Company Overview
Burp Suite is the world's leading web application security testing platform developed by PortSwigger, a UK-based company. PortSwigger was founded in 2004 by Dafydd Stuttard (widely known by his alias "PortSwigger"), a renowned security expert.
Burp Suite is used by over 100,000 security professionals worldwide and has become the de facto standard tool for penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, and web application security assessment. It offers three tiers — Community Edition (free), Professional, and Enterprise — covering the full spectrum of needs from individual security researchers to large enterprises.
Core Products
| Product | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Burp Suite Community Edition | Free | Basic intercepting proxy and manual testing tools, ideal for learning |
| Burp Suite Professional | Professional | Automated scanning, advanced tools, and extension support for pros |
| Burp Suite Enterprise | Enterprise | Automated security scanning platform with CI/CD integration |
| Burp Scanner | Scanning Engine | Automated web vulnerability scanning, DAST and API scanning |
| Burp Intruder | Attack Tool | Automated request customization and brute-force testing |
| Burp Repeater | Replay Tool | Manual request modification and replay for fine-grained testing |
| Burp Collaborator | Interaction Tool | Out-of-Band vulnerability detection service |
Core Strengths
Industry Standard: The go-to tool for OWASP Top 10 testing, widely adopted by security teams
Comprehensive Testing: Covers intercepting proxy, vulnerability scanning, fuzzing, session analysis — full-stack security testing
Rich Extension Ecosystem: BApp Store with hundreds of community-contributed plugins
CI/CD Integration: Enterprise edition supports Jenkins, GitLab CI, and other pipeline integrations
Active Community: PortSwigger Web Security Academy offers free security training
Key Milestones
- 2004: Dafydd Stuttard founded PortSwigger and began developing Burp Suite
- 2007: Burp Suite 1.0 released, quickly became the standard tool for penetration testing
- 2011: Dafydd Stuttard published "The Web Application Hacker's Handbook"
- 2015: Burp Suite Professional launched with automated scanning capabilities
- 2020: Burp Suite Enterprise released for automated CI/CD security scanning
- 2023: Redesigned Burp Suite interface launched, improving user experience
- 2024+: Continued enhancement of API security testing, GraphQL support, and cloud-native security
Market Position & Competitors
Burp Suite holds a leading position in the web application security testing market:
- OWASP ZAP: Open-source web security scanner, active community, comprehensive features
- Acunetix: Commercial web vulnerability scanner focused on automated scanning
- Netsparker / Invicti: Evidence-based automated web security testing platform
- Qualys Web App Scanning: Cloud-native web application scanning integrated with Qualys platform
- HCL AppScan: Enterprise-grade application security testing suite
- Detectify: SaaS-based web security scanning platform
