Developer Tools · head to head
Harness vs OWASP ZAP
Harness
Developer Tools
Software delivery platform across CI, CD, security testing and cost management
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
OWASP ZAP
Cybersecurity
Free, open-source web application scanner and intercepting proxy, now governed by the Software Security Project.
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Harness essentials and Enterprise pricing requires sales contact; no published rates; OWASP ZAP authenticated scanning of modern single-page applications is the hard part and ZAP makes you build it by hand: session handling, token refresh and login scripts are configured per application, and a misconfigured session means the scanner logs itself out and reports a clean result for pages it never reached.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Harness and OWASP ZAP actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Harness
Nothing recorded that OWASP ZAP does not also cover.
Only in OWASP ZAP
- Intercepting proxy
- Passive scanner
- Active scanner
- AJAX spider
- Automation Framework
- Headless daemon and REST API
- Docker images
- Add-on marketplace
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Harness
- Deploying apps to AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud with rollbacksnot OWASP ZAP
- Integrating security scanners throughout build pipelines before productionnot OWASP ZAP
- Automating cloud cost reduction and tracking unit-level expensesnot OWASP ZAP
- Enabling developers to provision infrastructure without operations bottlenecksnot OWASP ZAP
- Assessing deployment frequency and lead time productivity metricsnot OWASP ZAP
OWASP ZAP
- Adding a baseline security scan to every application's pipeline where per-target commercial licensing would limit coverage to a handfulnot Harness
- Manual penetration testing that needs an intercepting proxy, request replay and fuzzing without a paid licence per testernot Harness
- Teaching developers what an attack against their own endpoint looks like, using a tool they can install themselvesnot Harness
- Pre-release regression scanning of an internal application that would never justify a commercial DAST subscriptionnot Harness
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Harness
- Essentials and Enterprise pricing requires sales contact; no published rates
- DevOps Essentials has no on-premises deployment option
- Internal Developer Portal requires minimum 20 developer licenses
- Pipeline execution history retention 6 months (Essentials) vs 25 months as add-on (Enterprise)
OWASP ZAP
- Authenticated scanning of modern single-page applications is the hard part and ZAP makes you build it by hand: session handling, token refresh and login scripts are configured per application, and a misconfigured session means the scanner logs itself out and reports a clean result for pages it never reached.
- There is no support contract in the product, so when a scan breaks the day before a release the escalation path is a GitHub issue and a community chat, which is not an answer that satisfies a delivery manager or an auditor who wants a named responsible party.
- Active scanning sends genuine attack traffic, so it can create records, trigger emails, exhaust rate limits or destabilise a fragile environment, and pointing it at production without prior agreement produces an incident rather than a test result.
- Output needs triage: passive rules generate large volumes of low-severity informational findings about headers and cookie flags that bury the few results that matter, and a team without someone tuning the rule set stops reading the report within a few sprints.
- As a dynamic scanner it can only test what it can reach, so authorisation flaws between accounts, business logic abuse and anything behind an undiscovered endpoint go unreported, and a passing ZAP scan is evidence of nothing more than the absence of the classes of bug it looks for.
Pricing, plan by plan
Harness
Free- FreeFree
- Starter platform for software delivery lifecycle
- Open source options available (Harness Open Source, Litmus Chaos)
- Essentials$null/month
- Growing organizations with small to mid-size teams
- Packaged DevOps Essentials bundle
- Continuous software delivery capabilities
- Enterprise$null/month
- Large-scale organizations
- Pick any modules based on needs
- Advanced features
OWASP ZAP
Free- Free & Open SourceFree
- Full functionality
- Active & passive scanning
- Spider
Which should you pick?
Choose OWASP ZAP if
- You need intercepting proxy.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Desktop, Cli, Api.
- You also want passive scanner.
Questions people ask
- Is Harness or OWASP ZAP better?
- Neither clearly leads. Harness starts at Free and OWASP ZAP at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Harness or OWASP ZAP?
- Harness starts at Free and OWASP ZAP at Free.
- Does Harness or OWASP ZAP run on more platforms?
- Harness runs on Web. OWASP ZAP runs on Desktop, Cli, Api.
- Can I use Harness for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Harness best used for?
- Harness is most often used for deploying apps to aws, azure, and google cloud with rollbacks, integrating security scanners throughout build pipelines before production, automating cloud cost reduction and tracking unit-level expenses, enabling developers to provision infrastructure without operations bottlenecks. Of those, deploying apps to aws, azure, and google cloud with rollbacks and integrating security scanners throughout build pipelines before production are not what OWASP ZAP is typically brought in for.
- What can Harness do that OWASP ZAP cannot?
- OWASP ZAP covers Intercepting proxy, Passive scanner, Active scanner, AJAX spider.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Harness: Is there a free Harness plan?
Yes, Harness offers a free plan for individual developers and small teams with open source options including Harness Open Source and Litmus Chaos.
SourceOWASP ZAP: Is it still called OWASP ZAP?
The project left OWASP in August 2024 and is now governed by the Software Security Project, with core development sponsored by Checkmarx. The tool is now just ZAP, though most existing documentation, courses and search results still use the OWASP name.
Harness: What are Harness's paid pricing tiers?
Harness offers Essentials for growing teams and Enterprise for large-scale organizations. Both require contacting sales for custom pricing. Pricing is based on modules and features selected.
SourceOWASP ZAP: Is it free for commercial use?
Yes. It is Apache 2.0 licensed, with no per-application, per-scan or per-user cost, and it can be used and modified commercially without a licence agreement.
Harness: Can Harness be deployed on-premises?
Enterprise plans include self-managed platform deployment option. DevOps Essentials bundle does not offer on-premises deployment.
SourceOWASP ZAP: Can it replace a penetration test?
No. It automates checks for known vulnerability classes against endpoints it can reach. It does not reason about business logic, chain findings into an attack, or test authorisation between accounts, which is most of what a tester actually does.
OWASP ZAP: Does it run in CI?
Yes, through the official Docker images and the Automation Framework, which defines scan jobs in YAML so configuration lives in the repository. A baseline passive scan is the usual starting point because it is fast and non-intrusive.
OWASP ZAP: How does it compare to Burp Suite?
Burp Suite Professional is the more polished manual testing tool and has a stronger scanner and extension ecosystem, but it is licensed per tester and Burp Suite Enterprise per target. ZAP is the better fit where cost per target is the binding constraint; many teams use both.
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