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AdequateStrongAdequateStrong
4.4

Vendors › API Security › 42Crunch

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42Crunch

42Crunch

Founded 2017·GB·VC-backed
4.4

Combined score

G2
4.535

▪ Editorial verdict

42Crunch has built the most complete shift-left API security platform in the market. By anchoring the entire security model to the OpenAPI specification, 42Crunch catches authentication flaws, excessive data exposure, and injection vulnerabilities in the API definition before a single line of code is deployed to production. The VS Code and IntelliJ plugins make security feedback part of the developer's natural workflow rather than a separate security gate that slows delivery.

The scope is explicitly pre-production. 42Crunch has no runtime protection capability and no shadow API discovery for undocumented production APIs. It is a developer tool that should be deployed alongside a runtime API security platform, not instead of one.

The verdict: 42Crunch is right for development teams wanting to catch API security issues before deployment via CI/CD pipeline integration with the most developer-native experience available. Security teams needing runtime protection and shadow API discovery should evaluate Salt Security or Traceable alongside 42Crunch.

Last reviewed: May 2026

G2

4.535 reviews
Gartner MQ: Not in MQ (developer-focused specialist)

API Security assessment

PROTECTIONAdequate
API discovery & inventory
3 / 5
Attack detection
3 / 5
OPERATIONSStrong
DevOps integration
5 / 5
Remediation guidance
5 / 5
ANALYTICSAdequate
Traffic analytics
3 / 5
TRUST & ECOSYSTEMStrong
Standards & spec coverage
5 / 5

Strongest: DevOps integration

Watch out for: Traffic analytics

Strengths & limitations

Strengths

●Best API security testing integrated into developer IDE and CI/CD — no agent required
●Static analysis of OpenAPI specs catches vulnerabilities before deployment
●Free community tier makes shift-left API security accessible to any team

Watch out for

●Focused on development-time security — limited runtime attack detection
●Less suitable for organisations without OpenAPI/Swagger specification discipline
●Smaller customer base and ecosystem than runtime-focused vendors

Best for

Development teams wanting shift-left API security testing in IDE and CI/CD before APIs reach production.

Not suitable for: Organisations prioritising runtime threat detection — 42Crunch is a development-time tool, not a runtime protection platform.

Compliance coverage

●SOC 2
●NIST CSF
●GDPR
●ISO 27001
○Essential Eight
○AU Privacy Act
○HIPAA
○PCI-DSS
○CMMC
○NIS2
○DORA
○CIS Benchmarks

Switching intelligence

Switching from

Common migration paths based on review data

Also considering

Vendors typically shortlisted alongside

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Quick facts

Pricing modelper API per month; developer seat licensing
Pricing rangeFree community tier; Enterprise $500-2,000/API/year
Free trialYes
Min seats1
Deployment time< 1 day
Complexity1 / 5
Pricing transparency4 / 5
AU presenceNo
IRAP assessedNo
Open sourceProprietary

Deployment

ModelsSaaS
OS supportCloud-native, IDE extension
CloudAWS, Azure, GCP
SupportEmail, Chat, Community
Data residencyUS, EU

Company

42Crunch

Founded 2017 · 50-150 employees · VC-backed

HQ: GB

$10M+ ARR est.

Certifications

SOC 2 Type II

Integrations

VS CodeIntelliJGitHubGitLabAzure DevOpsJenkinsKongAWS API Gateway