42Crunch vs Veracode
What middleBrick covers
- Black-box scanning with no agents or SDK dependencies
- Under-one-minute scan completion for rapid feedback
- 12 OWASP API Top 10-aligned detection categories
- OpenAPI 3.x and Swagger 2.0 spec parsing with $ref resolution
- Authenticated scan support for common auth methods
- Programmatic access via CLI, dashboard, and API client
Target audience and deployment model
42Crunch positions itself as an API security gateway, focusing on runtime protection and policy enforcement in cloud native environments. It typically operates as a sidecar or managed service that inspects traffic in proxied flows. middleBrick is a self-service black-box scanner for assessing API risk without agents, SDKs, or code access; it suits teams that want fast, on-demand risk scoring across any language or cloud.
Feature scope and detection coverage
42Crunch emphasizes gateway-level enforcement, runtime threat blocking, and policy templates aligned to compliance frameworks. Its detection is tied to observed traffic and may map findings to PCI-DSS 4.0, SOC 2 Type II, and OWASP API Top 10 (2023). middleBrick focuses on scanning and reporting, covering the same OWASP API Top 10 category set with 12 detection categories including authentication bypass, IDOR, sensitive data exposure, SSRF indicators, and LLM security probes. Both tools surface findings relevant to audit evidence, but neither certifies compliance.
Scanning approach and methodology
42Crunch analyzes traffic flowing through its gateway, applying rules and anomaly detection to live requests and responses. middleBrick performs black-box scanning using read-only methods (GET and HEAD) plus text-only POST for LLM probes, completing a scan in under a minute. It parses OpenAPI 3.0, 3.1, and Swagger 2.0 with recursive $ref resolution, cross-referencing spec definitions against runtime behavior to highlight undefined security schemes and deprecated operations.
Authentication, authorized access, and scope boundaries
middleBrick supports Bearer, API key, Basic auth, and Cookie authentication for scans at the Starter tier and above, protected by a domain verification gate to ensure only domain owners can submit credentials. It forwards a strict header allowlist and does not remediate findings. 42Crunch integrates with identity providers and gateway policies to enforce authentication and authorization continuously, with behavior tied to live traffic rather than scheduled scan windows.
Pricing, integrations, and ongoing monitoring
middleBrick offers a free tier with 3 scans per month and CLI access, Starter at 99 USD per month for 15 APIs with dashboard and email alerts, Pro at 499 USD per month for 100 APIs with continuous monitoring, GitHub Action gates, and compliance reports, and Enterprise with unlimited APIs and dedicated support. It integrates via Web Dashboard, CLI, GitHub Action, MCP Server, and a programmable API. 42Crunch follows a different pricing and integration model tied to gateway deployment, with ongoing monitoring and policy management rather than scan-based scheduling.
Limitations and decision criteria
middleBrick does not fix, patch, or block issues; it detects and reports with remediation guidance. It does not perform intrusive injection tests, active SQL or command injection, or detect business logic vulnerabilities that require domain understanding. Teams choosing between these tools should consider whether they need continuous gateway enforcement (42Crunch) or on-demand, developer-led risk scoring (middleBrick). Decision criteria include deployment preference, need for authenticated scan workflows, integration into CI/CD, and tolerance for scheduled versus event-driven security assessment.