Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

w3af VS Metasploit

Compare w3af VS Metasploit and see what are their differences

w3af logo w3af

w3af is a Web Application Attack and Audit Framework

Metasploit logo Metasploit

Find security issues, verify vulnerability mitigations & manage security assessments with Metasploit. Get the world's best penetration testing software now.
  • w3af Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-29
  • Metasploit Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-22

w3af features and specs

  • Open Source
    w3af is an open-source project, meaning it is freely available for modification and distribution, allowing for community contribution and transparency in its development.
  • Comprehensive Plugin System
    It offers a wide range of plugins to conduct various types of web application security testing, making it a versatile tool for security professionals.
  • Web-Based Vulnerability Scanner
    w3af is designed specifically for web applications, making it focused and comprehensive in detecting web-specific vulnerabilities.
  • Active Community and Support
    It has an active community of users and developers who contribute to its development and provide support to new users.

Possible disadvantages of w3af

  • Complexity
    w3af can be complex to configure and use, particularly for users who are not familiar with security tools or command-line interfaces.
  • Resource Intensive
    Due to its comprehensive scanning capabilities, running w3af can be resource-intensive and may impact system performance.
  • False Positives
    As with many automated scanning tools, there is a possibility of generating false positives, which can require additional validation work.
  • Limited Non-Web Application Testing
    w3af is specifically tailored for web applications and lacks features for testing non-web network vulnerabilities.

Metasploit features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

w3af videos

How to use the w3af website scanner in kali Linux

More videos:

  • Tutorial - What is W3af? | How to install Web Application Attack & Audit Framework?
  • Tutorial - W3AF Tutorial Part II using the GUI

Metasploit videos

Metasploit For Beginners - How To Scan And Pwn A Computer | Learn From A Pro Hacker

More videos:

  • Review - Metasploit For Beginners - #1 - The Basics - Modules, Exploits & Payloads
  • Review - Why Don't Hackers Use Metasploit?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to w3af and Metasploit)
Web Application Security
60 60%
40% 40
Monitoring Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Security
59 59%
41% 41
Vulnerability Scanner
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using w3af and Metasploit. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, w3af seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 2 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

w3af mentions (2)

Metasploit mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Metasploit yet. Tracking of Metasploit recommendations started around Oct 2023.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing w3af and Metasploit, you can also consider the following products

Nikto - Nikto is an Open Source (GPL) web server scanner which performs comprehensive tests against web...

Nessus - Nessus Professional is a security platform designed for businesses who want to protect the security of themselves, their clients, and their customers.

Acunetix - Audit your website security and web applications for SQL injection, Cross site scripting and other...

Exploit Pack - Exploit Pack is an open source project security that will help you adapt exploit codes on-the-fly.

Burp Suite - Burp Suite is an integrated platform for performing security testing of web applications.

Cobalt Strike - Advanced threat tactics for penetration testers.