Developer Tools · head to head
Okteto vs OWASP ZAP
Okteto
Developer Tools
Runs production-like development environments on your own Kubernetes cluster
- 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: Okteto two of the three plans publish no price at all, with no currency and no billing period stated anywhere, so any budget above five seats requires a sales conversation before you can even compare it with an alternative.; 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.
- They diverge on capability: Okteto covers Cluster development environments, OWASP ZAP covers Intercepting proxy.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Okteto 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 Okteto
- Cluster development environments
- File synchronisation
- Development containers
- Environment catalogue
- Preview environments
- Bring your own cloud
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.
Okteto
- A microservices estate where no developer can run the full dependency graph on a laptopnot OWASP ZAP
- Giving each pull request a working environment reviewers can click rather than describenot OWASP ZAP
- Letting coding agents build and test against real databases and queues instead of mocksnot OWASP ZAP
- Removing a fleet of local Kubernetes installations that drift from production and produce false test resultsnot 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 Okteto
- Manual penetration testing that needs an intercepting proxy, request replay and fuzzing without a paid licence per testernot Okteto
- Teaching developers what an attack against their own endpoint looks like, using a tool they can install themselvesnot Okteto
- Pre-release regression scanning of an internal application that would never justify a commercial DAST subscriptionnot Okteto
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Okteto
- Two of the three plans publish no price at all, with no currency and no billing period stated anywhere, so any budget above five seats requires a sales conversation before you can even compare it with an alternative.
- The Apache-2.0 CLI is restricted to the development section of the manifest, so build services, user management and observability all require the commercial platform and the open licence provides very little continuity insurance.
- The last disclosed funding round is a 15 million US dollar Series A from February 2022 with nothing announced since, and the contributor base is dominated by company employees, which is concentrated risk for something embedded in every developer daily loop.
- You must bring and pay for the Kubernetes cluster, so node cost, capacity planning and version upgrades stay with your platform team on top of the licence fee.
- The 2026 repositioning towards AI agents means the classic developer inner loop is no longer what the marketing leads with, so a buyer purchasing that use case should confirm roadmap commitment rather than assume it.
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
Okteto
Free- StarterFree
- 5 seats included
- Self-hosted deployment into your own cluster
- Community support
- Scale$undefined/year
- Contact sales, no price, currency or billing period published
- More seats and environments than Starter
- Self-hosted deployment
- Enterprise$undefined/year
- Contact sales, no price published
- Bring your own cloud deployment
- Available through Google Cloud and AWS marketplaces
OWASP ZAP
Free- Free & Open SourceFree
- Full functionality
- Active & passive scanning
- Spider
Which should you pick?
Choose Okteto if
- You need cluster development environments.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, CLI, Kubernetes, Web.
- You also want file synchronisation.
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 Okteto or OWASP ZAP better?
- Neither clearly leads. Okteto 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, Okteto or OWASP ZAP?
- Okteto starts at Free and OWASP ZAP at Free.
- Does Okteto or OWASP ZAP run on more platforms?
- Okteto runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, CLI, Kubernetes, Web. OWASP ZAP runs on Desktop, Cli, Api.
- Can I use Okteto for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Okteto best used for?
- Okteto is most often used for a microservices estate where no developer can run the full dependency graph on a laptop, giving each pull request a working environment reviewers can click rather than describe, letting coding agents build and test against real databases and queues instead of mocks, removing a fleet of local kubernetes installations that drift from production and produce false test results. Of those, a microservices estate where no developer can run the full dependency graph on a laptop and giving each pull request a working environment reviewers can click rather than describe are not what OWASP ZAP is typically brought in for.
- What can Okteto do that OWASP ZAP cannot?
- Okteto covers Cluster development environments, File synchronisation, Development containers, Environment catalogue. OWASP ZAP covers Intercepting proxy, Passive scanner, Active scanner, AJAX spider.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Okteto: Is Okteto open source?
The CLI is Apache-2.0, but the README states it supports only the development section of the manifest. Everything operationally interesting, including builds, user management and observability, is in the commercial platform.
OWASP 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.
Okteto: What does it cost?
Only the free Starter tier with five seats is published. Scale and Enterprise are both contact sales, with no price, currency or billing period disclosed on the pricing page.
OWASP 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.
Okteto: Do I need my own Kubernetes cluster?
Yes. Okteto installs into a cluster you provide and pay for, so capacity, upgrades and node costs remain your responsibility in addition to the licence.
OWASP 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.
Okteto: How is this different from running Kubernetes locally?
Environments run against the same managed databases, queues and service mesh as production, so a class of failures that only appears in a real cluster is caught before merge rather than after deploy.
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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