A skilled human pentester finds things no tool will. They're also booked weeks ahead, priced per engagement and looking at one snapshot of your app. Here's how the two compare, and why many teams use both.
| CodeReviewer | Manual pentest or VAPT engagement | |
|---|---|---|
| When it runs | Whenever you start it, after any release | Once or twice a year, booked weeks in advance |
| Time to a report | The same day, as a downloadable PDF | Usually days to weeks after testing ends |
| Coverage between tests | New pages and endpoints are covered the next time you run it | Anything shipped after the test date is untested until next year |
| Signed-in and multi-role testing | Signs in as each role you give it and checks cross-account access | Yes, scoped per engagement |
| Proof for each finding | Payload, evidence, screenshot and reproduction steps for every confirmed issue | Yes, depending on the tester and the report template |
| Creative, business-logic testing | Covers common web risks and access control. Deep business-logic abuse still needs a person | Where an experienced tester is at their best |
| Fixing what it finds | Findings become issues, located in your code, and can become fix pull requests | A PDF your developers have to interpret |
| Accepted as a third-party assessment | A structured VAPT report, but not a certified third-party attestation | Yes, when a contract or regulator requires an independent tester |
The most expensive pentest finding is the one a scanner could have caught. Run CodeReviewer’s DAST and AI pen tests continuously, fix what they find, and book the manual engagement when you need an independent report or a deep look at business logic. The human tester then spends their days on the problems only a human can find.
If a customer, auditor or regulator requires an independent, human-led test, keep it. Use CodeReviewer between engagements so issues are fixed early and the manual test can focus on the hard problems.
CodeReviewer only tests domains you have verified, stays inside your own domain and is non-destructive by design, with a proof-only mode for read-only runs.
Security testing is part of the CodeReviewer subscription alongside code review and test automation, so there's no per-engagement fee. See pricing for current plans.
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