Installation and activation of the product is easy, and administrators can be up and running within minutes. The product runs on Windows XP SP2 or Windows 2003 and uses MS SQL Express SP1 or 2005 as the database backend. The administrative dashboard is simple to navigate, and the basic tasks of configuring and scheduling scans in an enterprise environment can be accomplished with a few mouse clicks.
Although administratively the product is easily managed and the dashboard presents an easy to understand view of your scan, the real power of WebInspect is within the dynamic and robust scanning engine. WebInspect boasts full support for Web 2.0 architectures and includes scanning for AJAX, SOAP, Flash and other emerging technologies.
Although many other products also test similar architectures, the vulnerabilities that WebInspect can uncover were evident in our testing and the product performs exceptionally. We found the profiling optimization to be a nice feature that allows a user to take advantage of recommended settings before scans are executed. The product also comes with several useful tools, as well as a compliance and policy management editor for enhanced customization. Macro and replay-based scanning options are helpful.
Documentation is useful and contains an adequate blend of text and screen shots. Reports are solid and cover many useful categories. However, both the HP and SPI Dynamics support site contain statements that unifying support is still in progress. Most support and product information is contained within the old SPI Dynamics site.
Pricing for HP WebInspect 7.7 starts at $25,000. Standard support is included with the product and 24/7 support is available for additional cost. We would consider the price of the product to be high given that many of its peers provide similar feature sets for lower cost.