We’re proud to share that Gartner has once again recognized Contrast Security as a Visionary in the 2025 Magic Quadrant for Application Security Testing (AST).
At Contrast, that vision has always been clear: AppSec must include runtime security. Attacks don’t happen in code repositories or static scans; they happen in live applications. Contrast is the only platform that has in-app Application Detection and Response (ADR) that includes runtime-informed testing, attack blocking and automated remediation.
Blocking Attacks in Real Time
Contrast ADR detects and stops live application and API exploits as they happen, from injection attacks to business logic abuse to zero days. Instead of endless benign alerts and after-the-fact patching, ADR gives Dev, Sec and Ops teams the ability to stop attackers in their tracks while keeping applications available.
That’s why enterprises in financial services, healthcare, and government are adopting Contrast to eliminate the blind spots left by legacy scanners and WAFs.
IAST: Proven Leadership
Contrast customers have experienced our proven leadership with Contrast Assess, which is one of the industry’s most widely adopted IAST solutions. Contrast Assess works throughout the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) to find real issues with minimal false positives. It’s proof that Contrast delivers practical, developer-friendly testing that scales.
Runtime Context Changes Everything
At the core of the platform is Contrast Graph, a runtime-powered digital twin of the application. It fuels:
- Dynamic risk prioritization through Contrast Score, ensures teams focus on the vulnerabilities that truly matter.
- Automated remediation with SmartFix AI, delivering application-specific fixes directly into workflows.
- Real-time protection with ADR, ensuring attacks are blocked, not just logged.
Our Perspective
“We believe what makes Contrast visionary is our conviction that application security must be driven by reality, not theory or guesswork. We build a contextual knowledge graph directly from each customer’s running application ecosystem and use AI to bring it to life. This lets organizations quickly identify the 5% of issues and incidents that truly matter, critical at a time when both developers and attackers are AI-enhanced,” Jeff Williams, Founder of Contrast Security.
Looking Ahead
In our opinion, being named a Visionary validates our approach, but it also underscores what comes next: unifying Dev, Sec and Ops around a single source of runtime truth. That’s how organizations will build fast and stay secure in the age of AI-driven development.
Gartner Disclaimer
Gartner, Inc. Magic Quadrant for Application Security Testing. Jason Gross, Mark Horvath, etl. 6 October 2025
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