What is Annual penetration tests?
Annual (or periodic) penetration testing is a point-in-time, manual assessment where testers simulate attacks to find vulnerabilities in your applications and infrastructure.
Comparison at a glance
| Aspect | Barrion | Annual penetration tests |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency | Continuous (e.g. daily or weekly scans + alerts) | Typically 1–2 times per year |
| Method | Automated, passive (read-only), no exploit attempts | Manual, active: exploit validation and attack simulation |
| What it finds | Misconfigurations, TLS/headers, exposure, drift | Vulnerabilities including logic flaws, auth issues, chained attacks |
| Production risk | None, safe for production | Can affect availability, often run in test windows |
| Remediation | Step-by-step fixes, re-scan to verify | Report and retest, often requires security expertise |
| Cost / effort | Subscription, minimal internal effort | Per-engagement cost, internal coordination and remediation |
Who Barrion is best for
Teams that want to close the gap between pentests: catch TLS and header drift, forgotten staging environments, and misconfigurations as they happen. No need to wait for the next annual test. Complements pentests and does not replace them.
Who Annual penetration tests is best for
Compliance requirements (e.g. PCI DSS, contractual), deep vulnerability validation, and when you need an independent assessment. Essential for certification and for finding issues automation cannot reliably detect.
Frequently asked questions
Is Barrion a replacement for Annual penetration tests?
No. Annual pentests are manual, deep assessments that find logic flaws, chained attacks, and other issues automation cannot reliably detect. Barrion is automated, passive, and continuous, focused on misconfigurations, TLS, headers, and drift. Use Barrion to close the gap between pentests, not to replace them.
Can I use Barrion and Annual penetration tests together?
Yes, this is the recommended pattern. Run Barrion year-round for continuous coverage and audit-ready evidence, then commission a pentest annually or bi-annually for deep manual validation. Barrion catches issues as they appear between tests rather than waiting for the next engagement.
How is Barrion priced vs Annual penetration tests?
Barrion is a subscription with predictable cost and minimal internal effort. Annual pentests are billed per engagement and involve internal coordination plus remediation work. For most teams, Barrion is the lower-cost layer that runs continuously and pentests are the higher-cost layer used once or twice a year.
Does Barrion test in production safely?
Yes. Barrion only runs passive, read-only checks with no exploit attempts, so it is safe to run continuously in production. Pentests can affect availability and are typically scheduled in test windows or with the team on standby.
Summary
Use both. Run Barrion for continuous, passive monitoring and audit-ready evidence year-round. Use annual (or bi-annual) pentests for deep, manual assessment and compliance. Barrion fills the gaps between pentests so you are not exposed to configuration and drift issues for months at a time.
Explore Barrion further
Try the same checks Annual penetration tests runs against your own site with the free website security scan (no signup), browse our full tool catalog covering TLS, security headers, CSP, cookies, DNS, and email auth, or read per-check explainers in /learn for the background on what each test means and why it matters. If you want a deeper look at how Barrion stacks up across the market, the full Barrion vs competitors comparison walks through the trade-offs in one place, and the pricing page shows what's included in each plan.