Open Web Application Security Project
OWASP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation that produces free, community-developed open source security standards, documentation, frameworks, and tools used globally by software developers, security professionals, and enterprises deploying AI systems.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2001
- HeadquartersWilmington, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Open Web Application Security Project does
The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation launched in 2001 and incorporated in 2004, headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware with a Belgian legal entity (OWASP Europe VZW). It operates as a vendor-neutral, community-led open source initiative that produces free security standards, documentation, frameworks, and tools — including the OWASP Top Ten, Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS), Cheat Sheets, ZAP, Dependency-Track, Juice Shop, ModSecurity Core Rule Set, SAMM, and the Web Security Testing Guide. The foundation is governed by a member-elected Board of Directors with a lean core staff of 1-10, supported by tens of thousands of volunteer contributors organized across 250+ local chapters in Asia/Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States.
Open Web Application Security Project firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Open Web Application Security Project
- Legal name
- The OWASP Foundation Inc.
- Website
- https://owasp.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2001
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- OWASP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation that produces free, community-developed open source security standards, documentation, frameworks, and tools used globally by software developers, security professionals, and enterprises deploying AI systems.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Open Web Application Security Project industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Application Security
- NAICS
- Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)
- SIC
- Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Web Application Security (WAF, RASP) (HDADACAA)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Bug Bounty, Vulnerability Disclosure & Security Services (FSAPAJAL)
Keywords
Where Open Web Application Security Project is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Wilmington
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Open Web Application Security Project business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Corporate Sponsorships: Corporations sponsor OWASP at various tiers (e.g., Platinum, Gold) gaining visibility, community access, and alignment with OWASP's vendor-neutral security frameworks. Examples include Trend Micro (Gold Sponsor), 7ASecurity (Platinum Corporate Supporter), and newer sponsors such as Apiiro, Capsule, F5, Fujitsu, NeuralTrust, Starseer, Straiker, and Tellus Digital.
- Individual Memberships: OWASP offers individual memberships including Lifetime Membership options, providing an email address, member benefits, and a voice in the community. Membership fees support OWASP's operational costs.
- Event Registrations: OWASP hosts Global AppSec conferences (EU, USA) and regional events (BASC, AppSec Days, LASCON, etc.) generating revenue through attendee registrations, training fees, and sponsor booth fees.
- Donations: OWASP accepts donations (one-time and recurring monthly options) from individuals and organizations. Donations are generally unrestricted and used at OWASP's discretion to fulfill its mission. Restricted gifts for specific projects are accepted with a 10% administrative cost deduction.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels6 records
Open Web Application Security Project product offering
Product offeringCore offering
OWASP Foundation is a nonprofit organization that produces and distributes free, open-source application security standards, tools, documentation, and frameworks via a global volunteer community. Its core offerings include the OWASP Top Ten risk standard, ASVS verification standard, Cheat Sheets, security testing guides, and security tools such as ZAP, Dependency-Track, Juice Shop, ModSecurity Core Rule Set, and the AI Vulnerability Scoring System (AIVSS).
Product overview
OWASP (Open Worldwide Application Security Project) is a nonprofit foundation that operates as a community-led open source initiative focused on improving software security. The organization provides a portfolio of flagship security standards, tools, and educational resources including the OWASP Top Ten (the reference standard for critical web application risks), ASVS (Application Security Verification Standard), OWASP Cheat Sheets, and the OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) security tool. OWASP's project ecosystem spans security testing guides (SAMM, Web Security Testing Guide), software composition analysis (Dependency-Track), and mobile application security (MAS). In the AI security domain, OWASP has released the GenAI Security Project tracking AI risks, the Agentic AI Security and Governance Report, and tools like the AI Vulnerability Scoring System (AIVSS). OWASP also incubates security projects including DockSec (AI-powered Docker security scanner) and CVE Lite CLI (dependency vulnerability scanner). All OWASP projects, tools, documents, forums, and chapters are free and open source under Creative Commons and OSI-approved licenses.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- OWASP Top Ten The reference standard for the most critical web application security risks, based on security data from nearly 3 million applications and surveys of security experts.
- OWASP Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS) Application security verification standard providing a basis for testing web application technical security controls.
- OWASP Cheat Sheets Curated list of crucial application security information providing concise, actionable guidance for developers and security practitioners.
- OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) One of the world's most popular free security tools, used for finding vulnerabilities in web applications during automated and manual testing.
- OWASP Dependency-Track Software composition analysis platform that monitors component usage across applications and portfolios to identify risk and ensure compliance.
- OWASP Juice Shop Intentionally insecure web application for security training, offering a gamified learning environment for identifying and exploiting OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities.
- OWASP Mobile Application Security (MAS) Comprehensive security standard for mobile applications covering iOS and Android platforms.
- OWASP ModSecurity Core Rule Set Set of generic attack detection rules for use with ModSecurity or compatible WAF products to protect against common web application attacks.
- OWASP SAMM (Software Assurance Maturity Model) Framework for evaluating and improving software security posture across an organization, providing guidance on integrating security activities.
- OWASP Web Security Testing Guide Comprehensive guide to testing web application security, providing a methodology for conducting security tests.
- AI Vulnerability Scoring System (AIVSS) Tool to help organizations score and assess vulnerabilities in AI systems using a standardized scoring methodology.
- OWASP GenAI Security Project Open-source project tracking AI security risks including 21 different risks for GenAI systems and GenAI Data Security risks, with coverage of over 170 AI providers.
- DockSec Open-source AI-powered Docker security scanner that combines container security tools with an LLM layer to correlate findings, generate security scores, and propose line-specific fixes; MIT-licensed.
- CVE Lite CLI OWASP-backed open-source dependency vulnerability scanner for JavaScript and TypeScript that identifies security risks during coding using OSV vulnerability data, with deliberately deterministic analysis.
- OWASP Smart Contract Security Project Project providing smart contract security guidance including the Smart Contract Top 10 risk prioritization framework developed from exploit data across blockchain ecosystems.
- Chat Playground Browser-based tool for testing and learning about securing generative AI models, allowing users to experiment with AI chat scenarios, guardrails, and security vulnerabilities.
Quantifiable outcome
- OWASP Top 10 is based on security data from nearly 3 million applications and a survey of 221 security experts.
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Open Web Application Security Project
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Open Web Application Security Project technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability7 records
Open Web Application Security Project partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.
- Aikido SecuritycoreAikido Security and OWASP launched a new individual member benefit: pentester-grade code audits powered by AI reasoning, available to all OWASP individual members. Announced June 18, 2026 by Andrew van der Stock, OWASP Executive Director.
- NISTmajorNIST convened with OWASP, SANS, and CoSAI near Washington D.C. to develop countermeasures against AI-enabled vulnerability discovery threats, prompted by Anthropic's Mythos AI model. OWASP contributed its AI security frameworks to this multi-standards body effort.
- SANS InstitutemajorSANS Institute participated in the multi-standards body convening with OWASP, NIST, and CoSAI near Washington D.C. to address AI-accelerated vulnerability discovery. SANS contributes expertise in security training and research.
- CoSAI (Consortium for Advancing Security Across Interdependencies)majorCoSAI joined NIST, OWASP, and SANS in convening near Washington D.C. to develop countermeasures against AI-enabled vulnerability discovery. CoSAI is an open-source consortium focused on advancing security standards.
- Lloyds Banking GroupcoreLloyds Banking Group presented its agentic AI security playbook at the OWASP GenAI Security Summit during Infosecurity Europe, detailing its 'AI Safe Adoption' strategy. The bank deployed the world's first production application of OWASP Top 10 for Agentic AI in a red-teaming exercise and is working with Microsoft and Google on multi-vendor identity management for AI agents.
- Atlantic CouncilminorAtlantic Council is listed as a new OWASP partnership alongside Datadog and Open WebUI under GitHub's expanded partner participation in the Secure Open Source Fund and Alpha-Omega initiative.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Open Web Application Security Project competitors and assessment
Company assessmentMarket position
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Open Web Application Security Project social profiles
Digital presenceOpen Web Application Security Project financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Open Web Application Security Project leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
Open Web Application Security Project subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Open Web Application Security Project funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Open Web Application Security Project M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Open Web Application Security Project
What does Open Web Application Security Project do?
OWASP Foundation is a nonprofit organization that produces and distributes free, open-source application security standards, tools, documentation, and frameworks via a global volunteer community. Its core offerings include the OWASP Top Ten risk standard, ASVS verification standard, Cheat Sheets, security testing guides, and security tools such as ZAP, Dependency-Track, Juice Shop, ModSecurity Core Rule Set, and the AI Vulnerability Scoring System (AIVSS).
Is Open Web Application Security Project a public or private company?
Open Web Application Security Project is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Open Web Application Security Project founded?
Open Web Application Security Project was founded in 2001. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Open Web Application Security Project based?
Open Web Application Security Project is headquartered in Wilmington, United States, in the North America region.
How does Open Web Application Security Project make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Corporate Sponsorships are the primary driver. The others are individual Memberships, event Registrations and donations.
Does Open Web Application Security Project have an API?
No public API is recorded for Open Web Application Security Project.
What industry is Open Web Application Security Project in?
Open Web Application Security Project's product category is Application Security. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDADACAA, Web Application Security (WAF, RASP), with a secondary code of FSAPAJAL, Bug Bounty, Vulnerability Disclosure & Security Services. Its NAICS code is 813 and its SIC code is 8600.