Cymulate vs Pentera comparison

Cymulate and Pentera are both solutions in the Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) category. Cymulate is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6, while Pentera is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.0. Cymulate holds a 19.2% mindshare in BAS, compared to Pentera’s 27.7% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cymulate users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Pentera users who would recommend it.

Cymulate

Read 6 Cymulate reviews

3,803 Views
2,548 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Pentera

Read 9 Pentera reviews

7,048 Views
3,524 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cymulate

Pentera

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

Cymulate and Pentera compete in the cybersecurity solutions category, focusing on breach and attack simulations. Each has unique strengths, with Cymulate favored for its flexibility and comprehensive analytics, and Pentera noted for its advanced automation capabilities and robust features.

Features: Cymulate offers extensive attack vectors and provides flexibility in testing scenarios, sophisticated payload management, and intuitive dashboards to assess system performance. Pentera is known for automated penetration testing capabilities, continuous vulnerability assessment, and comprehensive attack surface management, which enhance security with minimal manual intervention.

Room for Improvement: Cymulate could improve by expanding integration with more third-party security tools, enhancing reporting granularity, and reducing overhead on bandwidth. Pentera can focus on streamlining setup processes, providing more insights on remediation steps, and better masking sensitive information during assessments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cymulate is praised for straightforward deployment and responsive customer service, making it accessible for various organizations. Pentera requires a more involved setup due to its comprehensive requirements but is backed by strong support that ensures successful implementation and a detailed setup process.

Pricing and ROI: Cymulate is viewed as cost-effective with low setup costs and a strong ROI due to its broad capabilities. Pentera involves a higher initial investment; however, its advanced features justify the cost by enhancing long-term security posture, highlighting Cymulate’s affordability against Pentera’s feature-rich value offering.

To learn more, read our detailed Cymulate vs. Pentera Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cymulate vs. Pentera

September 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Cymulate

Ranking in Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) (10th), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (11th), Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (2nd)

Pentera

Ranking in Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)

2nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Penetration Testing Services (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) category, the mindshare of Cymulate is 19.2%, down from 22.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pentera is 27.7%, down from 29.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cymulate	19.2%
Pentera	27.7%
Other	53.1%

Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)

Featured Reviews

Ondrej Kováč

Solution Engineer at Exclusive Networks Czechia

Advanced cybersecurity solution for attack based vulnerability mng. and upskill platform for SOC.

While Cymulate's technology shows great promise and delivers excellent results, their approach to positioning the solution appears to overlap with other companies like Tenable, making them both direct and indirect competitors. Cymulate must refine their messaging and manage expectations effectively. In my experience, they need to be more attentive internally and mindful of potential negative impacts on customers. They exhibit a high degree of flexibility, which can result in sudden changes without adequate alerting. Communicating with them via phone for business matters can be challenging. On a scale from one to ten, I would rate Cymulate's technology level at eight, but their business level at four out of ten.

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Sabbir Ahmed

Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd

Comprehensive attack surface coverage and real-world threat emulation strengthen security while licensing models need improvement

Comprehensive Attack Surface includes several features. Omni Attack Surface discovers, assesses, and exploits vulnerabilities across both internal networks and external assets, including cloud environments from a single platform. External Attack Surface Management (EASM) and Internal Network Validation test internal security controls and identify weaknesses within the internal network. Automated Penetration Testing features are provided through the Pentera Surface module. Surface provides automated validation and penetration testing features with a proactive, continuous, and highly realistic approach to cybersecurity validation, helping organizations understand and reduce their true cyber exposure. They have AI-based reporting that leverages AI to identify patterns of exploitability over time, aggregate results across sites, and highlight recurring weaknesses. They offer two types of reports: an elaborate technical report for CTOs and an Executive Summary for management. When customers see the reports after completing the POC, they are impressed by how detailed the technical report is, while management can understand what actions need to be taken to protect their network and infrastructure. Recent Gartner reports indicate that traditional VAPT companies perform vulnerability testing at specific times, which creates security gaps. Pentera provides continuous validation, running 24/7 in the infrastructure. This means when any vulnerability appears due to firmware upgrades, OS updates, or software changes, it can be automatically identified in real-time.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable feature for us is the zero-day."

"The reporting capabilities are very good."

"Cymulate is easy to set up, install, and configure."

"With Cymulate, the best features are the capacity to test the EDR or malware, anti-malware solution."

"The security validation feature helps my organization in assessing our security posture."

"Cymulate has positively impacted our organization by helping us to take care of the efficacy and reviewing the policies and configuration."

"The tool showed us that our ransomware protection wasn’t working on some machines."

"Maybe there are some remediation steps on the website, we can mask sensitive information on the website better."

"The product is easy to use."

"Pentera has many authentic features."

"The vulnerability scanner, exploit achievements, and remediation actions are all great."

"What I like the most about Pentera is its solution-oriented approach."

"Pentera has many authentic features."

"The platform's most valuable features are credential management and vulnerability management."

More Pentera pros

Cons

"We have had some trouble with the agents."

"The cost can be quite high, and it impacts scalability as more simulations require additional expenses."

"The way Cymulate works for EDR could be improved, as it drops payload and requires action from the EDR console for remediation, which can block the whole process of Cymulate execution."

"The reporting process requires significant improvement as it often takes longer than expected and the quality is lacking."

"I will be honest, we have it, but in the last year, I didn't maintain the system until a month ago."

"The product must provide consultancy for initial setup."

"Pentera's general dashboards could be improved and made more specific in terms of vulnerabilities that I'm discovering."

"The licensing and IP management need improvement. When the IP is imported into a system, we cannot withdraw or revoke the license."

"There is room for improvement in virtualization compatibility."

"The price could be improved."

"The vulnerability scanner, exploit achievements, and remediation actions are all great."

"The licensing and IP management need improvement."

"Maybe scalability. I know that the Pentera right now is high level in order to scan big deals over 500 IPs and not less, and not less. That can be more granular. This will be useful."

"One area for product improvement could be the inclusion of a dashboard to cover multiple branches and subsidiaries, allowing for centralized monitoring."

More Pentera cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cymulate's services are expensive."

"The product is affordable."

"We have to pay a yearly licensing cost for Pentera."

"The tool is relatively cheap."

"The product's cost is reasonable. I rate the pricing a three out of ten."

"It's not that expensive, but it could be more cost-effective."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cymulate?

The most valuable feature for us is the zero-day.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cymulate?

I don't know if it's expensive. It depends on the modules that you want, or the time, because they give you a tenant. A tenant for you.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cymulate?

I don't know if that helped with quick decision making for my security team because I am the security team and you must have a dedicated team to work with this tool. I don't use the analytics modul...

See all answers

What do you like most about Pentera?

What I like the most about Pentera is its solution-oriented approach.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pentera?

The licensing model has changed from earlier versions. Previously, there was a 500 IP cap, and customers needed to buy a minimum of 500 IP and consider 500 domains. In Bangladesh, many large organi...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Pentera?

Common use cases include several features. The POC is completed before any customer goes for procurement. Once the POC is done, customers appreciate features such as comprehensive attack surface co...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 21% of the time

XM Cyber vs Cymulate

Compared 12% of the time

AttackIQ vs Cymulate

Compared 6% of the time

SafeBreach vs Cymulate

Compared 6% of the time

Fortinet FortiRecon vs Cymulate

Compared 4% of the time

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The NodeZero Platform vs Pentera

Compared 18% of the time

Picus Security vs Pentera

Compared 12% of the time

Tenable Nessus vs Pentera

Compared 8% of the time

XM Cyber vs Pentera

Compared 8% of the time

Qualys VMDR vs Pentera

Compared 7% of the time

More Pentera Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cymulate

November 2025

Download Cymulate product report

Buyer's Guide

Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)

October 2025

Download Pentera product report

Overview

For companies that want to manage their security posture against the evolving threat landscape: Cymulate SaaS-based Extended Security Posture Management (XSPM) deploys within an hour, enabling security professionals to continuously challenge, validate and optimize their cyber-security posture end-to-end across the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

The platform provides out-of-the-box, expert and threat intelligence-led risk assessments that are simple to deploy and use for all maturity levels, and constantly updated. It also provides an open framework to create and automate red and purple teaming by generating penetration scenarious and advanced attack campaigns tailored to their unique environments and security politices. Cymulate allowes professionals to manage, know and control their dynamic environment.

Cymulate

Pentera is the category leader for Automated Security Validation, allowing every organization to evaluate its security readiness, to know its real security risk at any given moment. Test all cybersecurity layers across the attack surface – inside and out – by safely emulating attacks & prioritize patching with a risk-based remediation roadmap.

Thousands of security professionals and service providers around the world use Pentera to guide remediation and close security gaps before they are exploited. For more info visit: pentera.io

Pentera

Sample Customers

Euronext, YMCA, Telit, Nemours

Blackstone Group Caterpillar Apria Healthcare Taylor Vinters Sandler Capital Management Drawbridge BNP Paribas British Red Cross

Buyer's Guide

Cymulate vs. Pentera

September 2025

Free Report: Cymulate vs. Pentera

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