APIs (application programming interfaces) allow applications to communicate with each other, a critically important function in the digital age. Their importance also makes them an attractive target for cyber criminals — according to Akamai, API and application attacks tripled last year.
API security tools help protect the integrity of APIs and keep them safe from common attack vectors like local file inclusion (LFI), cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection (SQLi). We analyzed the API security market to arrive at this list of the top API security tools, followed by some considerations for potential buyers.
The top API security tools:
- Wallarm API Security Platform: Best for automated threat detection
- StackHawk: Best for developer teams
- Beagle Security: Best user interface for API security testing
- Salt Security: Best for behavioral-based API protection
- Reblaze: Best for comprehensive web application security
- API Discovery and Security Management Platform: Best for API management
- Google Apigee Sense: Best for Google Cloud environments
- Nevatech Sentinet: Best for Azure environments
Featured Cybersecurity Software
Top API Security Tools Compared
| Criteria | Wallarm API Security Platform | StackHawk | Beagle Security | Salt Security | Reblaze | API Discovery and Security Management Platform | Google Apigee Sense | Nevatech Sentinet |
| Comprehensive Security Features | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Ease of Integration | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Scalability | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| User-Friendliness | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Customizability | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Real-Time Monitoring and Alerts | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Reporting and Analytics | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Robust Compliance | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Vendor Support and Community | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Pricing | Free tier; contact for quote | Free Tier for 1 app; after that, $49 per contributor per month | Starts at $49 per month | AWS pricing starts at $50,000/year for 5 million API calls/month | Contact for quote | Freemium plan for basic API discovery; after that, $101 a month for individual plan | Free Evaluation Plan | Contact for quote |
Wallarm API Security Platform
Best for automated threat detection
Wallarm is a comprehensive API security platform designed for modern API-first organizations. It offers real-time API discovery and threat prevention across your entire portfolio, regardless of the protocol, in multi-cloud and cloud-native environments.
Key Features
- Real-time API discovery and threat prevention
- Subdivision of APIs for tailored security efforts
- Monitoring of changes in APIs
- API risk scoring and assessment
- Tracking of sensitive data usage
- Detection of weak authentication
- Full API protocol support, including REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and WebSocket
- Virtual patching for zero-day exploitation prevention
- Real-time mitigation without reliance on third-party tools
- OWASP API Security Top 10 protection
- API abuse prevention, including behavioral and advanced rate limiting
- Session management for automated response and granular session-based rules
- Offers native integrations with popular platforms such as Kubernetes, AWS, and Google Cloud, making it a versatile choice for diverse IT environments
Pros
- Comprehensive security coverage for modern API portfolios
- Real-time API discovery and threat prevention
- Supports a wide range of API protocols
- Provides detailed API risk scoring and assessment
- Offers virtual patching and real-time mitigation
Cons
- Steep learning curve for non-technical users
- Pricing can be high for small businesses
Pricing
Wallarm offers a free tier, but those needing greater capacity should contact the Wallarm sales team for a custom quote. AWS and Google publish BYOL infrastructure pricing.
StackHawk
Best for developer teams
StackHawk is a dynamic application security testing (DAST) tool designed specifically for modern teams that deploy software daily. It is built to run in CI/CD environments, allowing developers to identify and rectify security issues before they reach production.
Key Features
- Modern dynamic application security testing
- Automated security testing in CI/CD
- Designed for developers, trusted by security
- Capable of finding and fixing vulnerabilities faster
- Supports a wide range of engineering stacks
- Integrates seamlessly with popular CI/CD pipelines like Jenkins, CircleCI, and GitLab, enabling developers to incorporate security testing into their existing workflows
Pros
- Designed with developers in mind, promoting a shift-left approach to security
- Automated testing in CI/CD aligns with modern software delivery practices
- Enables faster identification and remediation of vulnerabilities
Cons
- Limited to DAST capabilities, may not be suitable for non-developer users
Pricing
StackHawk offers several pricing plans:
- A free tier for a single application
- The Pro plan, which offers teams the ability to find, triage, and fix security issues across all applications and APIs, is priced at $49 per contributor per month (with a five contributor minimum).
- The Enterprise plan, which includes customized scanning with expanded coverage, is priced at $69 per contributor per month (also with a five contributor minimum). A free 14-day trial of the Enterprise plan is available.
- For larger development teams, custom pricing is available upon contacting the StackHawk sales team.
Beagle Security
Best user interface for API security testing
Beagle Security is a comprehensive web application and API security testing tool. It uses modern DAST methodology and AI to emulate real hacker actions, providing a deep understanding of potential compromises in your web applications and APIs. It helps you identify vulnerabilities and remediate them with actionable insights before they can be exploited.
Key Features
- Comprehensive vulnerability scanning using modern DAST methodology
- Continuous monitoring of web applications and APIs, including REST APIs and GraphQL endpoints
- Detailed security reports with actionable insights
- Integration with CI/CD pipelines for shift-left security, enabling proactive detection and elimination of vulnerabilities in pre-production environments
- Compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS standards, with specifically mapped compliance reports
- Vendor onboarding support, providing the latest penetration test reports of your SaaS platform to foster customer trust and strengthen relationships
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Provides actionable insights
- Supports shift-left security approach
- Helps meet compliance requirements
Cons
- Limited customization options
- May not be suitable for large-scale applications
Pricing
The Beagle Security tier that offers API testing starts at $49 per month, with discounts for annual subscriptions. Beagle Security also offers add-ons for extra tests, concurrent tests, uptime monitors, and white-labeled reports. These add-ons are billed on a monthly or yearly basis, in addition to your subscription plan.
Salt Security
Best for behavioral-based API protection
Salt Security is an API Protection Platform that uses behavioral protection to prevent API attacks. It offers a comprehensive solution for API-first strategies, providing robust API discovery and attack prevention capabilities. Salt Security is at the forefront of enterprise security strategy, offering adaptive intelligence for modern digital transformation.
Key Features
- Behavioral protection for advanced threat detection and prevention
- Continuous API discovery and inventory to stay updated with your evolving API landscape
- Detailed threat intelligence reports providing actionable insights for remediation
- Full API protocol support, including REST, GraphQL, SOAP, and gRPC
- Dynamic and adaptive traffic recognition, allowing Salt to reshape its security posture in response to changes in traffic structure
- Cloud-native platform with a full API for programmatic control of Salt itself, enabling Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and other forms of automation
- Salt Security offers integrations with a wide range of systems including AWS, Azure, and GCP, as well as SIEM systems like Splunk and IBM QRadar, providing comprehensive coverage across different environments
Pros
- Advanced threat detection capabilities using behavioral protection
- Easy to deploy and use, with continuous API discovery and inventory
- Supports a wide range of API protocols
Cons
- Limited integration options
- High cost for small businesses
Pricing
Salt Security does not publicly disclose its pricing, but AWS lists Enterprise pricing starting at $350,000 for Console Access and Support and up to 100 million API calls/month for 12 months, and Startup pricing of $50,000 a year for 5 million API calls a month.
See the Best Cloud Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)
Reblaze
Best for comprehensive web application security
Reblaze is a cloud-based, fully managed protective shield for sites and web applications. It provides a secure and fast API security solution, offering full protection for APIs, web services, microservices, mobile/native APIs, and more.
Key Features
- Web application firewall (WAF) for blocking malicious traffic
- Bot mitigation to defeat even the latest generation of malicious bots
- DDoS protection for both web traffic and API endpoints
- Advanced human/bot detection technologies
- Fully managed platform kept up-to-date by a team of security experts
- Dedicated Virtual Private Clouds for every account
- Self-learning platform using Machine Learning to recognize and adapt to changing Internet traffic conditions
- Provides seamless integration with popular platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure, ensuring comprehensive protection across various cloud environments
Pros
- Comprehensive security coverage for sites, applications, and API endpoints
- Easy to deploy and manage, with a fully managed platform
- Supports a wide range of API protocols
Cons
- Limited customization options
- May not be suitable for small businesses
Pricing
Reblaze does not publicly disclose its pricing. AWS quotes Reblaze pricing starting at $5,440 a month for comprehensive web application protection, including API, web application firewall and DDoS protection.
See the Top Web Application Firewalls (WAF)
API Discovery and Security Management Platform
Best for API management
TeejLab’s API Discovery and Security Management Platform is a comprehensive solution that assists organizations in building innovative digital solutions through APIs. It tracks APIs on a global scale for their innovation potential as well as their security, legal, and operational constraints.
Key Features
- API discovery and cataloging
- Security risk assessment
- Continuous monitoring
- Software composition analysis for discovering APIs
- Network analysis for discovering APIs
- API security benchmark
- API quality benchmark
- Service mesh for APIs
- Integrates with popular API gateways like AWS API Gateway, Kong, and Apigee, providing comprehensive API discovery and security management
Pros
- Comprehensive API management solution
- Provides actionable insights
- Supports a wide range of technical modules
Cons
- May require technical expertise to fully utilize
- High cost for small businesses
Pricing
API Discovery and Security Management Platform offers several pricing plans to meet enterprise and individual requirements:
- They have a Freemium plan at $0 for basic API discovery needs
- For more extensive needs, they offer an Individual plan at $101 a month
- For academic institutions, they offer a special Academic plan
- Also,for corporate needs, they offer a Corporate plan
Both the Academic and Corporate plans require you to contact them for pricing details. All plans come with different levels of access to features like API Discovery Search, API T&C’s Analyze, and API T&C’s Test Run. For more detailed pricing information, please contact the vendor.
Google Apigee Sense
Best for Google Cloud environments
Google Apigee is a full-fledged platform for developing and managing APIs. By providing a proxy layer for backend services, Apigee offers an abstraction for backend service APIs, ensuring security, rate limiting, quotas, analytics, and more.
Key Features
- Machine learning-based threat detection
- Detailed analytics and reporting
- Customizable security rules
- Advanced risk analytics
- Automated risk mitigation
- Complete API security solution
- Data-driven risk models
- API runtime for creating and managing APIs
- Monitoring and analytics for usage trends
- Developer services for managing app developers and client apps
- Integrates with the broader Google Cloud Platform, providing a unified approach to API security within the Google ecosystem
Pros
- Advanced threat detection capabilities
- Easy to deploy and use
- Provides visual dashboards for bot analytics, trends, and actionable intelligence
- Offers a consistent API across all services, regardless of service implementation
- Allows changes in backend service implementation without affecting the public API
Cons
- Limited integration options
- May require a learning curve for non-technical users
Pricing
Google Apigee offers several pricing plans to cater to different needs:
- Evaluation: This is a free plan for 60 days to explore Apigee capabilities in your own sandbox. It includes 100K API calls per month, 2 environments, access to premium add-ons, and 30 days of analytics reports. No runtime SLA is made available for evaluations and there is no migration to paid offerings.
- Pay-as-you-go: This plan offers robust API management capabilities with zero upfront commitment and you only pay for what you use. The cost is computed according to the number of Apigee gateway nodes per minute, the total number of API requests processed by Apigee analytics per month, and networking usage. Google offers a few pay-as-you-go pricing examples.
- Standard: This plan is for building your enterprise-wide API program. It includes 180M API calls per year, 1 organization and 5 environments, 30 days of analytics preserved, and a 99% runtime SLA.
- Enterprise: This plan is for modernizing your application architectures and creating vibrant API communities at scale. It includes 1.2B API calls per year, 2 organizations and 10 environments, 3 months of analytics preserved, and a 99.9% runtime SLA.
- Enterprise Plus: This plan is for operating an API-first business with a thriving ecosystem. It includes 12B API calls per year, 6 organizations and 30 environments, 14 months of analytics preserved, and a 99.99% runtime SLA.
Nevatech Sentinet
Best for Azure environments
Nevatech Sentinet is an API management and security platform that provides a comprehensive solution for designing, deploying, and managing APIs. It can be deployed entirely on-premises or in a private data center, making it a flexible solution for businesses of all sizes.
Key Features
- API design and deployment tools
- Comprehensive security features
- Detailed analytics and reporting
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) Management
- Alerting system for changes in API usage and performance
- Detailed auditing of changes to API Repository objects
- Safe exposure of internal services and APIs to external customers and business partners
- Enterprise application integration through managed and controlled internal APIs
- Offers particular benefits for the Microsoft Azure cloud by offering native integration with its platform, and extensibility for its cloud capabilities
Pros
- Comprehensive API management solution
- Easy to deploy and use
- Provides detailed auditing of any changes to all API Repository objects
- Extends ESB architectures with visibility, manageability, and control
Cons
- Limited customization options
- May not be suitable for small businesses
Pricing
Nevatech does not publicly display pricing information. Potential customers should contact the vendor for a custom quote. However, the company does offer a free trial.
What are API Security Tools?
API security tools are software solutions that help protect your APIs from threats and vulnerabilities. They monitor API traffic, detect anomalies, enforce policies, and provide security measures such as authentication, authorization, and encryption. These tools are essential for businesses that heavily rely on APIs for their operations.
Also read: Application Security: Complete Definition, Types & Solutions
API Security Tools Assessment Criteria
Below are ten assessment criteria that we consider to be an ideal starting point when searching for an API security tool.
- Security Features: The tool should provide comprehensive security features such as authentication, authorization, encryption, and threat detection.
- Ease of Integration: The platform should easily integrate with your existing systems and infrastructure.
- Scalability: The software should be able to handle the growth of your business and the increasing number of APIs.
- User-Friendliness: The tool should be easy to use, even for non-technical users. A user-friendly interface and clear documentation can be beneficial.
- Customizability: The vendor should allow for customization to fit your specific needs and use cases.
- Real-Time Monitoring and Alerts: The software should provide real-time monitoring of API activity and send alerts for any suspicious behavior.
- Reporting and Analytics: Detailed reports and analytics that help you understand your API usage and security status are a must have.
- Compliance: The tool should have robust features to ensure compliance with relevant regulations and standards, such as GDPR or HIPAA.
- Vendor Support and Community: Good vendor support and an active community can be very helpful for troubleshooting and learning best practices.
- Pricing: Finally, an API security tool should provide good value for the cost. Consider both the initial cost for the features you’re getting and any ongoing costs for maintenance or additional features.
Bottom Line: API Security Tools
API security tools are a critical component of any modern business, protecting all-important application connections. A good API security tool will provide the necessary protection to ensure that your APIs remain secure and reliable. By understanding the features, pros, and cons of each tool, you can make an informed decision that best suits your organization’s needs and application environment. In the world of API security, there is no one-size-fits-all solution — the best tool is the one that aligns with your security objectives, integrates seamlessly with your existing infrastructure, and fits within your budget.
Read next: Top Application Security Tools & Software
