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Barrion vs StackHawk: AI Pentests vs CI DAST

Barrion and StackHawk both help engineering teams secure web applications, but at different points in the lifecycle. Barrion runs agentic AI pentests against your live app on a schedule or on demand, plus passive, read-only production monitoring with step-by-step fixes. StackHawk runs active DAST in CI/CD against pre-production. Here's how they compare on scan type, where they run, and use case.

What is StackHawk?

StackHawk is a DAST platform built for CI/CD pipelines, designed to let developers run active dynamic application security tests against pre-production environments on every build.

Comparison at a glance

AspectBarrionStackHawk
Scan typePassive (read-only), production-safeActive DAST, crawl and attack in pre-prod / CI
What it finds / Use caseMisconfigurations, TLS/headers, cookies, exposure, drift in productionOWASP-style vulns (XSS, SQLi, auth issues) before release
ProductionRead-only checks, built for productionTargets pre-prod / staging in CI, not designed for live traffic
RemediationStep-by-step fixes per finding, PDF/CSV exportFindings with developer guidance, CI failure on policy breach
PricingFree tier, paid for monitoring and advanced checksPriced per user: Wingman from $10/user/month, Scale on request
Continuous AI pentest, checked against the live appYes. AI agents test your app on a schedule or on demand, and findings are checked against the live app before the reportBuilt as a scanner: DAST on every CI/CD build against pre-production rather than a pentest

StackHawk facts checked 2026-09-26 on the vendor's own site: StackHawk pricing.

Who Barrion is best for

Engineering teams that want continuous, production-safe monitoring of the live web app and audit-ready evidence without wiring scans into every pipeline.

Who StackHawk is best for

Teams that want shift-left DAST in CI/CD against pre-production environments, with build-time gates and developer-driven remediation.

Frequently asked questions

Is Barrion a replacement for StackHawk?

Not directly. StackHawk is an active DAST built for CI/CD pipelines that crawls and attacks pre-production builds. Barrion is an AI pentesting and passive monitoring platform focused on continuous production monitoring with step-by-step fixes. If you need pipeline-driven active scanning, StackHawk fits. If you want production-safe ongoing coverage, Barrion fits.

Can I use Barrion and StackHawk together?

Yes. A natural pattern is StackHawk in CI against staging or ephemeral environments for active DAST on every build, with Barrion running continuously in production for passive monitoring and AI pentesting. They cover different stages of the lifecycle.

How is Barrion priced compared to StackHawk?

Barrion has a free tier with core checks plus paid plans for monitoring and advanced features. StackHawk prices per user, with a self-serve Wingman plan and custom pricing for its Scale plan. Barrion is usually the simpler entry point for teams that do not need build-time DAST gates.

Does Barrion test in production safely?

Yes. Barrion's monitoring only runs passive, read-only checks and never sends attack payloads, so it is safe to run continuously in production. StackHawk uses active scanning and is designed to run against pre-production rather than live traffic.

Summary

Barrion and StackHawk are complementary. Use StackHawk to catch active vulnerabilities in CI before release. Use Barrion for ongoing, passive monitoring of what is actually live in production. Together they cover pre-release testing and runtime assurance.

Explore Barrion further

Try the same checks StackHawk runs against your own site with the free website security scan (no signup), browse our full tool catalog covering TLS, security headers, CSP, cookies, DNS, and email auth, or read per-check explainers in /learn for the background on what each test means and why it matters. If you want a deeper look at how Barrion stacks up across the market, the full Barrion vs competitors comparison walks through the trade-offs in one place, and the pricing page shows what's included in each plan.

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