Alternatives to Akto for CTOs

middleBrick is a self-service API security scanner that operates as a black-box solution. You submit a target URL and receive a risk score on an A–F scale with prioritized findings. The scanner uses only read-only methods, including GET and HEAD requests, and text-only POST probes for LLM endpoints. There are no agents, no SDKs, and no code access required, making it compatible with any language, framework, or cloud environment. Scan completion typically occurs in under a minute.

The scanner detects findings across 12 categories aligned to OWASP API Top 10 (2023). These include authentication bypass and JWT misconfigurations, BOLA and IDOR via sequential or adjacent ID probing, BFLA and privilege escalation attempts, property over-exposure and mass-assignment surfaces, input validation issues such as CORS misconfigurations and dangerous HTTP methods, rate-limiting indicators and oversized responses, exposure of PII and API key patterns in AWS, Stripe, GitHub, and Slack, SSRF indicators involving internal IP probing, and inventory issues like missing versioning or server fingerprinting. It also covers unsafe consumption surfaces and LLM/AI security through multiple adversarial probe tiers.

middleBrick maps findings directly to three frameworks: PCI-DSS 4.0, SOC 2 Type II, and OWASP API Top 10 (2023). For other regulations, the scanner helps you prepare for and aligns with security controls described in those frameworks, supporting audit evidence without asserting certification or compliance guarantees.

Authenticated scanning is available from the Starter tier and above, supporting Bearer tokens, API keys, Basic auth, and cookies. Domain verification is enforced through a DNS TXT record or an HTTP well-known file, ensuring that only the domain owner can submit credentials. Header forwarding is limited to Authorization, X-API-Key, Cookie, and X-Custom-* headers. OpenAPI 3.0, 3.1, and Swagger 2.0 files are parsed with recursive $ref resolution, and spec definitions are cross-referenced against runtime results to identify undefined security schemes or deprecated operations.

The Web Dashboard provides a centralized view of scans, score trends, and downloadable branded compliance PDFs. The CLI, distributed as an npm package named middlebrick, supports commands such as middlebrick scan <url> with JSON or text output. A GitHub Action is available to act as a CI/CD gate, failing builds when the score drops below a defined threshold. An MCP Server allows scans from AI coding assistants such as Claude and Cursor. Programmatic access is offered via an API client for custom integrations. Continuous monitoring on the Pro tier includes scheduled rescans every 6 hours, daily, weekly, or monthly, diff detection across scans, email alerts limited to one per hour per API, and HMAC-SHA256 signed webhooks that auto-disable after five consecutive failures.

middleBrick does not fix, patch, block, or remediate findings; it detects and reports with remediation guidance. It does not perform active SQL injection or command injection testing, as those methods require intrusive payloads outside the scanner’s scope. Business logic vulnerabilities are not detected, as they require human domain understanding. Blind SSRF is out of scope due to the absence of out-of-band infrastructure, and the tool does not replace a human pentester for high-stakes audits. Safety measures include read-only methods only, blocking of private IPs, localhost, and cloud metadata endpoints across multiple layers, and a policy of deleting customer scan data on demand within 30 days of cancellation. Data is never sold or used for model training.