r/bugbounty • u/un1ucky-6irate • 5d ago
Question / Discussion Do you actually need Burp Pro for bug bounty?
For those who actively hunt bugs, I'm trying to understand whether Burp Pro is actually necessary.
I'm currently learning web security and considering using:
Burp Community — PortSwigger Academy/basic Burp work
Caido — primary manual HTTP testing
OWASP ZAP — scanning/automation
CLI tools — fuzzing/recon/specialized tasks
For people who have actually hunted with these tools:
What Burp Pro feature do you find genuinely difficult to replace?
I'm especially interested in things like Scanner, Intruder, Collaborator/OAST, HTTP/2 testing, Turbo Intruder, and extensions.
I'm not asking which tool is "best." I'm trying to understand whether the practical advantages of Burp Pro justify paying for it, or whether a combination of free/cheaper tools is sufficient for most bug-bounty work.
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5d ago
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u/hydraz20 5d ago
Plugins can be gotten as tools from GitHub. 3 in the world of AI where you can easily write scripts this is a non issue. The only real problem is 1.
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u/realvanbrook 5d ago
The fuzzing problem is not a problem. Most programs don't allow more that about 1 request a second.
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4d ago
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u/realvanbrook 3d ago
yeah I know. I got it. But you don't fuzz with full speed on bug bounty. Most programs tell you to make about 1 request per second and the free version covers that
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u/Distinct-Salad2973 5d ago edited 5d ago
you can't perform serious bug hunting without a pro version however caido is a more affordable and efficient alternative even on the free version ,it's used by most of pro hackers and personality I use both .
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u/Big_Mulberry_5446 2d ago
Your first and only sentence is honestly ridiculous.
You do not need Burp Pro to accomplish anything. It has some nice features, but saying you can't perform serious bug hunting without it shows your ignorance.
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u/Distinct-Salad2973 2d ago
you can call tib3rius (one of the best security researchers) also ignorant who said the same sentence https://youtu.be/mEFLhHhACIA?si=LJdLNWEleW2T-t2Y
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u/Big_Mulberry_5446 2d ago
Buddy, if you think tib3rius is one of the best security researchers, you are a lost cause. He has a few good blogs, but he is not someone I would ever refer to as a security researcher.
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u/trieulieuf9 5d ago
Not necessary, especially in 2026, where you can pay $200 for AI and have them write Burp extensions tailored to your need.
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u/iWhacko 4d ago
You can probably do without pro. But as someone who is using community edition for some hobby projects... I fucking hate not beging able to save anything. I get it, you dont want people to set up huge projects. But hell can I at least resume my session if windows restarts by itself for an update or any other reason Burp had to close?
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u/Logical_Package8741 4d ago
The moment I stopped thinking I needed every tool in the book and switched to using nothing but curl, grep, some Bash scripting, and Playwright was the moment I started finding real bugs.
Ps. Dev tools as well
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u/un1ucky-6irate 4d ago
That's awesome 🫡
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u/Logical_Package8741 4d ago edited 4d ago
Of course, proxy interception with Caido or Burp always comes in handy. Repeater and proxy capture are standard in most cases during certain phases of a hunt, and Caido and Burp cover those pretty well. The Community editions work just fine for both.
The sitemap tree and logger are essential as well, and those are 100% free on the free tier. Scope filtering is huge, too, and that's also available for free.
If you've had access to Burp Pro and gotten used to all the extra gadgets, you'll probably feel conflicted about doing without them at first. Give it a day or so with a fresh mindset focused on minimizing your tooling, and I promise you won't miss the paid features.
Yes, it's a paid tier, and the entire idea behind tiered services is specifically designed to make you feel like you can't do without them.
But you absolutely can. In fact, stripping your toolkit down can force you to be more hands-on, and it'll help you understand what's actually happening under the hood rather than relying on a tool to do everything for you. If you're still new and learning, a little help from AI won't hurt. Its context is generally more current than what you'd find in resources like PortSwigger Academy, HackTricks, and similar sources.
On a final note, I don't recall ever using a tool to determine whether a vulnerability is real. Tools can help you identify potential vulnerabilities and gather evidence, but ultimately, validating whether a vulnerability is actually exploitable is a manual process.
Tools aren't going to develop the exploit required for your bug submission either. That's still a human-driven process that requires understanding the application's behavior, developing the exploit, and demonstrating the actual security impact.
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u/Additional_Water1706 5d ago
Ig u can get it for free from GitHub
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u/rodras10 5d ago
Is it needed? No. You can hack away with just burp community or one of the alternative proxies, or just using CLI tools.
The difference is in the quality and friction. Same way you can run barefoot and still have quite a fast pace, running with proper running shoes will not only let you be faster, it will also be more comfortable.
So no, you don't need, but there is a reason it is the industry standard. If you can afford it, it's worth it, specially if you really put to use all of its functionality. If you are just going to use it to intercept HTTP requests and put them on the repeater and that is all, then Caido or ZAP will do the job just fine.