Alternatives to 42Crunch in Education

middleBrick is a self-service API security scanner designed for campus-facing services and learning platforms. Submit a URL and receive a risk score from A to F with prioritized findings. The scanner operates as a black-box solution with no agents, no code access, and no SDK integration; it supports any language, framework, or cloud. Each scan completes in under a minute using read-only methods (GET and HEAD) and text-only POST for LLM probes.

The scanner covers 12 categories aligned to the OWASP API Top 10 (2023). It maps findings to PCI-DSS 4.0 and SOC 2 Type II, and supports audit evidence for relevant controls. Detection capabilities include authentication bypass and JWT misconfigurations, broken object level authorization and IDOR, broken function level authorization and privilege escalation, property authorization over-exposure, input validation issues such as CORS wildcard usage and dangerous HTTP methods, rate limiting and resource consumption signals, data exposure including PII patterns and API key formats, encryption and transport issues, SSRF indicators, inventory and versioning gaps, unsafe consumption surfaces, and LLM / AI security adversarial probes across multiple scan tiers.

OpenAPI analysis parses OpenAPI 3.0, 3.1, and Swagger 2.0 with recursive $ref resolution, cross-referencing spec definitions against runtime findings such as undefined security schemes and deprecated operations.

Authenticated scanning is available from the Starter tier upward, supporting Bearer, API key, Basic auth, and Cookie credentials. Domain verification is enforced via DNS TXT record or HTTP well-known file, ensuring only the domain owner can scan with credentials. The scanner uses a strict header allowlist including Authorization, X-API-Key, Cookie, and X-Custom-* headers. All operations are read-only, with destructive payloads never sent. Private IPs, localhost, and cloud metadata endpoints are blocked at multiple layers, and customer data is deletable on demand and never used for model training.

The Web Dashboard provides scan management, report viewing, score trend tracking, and downloadable branded compliance PDFs. The CLI, published as an npm package, supports commands such as middlebrick scan <url> with JSON or text output. A GitHub Action enables CI/CD gating, failing the build when the score drops below a chosen threshold. The MCP Server allows scanning from AI coding assistants such as Claude and Cursor.

Pro tier adds continuous monitoring with scheduled rescans every 6 hours, daily, weekly, or monthly. Diff detection highlights new findings, resolved findings, and score drift. Email alerts are rate-limited to one per hour per API, and webhooks are HMAC-SHA256 signed with auto-disable after five consecutive failures.

Free tier offers three scans per month with CLI access. Starter at 99 dollars per month supports 15 APIs, monthly scans, dashboard access, email alerts, and the MCP Server. Pro at 499 dollars per month covers 100 APIs with additional APIs billed at 7 dollars each, adding continuous monitoring, GitHub Action gates, CI/CD integration, Slack and Teams alerts, compliance reports, and signed webhooks. Enterprise at 2000 dollars per month provides unlimited APIs, custom rules, SSO, audit logs, SLA, and dedicated support.

middleBrick helps you prepare for security reviews aligned to PCI-DSS 4.0 and SOC 2 Type II, and surfaces findings relevant to controls described in the OWASP API Top 10 (2023). It is a scanning tool and does not replace a human pentester for high-stakes audits.