The 2024 Frost & Sullivan Report on Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) paints a vivid picture of a growing, dynamic market where organizations battle increasingly complex security risks. The top companies in this space are pushing the boundaries of innovation, and we are proud to stand out as the undisputed leader in this latest report.
But what is ASPM exactly?
Application Security Posture refers to an organization’s security state concerning its applications, specifically how well-protected they are against vulnerabilities and threats throughout their lifecycle. This includes identifying risks during development, ongoing monitoring, and mitigation during deployment. A strong application security posture helps prevent breaches, reduces risk exposure, and ensures rapid response to threats.
Managing application security posture requires continuous assessment, prioritization, and remediation of vulnerabilities. It involves integrating security practices into the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and prioritizing fixes based on risk impact. However, many ASPM solutions face challenges such as excessive alerts, fragmented tools, and difficulty managing risks across diverse environments.
But what makes Checkmarx the leader, and how does it compare to other top players? More importantly, why should an application security manager like you care? Let’s break it down.
The Checkmarx Advantage: A Comprehensive Approach to ASPM
Checkmarx’ dominance is built on our comprehensive Checkmarx One platform, which integrates ASPM as a core component. This unified platform offers code-to-cloud security, allowing organizations to see and manage vulnerabilities and risk across the entire SDLC.
Integrations – Checkmarx ASPM integrates both native Checkmarx AST tools and third-party tools to provide advanced risk correlation and prioritization across the SDLC. While it supports an open approach with third-party tool integration, the key advantage lies in its ability to leverage the rich context from Checkmarx’ own AST tools, which are designed to work together. This leads to deeper insights, better prioritization, and more effective noise reduction, which in turn provides faster remediation, giving organizations confidence in their ability to manage application security risks.
Risk-Based Prioritization: Checkmarx ASPM enhances risk prioritization through built-in integration with its native tools, designed to function on a unified platform. This integration connects to our Application Risk Management capabilities, enabling organizations to prioritize their riskiest applications. Security teams can then focus on addressing critical issues at the application level instead of being overwhelmed by individual vulnerabilities. This advanced correlation improves prioritization of business-critical applications and their potential impact, effectively reducing noise compared to other solutions. These innovations have fueled tremendous growth, with Checkmarx capturing 21.3% of the market share in 2024, outpacing its competitors. Challenging the Value of Different ASPM Approaches: The Standalone, Part of a CNAPP, and the AppSec Platform Approach
While Checkmarx leads the charge, the competing approaches from other vendors are worth noting. However, these approaches fall short in key areas that security managers must consider.
The Standalone Approach: A Strong Contender, But Lacks Flexibility
This approach, while offering AppSec Data Fabric for code visibility and dependency management, relies heavily on third-party SAST solutions that support limited languages and APIs, making it dependent on external systems for core functionality. Although it features a no-code workflow for automated remediation, it lacks the flexibility and native integration that Checkmarx offers. Without owning the tools, it can only achieve basic correlation, limiting its ability to provide rich context and insights. As a result, it struggles to cut through the noise and accurately prioritize vulnerabilities. When multiple systems are involved, organizations cannot fully trust that their vulnerabilities are being prioritized effectively, leading to potential gaps in their security posture.
The Part of a CNAPP Approach: Leading in Cloud, Lacking in Developer-First Tools
Taking the ASPM to be part of their CNAPP approach, this vendor is known for its dominance in endpoint and cloud security and has recently expanded into ASPM, offering agentless visibility into microservices and databases—important for cloud-native security. However, their ASPM struggles with developer adoption due to limited integration with CI/CD tools. Without deep integration, it’s harder for developers to remediate vulnerabilities directly within their workflows. Additionally, their shift-left approach lacks SAST, making correlation difficult since they can’t see the code, and their focus on infrastructure doesn’t easily translate into developer workflows. Can your security program afford a gap between developers and security when addressing vulnerabilities?
The AppSec Platform Approach: Developer-Centric, But Narrow in Scope
This vendor excels with its developer-first approach, achieving high adoption rates within developer communities. However, its recent venture into ASPM reveals key limitations, such as minimal third-party integrations and code visibility in only 12 programming languages. While their tools work well together, organizations relying on a variety of security tools may find the solution restrictive. Despite having access to runtime integrations for richer context and insights, the effectiveness of their correlation depends heavily on the strength of the individual tools, which may limit their ability to accurately map exploitable paths (see the Tolly report for data on exploitable paths). Its scope is narrow, focusing on developer needs but potentially leaving gaps in full SDLC coverage. Is this limited scope enough to handle the complex and evolving risks in today’s application environments?
Why Checkmarx is the Clear Leader
Checkmarx addresses ASPM as part of the Checkmarx One AppSec platform challenges through a comprehensive, integrated solution that reduces alert noise, correlates risks from multiple sources, and seamlessly integrates into the developer pipeline. This approach embeds security at every stage of development and provides actionable insights that empower developers to resolve vulnerabilities quickly. With expansive integration capabilities, developer-first features, and risk-based vulnerability prioritization, Checkmarx distinguishes itself as a leader in the ASPM space.
Here’s why in more detail:
All-in-One Platform: Unlike competitors that require multiple tools, Checkmarx consolidates all AST tools under a single platform, making it easier for organizations to manage and secure their applications.
Superior Innovation: From real-time in-IDE scanning to AI-driven remediation, Checkmarx continually pushes the envelope on ASPM innovation. A focus on AI and ML in the security pipeline positions us ahead of competitors.
Unmatched Growth: Checkmarx’ existing customer base and strategic channel partnerships are helping drive adoption across North America, EMEA, APAC, and LATAM, making us a global leader.
What Should You Consider?
As an Application Security Manager, you need a solution that delivers comprehensive visibility and streamlined remediation while seamlessly integrating with your existing tools and workflows. Is a standalone approach with patchwork of integrations sufficient for your needs? Can a CNAPP approach with cloud-first approach cover the full SDLC? And while a competitor’s AppSec platform approach excels with developers, is it enough for a complete security posture?
Checkmarx answers these questions by redefining what ASPM should be—natively correlated, fully integrated, developer-friendly, and equipped with the advanced capabilities needed to handle today’s application risks.
The Future of ASPM
The future of ASPM is clear: it must be part of an AppSec platform, comprehensive, correlated and integrated solutions will continue to outpace fragmented approaches. With Checkmarx leading the charge, the question becomes, how long can other vendors keep up?
Ready to see the power of Checkmarx in action? Don’t wait. Try Checkmarx today and experience a future-proof ASPM solution that puts you back in control of your application security posture.
Visit our ASPM solution page – Here
Read the full Frost & Sullivan report and start your journey with Checkmarx now. Your security posture depends on it.