# ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy)

5 Hacker News commenters recommended ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy) and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free, open-source security testing proxy that people rank alongside Burp Suite; it takes effort to learn, and one critic found it unintuitive.

## Why people recommend it

- Useful for security testing (3 comments): "ZAP, Burp, Nessus, SQLMap, etc. are likely also impressive if you put a little effort into learning how to use them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48513125)) "aids in driving through security testing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49254010)) "contrary to my beloved burp/zap" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46335372))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Burp Suite](https://hackerapproved.com/p/burp-suite.md): 9 recommend
- [Strix](https://hackerapproved.com/p/strix.md): 9 recommend
- [Deadend CLI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/deadend-cli.md): 6 recommend
- [SmokedMeat](https://hackerapproved.com/p/smokedmeat.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy)", https://hackerapproved.com/p/zap/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).