15 Best Website Scanner to Find Security Vulnerabilities and Malware in 2024

Every day, thousands of websites get attacked, resulting in data breaches, financial losses, and reputational damage. Protecting websites from cyber threats is essential, and the first line of defense is to use a website security scanner to find vulnerabilities, malware, and misconfiguration.

There is no shortage of website security scanners, but too many options can be confusing, and not every security scanner is reliable. That’s where Geekflare comes in. We have tested and listed the most reliable scanner to test websites, API, and cloud infrastructure to strengthen the website’s security posture.

• 1. Sucuri – Best for Malware Detection and Removal
• 2. HostedScan – Best for Automated Vulnerability Scanning
• 3. Intruder – Best for Continuous Vulnerability Scanning
• 4. Attaxion – Best for External Attack Surface Management
• 5. Qualys – Best for Cloud-Based Security and Compliance
• 6. Quttera – Best for Web Malware Scanning
• 7. UpGuard – Best for Vendor Risk Management
• 8. SiteGuarding – Best for Real-Time Website Protection
• 9. Detectify – Best for Small to Medium Business
• 10. Probely – Best for Web & API Vulnerability Scan
• 11. Pentest Tools – Best for Web Penetration Testing
• 12. ImmuniWeb – Best FREE Security Scanner
• 13. Invicti – Best for DAST+IAST Scanning
• 14. Veracode – Best to Find and Fix Runtime Vulnerabilities
• 15. Qualys SSL Labs – Best for TLS Testing
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Sucuri

Sucuri is a website security and performance optimization tool mostly known for its manual malware removal. It has one of the best WordPress scanners, although it supports other platforms, including Magento, Joomla, phpBB, and Drupal.

Sucuri brings a combination of automation and manual expertise to fix most issues, including a hacked website. Every Sucuri subscription gets features such as SLA-backed unlimited manual malware removal support, a cloud-based WAF, and periodic website scans.

The Sucuri subscriptions also offer a content delivery network for additional redundancy and speed enhancement. Users can also let their websites put to free Sucuri scans to find vulnerabilities, malware, outdated software, and other issues.

Sucuri Pricing

• Basic: $199.99/year
• Pro: $299.99/year
• Business: $499.99/year
• Junio Dev: $999.98/year

Try Sucuri

HostedScan

HostedScan Security is an online service that automates vulnerability scanning for any business. It provides 100% open-source scanners to scan networks, servers, and web applications for security risks.

HostedScan offers a network vulnerability scanner to identify CVEs and outdated software. It also provides a web application scanner to detect SQL injection, vulnerable JavaScript libraries, cross-site scripting, and other threats. Additionally, there is a full TCP and UDP port scanner to uncover firewall and network misconfiguration.

Furthermore, HostedScan includes a TLS/SSL scanner to validate certificates and check for SSL vulnerabilities like Heartbleed and Robot.

HostedScan offers centralized vulnerability management for prioritizing tasks, generating reports, and simplifying protection for both organizations and managed service providers. It allows for easy importing of domains, IPs, and cloud accounts in one place, helping secure clients and potentially increasing revenue for MSPs.

HostedScan has a free tier offering up to three scans (one per target) a month. Paid plans come with benefits such as more targets, unlimited rescanning, automatic scans, data retention, vulnerability reporting, and more.

HostedScan Pricing

• Free: $0
• Basic: $39/month
• Premium: $109/month

Try HostedScan

Intruder

Intruder is a cloud-based platform combining vulnerability scans, network monitoring, and threat response to secure your web apps, APIs, or entire infrastructure. It’s easy to set up and constantly scans the attack surface for possible loopholes. It scans initiate on its own whenever it notices any change, an exposed service, or a critical issue.

Intruder robust security checks include identifying missing patches, misconfigurations, web application issues such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting, and CMS issues.

Intruder simplifies compliance by presenting audit-ready reports. Intruder notifies users of serious threats, tagged with their context-based priority levels, with easy-to-follow steps for remediation. One can check the cyber hygiene score and get an estimated time to fix issues.

Intruder integrates with AWS, GCP, and Azure, which makes adding targets for vulnerability management easier. Besides, one can add external IPs and local devices running popular OSes, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. Developers can leverage Intruder API to add targets, start scans, and obtain results. Teams can try Intruder with its 14-day free trial.

Intruder Pricing

• Essential: $79/month
• Pro: $169/month
• Premium: custom

Try Intruder

Attaxion

Attaxion is a machine learning-powered attack surface management platform to quickly identify assets, classify security issues, and automate remediation.

Attaxion starts with identifying your external assets, followed by mapping their connections to find security vulnerabilities. It helps protect websites, IPs, SSLs, emails, ports, cloud assets, and more.

Attaxion prepares in-depth reports, which allows users to filter issues and check the associated CWE and CVE IDs, timestamps, and other metadata. It helps security teams to effectively prioritize and address vulnerabilities based on business context and risk.

Besides, one gets detailed remediation guidance and automatic ticket creation for faster turnaround times. Finally, continuous monitoring helps scan incoming assets and keep an eye on the overall security posture.

Attaxion Pricing

Attaxion offers a base plan priced at $129 per month. Other plans and custom pricing are available for specific needs

Try Attaxion

Qualys

Qualys reveals runtime vulnerabilities, OWASP top 10, misconfigurations, malware, and PII exposures within web applications and APIs. It allows teams to seamlessly monitor cloud or on-premises environments.

Qualys helps integrate web app scanning directly into CI/CD environments or ITSM ticketing systems to reduce MTTR. This enables faster identification, prioritization, and remediation.

Qualys lets teams consolidate data from third-party & manual pen testing tools and the automated scans in one single interface for better efficiency.

SSL Server Test by Qualys is essential to scan your website for SSL/TLS misconfiguration and vulnerabilities. It provides an in-depth analysis of your URL, including expiry day, overall rating, cipher, SSL/TLS version, handshake simulation, protocol details, BEAST, and much more.

Qualys Pricing

Qualys offers custom pricing based on a number of IPs, apps, etc.

Try Qualys

Quttera

Quttera is a suite of cybersecurity tools, including malware scanning & removal, DDoS protection, and a web application firewall.

Quttera’s malware-scanning engine protects websites from server-side infections and external threats by scanning every database file and preventing the spread of malware. It also offers DDoS protection, blacklist removal, and uptime monitoring.

Quttera also features an automated malware removal mode to perform continuous integrity checks on the CMS, PHP files, plugins, etc. Its DNS/IP monitoring keeps one notified of any change in DNS records, nameservers, IP addresses, and MX records. Users can also request manual malware removal to take care of XSS injections, trojans, spyware, code and JavaScript injections, malicious iFrames & redirects, etc.

Subscribers also benefit from Quattera’a WAF, which shields against the most common vulnerabilities, such as OWASP Top 10, server misconfigurations, SQL injections, XSS, and zero-day exploits.

Quttera Pricing

• Essential Security: $10/month
• Premium Security: $179/year
• Emergency: $249/year

Try Quttera

UpGuard

UpGuard has multiple cybersecurity solutions for inspecting the attack surface of a business and associated vendors. Besides, it offers attack surface management for small businesses without any vendor assessment modules.

UpGuard detects vulnerabilities related to the operating system and vendor software, including those listed on the CISA KEV catalog. Every issue gets tagged with the appropriate CVE ID and CVSS score.

UpGuard also helps mitigate issues like bait and switching, domain parking, website imitation, phishing, and other typosquatting-related risks. Its data leak search engine checks every corner of the internet for sensitive documents, user PII, employee credentials, API keys, and more to help businesses take timely critical action.

UpGuard’s platform helps businesses identify and address security vulnerabilities such as insecure SSL/TLS certificates, open ports, and insecure HTTP. Their remediation planner assists in evaluating risk, prioritizing tasks, planning, collaborating, and tracking progress in one dashboard.

Another UpGuard USP is the real-time monitoring of linked domains and automatic domain discovery to identify misconfigurations and understand the overall risk profile.

UpGuard Pricing

UpGuard pricing starts from $5,999/year.

Try UpGuard

SiteGuarding

SiteGuarding provides real-time website protection services for popular platforms, including malware removal, firewall, monitoring, backup, and security audits.

SiteGuarding emphasizes using manual expertise in addition to security automation. Users get protection against vulnerabilities such as malware, SQL injection, and XSS. It performs server-side scanning, server log analysis, detects file changes, prevents hacks & DDoS attacks, and aids in blacklist removal.

Moreover, businesses get assistance in extension installation, maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting. One can do a website scan without subscribing to any paid plans and can benefit from the 14-days free trial.

SiteGuarding Pricing

• Basic: €9.95/month
• Standard: €14.95/month
• Premium: €24.95/month
• Business: €99.95/month

Try SiteGuarding

Detectify

Detectify is an automatic attack surface management solution built by a community of ethical hackers. It scans domains for vulnerabilities such as XSS, SSRF, RCE, and DNS issues and notifies teams of any accidental information disclosure.

Users benefit from the custom policies to monitor specific changes and get a complete security overview, with the ability to filter and prioritize remediation.

Detectify provides security scans for web applications at various stages of development to identify security issues like SQL injections and SSL misconfigurations. Users can schedule scans directly or through the Detectify API.

Detectify Pricing

• Application Scanning from €82/month
• Surface Monitoring from €275/month

Try Detectify

Probely

Probely is an automated vulnerability scanner that checks and reports APIs and web apps for security issues and helps businesses fix them. It makes use of its headless Chrome-based crawler to find vulnerabilities in JavaScript-heavy apps and single-page applications.

Probely offers flexibility by allowing direct integration into CI/CD pipelines or scheduling scans for application testing at scale. One can check the full list of vulnerabilities it detects in its help section, with the current one having XSS, SQL injection, OS command injection, Log4Shell, XEE, SSRF, RFI, and more.

The Probely scanner is highly accurate, especially with context-based vulnerability findings and supporting evidence. It provides detailed instructions on how to address issues and also includes an open-source agent for internal assets with similar scanning abilities.

Probely Pricing

• Lite: Free
• Pro: $98/month
• Enterprise: $665/month

Try Probely

Pentest Tools

Pentest Tools Website Vulnerability Scanner is a reliable solution for detecting critical vulnerabilities such as XSS, SQL injection, and more. It is tested in real-life penetration testing engagements and automatically validates issues to eliminate false positives. It also has scanners for network health, SSL/TLS certificates, cloud misconfigurations, and DNS records.

Pentest Tools web scanning uses a browser-based spider to scan single-page applications and JavaScript-rich websites with a low false positive rate. It can scan login-protected pages using multiple authentication protocols.

Pentest Tools is a cloud-based scanner that does not require local installation. It also allows scan scheduling and uses its REST API for integration into existing workflows, such as CI/CD pipelines. Besides, it supports scanning subjects hosted on internal networks, intranets, private clouds, etc.

Pentest Tools reports in a user-friendly way, with detailed guidance for manual validation and remediation. Users can experience all this goodness with the free tier, offering protection for up to five assets with two parallel scans.

Pentest Tools Pricing

• Free: $0
• Basic: $85/month
• Advanced: $190/month
• Teams: $395/month

Try Pentest Tools

ImmuniWeb

ImmuniWeb has a suite of AI-powered security tools for websites, APIs, network assessment, cybersecurity compliance, and more. In addition, it works for single-page applications, cloud-native apps (at AWS, Azure, or GCP), and open-source apps.

ImmuniWeb Neuron, its web application security product, stands out from the rest of the competition by offering an SLA-backed zero-false positive guarantee. It supports automated testing and CI/CD workflow integration to ensure secure software development from the get-go.

ImmuniWeb web security scanning detects OWASP Top 10, OWASP API Top 10, insecure HTTP Headers, and SSL/TLS issues. Its vulnerability detection is compatible with 400+ CMSs, 150,000+ themes and plugins, 12,000+ JavaScript libraries, and 10,000+ known CVE-IDs. It also offers a mobile app vulnerability checker.

ImmuniWeb has quote based plans and a free scanner to test out its abilities.

ImmuniWeb Pricing

ImmuniWeb offers custom pricing based on your specific requirements.

Try ImmuniWeb

Invicti

Invicti uses DAST+IAST-based scanning to safeguard websites, web applications, web services, and APIs from vulnerabilities, such as SQL injections, XSS, directory traversal, OS command injection, remote code execution, SSL issues, and more. It also runs configuration tests for web servers such as Apache, Nginx, and Microsoft IIS.

Invicti proof-based scanning reduces the number of false positives by safely and automatically exploiting vulnerabilities. Its vulnerability scanner deploys a Chrome-based crawling engine, which can work for even the most complex JavaScript/Ajax-based applications.

Although Invicti can function independently, teams can integrate it into their SDLC, DevOps, and CI/CD workflows to identify security issues early on.

Invciti comes in two editions: on-premise and hosted, and offers unlimited user seats without any cap on the number of scans.

Invicti Pricing

Invicti offers custom pricing based on your specific requirements.

Try Invicti

Veracode

Veracode’s cloud-based dynamic analysis helps businesses run multiple scans to simultaneously identify runtime vulnerabilities in web applications and APIs, including those in pre-production or staging environments.

Its scanning engine supports easier integration with the existing tech stack to receive quick and actionable results with a low false positive rate. Veracode covers a wide range of security threats, such as open-source vulnerabilities and OWASP Top 10 (broken authentication, misconfigurations, injection, etc.).

Veracaode also maintains a database of the exclusive vulnerabilities discovered by their in-house researchers. It has a single interface indicating a business’s overall security posture, with the ability to benchmark against your industry peers.

Veracode Pricing

Veracode offers custom pricing based on your specific requirements.

Try Veracode

Qualys SSL Labs

Qualys SSL Labs tests the security of websites and web servers, specifically focusing on TLS. It gives a detailed report on a website’s TLS configuration and identifies vulnerabilities that need to be addressed for a secure connection. It also provides a detailed SSL configuration analysis for any public-facing web server.

Qualys SSL Labs is a free tool that helps ensure websites are up to date with the latest security standards and protocols by providing constant updates and best practices. Simply input the domain name to receive results.

Qualys SSL Labs reports for certificate validity and strength, support for modern SSL/TLS protocols and cipher suites, browser compatibility, and a few other features such as forward secrecy, HSTS, and more. Finally, a website is graded based on the results.

Try Qualys SSL Labs

Best Website Scanner Comparison

Here, we compare the best website scanners on the basis of scan depth, free trial, and key features.

Website Scanner	Scan Depth	Free Tier/Trial	Key Features
Sucuri	WordPress, Magento, Joomla, phpBB, Drupal	No	Expert support, WAF, Free scans, CDN
HostedScan	Networks, Servers, Web Applications	Yes	Open-source scanners, Centralized vulnerability management
Intruder	Web Apps, APIs, CMS (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Squarespace)	14-day Free Trial	Real-time protection, Automated scans, Network monitoring
Qualys	Web applications, APIs	No	Consolidated dashboard, manual testing
Attaxion	Websites, IPs, SSLs, Emails, Ports, Cloud assets	30-Day Trial	Reports with CWE & CVE IDs
Quttera	Websites	No	Manual malware removal, Extensive cybersecurity
UpGuard	Operating systems, Vendor software, SSLs, Emails, Ports	No	Vulnerability detection with CVE ID & CVSS scores
SiteGuarding	WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, phpBB, Magento, PrestaShop & OpenCart	14-day Free Trial	24*7 Manual monitoring & protection
Detectify	Web applications	14-day Free Trial	Scheduled scans, Remediation prioritization
Probely	APIs, Web Apps, Internal Assets	Yes	Context-based findings, Detailed remediation guidance
Pentest Tools	Web apps, APIs, CMS (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, & SharePoint), Internal assets	Yes	Vulnerability validation & Remediation guidance
ImmuniWeb	Websites, Mobile apps, APIs, Networks, Cloud assets, SSL/TLS	No	Zero false positive SLA, CVE, CWE, & CVSS scores
Invicti	Websites, Web apps, Web services, APIs, Web servers	No	Proof-based scanning, Automatic vulnerability exploitation
Veracode	Web Apps, APIs	14-day Free Trial	Benchmarking across industry, Low false positives
SSL Labs	Websites	100% Free	Checks for supported browsers and TLS protocols

What is a Website Security Scanner?

A website vulnerability scanner checks for security risks on the website, including source code, outgoing links, third-party libraries, and outdated software. It helps identify vulnerabilities such as malware, SQL injection, DDoS, and cross-site scripting. It helps to ensure the website stays protected from known threats, cyberattacks, and malicious requests.

How to Choose the Best Website Scanner?

Choosing the best website scanner means considering a few factors, such as potential vulnerability detection, user experience, and much more, as explained below.

• Website Complexity: A dynamic website is made up of different components, such as databases, APIs, plugins, and more. Consequently, the scanner should support these individual pieces for comprehensive reporting. On the other hand, simple scanners are enough for basic HTML websites.
• Technical Expertise: It’s important to consider the technical depth required for performing scans and understanding results. Some scanners may need manual configuration and result interpretation, while a few other tools might offer assessment assistance and recommendations.
• Vulnerability Coverage: These tools should at least cover the OWASP top 10 security risks and report emerging threats for the specific technology stack. Besides, it’s good to have an integrated network scanner for improving overall security and efficiency.
• Reporting & Remediation: Every scan should return an executive summary and the vulnerabilities with their severity levels (CVSS scores). Besides, pick a scanner that provides guidance on how to fix those vulnerabilities.
• Pricing & Scan Frequency: It’s important to consider the stakes before opting for the security package. Continuous scans are the safest, but there are tools like HostedScans, which lets you scan websites for vulnerabilities for free. However, there is no alternative to regular scanning. As a thumb rule, run vulnerability scans after implementing any change.

Best Practices to Secure Website

Website security is a multi-faceted phenomenon, best achieved by deploying stack-specific best practices. Still, here are some thumb rules to help you get started in the right direction.

• Keep everything updated: Keep the base code, plugins, and everything else updated to their latest versions.
• Access protection: Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication to protect access. Besides, try hiding/masking the login URL to avoid brute-force attacks.
• Limit third-party plugins: Third-party plugin integrations increase the attack surface. So, it’s advised to keep them at a minimum number for a better security posture.
• Real-time scans: Real-time scans can notify you immediately if an attack occurs, enabling you to take quick remedial action.
• Host your website in isolated environments: Websites hosted in isolated environments are generally safer than a league of projects co-hosted on a single server.
• Keep backups: Despite everything, hacks and breaches can happen to the biggest of websites. Ergo, take regular backups to have the latest copy of your website handy.
• Implement firewall: Having a web application firewall (WAF) helps regulate traffic between a website and the rest of the internet. It blocks malicious traffic and can be customized to fit the evolving threat landscape.

Frequently Asked Questions

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