10 Best Dynamic Code Analysis Tools

IT teams rely on code analysis to identify vulnerabilities, boost code quality, and mitigate risks throughout the software development lifecycle. There are two complementary types of code analysis: dynamic code analysis (also known as dynamic application security testing or DAST) and static code analysis.

Dynamic code analysis looks at code during runtime. It gives IT teams real-time insights into how the software works under actual conditions. Meanwhile, static code analysis automatically scans source code without running it. By focusing on standards adherence, structural integrity, and possible security flaws, it produces readable, clean, and maintainable code.

Developers can use dynamic code analysis tools along with their static code analysis complements to create robust and reliable software. Read on to learn more about dynamic code analysis and the 10 best dynamic code analysis tools, as picked by experts.

What Is Dynamic Code Analysis?

Dynamic code analysis is one of the main types of code analysis. “[It] evaluates code behavior during runtime by executing the program and monitoring its performance, security, and functionality,” explains Mukul Gupta, CEO of Capital Numbers.

Dynamic code analysis is a black box testing method because it looks at a running application without accessing the source code. In contrast, static analysis is a white box testing method because it involves looking at the internal source code and workings of a system to spot potential issues.

Developers can use dynamic code analysis to spot the following in real-time:

• Runtime errors
• Performance bottlenecks
• Security vulnerabilities
• Unexpected interactions with external systems

Although static and dynamic code analysis have different purposes, they serve complementary roles in the software development process. Static analysis catches issues early in the development lifecycle, while dynamic analysis identifies problems that only happen during execution. Using both allows teams to create secure and reliable software.

Top Dynamic Code Analysis Tools

Keeping software secure requires powerful dynamic code analysis tools. Here are the top dynamic code analysistools according to experts.

1. OWASP ZAP

OWASP ZAP, also called Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP), is an open-source dynamic application security testing tool for enterprise security teams, software developers, and penetration testers. Like other open-source tools, it’s actively maintained by an international volunteer team.

Key features and capabilities include:

• Automation through application programming interface (API): Unlike most other web application security testing tools, OWASP ZAP can be automated. This means you can use it at scale in engineering teams.
• ZAP spidering: OWASP ZAP spidering enables the application to crawl web applications to identify potential vulnerabilities. You can configure this spider to target certain parts of the application. You can also use it with other ZAP features to boost overall security assessment.
• Scan policy management: You can create and manage scan policies for each application’s requirements. This leads to efficient and thorough testing.
• WebSocket testing: With OWASP ZAP, you can intercept, tamper with, and analyze WebSocket traffic between the server and client. This helps spot vulnerabilities in WebSocket-based applications.

Supported Programming Languages: all JSR 223 scripting languages, including JavaScript, Python, Ruby, and Kotlin. 

It integrates with various tools, including Aikido, Astra, IronSky, Rekono, Microsoft RAFT, and Faraday.

2. Burp Suite

Burp Suite is a proprietary software tool for penetration testing and security assessment of web applications. It was originally a dynamic code analysis tool, but it can now be used with other testing methods. 

According to Gupta, Burp Suite is “powerful for testing web application vulnerabilities with an interactive interface.” You can use Burp Suite for hands-on web security testing, free up testing time with automated, scalable scanning, and prevent vulnerable apps from hitting production.

Key features and capabilities of Burp Suite include:

• Easy setup: You can perform dynamic code scans across thousands of websites. To manage scanning at scale, use bulk actions. Alternatively, you can set up sites individually.
• DevSecOps integration: Burp Suite easily integrates with any continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) platform. It also provides native support for Trello, GitLab, Jira, and a rich GraphQL API.
• Visible security posture: Burp Suite’s intuitive dashboards help export to other tools, spot trends over time, email scan reports, and reports for compliance audits.
• Minimized risk without increased costs: This software also provides subscription options that enable you to scan at scale. This way, you can maximize your return on investment.

Supported Programming Languages: Java, but also Ruby and Python through extensions. 

It provides a range of integration options, including integrations with Slack, Spunk, and CI/CD platforms.

3. Valgrind

Valgrind is an open-source tool suite for building dynamic analysis tools. “[It's] essential for improving software reliability and efficiency,” says Gupta.

Valgrind has many tools for automatically detecting threading and memory management bugs. You can also use the program to create new tools. 

Key features and capabilities of Valgrind include:

• Helgrind: This feature locates thread-related errors, such as deadlocks and data races. It also ensures the correctness of multithreaded programs.
• Memcheck: This helps spot memory-related issues that can cause unpredictable behavior and crashes, including use-after-free and memory leaks. It’s especially useful for C++ and C ++ programs.
• Callgrind/cachegrind: This profiles cache and CPU performance. You can also use it to spot optimization areas and performance bottlenecks.

Supported Programming Languages: C, Python, C++, Perl, Ada, assembly code, and Fortran. Integration options include a plugin for the Eclipse IDE that allows for seamless profiling and integration into CLion for memory profiling. Jenkins also has a Valgrind plugin.

4. AppDynamics

AppDynamics is a full-stack application performance management (APM) program. An APM program combines data analysis, software tools, and application management processes to optimize the availability, performance, and user experience of business applications.

Formerly part of Cisco, AppDynamics is now part of the Splunk Observability Portfolio, a suite of integrated products that help DevOps and IT teams tackle monitoring challenges. As Gupta notes, AppDynamics “helps with root cause analysis by tracing transactions across distributed systems.”

AppDynamics’ key features and capabilities include:

• Dynamic code analysis and the ability to secure applications at runtime: AppDynamics empowers you to perform dynamic code analysis and secure applications inside your runtime environment.
• The ability to observe your full stack: With AppDynamics, network, engineering, security teams, and ITOps can see across cloud-native apps, three-tier architectures, all domains, as well as owned and unowned networks.
• Flawless digital experiences: Use AppDynamics’ Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) to learn how end-users interact with your apps. You can then use that information to optimize your app.

Supported Programming Languages: .NET, C/C++, PHP, Node.js, and Java.

AppDynamics' main integration option is with Splunk. This integration gives you a single, cohesive view of dataand lets you use auto-populated queries from the AppDynamics Console to launch Splunk searches.

5. Dynatrace

Dynatrace is an AI-powered observability platform providing deep insights into user experience, application behavior, and infrastructure performance. It is particularly great for AI-driven application performance monitoring. 

Key features and capabilities of Dynatrace include:

• Application security: Dynatrace can strengthen the security of your applications. In particular, you can use Dynatrace Runtime Application Protection (RAP) to perform dynamic code analysis.
• Threat observability: Quickly find, investigate, and respond to threats through intelligent automation.
• Software delivery: Drive digital transformation with powerful automations driven by security insights and observability.

Supported Programming Languages: Java, Python, Node.js, and .NET. 

It integrates with all major cloud solutions and platforms, including Apache Camel, WordPress, AWS Glue, and Confluent Cloud (Kafka).

6. JaCoCo

JaCoCo is a free, open-source code library designed for the Java programming language. It measures code coverage, which means it tells you how much of your code is actually being executed when you run your test.

One thing that stands out about JaCoCo is that it “helps improve test coverage and identify untested parts of the application,” according to Gupta. To use JaCoCo for dynamic code coverage, simply run it as a Java agent to gather coverage data in real-time as your app runs.

Key features and capabilities include:

• Integration with build tools: JaCoCo integrates smoothly with build tools like Gradle or Maven, which means it integrates well into CI/CD pipelines.
• Code coverage reports: JaCoCo generates detailed code coverage reports in various formats, including CSV, HTML, and XML.
• Report customization: After generating reports, you can customize them to focus on specific code sections or metrics.

Supported Programming Languages: Java, Apex, Groovy, Scala, and Kotlin. 

It integrates with a wide range of products and services, including Java API, Apache Ant, IntelliJ IDEA, Jenkins, TeamCity, and Arquillian.

7. Selenium

Selenium is an open-source web browser automation tool. You can use it to write automated dynamic code analysis tests to assess web apps’ functionality. You can also integrate Selenium with security tools like OWASP ZAP to gather web traffic data, analyze it for security issues, and report vulnerabilities.

Selenium’s key features and capabilities include:

• Browser automation: Selenium lets you automate web browser interactions. You can write scripts that simulate user actions like filling forms, clicking buttons, and navigating pages.
• Selenium IDE: This browser extension lets users record and playback interactions. You can then play the recordings as automated tests.
• Authentication and authorization testing: Selenium can test the security of user roles, login mechanisms, and access controls.
• Cross-browser compatibility: Selenium supports testing and automation across different browsers, including Edge, Firefox, and Chrome.

Supported Programming Languages: Java, Ruby, JavaScript, and PHP. 

It has a wide range of plugins for extending functions, including Selenium IDE plugins, which add new locators, commands, and integrations with third-party services to Selenium IDE. Other plugins include Jenkins, BrowserStack, and Bamboo CI/CD integration plugins for automatic testing, building, and deployment.

8. JMeter

JMeter, or Apache JMeter, is a free and open-source Java tool for load testing and measuring application performance. 

JMeter simulates a heavy load on services to measure performance under various conditions. Gupta says it’s great for AI-driven application performance monitoring and particularly valuable because the tool “simulates heavy traffic to evaluate application scalability.”

Key JMeter features include:

• Ability to load and performance test a wide range of applications: JMeter can test TCP, Web - HTTP, HTTPs, SOAP/REST Web services, and LDAP, just to name a few.
• Test IDE: JMeter provides a full-featured test IDE that allows for fast Test Plan recording (from native applications or browsers), debugging, and building.
• Full multi-threading framework: This allows for concurrent sampling by many threads and simultaneous sampling of a range of functions by separate thread groups.

Supported Programming Languages: Java, BeanShell, and Groovy.

JMeter has a wide range of integration options, including pluggable samplers that allow unlimited testing capabilities, data analysis and visualization plugins, and integration plugins for Jenkins, Gradle, and Maven.

Additional reading, "How to Use JMeter to Test Your Web Application." 

9. New Relic

New Relic is a cloud-based intelligent observability program that tracks and analyzes the performance of mobile and website applications. In 2023, it won Gartner Peer Insights™ Customers’ Choice for APM and Observability.

A wide range of companies have adopted New Relic, ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. Well-known New Relic users include Adobe, Shutterstock, and Topgolf. 

Key features and capabilities of New Relic include:

• Full-stack observability: Engineers get visibility into the whole IT stack, including all telemetry data. This helps them plan, build, deploy, and run great software more effectively and efficiently.
• Pay-as-you-go pricing model: With New Relic, you only have to pay for what you use. This allows you to budget better and save more over time.
• Enterprise-level security certifications: New Relic has trusted security certifications, including SOC2, A-Lign, and GDPR.
• Free demo: To see whether New Relic fits into your tech stack, you can get a free demo.

Supported Programming Languages: Java, PHP, Python, .NET, Go, and Ruby. 

New Relic also has over 780 integrations, including Agentic AI, Node.js, WordPress, and Active Directory.

10. Microsoft Application Insights

Microsoft Application Insights, also called Azure Monitor Application Insights, is a feature of Azure Monitor that provides application performance monitoring (APM) and dynamic code analysis for live web apps. It is a full-featured monitoring solution for gathering, analyzing, and responding to monitoring data from your on-premises and cloud environments.

Key features and capabilities of Azure Monitor Application Insights include:

• Alerts: The program monitors aspects of your application and triggers different actions.
• Workbooks: This function creates interactive dashboards and reports that visualize application monitoring data.
• Flows: Azure Monitor Application Insights can visualize user paths on your site to identify exit points and high engagement areas.

Supported Programming Languages: .NET and .NET Core, Java, Node.js, Python, JavaScript, and Ruby. Integration options include OpenTelemetry for telemetry data collection, Azure Functions for monitoring functions, and Power Pages for proactively identifying bottlenecks.

Finding the Right Tool For Your Team

Both static and dynamic code analysis are essential for building reliable and secure software. Specifically, dynamic code analysis tools analyze code during execution, giving you and your team insights into how your app works under actual conditions.

By conducting thorough research of various tools, the features and capabilities they possess, your team will be able to address runtime issues and security vulnerabilities more efficiently and effectively. 

If you need help with dynamic code analysis or security testing more broadly, Clutch is here to help. You can browse our cybersecurity experts, all of whom have been thoroughly vetted for expertise and reliability and can help you with a wide range of projects.

About the Author

Hannah Hicklen Content Marketing Manager at Clutch

Hannah Hicklen is a content marketing manager who focuses on creating newsworthy content around tech services, such as software and web development, AI, and cybersecurity. With a background in SEO and editorial content, she now specializes in creating multi-channel marketing strategies that drive engagement, build brand authority, and generate high-quality leads. Hannah leverages data-driven insights and industry trends to craft compelling narratives that resonate with technical and non-technical audiences alike. 

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