HONEST COMPARISON
The free security scanners alternative for people who build with AI
Let us say this first: SSL Labs, securityheaders.com and the MDN HTTP Observatory are excellent, and they are genuinely free. UNPWNED performs its own direct TLS and response-header checks instead of calling those services as scan backends. The honest difference is scope: each of these tools answers one question deeply. None of them looks at the failure modes that actually take down AI-built apps - exposed keys in your bundle, database tables readable by anyone, unprotected API routes - and none of them stitches the answers into one picture.
Who these free tools are genuinely for
Anyone who wants a deep, authoritative answer about one dimension. SSL Labs (by Qualys, free, no signup) is the industry reference for TLS server configuration and has been since 2009. securityheaders.com (a snyk.io project, free, no signup) made response-header hygiene mainstream with its A+ to F grades. The MDN HTTP Observatory (by Mozilla, free, 47 million scans run) is a great way to learn header best practices. If your question is "is my TLS configured well?", SSL Labs is the answer. Keep using them.
Side by side
Coverage
Built for
What you get
Database exposure (Supabase / Firebase rules)
Secrets in your JS bundle
Known CVEs on your stack
Ongoing
Pricing
Last reviewed July 2026. Send corrections to support@unpwned.io.
Independent checks, public standards
UNPWNED performs its TLS and header assessments locally and calibrates them against public industry guidance. It does not call SSL Labs or the MDN HTTP Observatory as scan backends. This page is not "those tools are bad". It is: one grade about one dimension is not a security picture. An A+ on securityheaders.com feels like safety, but it says nothing about the API key sitting in your JavaScript bundle or the database table that answers anonymous reads.
And to keep the honesty symmetrical: on raw price they win. They are free and unlimited; our free tier is 2 scans a month. If you have the expertise to run each tool, combine the results and fill the gaps they do not cover, you can get real value without paying anyone.
Common questions
Is securityheaders.com enough to secure my site?
It perfectly answers one question: are your HTTP response headers configured well. As of July 2026 it is free, instant, no signup, and grades you A+ to F - keep using it for that question. But headers are one category of the nine UNPWNED scans. An A+ header grade says nothing about exposed secrets in your client code, database tables without access rules, unprotected API routes, or known CVEs in your stack - which is where AI-built apps actually get breached.
What is the difference between SSL Labs and UNPWNED?
SSL Labs, in its own words, "performs a deep analysis of the configuration of any SSL web server on the public Internet". It is the industry reference for TLS, run by Qualys, free since 2009. UNPWNED performs its own direct TLS checks and adds everything TLS cannot see: headers, DNS and email authentication, exposed files and secrets, database rules, API routes, and CVE matching. If your only question is TLS, use SSL Labs directly.
Why pay for a scanner when free tools exist?
If you know exactly which questions to ask and which tool answers each one, maybe you should not pay. The free tools cover roughly two of the nine categories UNPWNED scans; nobody offers a free deep answer for the rest - database exposure, leaked secrets, API routes, CVE matching. What a paid scan buys is the complete list run in one pass, a single prioritized report instead of scattered grades, and a fix prompt you can paste into Cursor or Claude. Our free tier (2 scans a month, no credit card) lets you see the difference before paying anything.
See it on your own site
The fastest way to settle the question is to look at your actual deployment. Free scan, findings included, upgrade only if you want the fixes.
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