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Top 10 Traceable.ai Alternatives

APIs have evolved from mere technical enablers into critical business drivers. Studies indicate that 35–62% of enterprises generate direct revenue from APIs, and for nearly a quarter, APIs account for over 75% of total revenue. This transformation is powered by DevOps, microservices, and cloud-native architectures, turning software delivery into a strategic growth engine.

Yet this growth introduces a new set of risks. Unsecured, undocumented, or poorly monitored APIs can compromise innovation, trigger data breaches, incur regulatory fines, and disrupt production. As APIs increasingly handle sensitive data including personal identifiers, payment details, and healthcare records, regulators are demanding continuous security, privacy controls, and proactive monitoring. Simply relying on edge-based protections or post-incident alerting is no longer enough.

API security is now a board-level concern, focusing on both revenue protection and customer trust. Organizations must move fast while building responsibly, with deep visibility across all environments from development to production.

This is where Traceable.ai often falls short. Built primarily as a reactive runtime defense, Traceable.ai focuses on detecting and blocking attacks in production while storing full API traffic for forensic analysis. Its shift left capabilities are limited and addon in nature. With high operational overhead for SOC teams, incomplete discovery of low traffic, internal, or third party APIs, and heavy payload ingestion, critical vulnerabilities can still slip through, leading to delayed remediation, high costs, and privacy risks.

For enterprises that want to treat APIs as strategic assets rather than compliance checkboxes, a modern, automated, and privacy-conscious approach is essential.

This blog highlights the Top 10 Traceable.ai Alternatives, evaluated across coverage, scalability, deployment ease, cost efficiency, and alignment with API-first, DevSecOps-driven delivery models.

When to Seek Alternatives to Traceable.ai

When evaluating Traceable.ai’s approach to API security, several recurring challenges emerge that directly impact security coverage, operational efficiency, compliance readiness, and developer productivity. These limitations explain why many organizations are exploring Traceable.ai alternatives.

The table below highlights the key triggers and explains why they matter, from limited pre-production coverage and reactive monitoring to high operational overhead and incomplete discovery, helping teams understand where Traceable.ai may fall short in real world deployments.

Trigger
Why It Matters
Limited Pre-Production Coverage
Security depends on runtime monitoring, leaving dev and staging APIs untested. Vulnerabilities surface only after deployment.
High Privacy & Compliance Risk
Full API payload capture, even on-prem, raises data residency and audit challenges.
Incomplete API Visibility
Only active external APIs are discovered. Internal, partner, third-party, or low-traffic endpoints remain hidden.
No Native API Testing 
Reactive, runtime-only testing misses business logic flaws and multi step attacks.
High Operational Overhead
SOC teams manually manage dashboards, alerts, and testing. Inline agents and network mirroring slow rollout.
Limited Customization
Shallow control over dashboards, payloads, and policies limits adaptation to evolving apps or regulations.
On-Prem Deployment Complexity
Heavy architecture complicates adoption in air-gapped or regulated environments.
SDLC Misalignment
Lacks shift-left integration. Pre-production environments remain unprotected, increasing patch delays and compliance risk.

At a Glance: Traceable.ai vs the Best Alternatives

Traceable.ai delivers runtime API protection, detecting and blocking attacks in production while providing forensic analytics for SOC teams. However, its approach remains largely reactive, with limited pre-production visibility, high data ingestion costs, and significant operational overhead. For enterprises aiming to reduce privacy risk, accelerate remediation, and achieve full lifecycle API protection, several alternatives now offer stronger automation, scalability, and cost efficiency.

Below are the Top 10 Traceable.ai Alternatives that combine deeper pre-production coverage, privacy-preserving architectures, and CI/CD alignment, helping organizations secure APIs as strategic business assets without slowing down innovation.

  1. Levo.ai
  2. Salt Security
  3. Akamai
  4. Orca Security
  5. Rapid7
  6. Akto
  7. Invicti
  8. Qualys
  9. StackHawk
  10. Escape Security

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of Salt Security vs leading alternatives across core dimensions like business value, privacy, total cost of ownership, visibility, and deployment agility, helping you quickly identify the best fit for your API security strategy.

Category
Traceable.ai
Levo.ai
Salt Security
Akamai
Orca Security
Rapid7
Akto
Inviciti
Qualys
StackHawk
Escape Security
Core Business Value
Reactive runtime defense; focuses on blocking and forensics.
Full-lifecycle API security driving faster, safer releases.
Production-focused; detects issues post-deployment, leaving gaps in proactive protection.
Edge-driven API security built on CDN architecture; adds alert noise and overhead.
CNAPP platform offering production-level visibility; no shift-left coverage.
DAST-based point-in-time API scans for compliance.
Developer-first API testing platform with strong shift-left focus.
Periodic API scans; limited security depth.
API testing retrofitted onto web-app scanning framework.
Developer-focused API testing during development.
Focused on static schema generation and limited runtime protection.
Primary Use Case
Attack detection and fraud prevention in production.
Automated security across dev to prod with CI/CD integration.
WAF-based runtime protection; no native testing or pre-production coverage.
WAF-style API protection for production workloads.
Cloud and workload monitoring with limited API testing depth.
Post-build validation for audit and compliance.
Continuous discovery, testing, and runtime monitoring for dev teams.
Schema-based validation for basic injection or spec errors.
Scheduled OWASP-based scans with limited logic testing.
Surface-level scans for early-stage APIs.
AST-based schema testing and documentation.
TCO
High as it stores 100% of traffic; cost scales with volume.
1/10th the cost, avoids $100K–$500K annual waste in cloud and infra spend.
High due to SaaS ingestion, scaling infra, and manual setup.
Very high from traffic mirroring across clouds.
High, since SaaS-only processing and overhead.
High due to dedicated scan engines and rescans increase costs.
Low TCO due to community/open-source tier with pay-as-you-grow pricing.
High due to multiple agents, modules, and infra dependencies.
High due to multi-module pricing (VMDR, EASM, TotalAppSec).
Moderate. Higher per-scan cost, but localized testing.
High due to unpredictable cloud/AI costs tied to repo size, LLM usage, and manual overhead.
Vendor-Induced Privacy Risk
High: full payloads processed; audit complexity.
Privacy-safe; <1% metadata processed, no sensitive data leaves the environment.
High risk as full traffic processed in SaaS, increasing exposure and compliance burden.
Data exported to Akamai’s SaaS, increasing vendor exposure risk.
Sensitive data scanned in vendor cloud, increasing exposure.
Payload ingestion creates privacy and audit hurdles.
Minimal; runs locally without exporting sensitive data.
Full network traffic and spec ingestion can expose payloads.
Shared cloud tenancy may expose sensitive data if misconfigured.
Minimal; local testing, though repo storage may expose secrets.
Source code ingestion risks secrets and proprietary data.
Best For
SOC-driven teams prioritizing runtime detection and forensics.
Enterprises needing full-lifecycle API security and compliance automation.
Teams focused on runtime defense and SOC operations.
Teams prioritizing CDN reach and edge resilience.
Cloud-first enterprises prioritizing CNAPP visibility.
Compliance and audit-driven organizations.
Developer-centric startups or agile teams.
Teams running scheduled API scans.
Teams needing compliance posture visibility.
Developer teams integrating API tests early in SDLC.
Teams focused on static API schema validation.
Pricing
Enterprise contracts; scales with traffic volume.
Flexible per-endpoint pricing.
Enterprise contracts, rigid at scale.
Rigid, volume-tied pricing.
Enterprise, bundled with CNAPP suite.
Custom enterprise pricing.
Transparent and flexible, community edition available.
Transparent, per-asset or per-scan pricing.
Enterprise-focused, bundled pricing with other Qualys modules.
Enterprise-focused, custom pricing for larger teams at scale.
Enterprise-focused, contract-based pricing; often rigid at scale.
G2 Rating

1. Levo

Levo.ai is built for modern, API-first enterprises that need full-lifecycle API security, not just post-incident defense. Unlike Traceable.ai, which focuses on detecting and blocking attacks in production, Levo secures the entire software development lifecycle, from pre-production testing to runtime protection, without slowing down teams or compromising privacy.

Powered by an eBPF-based sensor, Levo delivers deep, kernel-level visibility into every API, including internal, external, partner, and low traffic endpoints. It automatically generates API documentation, maps sensitive data flows, and detects vulnerabilities early in development. Traceable’s visibility depends on runtime traffic ingestion, leaving gaps across internal, inactive, and third-party APIs.

Levo transforms API security from reactive to proactive. Instead of relying on forensic dashboards and alerts like Traceable, Levo continuously validates APIs through exploit-aware, real data testing. Each alert is verified before being raised, cutting false positives and shrinking remediation cycles from months to days. Its inline protection blocks only confirmed threats, ensuring zero disruption to legitimate traffic or application performance.

Levo’s privacy-first design keeps all sensitive data within the customer environment, processing less than 1% of metadata in its SaaS control plane. This removes the vendor-induced data exposure that Traceable introduces by capturing full API payloads. The result is up to 10x lower infrastructure and egress costs, saving enterprises $100K–$500K annually while simplifying compliance.

Integrated directly into CI/CD pipelines, Levo automates shift left security with YAML and Python-based customization, rapid deployment, and hybrid or on-prem options. No inline agents, DPIAs, or long rollout cycles are required. Deployments complete in under an hour with minimal DevSecOps effort. In contrast, Traceable’s in-app instrumentation, network mirroring, and heavy data lake architecture slow down adoption and increase operational complexity.

Where Traceable stops at detection, Levo secures the entire journey, helping enterprises build, test, and operate APIs faster, safer, and with greater cost and privacy efficiency.

Platform Fit Across Enterprise Needs

Selecting the right API security platform depends on whether your priorities center on proactive prevention, runtime visibility, compliance assurance, or operational efficiency.

Each platform serves a distinct maturity level and team focus, and understanding where they excel or fall short helps align tools with enterprise security and growth goals.

Tool
Fits For
Breaks For
Traceable.ai
SOC teams needing runtime visibility and forensic analysis.
Teams requiring proactive, pre-production testing.
Levo
API-first, compliance-driven organizations can achieve full API discovery (internal, external, shadow), integrate security into CI/CD, and automate remediation, all with fast deployment (~1 hour) and low egress costs (~1/10th).
Teams focused solely on CDN optimization without pre-production security may not benefit.
Salt Security
Large enterprises needing mature runtime protection and posture management.
Agile teams looking for lightweight, shift-left security.
Akamai
Enterprises leveraging Akamai’s CDN for production API defense.
Teams seeking shift-left or SDLC-wide coverage.
Orca Security
Enterprises seeking unified cloud, workload, and API visibility.
API-first teams needing pre-production security.
Rapid7
Security teams using Insight for runtime API monitoring.
Developer teams seeking integrated pre-prod security.
Akto
Developer-first orgs adopting shift-left API testing in CI/CD.
Enterprises needing large-scale runtime protection.
Invicti
DevSecOps teams needing web app + API scans for compliance.
Teams requiring continuous runtime defense.
Qualys
Enterprises extending vulnerability management to APIs.
Developer-led teams needing dynamic, shift-left testing.
StackHawk
Dev teams embedding API tests in CI/CD for early detection.
Enterprises needing continuous runtime protection.
Escape Security
Teams automating API security in CI/CD for REST/GraphQL.
Enterprises needing full runtime posture control.

API Security Feature Comparison

Provides full API visibility and discovery: internal, external, shadow, zombie, and third-party APIs, enriched with auth, sensitivity, reachability, and runtime context.

Feature
Levo
Traceable.ai
API Inventory
Auto-discovers shadow, zombie, internal, and third-party APIs with auth, sensitivity, and reachability context.
Traffic-based discovery; misses inactive, internal, and third-party APIs.
API Documentation
Auto-generates detailed OpenAPI/Postman specs (12+ params: auth, rate limits, changelogs).
Runtime-only specs; lacks pre-prod validation, causing drift and gaps.
Sensitive Data Discovery
Detects and classifies PHI/PII/financial data at endpoint level with trace-linked evidence
Detects sensitive data in runtime payloads only; limited classification.
API Security Testing
Continuous, auth-aware exploit tests with zero false positives.
Add-on runtime tests; limited automation and shallow coverage.
API Monitoring
eBPF-powered real-time monitoring; prevents drift and data exposure pre-release.
Reactive runtime-only monitoring; detects issues post-deployment.
Vulnerability Mgmt.
Exploit validation, runtime-based prioritization, auto-assign to devs
Reports only; lacks exploit validation and prioritization logic.
Remediation Automation
Developer-native fixes via Jira/Slack/IDE; auto-generated patch code, reproducible payloads
Manual triage; dashboards without auto fix or ticketing.
Detection
High-fidelity alerts tied to actual API behavior and identity; actionable without endless triage
High volume, traffic dependent alerts; frequent false positives.
Protection
Inline protection; customizable rules; prevents traffic loss while blocking real threats
Inline blocking only; may disrupt legitimate traffic.
MCP Server
Exposes programmable security data for custom reporting, automation, and AI integration
No equivalent programmable layer; static dashboards only.

Adoption Speed and Integration Ease

Metric
Traceable.ai
Levo
Deployment Ease
Requires inline agents, in-app instrumentation, or network mirroring; rollouts take months, high-friction approvals due to production dependencies
Lightweight in-line and passive sensors; deploys within hours with <1% traffic overhead; minimal DevSecOps effort
Customization to In-House Needs
Limited: dashboard and analytics customization only; test generation and payload depth cannot be customized
Highly flexible: YAML & Python rules, UI-configurable sensors, supports new sensitive data types, CI/CD aligned
Manual Overhead Needed
High; SOC teams must manage dashboards, alerts, and runtime testing; manual prioritization needed
Minimal; validated, exploit-aware findings require almost no manual effort
SDLC Coverage
Primarily production-focused; shift-left limited, testing bolt-on, and reactive
End-to-end: pre-production through runtime with integrated testing and inline protection
Privacy Model
Captures full API payloads; even on-prem deployments involve heavy sensitive data processing, increasing compliance and audit complexity
Privacy-preserving; sensitive data remains local; only metadata is sent to SaaS, reducing egress costs
CI/CD Fit
Limited; reactive runtime alerts with minimal pre-production integration
Embedded into pipelines; shift-left enabled; seamless integration into IDE, Jira, Slack

2. Salt Security

Overview

Salt Security delivers runtime-first API protection, focusing on detecting attacks, access control misconfigurations, and sensitive data exposure in production. It provides full traffic ingestion, SOC analytics, and detailed API visibility, including sensitive data flows, but deployment is complex, ingestion incurs high compute costs, and vendor privacy risk is elevated. It is reactive, offering limited preproduction testing or shift left coverage, and remediation guidance is generic, requiring manual followup.

Traceable.ai provides runtime API protection with SOC-friendly dashboards and analytics, detecting attacks and anomalies in production. It captures full API payloads to support monitoring and runtime discovery, but low traffic, internal, and partner APIs are often missed. Testing is reactive, pattern-based, and lacks deep behavioral simulation, business-logic coverage, or automated remediation. Deployment requires inline agents or network mirroring, adding operational complexity and lengthy rollout times.

Both platforms strengthen API security in production, but in complementary ways: Salt excels in traffic driven detection and full spectrum runtime visibility, while Traceable.ai focuses on SOC-centric alerting and runtime attack prevention. Neither alone delivers comprehensive shift left security or automated, context-aware remediation, leaving gaps across pre-production, internal, and complex business-critical endpoints.

Feature Comparison

Category
Traceable.ai
Salt Security
Core Focus
Runtime API protection: reactive defense, detecting and blocking attacks in production, traffic capture for SOC analytics
Runtime API protection: attacks, sensitive data exposure, access misconfigs; full traffic analysis for threat prevention
API Security Depth
Production runtime focus; reactive; limited shift-left; misses low-traffic, internal, or partner APIs
Production runtime focus; minimal pre-prod testing; strong coverage of active APIs
Compliance Support
PCI, GDPR, SOC2 via runtime monitoring; pre-prod validation limited
API-level threat detection; limited pre-prod coverage
Deployment Model
Requires inline agents, network mirroring, or in-app instrumentation; heavy deployment overhead
Agent or gateway; full traffic ingestion; complex but well-defined deployment
Best Suited For
SOC teams needing runtime visibility, attack detection, and post-incident forensics
Enterprises needing continuous runtime visibility and threat prevention, including sensitive data and misconfigurations

Pros & Cons

Traceable.ai

Pros:

  • Strong runtime visibility with contextual attack forensics.
  • Can block active API attacks and provide fraud detection insights.
  • Supports on-prem deployments for regulated sectors.
  • Context-aware threat detection for production APIs.
  • Partial shift left capabilities with some CI/CD integration.

Cons:

  • Reactive approach: primarily production monitoring; dev/staging APIs often remain unprotected.
  • High total cost of ownership due to full payload capture and storage; costs scale linearly with traffic.
  • Vendor-induced privacy risks from processing sensitive data, even in on-prem setups.
  • Significant manual overhead for SOC teams to manage dashboards, alerts, and runtime analytics.
  • Shift left support is limited and lacks deep CI/CD integration.
  • Integration with Harness can complicate standalone adoption and pipeline visibility.

Salt Security

Pros:

  • Comprehensive runtime protection with full traffic ingestion for attack detection and monitoring.
  • Detailed attack analytics for SOCs and security teams.
  • Cloud native deployment simplifies integration with API gateways and modern apps.
  • Detects common API vulnerabilities, schema mismatches, and access control issues in production.

Cons:

  • Limited shift left capabilities; pre-production API security coverage is minimal.
  • High vendor induced privacy risk: all API traffic is ingested into the SaaS, including sensitive payloads.
  • Expensive TCO due to full traffic capture, storage, and processing overhead.
  • Manual effort required for triaging alerts, dashboards, and remediation guidance.
  • API discovery blind spots for internal, low-traffic, shadow, and partner APIs.
  • Remediation automation is limited; findings require manual developer mapping and ticketing.

Verdict

  • Traceable.ai is suitable for organizations prioritizing runtime threat detection, fraud prevention, and SOC-focused production monitoring, but it remains reactive and costly, with limited shift left capabilities.
  • Salt Security provides robust production level monitoring and attack detection, but its pre-production coverage, shift left support, and automation are weak, making it less ideal for teams seeking end to end SDLC security.
  • For API-first enterprises aiming for full SDLC coverage, cost efficient deployment, privacy-first design, and automated remediation, Levo.ai remains the most comprehensive solution, bridging the gap between pre-production and runtime protection while minimizing manual overhead and operational risks.

3. Akamai

Overview

Akamai Security delivers production focused API defense, emphasizing attack blocking, traffic inspection, and anomaly detection at the edge. It integrates with WAFs and CDNs for runtime protection and SOC-ready analytics, but coverage is mostly limited to external APIs. Internal, partner, or low-traffic endpoints often remain invisible, and preproduction testing is minimal. Deployment can be complex due to reliance on cloud SaaS and multi layer approvals. Costs scale with traffic, and full cloud processing raises privacy and compliance concerns. Remediation guidance is generic, lacking developer-specific mapping, automated patching, or deep behavioral context.

Traceable.ai provides runtime and active API monitoring with partial pre-production scanning. It uses traffic instrumentation to detect OWASP Top 10 flaws, misconfigurations, and anomalous access patterns, supporting SOC workflows. Runtime discovery depends on active traffic, leaving inactive, shadow, or internal APIs under-monitored. Security testing is reactive, attack simulations are shallow, and multistep business logic exploits remain largely untested. Deployment requires inline agents, adding operational friction. Remediation is report-based, without automation or developer guidance, increasing manual triage effort.

Both enhance API security in complementary ways: Akamai excels at edge-based runtime protection for external traffic, while Traceable.ai strengthens runtime visibility and SOC monitoring. Neither provides full shift left coverage, internal API discovery, or behaviorally aware testing, leaving gaps across preproduction, internal, and complex business-critical endpoints.

Feature Comparison

Category
Traceable.ai
Akamai
Core Focus
Runtime API protection with attack detection, fraud prevention, and forensic analytics for SOC workflows
Edge API security with WAF, bot management, and runtime threat protection
API Security Depth
Production-only visibility; reactive; limited shift-left or pre-prod testing; misses low-traffic/internal APIs
Edge runtime focus; no deep internal API testing or sensitive data visibility
Compliance Support
Runtime threat detection supports PCI, GDPR, SOC2; lacks pre-prod validation
PCI, GDPR, SOC2 compliance via WAF and bot modules; no pre-prod coverage
Deployment Model
Requires inline agents, network mirroring, or app instrumentation; heavy setup
Cloud/CDN edge integration; minimal inline deployment effort
Best Suited For
SOC teams prioritizing runtime visibility, incident response, and forensic analytics
Enterprises focused on edge protection, bot mitigation, and global CDN performance

Akamai

Pros:

  • Strong global edge network presence with robust WAF and CDN integrations.
  • Can absorb large traffic volumes and mitigate DDoS effectively.
  • Minimal operational overhead for deployment at the edge; scales easily.

Cons:

  • API security is bolt-on, not built ground up; focus remains edge-first.
  • Limited pre-production or shift left coverage; testing is mostly production only.
  • Privacy concerns due to traffic and payload exported outside customer environments.
  • High manual effort needed to tune policies and reduce false positives.
  • Lacks contextual visibility into internal, partner, or third party APIs.

Traceable.ai

Pros:

  • Strong runtime visibility with detailed attack forensics.
  • Can block active API attacks and provide fraud detection insights.
  • On-premise support for regulated industries.
  • Context-aware API threat detection and partial shift-left capabilities.

Cons:

  • Reactive approach: primarily production monitoring; dev/staging APIs remain uncovered.
  • High total cost of ownership due to full payload capture and storage.
  • Vendor-induced privacy risk from ingestion of sensitive traffic data.
  • Significant manual SOC overhead to manage dashboards, alerts, and analytics.
  • Shift left and CI/CD integration limited; post-deployment focus dominates.
  • Merged with Harness, difficult to purchase standalone; limited SIEM integrations.

Verdict

  • Traceable.ai (via Harness) is ideal for API-first teams seeking runtime threat detection, fraud prevention, and partial shift left testing, though deployment cost, privacy risk, and SOC overhead may limit standalone adoption.
  • Akamai is best for organizations prioritizing edge-level performance, DDoS protection, and high volume traffic handling, with API security as a secondary benefit.
  • Levo.ai remains the leading choice for end-to-end API security, delivering automated discovery, pre-production testing, runtime protection, shift-left integration, cost efficiency, and privacy-first design, ensuring coverage across the full SDLC with minimal manual effort.

4. Orca Security

Overview

Orca Security delivers cloud workload API visibility and security, emphasizing vulnerability detection, misconfigurations, and sensitive data exposure across cloud repositories. It leverages agentless scanning and automated schema inference to map APIs across environments, offering compliance insights and risk scoring. However, Orca lacks runtime protection, deep shift-left capabilities, or automated attack simulation. Deployment is SaaS-first, with some on-prem scanning limitations, and full-scale scanning introduces compute overhead and potential exposure of sensitive repository metadata.

Traceable.ai provides runtime API protection, detecting attacks, access-control misconfigurations, and anomalies in production. It captures full API traffic to feed SOC workflows and supports shadow API discovery, but testing is reactive, dependent on traffic, and offers limited pre-production validation. Multi-step attack simulation, business-logic flaws, and internal APIs often remain under-tested. Deployment is complex, with high overhead for in-line agents or network mirroring, and sensitive payload ingestion raises privacy and compliance concerns.

Both improve API security, but in complementary ways: Orca excels at pre-production API discovery, compliance, and static vulnerability mapping, while Traceable.ai focuses on runtime detection and reactive protection. Neither alone delivers end-to-end shift-left, behavior-aware API security, leaving gaps across staging, internal, and business-critical endpoints.

Feature Comparison

Category
Traceable.ai
Orca Security
Core Focus
Runtime API protection: detects and blocks attacks, fraud, and data exfiltration; full traffic ingestion for SOC analytics
Cloud security posture management and vulnerability detection across workloads, identities, and storage—not API-specific
API Security Depth
Production-only visibility; reactive defense; limited shift-left testing; misses low-traffic or internal APIs
No native API security; focuses on misconfigurations and vulnerabilities in cloud assets, not API behavior or traffic
Compliance Support
PCI, GDPR, SOC2 support via runtime threat analytics; lacks proactive pre-prod validation
Supports PCI, ISO, SOC2, HIPAA for cloud workloads; limited API-specific compliance visibility
Deployment Model
Requires inline agents, network mirroring, or app instrumentation; high compute and storage overhead
Agentless scanning for cloud accounts and workloads; faster setup but no API traffic visibility
Best Suited For
SOC teams needing runtime API visibility, attack detection, and forensic analytics
Cloud security teams focused on asset inventory, misconfigurations, and vulnerability management, not runtime API protection

Traceable.ai

Pros:

  • Strong runtime API visibility with detailed attack forensics and anomaly detection.
  • Can block active API attacks and detect fraud patterns in production.
  • Partial shift left support for pre production testing.
  • On-premise deployment possible for regulated sectors.
  • Context-aware threat detection for external and active APIs.

Cons:

  • Reactive approach: limited to production monitoring; dev/staging APIs largely untested.
  • High total cost of ownership due to full payload capture and storage.
  • Significant vendor-induced privacy risk from ingesting sensitive traffic data.
  • Substantial manual overhead for SOC teams to manage dashboards, alerts, and tuning.
  • Shift left CI/CD integration is shallow; limited pre production coverage.
  • Merged with Harness, difficult to purchase as a standalone, SIEM integrations limited.

Orca Security

Pros:

  • Comprehensive cloud infrastructure security with broad coverage across VMs, containers, and serverless workloads.
  • Agentless architecture reduces deployment complexity in cloud environments.
  • Detects misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, and compliance risks across cloud assets.
  • Integrates with CI/CD pipelines for automated security assessment.

Cons:

  • Primarily infrastructure focused; minimal API security coverage and no deep runtime API visibility.
  • Limited pre-production API testing or shift left capabilities.
  • High cloud processing costs due to continuous scanning and analysis of assets.
  • Vendor processes sensitive cloud data, introducing potential privacy concerns.
  • Manual tuning may be required for alert prioritization; SOC teams can face alert fatigue.

Verdict

  • Traceable.ai is ideal for API-first teams seeking runtime threat detection, fraud prevention, and partial shift left testing, though high costs, privacy risks, and SOC overhead make standalone adoption challenging. 
  • Orca Security is well suited for cloud native infrastructure protection, providing broad visibility across VMs, containers, and serverless workloads, but it offers limited API security and negligible pre-production coverage. 
  • Levo.ai remains the leading choice for organizations that need end to end API security, combining automated discovery, high fidelity testing, runtime protection, and shift left capabilities with minimal manual effort and a privacy-first design.

5. Rapid7

Overview

Rapid7 delivers point-in-time DAST scans and compliance-focused API testing. It provides structured, periodic assessments of known endpoints, catching common OWASP Top 10 issues, but cannot emulate stateful, multistep attacks or role based logic flows. APIs remain unmonitored between scans, creating false confidence and leaving business-critical vulnerabilities exposed. Deployment is scan engine heavy, on-prem orchestration is complex, and remediation relies on manual triage of static reports. Coverage of internal, partner, and low-traffic APIs is limited, and runtime visibility is nonexistent, making the approach largely static and reactive.

Traceable.ai focuses on runtime API protection, emphasizing attack detection, anomaly monitoring, and SOC-driven forensic analytics. It captures full traffic to provide visibility into active endpoints and runtime behaviors, enabling teams to detect misconfigurations, fraud, and sensitive data exposures. However, runtime only monitoring means low traffic, shadow, or internal APIs may remain unseen. Its reactive posture, coupled with high compute and storage overhead, limited customization, and complex deployment, introduces operational friction and vendor privacy concerns. Preproduction testing, automated remediation, and shift left integration are minimal, leaving gaps in early stage API security.

Both improve API security, but in complementary ways: Traceable.ai excels at runtime detection and post-incident visibility, while Rapid7 offers structured, preproduction scans for compliance. Neither alone provides end to end shift left, behavior-aware API security, leaving blind spots across runtime, internal, and business-critical endpoints.

Feature Comparison

Category
Traceable.ai
Rapid7
Core Focus
Runtime API protection: detects and blocks API attacks, fraud, and sensitive data exposure with full traffic capture
API scanning for compliance: point-in-time DAST scans for OWASP Top 10 and policy checks
API Security Depth
Production-only visibility; reactive defense; limited pre-production testing and shift-left coverage
Post-build, periodic scans; lacks runtime visibility; APIs remain unprotected between scans
Compliance Support
PCI, GDPR, SOC2 via runtime threat analytics; no proactive validation before release
Compliance-driven reports (OWASP, PCI, SOC2); no continuous runtime assurance
Deployment Model
Requires inline agents, app instrumentation, or network mirroring; high operational overhead
On-prem or cloud scan engines; scheduled scans with manual configuration and maintenance
Best Suited For
SOC teams prioritizing runtime API visibility, forensics, and post-incident response
Organizations focusing on scheduled API vulnerability scans and compliance reporting

Traceable.ai

Pros:

  • Strong runtime visibility with detailed attack forensics.
  • Can block active API attacks and provide fraud detection insights.
  • On-prem support available for regulated sectors.
  • Context-aware API threat detection for production APIs.
  • Partial shift left capabilities.

Cons:

  • Reactive: primarily production-focused; dev and staging APIs remain largely untested.
  • High total cost of ownership due to ingestion of full API payloads.
  • Vendor-induced privacy risks from processing sensitive traffic data.
  • Significant manual overhead for SOC teams to manage dashboards and alerts.
  • Limited CI/CD integration and shallow shift left support.
  • Standalone adoption complicated post-merger with Harness; pipeline automation limited.

Rapid7

Pros:

  • Provides periodic DAST scans for compliance reporting.
  • Established enterprise grade scanning infrastructure and reporting dashboards.
  • Supports on-prem scanning engines, suitable for organizations requiring local control.
  • Integration with ticketing and vulnerability management workflows for remediation tracking.

Cons:

  • Reactive and point-in-time approach; APIs are unprotected between scans, increasing breach risk.
  • Scan-heavy architecture drives high infrastructure and operational costs.
  • Limited API coverage: crawler-based scans miss low traffic, internal, or feature flagged endpoints.
  • No continuous runtime monitoring; drift or misconfigurations go undetected until the next scan.
  • Security testing is generic: lacks context-aware payloads, auth automation, and multi step attack simulation.
  • High manual effort required for configuring scans, triaging findings, and maintaining endpoint lists.
  • Pre-production or shift left coverage is minimal; security only enforces post build checks.

Verdict

  • Traceable.ai is best suited for API-first teams seeking runtime threat detection and production defense, with partial shift left capabilities, but comes with high costs, privacy concerns, and SOC operational overhead.
  • Rapid7 is suitable for organizations prioritizing compliance-driven, point-in-time API scans and integration into established vulnerability management workflows, but it leaves significant gaps in runtime coverage, shift left testing, and detection of complex API attacks.
  • Levo.ai remains the superior choice for end to end API security, combining full SDLC coverage, automated discovery, runtime protection, privacy-first design, and cost efficient, context-aware attack simulation, ensuring both pre-production and production APIs are continuously protected without overloading teams.

6. Akto

Overview

Akto provides automated API security with broad endpoint discovery, pre-built test libraries, and CI/CD integration for pre-production scanning. It generates OpenAPI specs from live traffic, enabling teams to detect schema violations, injection flaws, and basic access control issues. However, tests are largely single request and static; complex multistep flows, business logic vulnerabilities, and ephemeral/internal APIs remain under-tested. Deployment requires traffic connectors or sidecars, and sensitive data handling lacks built-in privacy scrubbing, creating compliance overhead. Remediation is manual, relying on security engineers to triage findings and map them to developers, which slows patch cycles.

Traceable.ai focuses on reactive runtime protection, monitoring live API traffic to detect attacks, misconfigurations, and anomalous behavior. It offers SOC-ready dashboards and forensic analytics, providing runtime visibility into active APIs. Yet, runtime-only detection leaves pre production gaps, and low traffic or internal APIs may remain invisible. Deployment involves in-app instrumentation or traffic mirroring, introducing high friction and sensitive data exposure risks. Remediation guidance is limited to reports and dashboards, without automated ticketing or developer mapping.

Both enhance API security but in complementary ways: Akto emphasizes preproduction scanning and automated discovery, while Traceable.ai excels at runtime monitoring and attack detection. Neither alone delivers end to end, behavior-aware API security, leaving gaps in internal, ephemeral, and business-critical flows.

Feature Comparison

Category
Traceable.ai
Akto
Core Focus
Runtime API protection: detects and blocks attacks, fraud, and data exfiltration; enables SOC forensics
Pre-production API testing: automated endpoint discovery and surface-level scans for vulnerabilities
API Security Depth
Reactive, production-only defense; limited shift-left and pre-prod validation; misses inactive/internal APIs
Static pre-prod testing with fixed payloads; lacks deep logic, chained, or role-based attack simulation
Compliance Support
PCI, GDPR, SOC2 via runtime analytics; no proactive pre-release validation
Compliance-focused scan reports; limited runtime context and real-world exposure validation
Deployment Model
Inline agents, app instrumentation, or traffic mirroring; high setup and compute overhead
SaaS or on-prem collectors; simpler setup but requires manual configuration of tokens and roles
Best Suited For
SOC teams prioritizing runtime visibility, threat detection, and post-incident forensics
DevSecOps teams needing automated pre-prod API scans and CI/CD integration with lightweight setup

Traceable.ai

Pros:

  • Strong runtime visibility with detailed API attack forensics.
  • Can block active API attacks and detect fraud.
  • Offers on-premise deployment for regulated industries.
  • Context-aware API threat detection, supporting SOC workflows.
  • Partial shift left capabilities.

Cons:

  • Reactive approach: primarily production monitoring; dev/staging APIs often uncovered.
  • High total cost of ownership due to full payload capture and storage.
  • Vendor-induced privacy risks from ingestion of sensitive traffic data.
  • Significant manual overhead for SOC teams to manage dashboards, alerts, and testing.
  • Limited shift left support; shallow CI/CD integration post-deployment.
  • Merged with Harness, standalone adoption is complex; SIEM and pipeline integrations limited.

Akto

Pros:

  • Automated API discovery and endpoint mapping with runtime and traffic-driven detection.
  • Generates OpenAPI specs for captured traffic, helping accelerate integration and documentation.
  • On-premise deployment available.
  • Broad test library with automated authentication and access control testing for APIs.
  • Supports CI/CD integration for pre-production scanning.

Cons:

  • Security testing is surface level; generic payloads can miss complex access control and business logic flaws.
  • Coverage gaps for low traffic, feature flagged, or third party APIs remain.
  • High manual effort to configure authentication, roles, and triage false positives.
  • Test library is fixed; lacks dynamic, runtime-context aware payload generation.
  • Remediation is mostly raw results; no auto ticketing or developer mapping.
  • Privacy risk exists as captured traffic and test data may expose sensitive information.

Verdict

  • Traceable.ai is best for API-first organizations seeking runtime threat detection with strong forensic capabilities, particularly in regulated industries, but at a high cost with significant operational overhead. Its partial shift left features are limited.
  • Akto is suited for teams wanting automated discovery, documentation, and pre-production testing, though coverage for complex and low traffic APIs can be inconsistent and remediation workflows remain manual.
  • Levo.ai continues to lead for end to end API security, combining full SDLC coverage, runtime and pre-production protection, low cost operations, privacy-first design, automated discovery, and actionable remediation, making it a strong choice for organizations that want to ship secure APIs faster while reducing manual effort and risk.

7. Inviciti

Overview

Inviciti provides pre-production API scanning, generating security tests from OpenAPI imports and static policy engines. It enables compliance oriented coverage and basic injection checks but misses business logic flaws, low traffic/internal APIs, and runtime anomalies. Testing is manual heavy, static, and single request, leading to high false negatives. Deployment is on-prem capable but orchestration-heavy, and remediation requires manual triage.

Traceable.ai delivers runtime-first API protection, focusing on detecting attacks, access control misconfigurations, and sensitive data exposure in production. It offers good traffic based API visibility and SOC analytics, but discovery is limited to active or external endpoints, leaving internal, shadow, and low traffic APIs largely untested. Testing is reactive, lacks preproduction coverage, automated remediation, and shift left integration. Deployment is complex, and capturing full traffic introduces high compute costs and vendor privacy risk.

Both improve API security, but in complementary ways: Inviciti excels at preproduction scanning for compliance and static issues, while Traceable.ai focuses on runtime detection and SOC-driven response. Neither alone achieves end to end, behavior-aware API security, leaving gaps across business-critical, internal, and ephemeral endpoints.

Feature Comparison

Category
Traceable.ai
Inviciti
Core Focus
Runtime API protection: detects and blocks attacks, fraud, and data exfiltration; enables SOC forensics
Pre-production API scanning: imports OpenAPI specs and performs policy-based vulnerability tests before release
API Security Depth
Production-only visibility; reactive; limited shift-left testing; misses low-traffic or internal APIs
Spec-driven scans with static payloads; detects surface-level flaws but misses complex logic and chained vulnerabilities
Compliance Support
PCI, GDPR, SOC2 via runtime analytics; no proactive pre-release validation
Pre-production compliance validation (OWASP, PCI, SOC2); lacks runtime monitoring or drift detection
Deployment Model
Inline agents, app instrumentation, or traffic mirroring; high operational overhead
On-prem setup with multiple modules (scanner, NTA, Auth Verifier); moderate deployment effort and maintenance load
Best Suited For
SOC teams prioritizing runtime visibility, attack detection, and forensic analytics
DevSecOps teams focusing on pre-production API testing, compliance assurance, and pipeline integration

Traceable.ai

Pros:

  • Strong runtime visibility with detailed attack forensics.
  • Can block active API attacks and provide fraud detection insights.
  • On-premise support available for regulated sectors.
  • Context-aware API threat detection for production APIs.
  • Partial shift left capabilities through integration with CI/CD pipelines.

Cons:

  • Reactive approach: limited to production monitoring, leaving dev/staging APIs largely uncovered.
  • High total cost of ownership due to full payload capture and storage.
  • Vendor induced privacy risks from ingestion of sensitive traffic data.
  • Significant manual overhead for SOC teams to manage dashboards, alerts, and analytics.
  • Limited shift left support, shallow CI/CD integration, post deployment focus.
  • Acquisition by Harness complicates standalone adoption; SIEM integrations and pre-production testing remain limited.

Inviciti

Pros:

  • Provides automated API scans via spec validation and policy-driven tests.
  • Can catch basic injections and schema mismatches with configurable payloads.
  • Supports on-premise deployment.
  • Lightweight setup relative to runtime-heavy tools, with lower compute/storage overhead than Traceable.ai.

Cons:

  • API coverage gaps: misses low traffic, partner, and internal APIs; discovery relies on manual spec uploads and NTA logs.
  • Security testing is generic; lacks authentication automation, dynamic payloads, and full business logic coverage.
  • No runtime visibility or monitoring; reactive findings require manual triage.
  • Limited remediation automation: raw findings only, no auto-ticketing or developer guidance.
  • High manual overhead for configuring scans, importing specs, and interpreting results.
  • Shift left integration is weak; pre-production and CI/CD coverage is partial and often inconsistent.

Verdict

  • Traceable.ai is ideal for API-first teams seeking runtime protection and SOC-oriented threat detection, with partial shift left capabilities, but it comes at high cost, privacy risk, and operational overhead.
  • Inviciti serves teams looking for lightweight, policy-driven pre-production API scanning, but leaves critical endpoints unmonitored, lacks runtime visibility, and requires significant manual effort for remediation and endpoint coverage.
  • Levo.ai, by comparison, provides end to end API security across SDLC, combining automated pre-production testing, runtime monitoring, and cost efficient, privacy first design, making it the superior choice for teams aiming for full visibility, minimal manual overhead, and robust shift left coverage.

8. Qualys

Overview

Qualys delivers API security primarily through pre production and compliance-focused vulnerability scanning, leveraging VMDR, EASM, and TotalAppSec modules. It covers standard OWASP Top 10 flaws and ensures regulatory compliance but lacks runtime awareness, behavioral analysis, or true shift-left capabilities. Deployment is heavy, requiring multiple modules and connectors, resulting in high operational overhead and unpredictable TCO. API discovery is limited to user provided specs, leaving dynamic, low traffic, or internal endpoints unseen. Remediation is manual, with generic recommendations that slow developer workflows, and real-time monitoring or anomaly detection are absent.

Traceable.ai provides runtime-first API protection, ingesting full API traffic to detect attacks, access control misconfigurations, and sensitive data exposure. It offers SOC-ready analytics and live API visibility, but coverage depends on active traffic, leaving low traffic, internal, or partner APIs partially blind. Testing is reactive, pattern driven, and single request in depth, missing complex business logic flaws and multistep exploits. Deployment requires inline agents or network mirroring, and full payload ingestion introduces privacy and compliance risks. Remediation is limited to dashboards and reports, with no automated code level fixes or pre production testing.

Both enhance API security in complementary ways: Qualys strengthens preproduction, compliance-focused scanning, while Traceable.ai excels at reactive runtime protection. Neither provides end to end shift left, behavior-aware security, leaving gaps across internal, shadow, and business-critical endpoints.

Feature Comparison

Category
Traceable.ai
Qualys
Core Focus
Runtime API protection: detects and blocks attacks, fraud, and sensitive data exposure in production
Vulnerability and compliance scanning across web apps, APIs, and cloud assets, retrofit for APIs, not purpose-built
API Security Depth
Reactive, production-only defense; limited shift left; misses inactive or internal APIs
Scans APIs via generic web app module; limited context and coverage for complex, chained, or internal endpoints
Compliance Support
PCI, GDPR, SOC2 via runtime analytics; lacks pre-release validation
Broad compliance reporting (PCI, SOC2, ISO, HIPAA); limited API-specific compliance or runtime visibility
Deployment Model
Inline agents, app instrumentation, or traffic mirroring; high operational overhead
Requires configuring multiple modules (VMDR, EASM, TotalAppSec); time consuming multistep setup
Best Suited For
SOC teams prioritizing runtime API visibility, attack detection, and forensics
Security teams needing unified vulnerability management and compliance across infrastructure, not deep API defense

Traceable.ai

Pros:

  • Strong runtime visibility into production APIs with detailed attack forensics.
  • Can block active API attacks and provide insights for fraud prevention.
  • Supports on-prem deployment for regulated sectors.
  • Context-aware threat detection with partial shift left capabilities.
  • Runtime analytics and SOC dashboards help prioritize incidents effectively.

Cons:

  • Reactive approach: limited to production monitoring; dev/staging environments often remain untested.
  • High total cost of ownership due to full payload capture and storage, which scales with traffic volume.
  • Vendor induced privacy risks from ingestion of sensitive traffic data, even for on-prem deployments.
  • Significant manual overhead for SOC teams to manage dashboards, triage alerts, and configure policies.
  • Shift left support is limited; CI/CD integration is shallow and post deployment.
  • Standalone adoption is complicated by acquisition/mergers; SIEM integrations and pre-production coverage remain shallow.

Qualys

Pros:

  • Unified scanning platform supporting web applications and APIs, leveraging multiple modules (VMDR, EASM, TotalAppSec).
  • Compliance-focused, with OWASP Top 10 checks and vulnerability reporting for APIs.
  • Supports on-prem, hybrid, and SaaS deployments.
  • Integrates with ticketing systems for vulnerability management.

Cons:

  • Reactive, post-deployment scanning; APIs remain unprotected between scans.
  • Limited API-first design: testing is bolted onto generic web-app scanners.
  • High manual overhead: teams must curate API lists, configure scans, and triage mixed findings.
  • Incomplete API coverage: dynamic, feature flagged, or low traffic endpoints are often missed.
  • No runtime monitoring or anomaly detection; breaches can remain undetected until audit or incident.
  • High total cost of ownership: licensing per module, integration effort, and infrastructure overhead make TCO unpredictable.
  • Security testing depth is shallow: business logic flaws, multi-step flows, and chained attacks largely go untested.

Verdict

  • Traceable.ai is ideal for API-first organizations seeking runtime threat detection, attack blocking, and SOC-oriented visibility, especially in production. However, it remains reactive, with limited pre-production and shift left coverage, high cost, and privacy considerations.
  • Qualys suits enterprises prioritizing compliance-driven, multi module vulnerability scanning across web and API assets. It delivers broad coverage for reporting but lacks real time runtime protection, API-first testing depth, and pre-production security, leaving gaps in dynamic and complex API workflows.
  • Levo.ai, in comparison, offers end to end API security across SDLC, with runtime and pre-production coverage, automated discovery, and cost efficient privacy-first design, making it the stronger choice for organizations that want to shift left, reduce manual overhead, and secure production APIs comprehensively.

9. StackHawk

Overview

StackHawk focuses on pre production API security, enabling automated DAST scans in CI/CD pipelines and containerized deployments. It generates tests from code and OpenAPI specs, identifying OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities and basic business logic flaws. Custom payloads and authentication flows can be configured, but multistep exploits and complex runtime behaviors remain under tested. Deployment is lightweight, developer friendly, and integrates directly into pipelines, minimizing manual overhead. Remediation is provided via developer-focused reports, but runtime protection and post deploy monitoring are absent, leaving production APIs exposed until the next build.

Traceable.ai provides runtime-first API protection, emphasizing attack detection, fraud prevention, and sensitive data monitoring. It captures full traffic and enables SOC analytics, offering visibility into live APIs, including some shadow endpoints. Testing is reactive, based on observed runtime traffic, and lacks pre production scans, CI/CD integration, or shift left capabilities. Deployment is heavy, requiring inline agents or network mirroring, and full traffic ingestion introduces high compute costs and privacy risks. Remediation is manual, and complex multistep attack simulations are limited.

Both enhance API security in complementary ways: StackHawk strengthens pre-production testing and CI/CD shift-left initiatives, while Traceable.ai excels at runtime visibility and attack mitigation. Neither alone delivers complete coverage across runtime, internal, and business-critical endpoints, leaving gaps in end to end API security posture.

Feature Comparison

Category
Traceable.ai
StackHawk
Core Focus
Runtime API protection: detects and blocks attacks, fraud, and sensitive data exposure in production
Pre-production API testing: scans APIs during CI/CD using OpenAPI imports and automated DAST tests
API Security Depth
Production-only defense; reactive; limited shift left or pre-prod validation
Pre-production focus; static scans validate common flaws but miss complex logic and role-based issues
Compliance Support
PCI, GDPR, SOC2 via runtime analytics; lacks proactive pre-release validation
OWASP, PCI, SOC2 compliance through pre-prod scans; no runtime visibility or continuous assurance
Deployment Model
Inline agents, app instrumentation, or traffic mirroring; high setup and compute overhead
Lightweight CI/CD plugin or SaaS; easy to deploy but no live API observability
Best Suited For
SOC teams prioritizing runtime visibility, threat detection, and forensics
DevSecOps teams embedding API security scans into build pipelines for faster pre-prod validation

Traceable.ai

Pros:

  • Strong runtime visibility with deep request-level forensics and behavioral analytics.
  • Detects and blocks active API attacks, fraud, and sensitive data exposure in production.
  • Context-aware threat detection with correlation across users, tokens, and endpoints.
  • On-prem and hybrid deployment options suitable for regulated sectors.
  • Partial shift left integration through limited CI/CD hooks for policy validation.

Cons:

  • Reactive defense, focused on production monitoring; pre-prod and staging APIs go untested.
  • High compute and storage overhead from full payload ingestion; costs scale with traffic volume.
  • Vendor-induced privacy risks due to extensive data capture and external processing.
  • Manual SOC overhead for managing dashboards, tuning policies, and alert triage.
  • Shallow shift left coverage; limited automation or developer remediation workflows.
  • Now merged under Harness, making standalone adoption and roadmap independence uncertain.

StackHawk

Pros:

  • Purpose built for pre-production API scanning and CI/CD integration.
  • Supports OpenAPI imports and automated DAST testing directly within build pipelines.
  • Lightweight SaaS deployment, fast setup for developer-centric security teams.
  • Helps enforce OWASP API Top 10 and compliance-driven test coverage early in SDLC.
  • Developer-friendly automation reduces dependency on security teams.

Cons:

  • No runtime visibility or post-deployment monitoring, security gaps between releases.
  • Tests rely on static API specs, missing dynamic or featureflagged endpoints.
  • Limited detection of complex business logic or multi step authorization flaws.
  • High false positives from generic payloads; manual tuning required for auth flows.
  • Lacks forensic or threat analytics capabilities for real time attack correlation.

Verdict

  • Traceable.ai suits enterprises focused on runtime API protection, attack forensics, and fraud detection, but its reactive approach, privacy risks, and heavy cost limit operational agility.
  • StackHawk fits DevSecOps teams prioritizing pre-production API testing and CI/CD integration, though it lacks runtime context, dynamic discovery, and deep logic testing.
  • Levo.ai delivers true full-lifecycle API security, combining shift left testing, continuous runtime protection, and automated remediation, enabling enterprises to secure APIs faster, at lower cost, and without vendor-induced privacy exposure.

10. Escape Security

Overview

Traceable.ai provides reactive runtime API defense, detecting attacks, access control misconfigurations, and sensitive data exposure. It captures full traffic for SOC analytics and forensic visibility, but only for active, external facing APIs. Shadow, internal, or low traffic APIs remain undiscovered. Deployment is complex, requiring inline agents or network mirroring, and full payload ingestion introduces high compute costs and privacy risk. Testing is reactive, with no preproduction validation or automated remediation, leaving shift left coverage incomplete. Traceable excels at runtime protection but cannot prevent vulnerabilities from reaching production.

Escape Security delivers preproduction API protection by generating schemas and security tests from connected code repositories. It provides compliance oriented coverage with automated test plans but lacks runtime observability and active monitoring of production APIs. Testing is largely static and code inferred, leaving feature flagged, ephemeral, or internal APIs untested. Deployment requires connecting repos and configuring AST parsers, creating moderate DevSecOps overhead. Remediation guidance is limited to raw findings, without auto-ticketing or live payload repro, slowing developer response. Escape excels at shift-left API security but cannot detect runtime anomalies, misconfigurations, or behavioral attacks, leaving critical endpoints exposed in production.

Both enhance API security in complementary ways: Escape Security strengthens pre production shift left testing, while Traceable.ai provides reactive runtime protection. Neither alone achieves full lifecycle or behavior-aware API security, leaving gaps across internal, ephemeral, and business-critical endpoints.

Feature Comparison

Category
Traceable.ai
Escape Security
Core Focus
Runtime API protection: detects and blocks attacks, fraud, and sensitive data exposure in production
Pre-production API protection: auto generates schemas and tests from code repos to catch issues before release
API Security Depth
Production only defense; reactive; limited shift left or pre-prod testing
Pre-production coverage via static analysis and schema-based tests; lacks runtime observability and live traffic validation
Compliance Support
PCI, GDPR, SOC2 via runtime analytics; no proactive validation before deployment
Compliance-oriented testing for OWASP, PCI, SOC2; no runtime assurance or behavioral attack simulation
Deployment Model
Inline agents, app instrumentation, or traffic mirroring; high setup and compute overhead
Connects directly to code repositories; moderate setup due to parser and repo configuration
Best Suited For
SOC teams prioritizing runtime visibility, attack detection, and forensics
DevSecOps teams seeking shift left API testing and compliance validation during development

Traceable.ai

Pros:

  • Strong runtime visibility with detailed behavioral analytics and attack forensics.
  • Detects and blocks live API attacks, data exfiltration, and fraud attempts.
  • Provides context-aware threat detection and user-data correlation.
  • Supports on-premise and hybrid deployments for regulated sectors.
  • Partial shift left testing via Harness integration for limited pre-prod validation.

Cons:

  • Reactive posture, focused on production; pre-production APIs remain untested.
  • High compute and storage overhead due to full payload ingestion.
  • Vendor-induced privacy risk as sensitive traffic leaves customer environments.
  • Requires significant manual oversight from SOC teams for triage and alert tuning.
  • Shift left and CI/CD integrations are shallow and post-deployment only.
  • Now merged with Harness, complicating standalone adoption and procurement.

Escape Security

Pros:

  • Pre-production API protection built around connected repositories and static analysis.
  • Autogenerates API schemas and security test plans from code context.
  • Lightweight setup for developer-first teams via GitHub/GitLab integrations.
  • Useful for compliance driven organizations needing schema level validation.
  • Low runtime footprint, no agents or traffic mirroring required.

Cons:

  • Limited to static, code inferred APIs, misses dynamic, feature flagged, or partner endpoints.
  • No runtime visibility, drift detection, or continuous monitoring.
  • Manual repo connectivity and AST configuration create DevSecOps overhead.
  • Lacks payload reproduction, service mapping, or automated remediation workflows.
  • Findings are raw and context-poor, delaying developer response and fix validation.
  • Cannot detect chained or stateful logic flaws beyond basic injection or schema errors.

Verdict

  • Traceable.ai suits enterprises prioritizing runtime API threat detection and forensic visibility, but remains reactive, costly, and privacy heavy, offering only bolt on shift left capabilities.
  • Escape Security fits DevSecOps teams seeking lightweight, pre-production API validation from code, yet its static, repo-bound coverage and lack of runtime insight leave major blind spots.
  • Levo.ai leads with end to end API security across the SDLC, combining pre-production testing, continuous runtime protection, and automated remediation with a privacy-first design that reduces cost, overhead, and breach risk across all API environments.

Conclusion

APIs are critical to modern applications, but runtime-only platforms like Traceable.ai leave key gaps: limited pre-production testing, manual SOC overhead, and insufficient privacy controls.

Levo.ai fixes this by providing end to end API security, shift left testing, runtime protection, sensitive data safeguards, and automated remediation, all in a single platform. Teams ship faster, reduce operational burden, and stay compliant without sacrificing coverage.

For organizations that can’t afford partial solutions, Levo.ai delivers complete, proactive API security, turning what used to be a bottleneck into a driver of innovation.

Choosing the right API security platform means balancing speed, visibility, and compliance. Unlike Traceable.ai, which relies heavily on reactive monitoring and manual SOC management, Levo equips organizations with proactive, automated protection across the entire software lifecycle.

Adopting Levo enables teams to close security gaps, reduce complexity, and transform API security from a reactive bottleneck into an enabler of innovation. Achieve true end-to-end API protection with Levo and future-proof your APIs.

Achieve complete API security with Levo and future-proof your APIs.

Book your DEMO today to implement API security seamlessly.