Top 20 application security testing tools by AI search visibility (2026)
Application security testing tools used to identify vulnerabilities in code, APIs, and running applications through static, dynamic, software composition, and runtime testing workflows. Ranked by a composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
Refreshed Jun 06, 2026At a glance
What we observed in this categoryauto-generated
Mend leads the application security testing tools category with a visibility score of 37.5% — more than 4.6× the category average of 8.1% and 12.5 percentage points ahead of both Veracode and Checkmarx, which are tied at 25.0%. This gap is significant because all three are new entrants this audit period (previous visibility 0.0%), meaning Google AI Mode has rapidly consolidated its top recommendations around a small cluster of established AST vendors rather than distributing attention across the 20 brands tracked.
A striking divergence between visibility and citation exists in this category. Apiiro holds a 75.0% citation rate while recording 0.0% visibility, and StackHawk similarly achieves 62.5% citation with 0.0% visibility. Conversely, Snyk has 25.0% visibility but 0.0% citation, and GitHub Advanced Security shows 12.5% visibility with 0.0% citation. This pattern indicates that being named in AI-generated answers and being linked as a trusted source are operating as almost entirely separate signals for several brands.
Google AI Mode is the dominant engine across all top 10 brands — every brand's top engine is Google AI Mode exclusively, suggesting no meaningful multi-engine distribution in this category. The top cited sources listed in the audit are predominantly vendor and challenger brand domains (cycode.com, endorlabs.com, aikido.dev, ox.security, stackhawk.com, apiiro.com, kiuwan.com) with Gartner.com as the sole third-party authority, indicating the AI is anchoring heavily on competitor and niche vendor content rather than independent analyst or media sources.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
-
Mend 0% → 38% · rank #0 → #1+38pp
-
Veracode 0% → 25% · rank #0 → #2+25pp
-
Checkmarx 0% → 25% · rank #0 → #3+25pp
The ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
mend.io
|
38% | 38% | Google AI Mode |
Mend's visibility and citation scores are perfectly aligned at 37.5%, placing it 29.4 percentage points above the 8.1% category average with no visibility-citation gap. |
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| 2 |
veracode.com
|
25% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
Veracode ties Checkmarx at 25.0% visibility and 25.0% citation, both nearly 3× the category average, with no divergence between named and cited presence. |
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| 3 |
checkmarx.com
|
25% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
Checkmarx mirrors Veracode exactly at 25.0% visibility and 25.0% citation, suggesting Google AI Mode treats these two legacy AST vendors as interchangeable second-tier references. |
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| 4 |
apiiro.com
|
0% | 75% | Google AI Mode |
Apiiro's citation rate of 75.0% is the highest in the dataset yet its visibility is 0.0%, the starkest named-vs-trusted divergence among all ranked brands. |
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| 5 |
sonarsource.com
|
25% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Sonar's visibility of 25.0% outpaces its citation rate of 12.5% by 2×, the opposite pattern to Apiiro and StackHawk, indicating it is named but not linked. |
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| 6 |
contrastsecurity.com
|
12% | 38% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
stackhawk.com
|
0% | 62% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
snyk.io
|
25% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
escape.tech
|
0% | 38% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
github.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
appknox.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
semgrep.dev
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
synopsys.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
invicti.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
detectify.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
acunetix.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 17 |
hcltech.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 18 |
rapid7.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 19 |
nowsecure.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 20 |
armorcode.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on application security testing tools, these are the domains Google AI Mode cited most often. If you're not on this list — or if your competitors are — that's a concrete PR / linkbuilding target.
How to read this ranking
Four things worth knowing before you act on the numbers above. These are the same definitions across every industry page — for category-specific observations, see the What we observed section above (where available) and the per-brand insights inline in the ranking.
Visibility = being named
A brand's visibility % is the share of AI answers that mention it by name in the response prose. This is who AI engines actively recommend to the buyer.
Citation rate = being trusted
Citation rate is the share of AI answers that include the brand's domain as a clickable source link. This is what the AI treats as authoritative evidence — different from being named.
Top engine differs by brand
The "top engine" column shows which AI surface each brand performs best on. Big gaps between a brand's score across engines usually points to specific content or schema gaps.
Rankings move month to month
AI engines re-crawl and re-rank on shorter cycles than classical search. We re-audit every brand on this list at least every 30 days and refresh this page automatically.
Get your own application security testing tools brand audited
The brands above were curated from public market-leader lists. Want the same measurement against your own brand — including the queries you appear on, which competitors get named instead, and a prioritised fix list? Run a free preview.
Frequently asked about application security testing tools AI visibility
Who leads AI visibility in application security testing tools?
Mend leads with a visibility score of 37.5%, more than 4.6× the category average of 8.1% and 12.5 points ahead of the next ranked brands, Veracode and Checkmarx, both at 25.0%.
Which brands are cited most by AI in this category but rarely named in answers?
Apiiro (75.0% citation, 0.0% visibility) and StackHawk (62.5% citation, 0.0% visibility) are the clearest examples of high citation with zero named presence in AI-generated responses.
What sources does Google AI Mode anchor on for application security testing research?
The top cited sources are predominantly vendor and challenger brand domains including cycode.com, endorlabs.com, aikido.dev, and stackhawk.com, with Gartner.com as the only identified third-party analyst source.
Are there brands with strong AI visibility but no citation credit in this category?
Yes — Snyk has 25.0% visibility but 0.0% citation, and GitHub Advanced Security has 12.5% visibility with 0.0% citation, meaning both are named in answers but never linked as sources.
How concentrated is AI visibility across the 20 brands tracked in this category?
Highly concentrated — the top three brands (Mend, Veracode, Checkmarx) account for 87.5 combined visibility percentage points while the category average sits at just 8.1%, and multiple ranked brands hold 0.0% visibility.
Which AI engine dominates coverage of this category?
Google AI Mode is the top engine for every single brand in the top 10, with no other engine appearing as a primary driver anywhere in the ranked data.