Alternatives to Bright Security at Pre-seed startups

middleBrick is a self-service API security scanner that operates as a black-box solution. You submit a target URL and receive a risk score from A to F along with prioritized findings. No agents, SDKs, or code access are required, and it works with any language, framework, or cloud environment. Scans complete in under a minute using read-only methods (GET and HEAD) plus text-only POST for LLM probes.

The scanner detects issues across 12 categories aligned to the OWASP API Top 10 (2023). These include Authentication bypass and JWT misconfigurations such as alg=none, HS256, expired or missing claims, and sensitive data in claims. It also covers BOLA and IDOR via sequential ID enumeration and active adjacent-ID probing, BFLA and privilege escalation through admin endpoint probing, and Property Authorization issues like over-exposure and mass-assignment surface. Additional categories include Input Validation (CORS wildcard with credentials, dangerous HTTP methods, debug endpoints), Rate Limiting and Resource Consumption, Data Exposure (PII patterns, Luhn-validated cards, context-aware SSN, API key formats, error leakage), Encryption (HTTPS redirect, HSTS, cookie flags, mixed content), SSRF (URL-accepting parameters, internal IP detection), Inventory Management (missing versioning, legacy paths), Unsafe Consumption (excessive third-party URLs, webhook surface), and LLM / AI Security with 18 adversarial probes across Quick, Standard, and Deep tiers.

middleBrick parses OpenAPI 3.0, 3.1, and Swagger 2.0 definitions with recursive $ref resolution. It cross-references spec definitions against runtime findings to surface undefined security schemes, sensitive fields, deprecated operations, and missing pagination. For authenticated scanning at the Starter tier and above, support includes Bearer, API key, Basic auth, and Cookie methods. Domain verification is enforced through DNS TXT records or an HTTP well-known file to ensure only domain owners can scan with credentials. The scanner forwards a restricted header allowlist consisting of Authorization, X-API-Key, Cookie, and X-Custom-* headers.

The Web Dashboard centralizes scan results, score trends, and allows export of branded compliance PDFs. The CLI via the middlebrick npm package supports commands such as middlebrick scan <url> with JSON or text output. A GitHub Action enables CI/CD gating, failing the build when the score drops below a chosen threshold. The MCP Server allows scans from AI coding assistants like Claude and Cursor. Programmatic access is available through an API client for custom integrations.

Pro tier adds continuous monitoring with scheduled rescans every 6 hours, daily, weekly, or monthly. It provides diff detection across scans to highlight new findings, resolved findings, and score drift. Alerts are delivered via email at a rate-limited pace of 1 per hour per API, and HMAC-SHA256 signed webhooks auto-disable after 5 consecutive failures.

Free tier offers 3 scans per month with CLI access. Starter at 99 dollars per month supports 15 APIs, monthly scans, dashboard, email alerts, and MCP Server. Pro at 499 dollars per month covers 100 APIs with an additional 7 dollars per extra API, plus continuous monitoring, GitHub Action gates, CI/CD integration, Slack and Teams alerts, compliance reports, and signed webhooks. Enterprise at 2000 dollars per month provides unlimited APIs, custom rules, SSO, audit logs, SLA, and dedicated support.

Safety is built into design. The scanner uses read-only methods only and never sends destructive payloads. Private IPs, localhost, and cloud metadata endpoints are blocked at three layers. Customer scan data is deletable on demand and purged within 30 days of cancellation. It is never sold and never used for model training.

The tool does not fix, patch, block, or remediate findings; it detects and reports with remediation guidance. It does not perform active SQL injection or command injection, which fall outside its scope. It does not detect business logic vulnerabilities, blind SSRF relying on out-of-band infrastructure, or replace a human pentester for high-stakes audits.