Gartner defines the application security testing (AST) market as consisting of providers of products that enable organizations to assess applications for the presence and management of risk. These products identify risk by evaluating source code, performing runtime tests and inspecting supply chain components. AST products can be integrated throughout development workflows for continuous assessment or be used to perform ad hoc evaluations. They enable organizations to manage application risks by providing an integrated set of capabilities for risk identification, prioritization and triage, policy evaluation and enforcement, and remediation assistance. Market offerings are available in on-premises, SaaS and hybrid delivery models. Organizations leverage AST products to assess applications for the presence of security vulnerabilities and other risks (e.g., legal and operational) throughout their life cycle. These assessments are used to measure and manage the risks within individual applications, application components or groups of applications in the context of their business criticality and other key attributes (e.g., environment, sensitive data handling, etc.). AST products further enable organizations to evaluate software for compliance with internal policies as well as regulatory requirements established by governments or authoritative industry groups.
Code review tools are software applications that help developers review and improve code quality by examining code changes, identifying issues, and ensuring adherence to standards. These tools enhance collaboration and knowledge sharing among team members, making the codebase more maintainable and reliable. Key features include enhancing code quality by automatically checking for coding standards, bugs, and security vulnerabilities. These tools allow reviewers to provide clear, actionable feedback through inline comments and streamline the integration of code changes via pull requests or merge requests. Typical users include developers, team leads, and quality assurance engineers who collaborate to maintain high code quality and streamline the development process.