Updated
September 10, 2026
Harness WAAP was the top performer in the independent SecureIQLab 2025 Cloud WAAP CyberRisk Validation Report — leading on web, bot, and API attack efficacy. It runs API discovery, testing, protection, bot defense, WAF, and AI security in one console, deploys at any point in your architecture (eBPF, language agents, API gateway, edge, network proxy) with 30+ integrations, includes the MCP Server with your subscription, and runs shift-left API testing in CI/CD.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Harness | Cequence Security |
|---|---|---|
| Independent Validation | ||
| SecureIQLab 2025 Cloud WAAP CyberRisk Validation — evaluated | Yes — top performer in Complete Security Score | Not evaluated |
| Perfect WAF vulnerability test score | Yes — only product to achieve it | Not evaluated |
| Secure-by-Design + Secure-by-Default (both badges) | Yes — one of only two vendors | Not evaluated |
| Independent, AMTSO-standard efficacy validation | Not in this report | |
| Unified Console & Platform Scope | ||
| API + bot + WAF + DDoS in a single console | Single WAAP console | Unified UAP portal |
| AI security operated from the WAAP console | AI Security (separate SKU) in same console | Separate AI Gateway product (integrates with UAP) |
| MCP server included with WAAP subscription | Included | Via separate AI Gateway |
| Part of a DevOps + AppSec + AI platform | Full Harness platform | Dedicated security platform |
| Deployment & Integrations | ||
| eBPF deployment | eBPF sensor | |
| Language / instrumentation agent | ||
| API gateway integration | ||
| Edge deployment | Limited | |
| Network proxy / in-line | ||
| Out-of-band (traffic mirroring) | ||
| SaaS / on-prem / hybrid | ||
| Breadth of integrations | 30+ integrations | 300+ app integrations |
| API Discovery & Inventory | ||
| Continuous API discovery | ||
| Internal / external / third-party discovery | ||
| Discovery from traffic, encrypted flows, and code repos | Traffic, encrypted flows, code repos | Traffic / edge-based |
| Shadow & zombie API detection | ||
| Automatic OpenAPI spec generation | ||
| Risk scoring per API | ||
| API Posture & Compliance | ||
| OWASP API Top 10 coverage | ||
| PCI DSS compliance support | ||
| Sensitive data flow analysis | ||
| API security posture management | ||
| Compliance reporting & evidence | ||
| API Runtime Protection | ||
| Real-time inline blocking | ||
| BOLA / BFLA prevention | ||
| Business logic abuse detection | ||
| Attack fingerprinting | ||
| In-line agents for microservice / east-west threats | ||
| Mitigation: block, rate-limit, header injection, deception | ||
| API Security Testing | ||
| Runtime / production API testing | ||
| Generative-AI test automation | ||
| Pre-merge / shift-left testing in CI/CD pipeline | Pipeline-native | Triggers via CI/CD integration, not pipeline-native |
| Findings tied to commit, PR, and author | Limited | |
| Bot & Abuse Protection | ||
| Behavioral bot detection | ||
| Credential stuffing / ATO prevention | ||
| Content / LLM scraping protection | ||
| E-commerce / inventory-hoarding bot defense | ||
| Allow good automation (agentic AI, RPA) | ||
| Independently validated bot efficacy | Top-tier in SecureIQLab 2025 | Not in SecureIQLab report |
| Web Application Firewall (WAF) | ||
| OWASP Web Top 10 coverage | ||
| SQLi / XSS prevention | ||
| Administered in the unified console | In WAAP console | In UAP portal |
| False-positive reduction with API context | Limited | |
| WAF engine origin | Native WAF | AWS WAF in managed/AWS deployment; added Sept 2025 |
| Independently validated WAF vulnerability efficacy | Perfect score, only vendor | Not in report |
| DDoS Protection | ||
| L7 (application) protection | ||
| L3 / L4 (volumetric) protection | Limited | Limited — cloud-provider dependent |
| Owns tier-1 global anti-DDoS network | ||
| Agentic AI / MCP Support | ||
| MCP server included with WAAP subscription | Included | Via separate AI Gateway |
| AI security operated from the WAAP console | AI Security (separate SKU) in same console | Separate AI Gateway product |
| Query API security data in Claude / Cursor / VS Code | Via separate AI Gateway | |
| Discover LLMs, MCP servers/tools, AI APIs, 3rd-party AI | Automatic AI asset inventory | Via AI Gateway |
| Test AI apps for prompt injection / data exfiltration pre-deploy | ||
| Detect & block prompt injection / exfiltration at runtime | Containment-focused, not detection | |
| Agent access governance (privilege scoping) | Different approach | Agent Personas (separate AI Gateway) |
| DevSecOps & CI/CD Integration | ||
| CI/CD tool integration | ||
| Pipeline-native security checks tied to PRs | ||
| Findings delivered to developers in-workflow | Via ticketing | |
| Unified policy across delivery + runtime | ||
| Internal developer portal integration | ||
| ASPM & SOC orchestration with MCP / AI agents | Limited | |
| Analytics, Logging & Threat Intelligence | ||
| Real-time dashboards | ||
| Dedicated threat research | Traceable research | CQ Prime |
| SIEM / SOAR forwarding | ||
| Cross-pipeline + runtime correlation | ||
Key Differentiators
Why teams choose Harness WAAP over Cequence Security
Independently validated to lead on web, bot, and API attack efficacy
Harness WAAP doesn't ask buyers to take its security claims on faith. In the SecureIQLab 2025 Cloud WAAP CyberRisk Validation Report, Traceable by Harness Cloud WAAP was the top performer in Complete Security Score, the only product to earn a perfect score in WAF vulnerability testing, and one of only two vendors to earn both Secure-by-Design and Secure-by-Default recognition. It also tied for the second-highest Operational Efficiency Rating, showing high efficacy and low operational burden aren't mutually exclusive.
Cequence Security was not among the 11 WAAP solutions evaluated in the SecureIQLab 2025 Cloud WAAP CyberRisk Validation Report — an independent evaluation conducted to AMTSO testing standards, not pay-to-play. Buyers considering Cequence cannot reference this benchmark to compare efficacy against the field.
Shift-left API security testing in CI/CD, with findings tied to the developer who introduced them
Because Harness owns the delivery pipeline, API security testing runs inside the same pipelines that build and deploy the application. Specs are tested pre-merge, regressions are caught before they reach production, and every finding is tied directly to the commit, PR, and author that introduced it — closing the loop with developers in the workflow they already work in, not a ticket queue.
Cequence's API security testing is built on runtime discovery: it scans the endpoints it sees on the wire, generates specs (with generative-AI automation), and assesses risk. That's effective for finding shadow APIs and posture drift, but it operates against discovered and deployed endpoints rather than pre-merge in the delivery pipeline. Cequence integrates with CI/CD tools to trigger tests, but it is not itself the delivery platform, so findings aren't natively tied to the commit and author the way they are when testing runs inside the pipeline.
AI security that lives in the same console as the rest of WAAP
Harness WAAP includes the MCP Server with the existing subscription — query API discovery, inventory, risk, vulnerabilities, remediation, and runtime protection in natural language directly inside VS Code, Cursor, and Claude Desktop. Harness AI Security is a separate SKU, but its functionality is accessible in the same WAAP console used for API discovery, testing, and protection, bot & abuse defense, and WAF. It discovers every LLM, MCP server, MCP tool, AI API, and third-party AI service, risk-scores each asset, tests AI-native applications for prompt injection and data exfiltration before deployment, and detects and blocks those attacks in production.
Cequence delivers agentic AI capability through its AI Gateway, a separate product focused on agent access governance (Agent Personas, privilege scoping, behavioral forensics on AI-to-API traffic). The AI Gateway integrates with the Cequence UAP platform rather than living inside the WAAP portal. By Cequence's own published position, prompt injection is treated as a containment problem at the authorization layer rather than a threat the gateway detects and blocks.
WAAP inside a DevOps + AppSec + AI platform
Harness WAAP is part of the broader Harness platform, alongside Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, Security Testing Orchestration, Feature Flags, IaCM, Internal Developer Portal, and Cloud Cost Management. Policy, telemetry, and remediation can flow into the systems developers already use, and the WAAP layer shares the deployment and governance model of the wider platform — one Delegate, one trust boundary, one operating model across delivery and runtime.
Cequence is a dedicated application, API, and AI security company. Its WAAP unifies API security, bot management, WAF, and DDoS in a single SaaS portal — a genuine single-pane experience for those security functions — and integrates with the broader toolchain (300+ application integrations including ServiceNow, Jira, and Slack) at the ticketing and workflow level. Cequence is a security platform; its WAAP is not coupled to a CI/CD or DevOps platform.
Deploy at any point in your architecture, with 30+ integrations
Harness WAAP deploys across an equally broad — and in some respects broader — set of points: eBPF, language agents, API gateway, edge, and network proxy, with 30+ integrations and both in-line and out-of-band (traffic mirroring) options, across hybrid and multi-cloud. Harness's deployment, governance, and telemetry follow the same model as the rest of the Harness platform.
Cequence supports eBPF sensors, API gateway integration, passive and inline modes, and SaaS, on-premises, and hybrid installations, with onboarding that requires no application instrumentation or SDK. Its integration ecosystem spans 300+ application integrations.
WAF and DDoS coverage
Harness WAAP includes WAF (OWASP Top 10 coverage, false-positive reduction with API context, full SecOps telemetry) and L3/4/7 DDoS as core platform capabilities — and Harness's WAF efficacy was independently validated as the field-leading result in SecureIQLab's 2025 WAAP testing, the only perfect WAF vulnerability score in the report.
Cequence added WAF and DDoS to its WAAP bundle in September 2025 to round out the category, administered from the same unified UAP console as its API and bot capabilities. In the Cequence Managed WAAP and AWS Marketplace deployments, the WAF and DDoS layer is built on AWS WAF (the pre-configured rules map to AWS WAF detection types). As with most WAAP vendors, Cequence does not operate a tier-1 global volumetric anti-DDoS network the way a CDN/edge provider does.
Decision Guide
Cequence Security is good for
- You want a dedicated application, API, and AI security platform, with WAAP delivered as a unified API + bot + WAF + DDoS portal, and don't need WAAP coupled to your CI/CD or DevOps platform.
- You're investing in agentic AI access governance and want Agent Personas / privilege scoping as a dedicated AI Gateway product alongside WAAP.
- Your buying center is a security team operating independently of engineering.
Harness is best for
- You want WAAP efficacy you can verify: top performer in Complete Security Score and the only perfect WAF vulnerability result in the independent SecureIQLab 2025 WAAP validation.
- Shift-left API security testing inside CI/CD pipelines, with findings tied to the commit, PR, and author, is a requirement.
- You want AI security — discovery, pre-deployment prompt-injection testing, and runtime detection — operated from the same WAAP console as API, bot, and WAF, with the MCP Server included in your subscription.
- You need to deploy at any point in your architecture (eBPF, language agents, API gateway, edge, network proxy) with 30+ integrations across hybrid and multi-cloud.
- You're modernizing your DevOps + AppSec + AI stack and want the WAAP layer to sit inside that platform, on one trust boundary and one operating model.
Summary
Harness WAAP delivers WAF, API discovery, API security testing, API protection, and bot & abuse protection in one console — independently validated as the top performer in Complete Security Score and the only product with a perfect WAF vulnerability score in the SecureIQLab 2025 Cloud WAAP CyberRisk Validation Report, where Cequence was not among the solutions evaluated.
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