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Security report for softwareadvice.com

Software Advice · Technology · N/a

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

75/100

Risk levelMedium

0–100, higher is better. How it is calculated

Software Advice is a well-established technology company specializing in providing independent, objective software buying advice and reviews. The platform serves over 1 million businesses and offers personalized one-on-one consultations to help clients find suitable software solutions quickly. The website demonstrates a strong market position as a trusted advisor in the software industry, supported by millions of verified user reviews and a broad industry coverage of 150 sectors. The business model revolves around advisory services and software comparison, likely monetized through vendor partnerships and lead generation. Technically, the website is built on modern frameworks such as React and Next.js, hosted on Vercel, and integrates advanced analytics and customer engagement tools like Google Analytics, FullStory, and Intercom. The site is optimized for performance, mobile responsiveness, and SEO, reflecting a mature digital infrastructure. Security best practices are observed with HTTPS enforcement and security headers, although explicit security policies and incident response details are not publicly disclosed. The security posture is strong with no evident vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data. Privacy compliance is well addressed with comprehensive privacy and cookie policies and consent mechanisms, aligning with GDPR requirements. However, the absence of direct contact emails and WHOIS data transparency slightly impacts business credibility from a domain registration perspective. Overall, Software Advice presents a professional, trustworthy, and user-friendly platform with a solid technical foundation and good privacy practices. Strategic improvements in transparency around security policies, incident response, and domain registration details would further enhance trust and compliance.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of softwareadvice.com. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
85/ 100 · Low
Checks completed
7of 7

NIS2 Art. 21(2)

  1. (a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
  2. (b) Incident handling: One indicator
  3. (c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
  4. (d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
  5. (e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
  6. (f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
  7. (g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
  8. (h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
  9. (i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
  10. (j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside

This scan rated NIS2 with an earlier keyword method that is no longer shown; rescan for the per-article view. Risk management, continuity, supply chain, training, MFA, management oversight (Art. 20) and incident reporting (Art. 23) need internal evidence, and Guard cannot tell whether NIS2 applies to this organisation.

GDPR is indicative only, based on publicly visible signals: Articles 7, 12, 13 and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Not a certification or legal assessment.

Priority findings

5 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

  3. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • High

      Weak Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching softwareadvice.com

This scan found 18 issues across 6 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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Full report

€39.90one-time

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Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

Results by check

Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.

How this score is calculated

The security score runs 0–100, higher is better. It is the plain average of the security checks that completed in this scan, each counted equally. A check that could not run is left out: it counts neither as a pass nor as a fail.

Counted in this score

SSL/TLS
57
Security headers
35
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
85
Average
75

Not counted

  • NIS2 outside view: Re-weights evidence from the TLS, email, DNS, network and hygiene checks, so counting it would count that evidence twice. Shown on its own.
  • OffSeq Observations: An AI reading of the site, useful context but not reproducible evidence. Shown on its own.

Findings that cap the score at 49

Each of these is serious on its own, so while any is present the site cannot rate better than high risk, however good the other checks are.

  • The certificate is not trusted by browsers
  • The website is not served over HTTPS
  • A database, remote desktop, file-sharing or Telnet service is reachable from the internet
  • The page loads a script from a compromised source
  • The domain registration has expired
  • SPF authorises every server to send mail as the domain

Partial scans

When the site blocks Guard or most checks cannot run, the score covers only the checks that ran (usually DNS and email), is capped at 75 and is shown as partial, without a risk level.

Risk levels

  • Critical0–25
  • High26–49
  • Medium50–75
  • Low76–100

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

Software Advice operates as a leading software advisory and review platform, targeting businesses seeking software solutions across multiple industries. Its competitive advantage lies in personalized advisor consultations, extensive verified reviews, and a broad software category coverage. The business model likely includes lead generation and vendor partnerships. The company is part of Gartner, Inc., a major player in technology research and advisory. Growth indicators include a large user base and extensive industry reach. The partnership ecosystem includes related regional domains and integration with major analytics and customer engagement platforms. Operationally, the company emphasizes user experience, trust, and comprehensive software guidance.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and multiple security headers implemented. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. Privacy policies and cookie consent mechanisms indicate compliance with GDPR. However, the absence of a published security policy, incident response plan, or vulnerability disclosure program limits transparency. No security contact emails or security.txt files were found, which could hinder incident reporting and response. The use of third-party scripts requires ongoing monitoring to mitigate supply chain risks. Overall, the security maturity is good but could benefit from enhanced transparency and formalized security communication channels.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response plan on the website.
  2. Implement and publicize a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file.
  3. Provide direct security contact emails (e.g., security@softwareadvice.com) for incident reporting.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts and tracking tools to minimize vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance domain registration transparency by ensuring WHOIS data is available and accurate.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Software Advice
Description
We help companies find the right software—for free and in as little as 15 minutes.
Key services
personalized software recommendations, software reviews, software comparisons, 1-on-1 advisor consultations
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Next.js, Vercel Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Intercom, FullStory, Trustpilot Widget, Cloudflare
Frameworks
Next.js, React
Platforms
Vercel
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of security headers
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Secure forms with input validation

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, FullStory, Vercel Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
FullStory, Intercom
Marketing tools
Intercom, Trustpilot Widget
Transparency
good

Site quality

Design
excellent
User experience
excellent
Content relevance
excellent
Navigation
excellent
Professionalism
excellent
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and professional design.
  2. No WHOIS data available, indicating possible privacy protection or domain registration issues.
  3. Strong use of modern web technologies and analytics.
  4. Good privacy and cookie policies with consent mechanisms.
  5. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on homepage; contact via form.
  6. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  7. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found.
  8. Content is safe and business-focused with no adult or questionable material.
Technical notes

Notes

The website leverages a modern technology stack including React and Next.js, hosted on Vercel, ensuring fast performance and scalability. Integration with analytics and customer engagement tools like Google Analytics, FullStory, and Intercom supports data-driven decision-making and user support. The site is well-optimized for mobile devices and SEO, with proper meta tags and structured data. No CMS was explicitly detected, suggesting a custom or headless architecture. The technical implementation reflects a high level of digital maturity with good accessibility and performance metrics. Opportunities exist to further enhance security transparency and domain registration clarity.
Standards and sources

Reference chips under each finding point to the standard, regulation or specification the finding relates to. They are taken from the official datasets below and mapped conservatively: a finding with no defensible link shows none. NIS2 and GDPR references mark where a finding is relevant evidence, not a compliance verdict. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 binds digital infrastructure and digital service providers; for other entities it is the most detailed public reading of the Article 21 measures. WCAG, EN 301 549, European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive references name the requirement an automated accessibility rule relates to; they are not a conformance verdict.

Retrieved 2026-10-25

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 75/100Medium23 findingsView report
  2. 75/100 +2Medium23 findingsView report
  3. 73/100Medium23 findingsView report
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