Custom vs. Popular Tools in Bug Bounty / Ethical Hacking

Most bug bounty hunters fire up Burp, Nmap, Nikto, etc., and call it a day. Don’t get me wrong — these tools are incredible. They’re mature, well-tested, and give broad coverage. But they also mean you’re playing the exact same game as everyone else. That’s why I started building my own tools (e.g. SpiderGo, PayloadGo). Not because I wanted to reinvent Burp, but because I wanted features tailored to my workflow: faster payload testing, cleaner reporting, automation around repetitive checks. Basically, the stuff I couldn’t find elsewhere. Here’s what I’ve noticed: Mainstream tools = safe baseline. Everyone runs them, they catch the obvious stuff. Custom tools = edge cases and originality. They surface the bugs others miss. Bug bounties are competitive. If 100 people run the same scanner, only a handful will be first. A small custom script can be the difference between “duplicate” and “valid.” I still use Burp, Nikto, etc. — but I treat them as a foundation, not the endgame. The real wins often come from building on top of them with something custom.