Open Web Application Security Project

Application Securityowasp.org

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

Application security standards
Web security testing tools
Secure coding guidance
Software composition analysis
Security verification frameworks

Where Open Web Application Security Project is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

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 offering

Core 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 profile

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Open Web Application Security Project technology and API

Technology

Technology 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 signal

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

Aikido SecuritycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAikido 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.
NISTmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNIST 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 InstitutemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSANS 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)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoSAI 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 GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLloyds 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 CouncilminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAtlantic 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 assessment

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Open Web Application Security Project financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Open Web Application Security Project leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Open Web Application Security Project subsidiaries and ownership

Company hierarchy

Subsidiaries1 record

Open Web Application Security Project funding detail

Funding detail

Funding 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 investment

M&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?

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.