Ogma vs Burp Suite
Burp Suite is a long-established web security testing toolkit. Ogma is designed as a lightweight alternative for day-to-day testing, with a native Rust backend, a Vue interface, and an integrated desktop workspace. The aim is to keep traffic inspection, replay, and automation responsive without making a large scanning suite the center of every assessment.
For testers working on a laptop or inside a VM, resource use is part of the workflow: the proxy shares the machine with browsers, terminals, and other testing tools. Ogma's architecture prioritizes doing less unnecessary work as captured traffic grows. Burp's broader scanning platform brings different resource and configuration considerations, especially during large scans or extension-heavy sessions.
The comparison needs to distinguish Burp Suite Community, Burp Suite Professional, and Burp Suite DAST. Professional's scanner and commercial features should not be attributed to Community, while DAST's deployment model should not be treated as the desktop product. Ogma's current desktop toolkit is free to use, including its assistant interface, workflows, scanner, and MCP integration.
At a glance
| Capability | Ogma | Burp Suite Community | Burp Suite Professional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product access | Free desktop toolkit | Free edition | Paid per-user license |
| HTTP interception and replay | History, Intercept, Replay | Proxy and Repeater | Proxy and Repeater |
| Payload-based attacks | Native Automate | Intruder, with edition limits | Full Intruder |
| Vulnerability scanner | Built-in passive and active checks | No Burp Scanner | Integrated Burp Scanner |
| API definition support | Schema-aware request generation into Replay | Manual testing and extensions | Definition-driven API scanning |
| Visual automation | Passive, active, convert workflows | Extensions and scripts | Extensions, scripts, custom scan checks |
| Built-in AI assistant | Included; your provider | No Burp AI | Burp AI, with AI credits |
| External agent integration | Embedded MCP server | MCP extension, edition-dependent tools | PortSwigger MCP extension |
| Browser interaction | Embedded browser and MCP controls | Burp's browser | Browser plus browser-powered scanning |
| WebSocket testing | Dedicated WS Replay and transcript | Proxy and Repeater | Proxy and Repeater |
| Out-of-band testing | Built-in listeners; configure reachability | External tools or extensions | Burp Collaborator |
| Persistent assessment data | SQLite projects and project archives | Temporary projects | Disk-based and temporary projects |
| Runtime and resource management | Native Rust server; virtualized Vue UI; Electron shell | Java runtime and configurable memory allocation | Java runtime; scan, extension, and project resource tuning |
PortSwigger documents the editions in its desktop guide, project-file guide, and API-scanning requirements. Its MCP extension is a separate installation; underlying tool access still depends on the Burp edition.
What you get without a subscription
Ogma includes the tools discussed here without an Ogma subscription. Projects, reusable workflows, targeted scanning, discovery, and the assistant interface are not split into free and paid desktop feature tiers. Normal resource limits still apply; this does not mean unlimited storage or unbounded execution.
Burp Community provides a useful manual-testing foundation. It is not just a training interface: interception, Repeater, and supporting utilities can be used for real assessments. Professional adds Burp Scanner and other commercial capabilities. Choose based on the tasks you need rather than treating the free edition as unusable. Burp editions.
For AI, Ogma lets you configure Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, or a custom OpenAI-compatible provider. There is no separate Ogma AI-credit purchase, but your chosen provider can charge for inference. PortSwigger's built-in Burp AI and Burp AT use AI credits, and buying those credits requires a Professional license. This is separate from using an external model through an MCP extension. Burp AI credits.
A lighter workspace for everyday testing
Burp's resource requirements are worth considering before choosing a daily testing environment. PortSwigger currently lists 4 GB RAM for basic tasks, 16 GB for general-purpose use, and 32 GB for intensive work. These are machine specifications, not a claim that Burp always consumes that amount. Nevertheless, they matter when a browser and a testing VM already compete for memory. Burp system requirements.
Burp is a Java application. Its performance guidance describes balancing heap allocation against memory available to other applications, disabling resource-heavy extensions, and choosing between temporary and disk-based projects. Temporary projects keep project data in memory; disk-based projects can reduce that pressure. This is a practical tuning consideration, not a reason to dismiss Java or Burp's capabilities. Burp performance guidance.
Ogma takes a different approach: its traffic engine runs as a native Rust process, projects use SQLite, and the Vue history table renders a bounded window of rows rather than the whole captured list. Request details are fetched when inspected rather than attached to every summary row. These choices target the repetitive work of capturing, scrolling, filtering, and replaying traffic without requiring JVM heap configuration.
The distinction is lightweight design, not a universal benchmark win. Ogma's Electron shell, embedded browser, scans, and stored response bodies still consume resources. There is no published, like-for-like Ogma-versus-Burp benchmark behind this article; compare the same workload when memory or throughput is decisive.
Portability also deserves a precise comparison. Ogma packages a Windows portable executable and Linux AppImage alongside its installers, and project archives support transferring assessment data. Burp is not tied to one computer: it offers native installers with a bundled Java runtime and a standalone JAR that needs a compatible Java installation. The practical difference is deployment format and runtime setup, not whether Burp can be transported. Burp launch options.
Capture, understand, and reproduce
Ogma's HTTP History supports HTTPQL, saved filters, multi-selection, and direct handoff to Replay, Automate, or an active workflow. Request details are loaded separately from the history table. JSON-aware inspection, full-URL selection, response-header scrolling, and per-attempt request data support repeated inspection without losing the context of the test.
Replay collections organize related tests. Structured editing helps with normal requests, while Raw and Hex modes preserve HTTP/1.x bytes, including deliberately malformed framing. Exact-byte sends bypass variable expansion, cookie replacement, redirects, and Match & Replace so those conveniences do not repair a test you intended to send. Raw HTTP/1.x is not a raw HTTP/2 frame editor. Ogma Replay.
Burp provides Proxy, Repeater, Inspector, and configurable message editors. Its HTTP/2 testing options and request-inspection workflow matter when protocol behavior is central to an engagement; do not infer equivalence merely because both products can capture HTTP/2 traffic. Burp HTTP/2 testing.
Ogma's separate WebSocket Replay tool records a conversation rather than only a last response. You can connect, send an authentication message, inspect acknowledgements, modify a later message, and retain the transcript. Managed Socket.IO support is limited to the supported Engine.IO 4 / Socket.IO 3-4 mode; signed URLs and expired credentials still need valid application authentication. Ogma WS Replay.
Automation without rewriting a plugin
Ogma combines Automate's Sniper, Pitchfork, and Cluster Bomb modes with visual workflows. Extractors, matchers, and stop conditions help turn a payload campaign into a reviewable experiment. Concurrency and target-side protections still govern how fast an attack can run; the lack of a paid-tier throttle is not a throughput guarantee. Ogma Automate.
Passive workflows inspect traffic, active workflows run explicit actions, and convert workflows transform values. Test fixtures, retained test inputs, execution logs, and optional logging make a workflow something you can develop and reuse rather than debug only against live traffic. Definitions can be shared within a workspace or restricted to a project.
For example, a Match & Replace rule can use HTTPQL to select JavaScript responses and feed the full body to a convert workflow. An active workflow can export selected assets using filesystem and path SDK methods. That puts everyday transformation and exporting logic in the application without needing a new extension for each task. Ogma Workflows, Match & Replace.
Burp's customization model is different: extensions use its API, Bambdas add scriptable behavior, and Professional supports custom Java scan checks and BChecks. BChecks use their own language, not Java or Groovy. These mechanisms serve different purposes; Ogma workflow JSON and JavaScript plugins are not drop-in replacements for Burp extensions or .bcheck files. PortSwigger custom scan checks.
Scanner depth and API testing
Ogma's current active engine has nine categories: SQL injection, reflected XSS, path traversal, command injection, SSTI, SSRF, open redirect, XXE, and insecure upload. Passive analysis supplements these checks and feeds findings and extracted endpoints. You can run targeted tests instead of starting a full-site campaign. A result still needs review: reflection alone does not demonstrate exploitable XSS, and a slow response alone does not prove injection. Ogma Scanner.
Ogma imports self-contained OpenAPI 3.x, Postman collections, GraphQL introspection results, and WSDL into Replay. The importer generates bodies and supported parameter values, resolves internal OpenAPI references and server variables, prepares supported authentication templates, and records typed insertion-point metadata. External references are not fetched, and generated values are not automatically valid business data. Importing a definition prepares testing material; it is not proof of exhaustive automated coverage.
Burp Professional goes further in its documented definition-driven scanning flow: it identifies endpoints, parameters, and authentication details and audits the resulting endpoints. Its supported inputs include OpenAPI, Postman, SOAP/WSDL, and GraphQL, subject to format requirements. Compare that end-to-end scan workflow with Ogma's request generation and targeted checks, rather than equating a matching format list with scanner parity. Burp API scanning.
Burp's browser-powered scanner executes client-side scripts during crawling and auditing. It supports recorded login sequences for authenticated areas. Ogma's embedded browser, login journeys, and active scanner are useful building blocks, but their existence alone does not establish equivalent crawl coverage or detection rates. Browser-powered scanning, recorded logins.
Browser automation, AI, and MCP
Ogma's MCP server is built into its backend. An external agent can work with history, Replay, findings, workflows, browser tabs, and WebSocket replay replies. Browser snapshots expose element references; filling, clicking, focused snapshots, changes-only updates, and optional outcome waits reduce the need to guess selectors or repeatedly request a full page.
Login journeys can use multiple candidate selectors, URL/DOM/cookie/request verification, and manual MFA checkpoints. Agent checkpoints and resume tools retain project context for long assessments. These features support human-supervised testing; they do not promise that an agent will understand every application's authorization model or complete any pentest autonomously. Ogma Browser.
Burp also has MCP: PortSwigger publishes an extension that exposes Burp tools to AI clients. The relevant distinction is an embedded Ogma integration versus an extension-based Burp integration, not "Ogma has MCP and Burp does not." Native Burp AI is another separate feature. PortSwigger MCP server.
Discovery, specialist tools, and evidence
Ogma includes content discovery, extracted endpoints, sitemap views, Race testing with an HTTP/2 mode, smuggling probes, OAST, decoder recipes, comparison tools, JWT inspection, and token analysis. A tester can move from an interesting asset to a specialized test without first finding a plugin for each utility. Ogma testing utilities.
Its OAST listeners cover HTTP, HTTPS, DNS, and SMTP. Remote callbacks require a reachable domain and network setup; local listeners are not equivalent to a ready-to-use public callback service. Burp Professional's Collaborator offers its own out-of-band testing workflow and configuration. Ogma OAST, Burp Collaborator.
Ogma findings can link supporting evidence and generate HTML or Markdown reports, with a print-to-PDF path. History export supports HAR and other formats through the relevant views, while project archives preserve assessment data. Burp's BApp ecosystem and Montoya API remain important if your team already depends on specific extensions; assess those dependencies before switching tools. Ogma Exports, BApp Store.
Which fits your assessment?
Choose Ogma when lightweight daily inspection, a broad included toolkit, visual workflows, and integrated agent/browser tools fit your assessment. Targeted testing and assistant access with your own provider do not require a paid Ogma tier.
Choose Burp Suite Professional when its browser-powered scanner, custom scan checks, Collaborator workflow, or existing extension integrations are decisive. Choose Burp Community when you need its manual tools without purchasing Professional. For centrally operated scanning and CI orchestration, assess Burp Suite DAST separately rather than assuming it is the same product as the desktop editions.
Last reviewed: October 3, 2026. Ogma capabilities were checked against the current application code; competitor capabilities were checked against the official sources linked above.