On this page
AgentDAST vs Burp Suite: which workflow fits your team?
By Tornike@realtornikeo
Last updated
Burp Suite Professional combines manual investigation with automated scanning. Burp Suite DAST runs that scanning engine across an application portfolio. AgentDAST gives a coding agent a hosted website assessment through REST or MCP.
Start with the work you need to do. A security engineer investigating a complex login flow needs different controls from a developer asking an agent to check a deployment after a release.
Compare the workflows
| Consideration | Burp Suite | AgentDAST |
|---|---|---|
| Operator | Professional: a security tester. DAST: a team managing automated scans. | A developer or coding agent requesting a bounded assessment. |
| Application access | Browser-powered crawling and recorded login sequences in DAST. | Hosted HTTP assessment of a verified public HTTPS origin. |
| Automation | DAST offers scheduling, CI integration, REST and GraphQL APIs. | REST, MCP, polling and signed result webhooks. |
| Investigation | Inspect and audit selected HTTP requests in Professional; reuse custom BChecks in DAST. | An assessment model chooses requests and returns observations with evidence. |
| Starting cost | Professional uses a per-user license; DAST has separate subscriptions. | 100 free assessments per month; US$19 per extra pack of 100. |
Where Burp has the advantage
Burp is a strong fit when a tester wants to explore traffic interactively, adjust a request and investigate the response. Professional can audit selected messages as well as crawl an application. That control matters when a finding depends on a particular session or sequence of actions.
For automated coverage of a JavaScript-heavy app, read PortSwigger's browser-powered scanning documentation. Its browser can execute client-side navigation and use recorded login sequences, including more complex authentication flows. Those are substantial capabilities when most of your product sits behind login.
Where AgentDAST fits
AgentDAST fits a deployment workflow already driven by a coding agent. The agent can create a workspace, register your site, publish ownership proof and request an assessment. Results return through the same API or MCP connection. Source-code access is unnecessary.
The hosted service currently makes HTTP requests. A browser-assisted operator workflow is being tested separately. Use the current hosted capability when choosing a tool. General observations need review; optional capture flags provide an exact check of a private data boundary.
Choose with a representative app
Try a staging deployment with two test roles and a few private records. Check which workflows each tool reaches, whether it keeps the intended session, and whether you can reproduce its findings. Record inaccessible areas alongside successful checks. Request counts alone do not measure coverage.
Features and commercial terms checked on 4 November 2026. See Burp DAST pricing and AgentDAST pricing for current terms. We have not run a head-to-head detection benchmark. For a self-hosted open-source option, read our ZAP comparison.
100 free assessments per month. No card required. Get a free API key.