetration tests are easy, inexpensive, and quick. Thus allowing you to allocate the resources for prompt remediation of the issues discovered.
Some pentest providers, such as Astra, can build collaborative channels between security engineers and your developers to facilitate such patches. This also prevents vulnerabilities from piling up and helps avoid bottlenecks.
6. Be Compliance Ready
With paperwork, reporting, and minute assessment of security protocols, compliance audits can be worrisome events.
A regular online pentest program can help mitigate the above by identifying vulnerabilities giving the development team time to address them, thus improving the company’s attitude and confidence towards audits.
Astra Pentest is built by the team of experts that helped secure Microsoft, Adobe, Facebook, and Buffer
Features You Should Look For in Your Online Pentest Tool
1. On Cloud Pentest
Look for an online penetration testing tool that eliminates the need for complex software installation or maintenance, allowing you to launch pentests quickly and easily.
Pro Tip: Prioritize tools that offer in-depth automated scanning capabilities that are updated regularly to help keep pace with new and emerging CVEs.
2. Seamless CI/CD Pipeline Integration:
Look for an online penetration test tool that easily integrates with your CI/CD pipeline. This helps you to not only simplify scheduling and automation for continuous scans, but also helps improve the workflow with simpler vulnerability management and open communication.
3. Scan Behind Log-In:
Look for authenticated scanners that offer seamless scan-behind-the-login functionality without frequent re-authentications. This allows the tool to mimic an attacker with legitimate credentials, uncovering hidden vulnerabilities and data that basic scans might miss.
Pro Tip: Astra’s login recorder Chrome extension uses your credentials once and keeps the scanner running.
4. Vulnerability Management Capabilities
Focus on online pentest tools that offer end-to-end vulnerability management. Simply put, this translates to not only identifying weaknesses but also prioritizing them based on severity and exploitability.
Detailed reporting with exhaustive remediation steps followed by verification rescanning is also a definite plus to look for. A quick turnaround on customer support can also help you manage vulnerabilities and avoid pitfalls.
Final Thoughts
As technology gets better, online risks get worse. Thus, for your business to go digital and remain secure, employing an effective online pentesting tool is a must.
Using online pentests ensures your digital walls stay strong, which helps your clients trust you. By actively safeguarding your systems, you not only ensure business continuity but also foster a culture of security that empowers your team and inspires client confidence.
Choose a tool with comprehensive features like compliance scanning, vulnerability management, and seamless integrations. Don’t wait for a breach to be your wake-up call. Invest in online pentesting today and build a future of digital resilience.
FAQs
What is the timeline for a comprehensive pentest?
It usually takes somewhere between 4-7 days to complete an in-depth pentest proIt usually takes 4-7 days to complete an in-depth pentest procedure, especially if you are hiring a professional for the same. The re-scans after remediation usually require half as much time; thus, 2-3 days for the follow-up scans usually suffice.
What is the cost of online pentesting?
The cost of online penetration testing usually varies between $100 and $5000 per month. However, the variation in pricing is the result of various factors, such as the size of an organization, scope of work, etc. Some select tools also offer free online penetration testing, but the scope, features, and customizations are often limited.
Explore Our Penetration Testing Series
This post is part of a series on penetration testing.
You can also check out other articles below.
Chapter 1: How to Do Penetration Testing the Right Way (5 Easy Steps)?
Chapter 2: Different Types of Penetration Testing
Chapter 3: Top 5 Penetration Testing Methodology to Follow in 2024
Chapter 4: Ten Best Penetration Testing Companies and Providers
Chapter 5: Best Penetration Testing Tools Pros Use – Top List
Chapter 6: A Super Easy Guide on Penetration Testing Compliance
Chapter 7: Average Penetration Testing Cost in 2024
Chapter 8: What is Penetration Testing Report?
