Is an automated scanner enough?
No, not for an app with accounts and data. Scanners find configuration issues, outdated libraries and some injection patterns. They do not know that user A should not see user B's invoice, so they miss the most common serious finding in AI-built apps: broken authorization. Run a scanner continuously, it is cheap and useful, and add a human test before launch.
What scanners find and miss
| Issue | Scanner | Human tester |
|---|---|---|
| Missing security headers, TLS settings | Yes | Yes |
| Known vulnerable library versions | Yes | Yes |
| Secrets in code (secret scanners) | Often | Yes |
| One user reading another's data | Rarely | Yes |
| Weak database rules for your business logic | Partly | Yes |
| Payment and logic flaws | No | Yes |
| Prompt injection with real consequences | Partly | Yes |
When a scanner is enough
For a site with no accounts, no stored personal information and no payments, a scanner plus the checklist is a proportionate choice. The threshold is holding someone else's data behind a login.
The price tell
A "penetration test" for a few hundred dollars is a scan. A human test is priced in tester days at roughly $1,500 to $2,800 CAD each. See testing costs.
Using both well
Run a dependency scanner and a secret scanner on every build, and a dynamic scanner against staging weekly or before releases. Fix what they report promptly, so their output stays short enough to read. Then book a human test before launch and after major changes. Give the tester your scanner results, which saves them repeating that work and lets them spend their days on authorization, logic and AI behaviour.
Be careful with tools that market an automated scan as a penetration test. If a report contains no findings that are specific to your application's rules, only generic configuration and library issues, it was a scan.
Getting it checked
TrazTech offers vibe-coding QA and security review, listed from $2,000 CAD. Get at least one other quote on the same scope; the questions to ask a testing firm help compare them.
Related questions
- Do I need a pentest before launch?
- What is IDOR?
- Black box test or code review?
- Security testing a vibe coded app
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Get matchedCommon questions
Are AI security scanners for vibe coded apps worth it?
As a first pass, yes. They catch common configuration mistakes quickly. They share the scanner limit: no knowledge of what your users should be allowed to do.
Should I run a scanner before a human test?
Yes. Fix what it finds so paid tester days go to what it cannot find.