10 BEST External Vulnerability Scanner Tools [2024 SELECTIVE]

Review and compare the top External Vulnerability Scanner Tools with advanced features, user-friendly UI, and comprehensive reporting options:

In this mechanized world, we are living in an age of data breaches. Last year, over 1000 cases of security breaches were reported in the US alone.

This is a sign of how audacious hackers and malicious entities online have become in recent years. They won’t leave any stone unturned in exploiting the weaknesses in your network’s infrastructure to gain access to critical information.

Hackers are constantly scanning networks and web applications for vulnerabilities to exploit. Hence, it is important to weed them out of your system before it’s too late. One method of identifying vulnerabilities is by employing a reliable External Vulnerability Scanner.

External Vulnerability Scanner, commonly known as Perimeter Scanner – does a type of scan that is performed outside the network or host. Such scans basically mimic the behavior of an external attacker to detect vulnerabilities and remediate them as quickly as possible.

Most Popular External Vulnerability Scanner

In this tutorial, we look at the Top 14 platforms that we believe are some of the best external vulnerability scanners available in the market today. With their advanced features, user-friendly UI, and comprehensive reporting, these tools will allow you to put your network’s security to the test, just exactly as an attacker would.

List of the Best External Vulnerability Scanner

1. Astra Pentest
2. Indusface WAS
3. Invicti (formerly Netsparker)
4. Acunetix
5. Intruder
6. Blacksight
7. UnderDefense
8. Mister Scanner
9. AlienVault USM
10. Nikto2
11. Open VAS
12. ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus
13. Trustwave App Scanner
14. Paessler PRTG
15. W3AF
16. Rapid7 Nexpose
17. Arachni
18. BeyondTrust Retina Network Security Scanner
19. Intruder

Comparing the Top 5 External Vulnerability Scanners

Name	Best For	Fees	Ratings
Astra Pentest	Automated vulnerability scanning, Continuous scanning.	$99 – $399 per month
Indusface WAS	DAST, Malware Scanning and Penetration Testing	Starts at $59/month. A free forever plan is also available
Invicti (formerly Netsparker)	Automated Vulnerability Scanner to find and remediate vulnerabilities found on web servers, API, and applications.	Contact for Quote
Acunetix	External Web and Network Security Scanning	Contact for Quote
Intruder	Continuous vulnerability monitoring and proactive security.	Contact for Quote
Blacksight	Configurable vulnerability scanner	Start at $29/month, free forever with limited capabilities.
UnderDefense	Daily external risks and darkweb mentions report	Free
Mister Scanner	Affordable Automated Scanner	$1 for the first-time scan, $6/month for a basic plan, $89/month for the popular plan, $399/month for the pro plan.
AlienVault USM	Easily Configurable Vulnerability Scanning	Contact for Quote
Nikto2	Open Source Web Scanner	Free

#1) Astra Pentest

Best for Automated vulnerability scanning and Continuous scanning.

Astra Pentest offers a vulnerability assessment tool that packs the intelligence acquired over years of pentesting. The vulnerability scanner conducts 8000+ tests ensuring a thorough evaluation of your security strength.

The engineer friendly dashboard allows users to monitor and manage vulnerabilities that are found through an external vulnerability scan. They can assign vulnerabilities to developers, communicate with security experts from Astra, and view compliance status, all through the same dashboard.

Users can view the vulnerabilities in an interactive dashboard, assign vulnerabilities to team members, update status, and stay updated on compliance in a single view. The process becomes even easier for users through the integration of the vulnerability scanner with GitLab, GitHub, Slack, and Jira.

Features:

• 8000+ tests to ensure no vulnerability is left unchecked.
• Covers all security tests for ISO27001, HIPAA, SOC2, and GDPR compliance.
• Integration with CI/CD platforms and Slack.
• AI powered business logic test cases generation to ensure deep security testing coverage
• AI powered conversational chatbot to give engineers contextual insights on fixing vulnerabilities
• Covers all CVEs in OWASP top 10, SANS 25, and more.
• Scans behind logged-in pages
• You can schedule and automate continuous scans.

Verdict: Astra’s Pentest is as comprehensive a vulnerability assessment tool as it gets. Astra Security as a company has devoted itself to optimizing the user experience in terms of penetration testing and vulnerability scanning. With intuitive dashboards, integrations, overall quality of security testing, and support, Astra Pentest is right at the top.

Pricing: Vulnerability Scanning with Astra Pentest starts at $199 per month. Get a tailored quote for your specific needs and frequency of pentest required.

#2) Indusface WAS

Best for DAST, Malware Scanning and Penetration Testing.

With Indusface, you get a powerful vulnerability scanner that leverages the combined strength of malware scanning, DAST, and infrastructure scanning. This makes the software capable of identifying all classes of vulnerabilities. Simply put, the tool can be used to detect OWASP Top 10, SANS 25, and other types of benign and malignant threats.

When you subscribe to Indusface, you receive constant feedback from seasoned manual pen-testers, who know what it takes to identify different kinds of threats. They keep you one step ahead of hackers in a bid to identify and remediate a vulnerability before it aggravates. There are zero false positives when detecting threats with this tool.

Features:

• Dynamic Application Security Testing
• Asset Discovery
• Penetration Testing
• Malware Scanning
• Intuitive Visual Reporting Dashboard.

Verdict: Indusface stands apart from other vulnerability scanners on this list because it leverages the combined might of DAST, malware scanning, and penetration testing to ferret out all classes of threats. The tool is ideal for detecting OWASP Top 10, SANS 25, Zero-day, and WASC classified threats.

Price: The plans for Indusface start at $59/month. It premium annual plan will cost $199/app/month. The tool can also be used for free with limited capabilities.

#3) Invicti (formerly Netsparker)

Best for Automated Vulnerability Scanner to find and remediate vulnerabilities found on web servers, API, and applications.

Invicti is a cloud-based and on-premises vulnerability scanner that allows you to scan all types of web applications, servers, and APIs for weaknesses.

It can accurately detect vulnerabilities such as SQL injections, XSS, and a plethora of other variants, thanks to its advanced crawling ability and combined DAST+IAST scanning approach. Invicti is easy to deploy and can be integrated seamlessly with current tracking and vulnerability management systems being used by your business.

You would like how it leverages the “Proof Based Scanning” feature to verify vulnerabilities before reporting them, thereby reducing the rate of false positives. Invicti essentially allows you to integrate security automation into every step of your SDLC.

It can automatically assign detected vulnerabilities to developers, provide users with detailed documentation on the identified weakness and give rapid feedback to developers so they can write more secure codes to prevent vulnerabilities.

However, its black box testing feature is what ultimately makes it a great external vulnerability scanner. As such, Invicti allows you to test your network’s security from the perspective of a hacker. Black box scanning allows you to find a wide range of vulnerabilities before an attacker can find and exploit them.

Features

• Advanced Web Crawling
• Proof Based Scanning
• Detailed Documentation of detected vulnerabilities.
• Combined dynamic and interactive scanning approach.
• Schedule Scans

Verdict: Invicti is a fully automated vulnerability scanner that does a great job of scanning your web applications, servers, and APIs for weaknesses.

With its Black Box Testing ability, it is also a very effective external web scanner that can be used to fix all types of vulnerabilities and variants before attackers can find and exploit them. This is an easy-to-use vulnerability scanner that you can use to strengthen the security of your system’s infrastructure.

Price: Contact for quote.

#4) Acunetix

Best for External Web and Network Security Scanning.

Acunetix proves itself to be a powerful external web scanner with its re-engineered core and highly optimized crawler.

The solution depicts impeccable efficiency, accuracy, and speed when conducting extensive scans to detect vulnerabilities. The solution allows you to schedule external scans to initiate automatic scanning at a specified date or time.

Acunetix also allows you to run continuous scans. This basically means you can run quick scans every day of the week with a full scan at the end of each week to identify weaknesses without fail.

Acunetix can detect over 7000 vulnerabilities. Moreover, it can generate a wide variety of technical, compliance, and regulatory reports that effectively summarize the nature of vulnerability and how it can be remediated. Its visual dashboard also does a great job of informing you on the current status of a vulnerability.

Acunetix will automatically catalog and label a freshly detected vulnerability as ‘open’. Once the vulnerability has been fixed, it will label it as ‘fixed’ on the dashboard. Acunetix allows you to detect and track vulnerabilities in real-time.

Features

• Advanced Macro Recording
• Detect Over 7000 Vulnerabilities
• Instantly generate compliance and regulatory reports on detected vulnerabilities.
• Schedule and prioritize scans
• Integrate seamlessly with current tracking systems.

Verdict: Boasting a re-engineered core and highly optimized crawler, Acunetix proves to be a formidable external web scanner that can handle even the direst complexities presented by the modern web.

It can perform scans with utmost accuracy, speed, and efficiency to find all types of vulnerabilities so they can be fixed before it’s too late. You can use Acunetix to initiate continuous automated scans and track the status of detected vulnerabilities in real-time.

Price: Contact for quote.

#5) Intruder

Best for Continuous vulnerability monitoring and proactive security.

Intruder is a cloud-based vulnerability scanner that finds cyber security weaknesses in your most exposed systems, to avoid costly data breaches.

Intruder’s external vulnerability scanner includes proactive checks for emerging threats. This means that when a new vulnerability is discovered in software deployed on your perimeter, Intruder scans your system and alerts you to newly discovered vulnerabilities automatically.

This kind of proactive action is essential for businesses that don’t have processes in place to research the latest threats and manually run scans for them.

Intruder’s external pen test tool uses the same underlying scanning engine as the big banks do, so you get high-quality security checks without the complexity. It also curates its results to help you prioritise security issues that will have a real impact, and uses noise reduction algorithms to store issues with no security impact in a separate panel, so you can focus on the issues that matter first.

Features:

• Works seamlessly with your technical environment.
• Comes with a range of cloud and software integrations.
• Categorizes risks according to context and threat level.
• Continuous automated scanning

Verdict: Intruder delivers relevant, actionable results the very first time you run a scan, and it’s a one-stop shop. You don’t have to set up a patchwork of different tools to get good coverage on vulnerability scanning. Powered by leading scanning engines, its interface is designed to be simple to use and its reports easy to understand so you can remediate risks quickly.

Price: Free 14-day trial for Pro plan, see website for prices, monthly or annual billing available

#6) Blacksight

Best for Configurable vulnerability scanner.

With Blacksight, you get an easy-to-use and effective online vulnerability scanner that will scan your main website for free. It offers a scanner that is highly configurable. You can customize this scanner to perform recurring scans for 24/7 protection of your website. You can also configure it for wider coverage that includes additional subdomains. 

Blacksight also facilitates seamless collaboration as you will be able to invite outside collaborators to help address a detected issue. The online platform is also quite comprehensive in its reporting. Once the scan is complete, you are provided with reports that include tips and tricks that could prove fruitful in mitigating detected issues. 

Features:

• Set up your scanner to perform recurring scans
• Initiate instant scans for quick website checks. 
• Comprehensive reporting with data-driven insights and analytics
• Scan SOAP, OpenAPI, and GraphQL APIs with the Pro plan. 
• Invite collaborators for assistance with risk management
• Get AI benefits with the platform’s custom plan. 

Verdict: Blacksight takes the hassle out of website vulnerability scans. With its free plan, you’ll be able to scan your main website for a variety of vulnerabilities. With its premium plans, there is no limit to the number of scans you can perform. It is easy to use, quite affordable, and presents you with comprehensive reports on the health of your website. 

Price: Blacksight’s scanner is free to use. Its premium plans with extended capabilities are as follows:

• Plus: $29/month
• Pro: $89/month
• Custom Enterprise plan

#7) UnderDefense

Best for daily external risks and darkweb mentions report.

UnderDefense MAXI offers a free external vulnerability scan to identify potential weaknesses in your IT infrastructure. This automated scan simplifies risk management by providing a clear picture of your security posture and actionable steps for remediation.

Here’s what the UnderDefense External Vulnerability Scan offers:

• Identification of a Broad Range of Vulnerabilities: The scan goes beyond basic checks to uncover weaknesses like leaked corporate credentials, dark web mentions, certificate misconfigurations, domain reputation issues, and email authentication misconfigurations.
• Easy-to-Navigate Dashboard: The External Risks Dashboard provides a centralized view of all scan results, including a risk summary, potential financial impact estimates, and clear visual indicators.
• Comprehensive Reports: Following the scan, you’ll receive a detailed report that categorizes vulnerabilities by severity level and offers specific remediation guidance for your IT team. This report can also be used to inform leadership about potential security threats.
• 24/7 Concierge Service: UnderDefense provides access to a concierge service to answer your questions, explain dashboard indicators, and offer assistance with remediation strategies.

#8) Mister Scanner

Best for Affordable Automated Scanner.

Mister Scanner is arguably one of the simplest and most affordable vulnerability scanners out there. This is a fully automated scanner that can easily detect all types of vulnerabilities in no time. It can easily detect all the vulnerabilities mentioned in OWASP Top 10.

It presents users with comprehensive reports that detail the nature of an identified weakness and suggest remediation actions to fix them.

The security reports it generates are verified by security experts, which makes Mister Scanner all the more effective in its service. Moreover, the software comes with 50+ integrations, which make the experience of using this tool much more compelling.

Features

• Fully Automated Scanning
• Detect and track vulnerabilities in real-time.
• Present detailed reports from security experts.
• Customer Support via Video Chat.

Verdict: Mister Scanner is a fully automated tool that can detect vulnerabilities, generate comprehensive reports, and track the status of an identified vulnerability in real-time.

You can have this tool scan your system for only $1 to decide whether it meets your needs and requirements or not. This is also one of those rare tools that offers customer support via video chat.

Price: $1 for first-time scan, $6/month for a basic plan, $89/month for popular plan, and $399/month for pro plan.

#9) AlienVault USM

Best for Easily Configurable Vulnerability Scanning.

AlienVault USM is a powerful vulnerability scanner that detects vulnerabilities and fixes them before attackers can exploit them. The solution is easy to configure and set up. The solution can be used to scan individual and group assets as well as the entire network.

The tool also allows its users to schedule scans so that they can be performed automatically at a specified time. AlienVault USM also features an intuitive dashboard that presents customizable reports and data. These reports can be referred to organize vulnerabilities as per their threat level and prioritize your response.

Features

• Schedule Scans
• Organize Vulnerability Based on Threat Level.
• Generate Customizable reports
• Visual dashboard

Verdict: AlienVault USM is quite effective when it comes to detecting and remediating vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them. It allows you to schedule and prioritize your scans while also presenting an intuitive dashboard that simplifies the process of organizing weaknesses based on their threat level.

Price: Contact for quote.

Suggested Read => BEST Website Malware Scanner Tools To Look For

#10) Nikto2

Best for Open Source Web Scanner.

Nikto2 is an open-source web scanner that performs comprehensive tests to detect potentially dangerous vulnerabilities. The tool reduces the rate of false positives by verifying a detected vulnerability before it is reported.

The tool constantly updates itself to find all types of vulnerabilities and their variants in a heartbeat. Nikto2 can test your system against 6700 potentially dangerous files, outdated versions of over 125 servers, and version-specific problems pertaining to 270 servers.

Features

• Open Source Scanning
• SSL and Full HTTP proxy support.
• Checks for obsolete server components.
• Saves reports in multiple legible formats.

Verdict: Nikto2 is a very fast open source scanner that can detect thousands of vulnerabilities in no time. However, it is not the stealthiest of tools out there as it can make its presence felt while operating. That being said, Nikto2 is extremely efficient and accurate when it comes to detecting vulnerabilities.

Price: Free external network vulnerability scanner

#11) OpenVas

Best for Open Source Vulnerability Testing.

OpenVas is yet another open-source vulnerability scanner that will help you detect and remediate weaknesses in your system in no time. It can perform both authenticated and unauthenticated testing. The software uses a feed that features a long history and daily updates to accurately detect almost all types of vulnerabilities.

Furthermore, its performance can be suitably tuned to favor large-scale scans. It is also easier to launch any type of vulnerability test with OpenVas because of the robust internal programming language it operates on.

Features

• Open Source Scanning
• Fine-Tuned for Enhanced Performance.
• Performs both Authenticated and Unauthenticated scanning.
• Accurate and fast detection.

Verdict: OpenVas’s reliance on feeds that harbor daily updates on the most relevant vulnerabilities makes it more capable of identifying all types of vulnerabilities that pose a threat to your network. Its capability to handle both high-level and low-level internet testing also makes it sufficiently powerful.

Price: Free external network vulnerability scanner

#12) ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus

Best for 360 degree full system network visibility.

ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus is a fully automated software that scans every inch of your system to weed out potentially threatening vulnerabilities. It can detect zero-day, OS-based, and third-party vulnerabilities accurately.

The solution comes with a built-in patch management feature that makes remediating weaknesses easy. ManageEngine also allows you to leverage comprehensive analytics to customize, orchestrate and automate the entire patching process.

Features

• Prioritized Vulnerability Assessment
• Patch Management
• High-Risk Software Audit
• Intuitive Analytics and Reporting

Verdict: ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus is an easily configurable scanner that allows you to scan all local and remote areas of your endpoints and roaming devices.

The reports it generates make the process of prioritizing vulnerabilities to fix simple. Its built-in patch management feature makes it one of the best vulnerability scanners on this list.

Price: Contact for quote.

#13) Trustwave App Scanner

Best for Data-Driven Vulnerability Management.

Trustwave allows its users to run unlimited scans to test the security of all types of networks and applications. The platform makes it easier to simply schedule and prioritize scanning efforts to identify all assets on the network.

Trustware particularly shines when tracking trends and generating reports that help in remediating identified security weaknesses. You get a clear picture of all the assets in your network, the weaknesses affecting them, and how to patch them.

Features

• Identify and Manage vulnerabilities
• Data-driven threat management
• Schedule and prioritize testing
• Enterprise-wide risk analysis

Verdict: Trustware App Scanner is ideal for those who seek complete control over all assets and their security. It initiates continuous security testing by allowing you to schedule scans on your network and application.

Price: Contact for quote.

#14) Paessler PRTG

Best for Monitoring the Entire IT Infrastructure for Vulnerabilities.

Paessler PRTG is an easy to deploy software that allows you to monitor all applications and devices in your IT infrastructure. It comes fully integrated, so you don’t have to waste time installing additional plug-ins to enhance your experience.

This solution provides you with intuitive maps and dashboards that visualize your network. You can also customize your dashboard to better monitor your infrastructure. It instantly alerts you when a potential vulnerability is detected.

Features

• Fully integrated
• Monitor the entire network for vulnerabilities.
• Visualize systems with maps and intuitive dashboards.
• Flexible real-time alerts

Verdict: Paessler PRTG is an easy-to-use solution that allows you to monitor all applications across your entire network. The solution alerts you about potential threats to security in real-time, thereby letting you address these issues with visualized maps and comprehensive analytics.

Price: Contact for quote.

#15) W3AF

Best for Extensive Vulnerability Scanner.

W3AF is a vulnerability scanner that allows you to build an entire attack and audit framework that detects and remediates vulnerabilities. The platform can aid in identifying more than 200 vulnerabilities, which include SQL injections, Cross-Site scripting, and more.

W3AF allows you to initiate scans that detect weaknesses in just a few clicks. Moreover, this is open-source software that is free and easy to use.

Features

• Open Source Scanner
• Detect more than 200 vulnerabilities.
• Presents comprehensive reports
• Employs both graphical and console user interfaces.

Verdict: With a combined graphical and console interface, W3AF is an open-source scanner that assesses your network infrastructure for vulnerabilities. It is easy to use and can detect weaknesses in just a few clicks. It is also free to use.

Price: Free

Other External Vulnerability Scanners

#16) Rapid7 Nexpose

Best for Real-Time Detection and Resolution.

Rapid7 is a powerful external web scanner that gives you full coverage of your entire network in real-time. As such, you can detect, track and remediate vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by attackers.

Suggested reading =>> Top alternatives to Rapid7 Scanner

The tool also categorizes identified weaknesses based on their threat level. Hence, you can prioritize vulnerabilities to handle. It provides you with imperative data to remediate vulnerabilities effectively.

Price: Contact for quote.

#17) Arachni

Best for Open Source and Extendable Scanner.

Arachni is an open-source, free-to-use scanner that performs continuous security checks to identify a plethora of vulnerabilities in your network’s infrastructure.

It also provides you with important information on patch issues before they can be exploited. It is also highly customizable, and its functionality can be extended with plug-ins. Furthermore, Arachni is capable of handling complex web issues due to its integrated browser engine.

Price: Free external network vulnerability scanner

#18) BeyondTrust Retina Network Security Scanner

Best for end-to-end cloud and endpoint protection.

BeyondTrust provides full coverage of your system to identify vulnerabilities like weak passwords, SQL injections, or faulty configurations that can invite malicious attackers.

The solution can masterfully manage, audit, and identify threats to all your assets. It also offers effective remediation methods like removing excessive end-user privileges on the cloud and endpoint to avoid a security breach.

Price: Contact for quote.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

When it comes to identifying vulnerabilities, External scans are just as important as internal scans.

Similar to internal scanning, you are taking a proactive approach to address the weaknesses plaguing your system before an external threat can exploit it for unauthorized access. You need to run external scans consistently… at least once a month to weed out vulnerabilities that threaten the security of your network’s infrastructure.

These assessments are made easier – thanks to all of the tools we’ve mentioned on this list. Each of these solutions can detect thousands of vulnerabilities and provide you with actionable insights to patch them before an attacker learns about them.

Also Read => Top Ethical Hacking Tools That You Must Know

As per our recommendation, for a highly scalable and fully automated external web scanning experience, we suggest you to try Invicti or Acunetix. For an open-source external web scanner, Nitko2 would be an ideal option.

Research Process

• Time Taken To Research And Write This Article: 15 Hours
• Total External Vulnerability Scanners Researched: 30
• Total External Vulnerability Scanners Shortlisted: 14