10 Best Penetration Testing Tools For QA In 2023

Astra is a penetration testing tool that offers a comprehensive suite, allowing you to protect internet facing applications and your network infrastructure. The tool provides a clean and organized dashboard, from which you can manage your automated and manual pen tests. Astra allows you to carry out more than 3000 security tests.

Astra provides a Progressive Web App which allows you to access and manage your dashboard from anywhere. Through the app, you can organize and execute penetration tests from any device, which offers you and your team flexibility. You can also gain access to your detailed reports following the scans you have executed.

Astra integrates with platforms such as Jira, Slack and Github.

The cost of Astra starts at $99.00 USD per month for the Scanner package.

Acunetix is a penetration testing tool that is easy to use, and provides an array of features accessible to any level of a development team. Acunetix provides a quick analysis that can identify high risk vulnerabilities, as well as the ability to send different types of reports to various levels from board member to developer, tailored especially for the recipient.

Acunetix provides the ability for continuous scanning, allowing you to schedule regular scans of targets which checks for vulnerabilities in your infrastructure repeatedly. This allows you to have continuous security awareness of your organization’s vulnerability level. The feature also allows you to pause the scan at any time.

Acunetix integrates with issue trackers such as Jira, Bugzilla and Mantis.

Acunetix offers customized pricing upon request.

Intruder is a cloud-based vulnerability testing tool and scanner that allows you to find weaknesses within your operating systems and applications. The tool cuts down on work time by proactively scanning for new threats, and offering a threat prioritization solution. Intruder provides you stable and reliable security testing without complexity, allowing less experienced team members to execute pen tests.

Intruder boasts a clear, easy to use and detailed user interface, which allows you to efficiently organize your tasks and tests in an orderly fashion. The user interface allows you to easily set up internal and external scans and generate reports, as well as providing feedback on action needing to be taken to resolve issues. The tool also provides a notification system that alerts you to any new vulnerabilities within your system.

Intruder integrates with platforms such as AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

The cost of Intruder starts at $113 USD per month for the Essential package of 5 targets to scan. The tool also has a 30-day free trial.

Nessus is a penetration testing tool that allows you to complete vulnerability assessments of your web application and operating systems. The tool allows you to easily identify and fix vulnerabilities, including software flaws, malware and missing patches. Nessus can operate across a variety of systems and devices.

Nessus provides the ability to perform both credential and non credentialed scans, allowing you to find more depth vulnerabilities. This ensures that you have full test coverage of your operating system, and are catching every security flaw within your application. The tool also covers network devices such as endpoints, servers and virtualization platforms.

Nessus integrates with tools such as Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and ServiceNow.

The cost of Nessus starts at $4,719.13 USD per year. The tool also offers a 7-day free trial.

Core Impact is a comprehensive penetration testing tool that allows you to exploit weaknesses in the security of your applications, and increase productivity. The tool provides an easy and clean user interface, as well as the ability to execute rapid penetration tests. This allows you to discover, test and report more efficiently.

Core Impact provides a feature for replicating multi-staged attacks, which allows you to pivot your pen tests across various systems, devices and applications. The feature allows you to configure various tests and execute them all at once. Another feature of Core Impact is the ability to install an agent on the server through SSH and SMB, making white box testing more effective.

The cost of Core Impact starts at $9,450 USD per year for the Basic package. The tool also offers a free trial.

W3af is an open source cyber security scanner that specializes in web application security. The tool also allows you to audit your security issues, and is flexible, making it easy for novice users to navigate the tool. W3af allows you to automate your vulnerability scanning within any part of your web application from the security of your backend development, to the security of your SQL databases. W3af provides many extensions such as GZip and Keep-Alive which allows you to send specially customized HTTP requests quickly. The feature offers proxy support and UserAgent faking, and allows you to export your results in csv, text and HTML formats. W3af also provides a fuzzing engine feature, which allows you to inject your payloads into almost any part of your HTTP request. W3af is fully open source and free to use.

Invicti is an automated security testing tool that allows you and your organization to secure all your web applications and reduce the risk of a cyber attack. Invicti is easy to configure, allows you to scan your websites and web applications for security flaws, and generates results reports. The tool also provides a technology dashboard that shows information about software versions used in your applications.

Invicti allows you to configure pre-set scan profiles, making it easy for anyone in your team to run scans and penetration tests. The feature is entirely customizable so you are able to set your scan profiles up in a way that is best for your web application and operating systems. Invicti also has a 24/7 responsive support team, which provides you assurance that you and your team have help at your disposal.

Inviciti integrates with tools such as Bugzilla, BitBucket and Asana.

Invicti provides customized pricing upon request.

Metasploit is a penetration testing tool that identifies system weaknesses and attempts to exploit them, allowing you to isolate and demonstrate the weakness, and allow for remediations. The tool also works across multiple computer systems such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, and can be used across devices.

Metasploit provides the ability to automate manual tests and exploits, allowing you to minimize your team’s time spent on creating manual tests and scans. The tool boasts a large exploit database with new additions regularly, and is extremely intuitive, making it easy for you and your team to implement. Metasploit also has a large community support system.

Metasploit integrates with tools such as Kali Linux and Dradis.

The cost of Metasploit starts at $2,000 per year. The tool also offers a free version.

Aircrack-ng is a security testing tool that allows you to complete WiFi auditing and security assessments of your wireless network. The tool allows you to carry out security testing such as checking WiFi cards and driver capabilities. Aircrack-ng also allows you to packet capture and export the data to text files so you can process further using third party tools.

Aircrack-ng provides a robust attacking feature that allows you to simulate attacks on your wireless network. The tool allows you to perform replay attacks and de-authentication, as well as set up fake access points. Aircrack-ng also allows you to perform attacks on WEP and WPA PSK.

Aircrack-ng is fully open source and free to use.

Kali Linux is a penetration testing tool that boasts a full suite of features without the need to install them separately. The tool provides a high level of security and stability, as well as a clean and user friendly interface so you can better organize your tasks. You can use Kali Linux for both offensive security and defensive security.

Kali Linux provides a live USB mode that allows you to plug your USB into any machine and run the application. The USB live mode makes no changes to your system’s hard drive and is customizable, allowing you to run your own Kali Linux ISO image. You can also configure the feature to have persistent storage, allowing you to save the data you collect across various reboots.

Kali Linux is fully open source and free to use.