Alternatives to Akto for Backend engineers

middleBrick is a self-service API security scanner that runs entirely as a black-box assessment. You submit a URL and receive a risk score with prioritized findings, without installing agents, providing code access, or integrating an SDK. The scanner operates using read-only methods such as GET and HEAD, and text-only POST for LLM probes, which keeps the approach non-intrusive and safe for production environments. Scan completion typically occurs in under a minute, and the design ensures no runtime disruption to your service.

The scanner evaluates 12 security categories aligned to OWASP API Top 10 (2023), including Authentication bypasses, JWT misconfigurations, Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA/IDOR), Broken Function Level Authorization (BFLA), Input Validation issues such as CORS wildcard usage, Rate Limiting and Resource Consumption indicators, and Data Exposure involving PII and API key leakage patterns. It also covers Encryption misconfigurations, SSRF indicators in URL and body fields, Inventory Management concerns like missing versioning, Unsafe Consumption surfaces, and LLM / AI Security probes that test for prompt injection, jailbreak, and data exfiltration risks.

middleBrick parses OpenAPI 3.0, 3.1, and Swagger 2.0 files and resolves recursive $ref definitions to compare the specification against runtime behavior. It flags undefined security schemes, sensitive fields in responses, deprecated operations, and missing pagination that can lead to over-exposure. For authenticated scans, supported methods include Bearer tokens, API keys, Basic authentication, and Cookies, with a domain verification gate that requires DNS TXT record or HTTP well-known file ownership to confirm you control the domain. Only a limited set of headers are forwarded to minimize noise and credential exposure.

With Pro tier, you can schedule rescans at intervals such as every 6 hours, daily, weekly, or monthly, enabling diff detection for new findings, resolved issues, and score drift over time. Alerts are rate-limited to one notification per hour per API and can be delivered via email, Slack, or Teams. HMAC-SHA256 signed webhooks provide automated status updates, with built-in safeguards that disable webhooks after 5 consecutive failures. The platform integrates through a Web Dashboard for reporting and trend tracking, a CLI using middlebrick scan <url> with JSON or text output, a GitHub Action that can fail builds when scores drop below a threshold, and an MCP Server for use with AI coding assistants.

middleBrick maintains a strict read-only posture and never sends destructive payloads. Private IPs, localhost, and cloud metadata endpoints are blocked at multiple layers, and customer scan data can be deleted on demand and purged within 30 days of cancellation. The tool does not fix, patch, block, or remediate issues; it detects and reports with remediation guidance. It also does not perform active SQL injection or command injection testing, detect business logic vulnerabilities, identify blind SSRF without out-of-band infrastructure, or replace a human pentester for high-stakes audits.