0%
Most penetration-testing platforms force you to pick a lane: automation or human expertise.
Astra doesn’t make you choose. It blends both approaches into a single platform—fast automated scans backed by real security engineers—delivering a comprehensive Astra pen test so you’re never left with half a solution or an incomplete report.
That balanced approach is exactly why I decided to put Astra’s pentest offering under the microscope. Over the past several weeks, I’ve run it through the same rigorous gauntlet I use to vet any serious security tool: setup speed, vulnerability coverage, usability, reporting depth, reliability, and, of course, cost and overall value.
I examined the shiny features Astra loves to promote, but I also hunted for the quirks, limitations, and hidden pain points that rarely appear in marketing copy or polished demos. From automated scans to manual penetration tests, every aspect of Astra pen testing was carefully tested to see if it truly delivers what it promises and meets real-world security needs.
This is an honest, field-tested review of Astra Pentest—covering its standout features, the real-world pricing math, and the flaws you should know about before committing to a plan or making any long-term decisions.
Let’s dig in.
Astra Pentest
Astra Pentest delivers serious security testing without the heavy lift.
It starts with automation: thousands of checks across web apps, APIs, cloud environments, and assets behind login screens. Every scan hunts for OWASP Top 10 issues, known CVEs, and deeper misconfigurations before attackers can find them.
Then the human side takes over. Astra’s security engineers run manual penetration tests to expose business-logic flaws, complex access problems, and the subtle gaps no scanner can catch.
Detection alone isn’t enough. A clean dashboard turns each finding into action—complete with CVSS scores, proof-of-concept videos, and AI-generated remediation steps that developers can apply immediately.
Need clarity or a retest? Chat directly with Astra’s experts inside the platform.
Integrations with GitHub, Jira, Slack, and major CI/CD tools weave security into your build pipeline so fixes happen while code is still fresh.
The result: enterprise-grade pentesting that’s fast, collaborative, and approachable for any growing team—no full-time security department required.
Astra Pentest combines automation, expert manual testing, and a centralized dashboard to cover every angle of your security posture. Its features are designed to help teams identify, verify, and fix vulnerabilities quickly while maintaining compliance and workflow efficiency.
Here’s a closer look at what makes the platform stand out.
The vulnerability scanner excels with its breadth of coverage. It runs over 8,000 tests (some sources say up to 10,000), making it one of the most detailed scanners available.
Key highlights:
The scanner includes a Chrome extension to save login processes, so you don’t need to log in repeatedly. Rules are updated weekly to handle new threats.
Astra’s manual pentesting adds the human insight that automated tools can’t replicate.
It provides:
This combination ensures deeper coverage, especially for complex or high-risk applications, making the Astra penetration test a critical part of your security strategy. It’s particularly valuable considering that 85% of companies spend more on penetration testing yet still rely mainly on automated tools, leaving critical issues unchecked.
The dashboard acts as your central hub for all security findings.
It offers:
The platform also includes the “Astra-naut” bot for 24/7 guidance, code snippets, impact details, and security tips. This combination of automated efficiency and manual expertise makes managing vulnerabilities seamless.
Setting up security tools can often feel like launching a full-blown project. Multiple logins, complex configurations, and unclear documentation can make the process daunting. Astra Pentest, however, keeps things relatively simple without compromising on functionality.
Astra guides you through a Scanner Setup workflow designed to get your first Astra scan running in minutes. The process is straightforward:
From sign-up to finding vulnerabilities, the speed stood out. Astra promises you can "go from sign-up to discovering vulnerabilities in minutes," and in practice, the workflow delivers. Each user is assigned a Customer Success Manager (CSM) to help navigate any setup hiccups, ensuring a smooth onboarding experience.
Mobile apps and APIs have their own tailored setup workflows. These follow the same basic pattern but adapt to the technology you’re testing. The goal is consistent: make it fast, clear, and manageable for teams of any size.
Astra shines when integrated into your development pipeline. Linking with popular CI/CD tools allows security testing to happen automatically during builds, turning DevOps into DevSecOps.
Supported tools include:
Setup is simple: log into your dashboard, navigate to the Pentest menu, select your project, click Integrations, and pick your CI/CD tool. The real value comes from controlling your pipeline based on scan results. Builds can stop automatically if critical vulnerabilities are detected.
You can also customize the process: start scans without waiting for previous results, stop pipelines when specific security issues appear, or set limits based on vulnerability severity.
While Astra is designed for simplicity, new users still need some adjustment time. The platform targets small and medium businesses without dedicated security teams, but understanding security concepts takes a bit of learning.
Support is strong for teams starting out:
Good onboarding ensures teams can fully leverage the tool. While Astra’s documentation is solid, CSM support becomes invaluable for navigating concepts and maximizing efficiency.
Ultimately, Astra bridges the gap between powerful security capabilities and ease of use. Compared to tools that demand full-time experts, Astra feels refreshingly simple without cutting corners on functionality.
We put Astra penetration testing through a real-world test to see how it performs beyond marketing claims. The goal was simple: measure detection accuracy, false positives, and how quickly teams can remediate issues. What we found paints a clear picture of where the platform excels—and where it really makes a difference for security teams.
The Astra scanner runs over 8,000 tests—and some sources say up to 10,000—covering OWASP Top 10, known CVEs, and SANS 25 vulnerabilities
Key findings:
The platform also helps maintain compliance with ISO 27001, SOC2, PCI-DSS, and HIPAA, giving teams confidence in audit readiness.
Astra excels at reducing false positives. The platform claims “zero false positives” and our tests largely confirmed this.
Fixing vulnerabilities was faster with Astra than previous solutions.
The mix of clarity, expert guidance, and actionable reporting significantly reduced our remediation time, showing how Astra bridges automation and human expertise.
Before committing to a pentesting solution, it’s important to understand how Astra charges and what each plan delivers. The platform offers three main plans, each tailored to different levels of coverage, organizational complexity, and security needs. Here’s a clear breakdown of the Astra pentest plans:
The Scanner plan, priced at $199 per month or $1,999 annually, is designed for continuous automated vulnerability monitoring on a single target.
Includes:
Limitations:
Astra also offers a $7 weekly trial, letting you test the platform before committing—a rarity among pentesting tools.
The Pentest plan, priced at $5,999 annually per target, combines automated scans with full manual penetration testing.
Includes:
Manual testing and expert verification reduce false positives and catch vulnerabilities that automated scans might miss.
The Enterprise plan, starting at $9,999 per year, is tailored for organizations with multiple targets or complex infrastructure.
Includes:
This plan often provides better value than buying multiple smaller plans. Traditional enterprise pentesting can exceed $15,000 per year, making Astra competitive.
| Plan | Price | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Scanner | $199/month or $1,999/year | 9,300+ scans, AI fixes, integrations, 4 expert-vetted reports |
| Pentest | $5,999/year | Scanner features + manual pentesting, cloud checks, compliance reports |
| Enterprise | $9,999+/year | Multiple targets, CSM support, direct Slack/Teams communication, quarterly scans |
Astra’s pricing is flexible and scales with your needs, letting teams of any size get the right coverage without paying for extras they don’t need.
Astra Pentest is a solid platform, but no tool is flawless. Looking past marketing claims, there are a few consistent pain points worth noting.
G2 reviews highlight communication as a recurring challenge. Many users pointed out that time zone differences between the US and India sometimes caused delays of “a few days.” For teams dealing with urgent security issues, this lag can be frustrating. Timeline management is another concern. Several reviewers suggested allocating multiple weeks for manual pentests. Teams with fast development cycles or tight deadlines may find this extended timeline inconvenient.
The platform’s dashboard can slow down during resource-heavy scans. Multiple users noted “slow performance” and occasional bugs that disrupted workflow. Stability issues, while not critical, were frustrating for some teams and may affect efficiency during large-scale testing.
Interface design also drew mixed feedback. Six reviews cited a “poor interface,” and one user plainly said, “I would like to improve its UI.” Experts noted the GUI isn’t very intuitive, which could make onboarding slower for new users. Frequent scan update emails were another annoyance, and customization options for notifications remain limited.
Even with these issues, Astra remains valuable. The combination of automated and manual testing, detailed reporting, and expert support outweighs the frustrations for most mid-sized teams. Awareness of these limitations helps set realistic expectations and plan around potential challenges like performance slowdowns, UI quirks, or extended timelines for manual tests.
If Astra doesn’t fully match your needs, the good news is the pentesting landscape has plenty of strong alternatives. These tools can deliver similar capabilities while addressing some of Astra’s limitations.
The G2 community consistently rates Intruder highly, giving it 4.8/5. Users love how quickly it spots issues and makes vulnerability management straightforward, making it a top choice for mid-sized teams looking for speed and simplicity.
For larger enterprises, Wiz is a favorite, with a 4.7/5 rating. It provides comprehensive cloud security coverage, making it ideal for complex infrastructures. Tenable Nessus, with a 4.5/5 rating, brings a detection engine refined over 15 years and a strong community ecosystem for continuous updates and support.
Market trends also highlight leaders like reCAPTCHA Enterprise (43.27% market share) and WordFence (40.17%), dominating web application security with broad adoption across industries.
Other specialized options worth considering include:
Uproot Security: Continuous manual pentesting services at a cost-effective price.
vPenTest: Automated, comprehensive testing that rivals manual approaches for speed and accuracy.
Cobalt: PTaaS platform that transforms traditional pentests into actionable, information-rich reports.
Orca Security: Agentless visibility across all cloud workloads, ideal for multi-cloud environments.
The right tool depends on your needs. Astra remains strong for mid-sized teams, but these alternatives may offer better fit if you need faster results, more cloud coverage, or specialized reporting. Choosing wisely ensures you get both coverage and efficiency without compromise.
Astra Pentest blends automated efficiency with hands-on human expertise, offering broad security coverage. Its scanner runs over 8,000 tests, spotting everything from OWASP Top 10 issues to hidden misconfigurations behind login screens. By combining automated scans, manual verification, and expert analysis, Astra security penetration testing provides mid-sized teams with actionable insights without requiring a full security department.
Automated findings are verified by experts, reducing false positives. Reports include video proof-of-concepts and actionable AI-generated remediation steps that developers can implement quickly.
The dashboard keeps vulnerability management simple. You can track, prioritize, and resolve issues without losing focus. Integrations with GitHub, Jira, Slack, and major CI/CD tools embed security directly into your development workflow, helping teams fix issues while code is still fresh.
Direct access to Astra’s security engineers adds a layer of support few automated tools provide, making collaboration smoother and more efficient.
No tool is perfect. The dashboard can slow during heavy scans, and time zone differences sometimes delay responses. Pricing is another factor: the $199/month Scanner plan covers basic scanning, while the $5,999/year Pentest plan is better for comprehensive coverage.
For mid-sized teams wanting thorough, actionable pentesting without a dedicated security department, Astra offers a balanced, practical solution.
Senior pentester
