Pricing alternative to Nessus

What middleBrick covers

  • Risk scoring A–F with prioritized findings
  • 12 OWASP API Top 10 detection categories
  • OpenAPI 3.0/3.1 and Swagger 2.0 parsing
  • Authenticated scans with domain verification
  • CI/CD integration via GitHub Action
  • Continuous monitoring and webhook alerts

Overview of API risk scanning as a Nessus alternative

Nessus is built for network and host vulnerabilities, not for API-centric architectures. middleBrick offers a focused, API-first scanner that runs in under a minute and delivers a risk score from A to F with prioritized findings. Unlike broad infrastructure tools, this approach targets OWASP API Top 10 risks and related design issues specific to modern services.

Coverage aligned to compliance frameworks

middleBrick maps findings 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 audits and supports audit evidence for aligned controls. Each scan surfaces issues relevant to access control, encryption, input validation, and data exposure, enabling clearer scoping for manual review.

Authenticated scanning and safety controls

With a Starter subscription and above, you can authenticate scans using Bearer tokens, API keys, Basic auth, and cookies. Domain verification is required: only the domain owner can scan with credentials, enforced through DNS TXT records or an HTTP well-known file. The scanner enforces a strict header allowlist and uses read-only methods only; destructive payloads are never sent, and private IPs, localhost, and cloud metadata endpoints are blocked at multiple layers.

Reporting, monitoring, and integrations

The Web Dashboard centralizes scans, score trends, and branded compliance PDFs. The CLI supports JSON and text output for scripting, and a GitHub Action can gate CI/CD when scores drop below a threshold. Pro tier adds scheduled rescans, diff detection, email alerts at a rate-limited cadence, HMAC-SHA256 signed webhooks, and MCP Server access for AI coding assistants. Programmatic access is available via a native API client for custom integrations.

Pricing and total cost considerations

Free tier provides 3 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 continuous monitoring, GitHub Action gates, CI/CD integration, Slack or Teams alerts, compliance reports, and signed webhooks; additional APIs are 7 dollars each. Enterprise starts above 2000 dollars per month for unlimited APIs, custom rules, SSO, audit logs, an SLA, and dedicated support. Because the scanner does not remediate or replace human pentesters, factor in manual investigation time for findings and ongoing review overhead.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does authenticated scanning work?
Authenticated scans use Bearer, API key, Basic auth, or cookies after domain verification. Only specific headers are forwarded, and scans remain read-only.
What compliance mappings are provided?
Findings map directly to PCI-DSS 4.0, SOC 2 Type II, and OWASP API Top 10 (2023). For other frameworks, the tool supports audit evidence and helps prepare for related controls.
Can the scanner fix vulnerabilities?
No. The scanner detects and reports issues with remediation guidance but does not patch, block, or remediate findings.
What happens to scan data after cancellation?
Customer data is deletable on demand and purged within 30 days of cancellation. It is never sold and is not used for model training.