Acunetix (now part of Invicti) is one of the most accurate DAST scanners available, built around proof-based scanning that generates actual exploit evidence instead of confidence scores. Most teams looking for an alternative aren't questioning that accuracy - they're priced out at roughly $4,500+/year with an enterprise sales process, or they need something a smaller team can self-serve into today.
Shieldome
The most direct answer to "I don't want the enterprise sales cycle": instant self-serve signup, a free scan to start, and plans from $30/month. The honest tradeoff is scanning methodology - Shieldome uses passive detection with confidence scoring rather than Acunetix's proof-based exploit verification, which matters if your workflow specifically depends on that level of automated confirmation. Shieldome adds dark web monitoring, cloud storage exposure checks, and a free WordPress plugin that Acunetix doesn't offer.
OWASP ZAP
Free and open-source, with real scanning power for a team willing to invest the setup and maintenance time - the opposite tradeoff from Acunetix's polished, expensive, fully-managed experience. No proof-based verification, no managed hosting, no dark web intelligence.
Burp Suite Pro
If what you value about Acunetix is depth and control in the hands of someone who knows what they're doing, Burp Suite Pro is the manual-testing-focused alternative - at $499/year, dramatically cheaper, but it's a tool for a security professional to drive, not an automated scanner that runs unattended on a schedule the way Acunetix or Shieldome does.
Detectify
A middle ground on both price and process - self-serve signup, mid-market pricing (starting around €90/month for application scanning, more for surface monitoring as a separate module), without Acunetix's proof-based verification but with its own crowdsourced vulnerability research feed. See our Detectify alternatives guide if this is the direction you're considering.
Qualys WAS / Tenable.io WAS
Comparable enterprise pricing and sales process to Acunetix, worth considering specifically if you're already using either vendor's platform for infrastructure vulnerability management and want web app scanning under the same contract and dashboard rather than a genuinely different price point.
Which One Actually Fits
| Your priority | Best fit |
|---|---|
| Self-serve signup, lower cost, still automated | Shieldome |
| Zero budget, willing to self-host | OWASP ZAP |
| Manual, expert-driven deep testing | Burp Suite Pro |
| Already on Qualys/Tenable | Qualys WAS / Tenable WAS |
For the full feature comparison against Shieldome, see our Shieldome vs Acunetix comparison. Try Shieldome free to see the difference firsthand - no card required.