{"id":49546,"date":"2025-05-28T08:37:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T08:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/?p=49546"},"modified":"2026-02-21T07:29:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T07:29:02","slug":"comparison-of-sast-dast-and-sca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/comparison-of-sast-dast-and-sca\/","title":{"rendered":"Comparison of SAST, DAST, and SCA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a clear comparison of SAST, DAST, and SCA<\/strong> \u2014 the three core application security testing types in DevSecOps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udd10 SAST (Static Application Security Testing)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Feature<\/th>Details<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
\ud83d\udd0d What it is<\/strong><\/td>Analyzes source code or bytecode for vulnerabilities without executing it<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
\ud83d\udee0\ufe0f When it runs<\/strong><\/td>Early in development (pre-build, pre-deploy)<\/td><\/tr>
\ud83d\udd27 How it works<\/strong><\/td>Scans code repositories, looks for known patterns and insecure coding practices<\/td><\/tr>
\u26a0\ufe0f Finds issues like<\/strong><\/td>SQL injection, XSS, hardcoded secrets, insecure functions<\/td><\/tr>
\u2705 Pros<\/strong><\/td>Early feedback, fast scans, language-aware, shift-left security<\/td><\/tr>
\u274c Cons<\/strong><\/td>False positives, lacks runtime context<\/td><\/tr>
\ud83e\uddf0 Tools<\/strong><\/td>GitLab SAST, SonarQube, Checkmarx, Fortify, CodeQL<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

\ud83c\udf10 DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Feature<\/th>Details<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
\ud83d\udd0d What it is<\/strong><\/td>Scans a running application<\/strong> by simulating external attacks<\/td><\/tr>
\ud83d\udee0\ufe0f When it runs<\/strong><\/td>After deployment (in staging or test environments)<\/td><\/tr>
\ud83d\udd27 How it works<\/strong><\/td>Sends requests to web endpoints and analyzes responses<\/td><\/tr>
\u26a0\ufe0f Finds issues like<\/strong><\/td>Broken auth, exposed APIs, missing headers, server misconfigurations<\/td><\/tr>
\u2705 Pros<\/strong><\/td>Real-world simulation, no source code needed<\/td><\/tr>
\u274c Cons<\/strong><\/td>Slower, can miss hidden paths, needs test environment<\/td><\/tr>
\ud83e\uddf0 Tools<\/strong><\/td>GitLab DAST, OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite, AppSpider<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udce6 SCA (Software Composition Analysis)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Feature<\/th>Details<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
\ud83d\udd0d What it is<\/strong><\/td>Analyzes open-source libraries and dependencies<\/strong> for known vulnerabilities<\/td><\/tr>
\ud83d\udee0\ufe0f When it runs<\/strong><\/td>During dependency resolution or in CI pipelines<\/td><\/tr>
\ud83d\udd27 How it works<\/strong><\/td>Checks versions in package.json<\/code>, pom.xml<\/code>, etc., against CVE databases<\/td><\/tr>
\u26a0\ufe0f Finds issues like<\/strong><\/td>Known CVEs in open-source packages, license risks<\/td><\/tr>
\u2705 Pros<\/strong><\/td>Easy to integrate, real CVE data, license checks<\/td><\/tr>
\u274c Cons<\/strong><\/td>Doesn\u2019t scan your code, only 3rd-party dependencies<\/td><\/tr>
\ud83e\uddf0 Tools<\/strong><\/td>GitLab Dependency Scanning, Snyk, WhiteSource, OWASP Dependency-Check<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

\ud83e\udde0 TL;DR \u2014 Summary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Metric<\/th>SAST<\/strong><\/th>DAST<\/strong><\/th>SCA<\/strong><\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Code access<\/td>Required (source\/static)<\/td>Not required<\/td>Required (dependencies only)<\/td><\/tr>
App state<\/td>Source code<\/td>Running app<\/td>Dependency list<\/td><\/tr>
Vulnerability<\/td>Code-level bugs<\/td>Runtime\/web issues<\/td>Open-source CVEs<\/td><\/tr>
Best time<\/td>Early in CI<\/td>After deployment<\/td>Any time in CI<\/td><\/tr>
GitLab Tool<\/td>GitLab SAST<\/td>GitLab DAST<\/td>GitLab Dependency Scanning<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a clear comparison of SAST, DAST, and SCA \u2014 the three core application security testing types in DevSecOps: \ud83d\udd10 SAST (Static Application Security Testing) Feature Details \ud83d\udd0d What it is Analyzes source code or bytecode for vulnerabilities without executing it \ud83d\udee0\ufe0f When it runs Early in development (pre-build, pre-deploy) \ud83d\udd27 How it works Scans…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49546"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58994,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49546\/revisions\/58994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}