5 Best NowSecure Alternatives in 2024 | Appknox

The best mobile app security platforms offer technologies and security procedures that protect mobile applications against cybercrimes and data theft. They also automate mobile app security testing on iOS, Android, and other platforms. 

Mobile device usage has steadily increased in recent years. A recent report states that over 90% of the world’s population uses a mobile device to connect to the internet. This gives hackers a free run—more people to victimize, making endpoint security for mobile devices non-negotiable. 

From the lens of an enterprise organization, securing mobile applications developed by multiple vendors using a combination of in-house and outsourced resources exposes apps to more vulnerabilities. 

While NowSecure is a popular mobile application security testing platform, it’s not the best in the game. Its limitations, including less focus on manual penetration testing, fewer integrations with the broader ecosystem, and limited flexibility for custom scans, make DevSec teams look for NowSecure alternatives. 

If you’re among them, here are the best NowSecure alternatives worth considering.

Why consider NowSecure alternatives?

Limited support for manual testing

NowSecure focuses on automated testing. Organizations that require comprehensive manual and automated penetration testing look for mobile app security software alternatives with deeper manual assessments.  

Customization constraints

Customizing scans, rules, and compliances in NowSecure can be complex. 

False positives and contextual accuracy

Organizations with a high tolerance for false positives require mobile security alternatives with improved accuracy or built-in verification. 

Integration with broader ecosystems

While NowSecure does offer CI/CD integrations, its focus on security for mobile apps often means that the depth of integration with broader development and security tools is not as extensive or easy to configure. 

In contrast, the best NowSecure alternatives offer a wider set of out-of-the-box connectors or more comprehensive integration support. 

Lack of ease of use 

Users have noted that setting up certain automated tests and custom configurations in NowSecure requires technical expertise, making it difficult for small teams to maximize the platform's capabilities. 

Customer support 

Some users noted NowSecure’s documentation as insufficient, especially for troubleshooting or independently exploring advanced features. Limited documentation might create bottlenecks for customers trying to resolve issues on their own. 

Lack of a unified threat visibility dashboard

When enterprises use separate platforms for mobile and other security assessments, consolidating findings into a single source of truth for visibility and action becomes challenging. 

Security teams need unified dashboards that provide visibility into threats and vulnerabilities across all digital assets. 

NowSecure’s reports and findings may not easily integrate into unified dashboards or central monitoring tools, which is where NowSecure competitors offer built-in centralization features.

Reduced collaboration and workflow automation 

Modern DevSecOps teams prefer using security platforms that support automated workflows to track, prioritize, and resolve issues quickly. 

NowSecure does not offer the same workflow automation and cross-functional integration level as other platforms that target broader ecosystems. 

Owing to these NowSecure shortcomings, we’ve compared the top app security tools below, listing the top contenders if you’re looking for a replacement.

Top 5 NowSecure alternatives for mobile app security 

1. Appknox

Appknox is a mobile-first application security testing platform that identifies vulnerabilities via automated and manual testing methods.

What sets it apart as the best mobile application security testing platform is that it offers mobile-first vulnerability assessment, automated DAST on real devices, and is a reliable in-house QA tool for enterprises relying on outsourced application development.

Besides, the tool provides comprehensive reports with CVSS scoring, helping security teams prioritize risk mitigation at just a glance. As a result, with Appknox, organizations can accelerate their app’s release cycles by 2X.

Why Appknox?

Appknox tops the list as the best NowSecure alternative due to the following reasons:

• NowSecure is a source-code-based scanning tool, which means you need to upload APK files to run mobile app security testing. On the contrary, Appknox is a binary-based scanning tool that runs automated scans with just the app’s link.
• A major drawback of NowSecure is that you can’t upload the complete application (or the packaged version). This means that uploading 50% of the source code leaves more vulnerabilities to be compromised.

Key features of Appknox

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

Get diverse SAST test cases to cover OWASP Top 10. Upload the binary of your Android or iOS application and get real-time feedback on the dashboard with exhaustive test coverage. 

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

Test on real devices to replicate genuine app interactions with remote access. Schedule scans for multiple apps with a one-time setup in <1 minute. 

API testing

Discover all the APIs within your application identification. Run API security scans on selected APIs that align with your testing objectives. 

Penetration testing

Identify vulnerabilities within your mobile app through comprehensive manual penetration testing. Get a thorough assessment to secure your entire app portfolio. 

SBOM

Gain visibility into your software inventory to prevent your organization from supply chain attacks. Binary-based SBOM (Software Bill of Materials) elevates your security posture, pinpoints vulnerable components, and mitigates supply chain risks.    

Comprehensive reports with CVSS score

The comprehensive VA report has 160+ test cases.

Remediation call 

Understand your app vulnerability scan reports with security experts and explore best practices to make your applications hack-proof.

Pros

• High accuracy with <1% false positives
• Mobile-first vulnerability assessment 
• Testing on real-time devices, not emulators 
• Automated binary scanning 
• Integration into the CI/CD pipeline for streamlined testing and deployment 
• CVSS reports in <60 minutes 
• Detailed remediation reports highlighting detected issues and steps to address them 
• 80+ DevSec integrations, including CI/CD pipeline and vulnerability assessment workflows 

Cons 

• Appknox is a mobile-first penetration testing platform  

Pricing 

• Starter 
• Professional 
• Advanced 

Appknox offers flexible, usage-based pricing based on the customer requirements with add-ons for manual testing.

2. Checkmarx SAST

The cloud-native application security platform Checkmarx SAST focuses on static application security testing and enables organizations to detect security flaws in source code during early development stages. The early detection prevents vulnerabilities from reaching production. 

Checkmarx SAST integrates with various development environments and CI/CD pipelines, facilitating continuous security testing within the DevOps workflow. This helps development teams fix issues quickly with clear, actionable feedback.

Pros

• Offers a complete testing suite—SAST, DAST, SCA, and IAST for web and mobile apps 
• Supports 35 languages and 80 language frameworks for multi-platform development. 

Cons

• Without fine-tuning, it is likely to generate false positives, requiring manual testing 
• Less effective in detecting run-time issues in third-party components 

Pricing

• Custom pricing
  
  

3. Black Duck (previously Synopsys) 

Whether you’re testing one application or thousands, Black Buck’s application security platform helps you manage AppSec risks at the enterprise scale. 

Although not solely dedicated to mobile app security, the software composition analysis (SCA) platform scans mobile app codebases to detect open-source components and assess vulnerabilities. 

Black Buck is used by organizations building applications that depend on open-source libraries. This NowSecure alternative provides actionable insights and comprehensive reporting to help developers mitigate security risks in real-time. 

Pros

• Integration with the CI/CD pipeline supports DevSecOps practices and enables automated vulnerability scanning during development. 
• It specializes in SCA to identify vulnerabilities and license risks in open-source components.

Cons

• Focuses only on open source and third-party risk management, not designed for mobile-specific security testing and remediation insights.
• Does not address proprietary code vulnerabilities, runtime, or network security risks. 

Pricing

• Custom pricing
  
  

4. Data Theorem Mobile Secure

Data Theorem Mobile Secure automates the binary scanning process—scanning app binaries directly from app stores for quick vulnerability detection without disrupting development workflows. 

This feature is handy for businesses needing rapid security assessments or testing third-party apps without access to the codebase. The platform integrates well with CI/CD pipelines for continuous testing and ongoing security monitoring after deployment.

While NowSecure is more targeted towards comprehensive vulnerability detection and compliance, Data Theorem extends its coverage to include runtime and API security, making it more suited for dynamic threat environments.

Pros

• With automated binary scanning, access to source code is not required for security assessments.
• The focus on binaries ensures that the actual app—exactly as it would be in production—is tested to uncover issues such as misconfigured permissions, hardcoded keys, insecure API calls, and embedded secrets that might not be apparent from the source code alone.

Cons

• Unlike SCA, Data Theorem’s binary-based scanning does not provide access to the source code, making it challenging to identify and remediate vulnerabilities precisely.
• Complexity with obfuscated code.

Pricing

• Custom pricing
  
  

5. Zimperium 

Zimperium Zscan offers static and dynamic analysis of the binary and provides prioritized security and privacy findings. This NowSecure alternative uncovers compliance violations tied to NIAP, PCI, GDPR, OWASP, MASVS, and HIPAA. 

It uses automated scans to assess the app’s SBOM (software bill of materials), identifying risks within third-party components and mitigating supply chain risks. 

Developers can integrate Zscan across the DevSecOps lifecycle via plugins, APIs, and GitHub actions. 

Pros

• Rapid automated penetration testing for each build, ensuring vulnerabilities are detected and addressed promptly without slowing down releases.
• It focuses on finding vulnerabilities once the app is available in app stores and end-user devices.
• AppVisualizer, Zimperium’s analysis engine, spots exploitable mobile vulnerabilities, highlights best practices and recommends countermeasures for app risks.

Cons

• Fewer third-party integrations compared to other tools in the mobile applications security comparison list. 
• Focuses more on detecting and reacting to threats than vulnerability prevention during app development.

Pricing

• Custom pricing

At a glance: Comparison of top mobile app security solutions 

Finding the perfect mobile security solution: Beyond NowSecure

While NowSecure offers robust mobile app security features, if you’re looking for API testing, real-time threat detection, automated binary scanning, or source code analysis with extensive CI/CD integration, you need to look beyond NowSecure. 

Appknox stands out as a mobile app security software alternative as it offers a comprehensive suite of security features to protect your mobile apps from threats, including malware and data leaks. 

With <1% false positives, simulated real-world attacks, on-call support for mitigating vulnerabilities, intuitive dashboards to run scans and generate reports, and binary-level assessments, Appknox is the best NowSecure alternative for enterprise mobile app security.