--- title: "XBOW Alternative: Sekura for Proof-First Autonomous Pentesting — Sekura" url: https://sekura.ai/alternatives/xbow/ description: "Looking for an XBOW alternative? Compare Sekura and XBOW on proof of exploit, surfaces covered, deployment control, and public pricing." updated: 2026-08-23 generator: sekura build, scripts/build-markdown.mjs --- Alternative # XBOW Alternative: Sekura for Proof-First Autonomous Pentesting Looking for an XBOW alternative? Compare Sekura and XBOW on proof of exploit, surfaces covered, deployment control, and public pricing. [All guides →](https://sekura.ai/blog/#guides) ![Sekura — owl-in-shield mark](https://sekura.ai/branding/sekura-owl-v3.png) An XBOW alternative needs to cover autonomous vulnerability discovery with evidence you can act on. XBOW is an AI-driven offensive security tool known for finding web application vulnerabilities at scale; it drew wide attention after topping a HackerOne bug bounty leaderboard. Buyers comparing alternatives are usually weighing four things: proof quality, surface coverage, deployment control, and pricing transparency. Details about third-party products reflect their public materials as of August 2026; verify with the vendor. ## Key facts - XBOW is an autonomous offensive security tool focused on discovering web application vulnerabilities at scale. It gained attention by topping a HackerOne bug bounty leaderboard. - Sekura runs a 7-phase multi-agent pipeline: SAST, recon, crypto-agility and post-quantum review, vulnerability analysis with 16 agents, exploitation with 16 exploit agents, chain analysis, and reporting. - Sekura reports a finding only with a deterministic proof-of-exploit. If the exploit does not reproduce, the finding is not reported. - Sekura runs in your own GitHub Actions runner or fully on-prem and air-gapped, so your code never leaves your environment. - Sekura publishes pricing: a free first scan, Scan Once at $199, and monthly plans — Scan Always at $20, ScanPlus Always at $100, and ScanPro Always at $300 a month — with enterprise tiers arranged by contacting us. ## What XBOW does well XBOW earned its reputation. It discovers real web vulnerabilities autonomously and at scale, and topping a HackerOne bug bounty leaderboard is a public, verifiable result. We take that seriously. If your goal is broad autonomous discovery across external web applications, in the style of a bug bounty hunter that never sleeps, XBOW deserves a close look. The natural fit is a team with a large external web attack surface that wants offensive findings without staffing an offensive team. ## Where Sekura differs We built Sekura around one rule: proof, not probability. A finding ships with a deterministic proof-of-exploit or it does not ship. There is no severity guessing and no triage queue of maybes. That rule is the core of [autonomous penetration testing](https://sekura.ai/learn/what-is-autonomous-penetration-testing/) as we practice it. Four other differences matter in an evaluation: 1. One scan covers three surfaces: application security, LLM security testing, and post-quantum cryptography review. 2. Sekura runs in your environment. Cloud scans execute inside your own GitHub Actions runner; Enterprise runs fully on-prem or air-gapped. Your code never leaves. 3. Findings map to 14 compliance frameworks, so a scan doubles as audit evidence. 4. Pricing is public, from a free first scan through monthly plans of $20 to $300 a month; the enterprise tiers are arranged by contacting us. You can budget the self-serve plans before you ever talk to us. Sekura is also continuous by design. It runs on every push if you want it to, not as a scheduled campaign. See [continuous pentesting](https://sekura.ai/solutions/continuous-pentesting/) for how teams wire that in. | | XBOW | Sekura | | ---------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Approach | Autonomous AI discovery of web application vulnerabilities | 7-phase multi-agent pipeline from SAST through exploitation and chain analysis | | Proof of exploit | Autonomous discovery at scale; see vendor materials for evidence format | Deterministic proof-of-exploit required for every reported finding | | Surfaces covered | Web application attack discovery | App-sec, LLM security, and post-quantum crypto review in one scan | | Deployment | See vendor materials | Your GitHub Actions runner, or fully on-prem and air-gapped | | Pricing model | See vendor materials | Public: free first scan, $199 Scan Once, $20–$300/mo plans, enterprise contact-us | | Best for | Broad autonomous discovery across external web apps | Teams that want proven, continuous findings inside their own environment | ## How to choose an XBOW alternative Start from what you are protecting. Three questions settle most evaluations: 1. Do you need a working exploit behind every finding, or is high-signal discovery enough? 2. Can your code and traffic leave your environment? 3. Do you need one surface tested, or app-sec, LLM security, and crypto together? If your answers are discovery, yes, and one surface, evaluate XBOW seriously. If they are proof, no, and together, Sekura is the closer fit. The first scan is free, so the cheapest way to decide is to run one; see [pricing](https://sekura.ai/pricing/). The interesting shift is not which tool wins. It is that autonomous offensive security now works well enough that the debate has moved from whether to which. ## Frequently asked questions Is Sekura a replacement for XBOW? For autonomous web application testing the two overlap, and some teams could use either. Sekura adds LLM security testing and post-quantum cryptography review in the same scan, and it runs inside your own environment. If your goal is bug bounty style discovery across many external targets, evaluate XBOW directly. What is the main difference between XBOW and Sekura? XBOW is known for autonomous discovery of web application vulnerabilities at scale, including topping a HackerOne bug bounty leaderboard. Sekura reports a finding only when it can produce a deterministic proof-of-exploit, and it combines application security, LLM security, and post-quantum crypto review in one scan that runs in your environment. Does Sekura publish pricing? Yes. The first scan is free, Scan Once is $199, and the monthly plans are Scan Always at $20, ScanPlus Always at $100, and ScanPro Always at $300 a month. The enterprise tiers — LiveScan, MasterScan, and On Prem — are arranged by contacting us. Can Sekura run without sending code to a vendor? Yes. Sekura runs inside your GitHub Actions runner or fully on-prem in an air-gapped deployment. Your code never leaves your environment. [All guides](https://sekura.ai/blog/#guides)