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Cymulate vs VirusTotal comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 2024

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 Threat Intelligence Platforms
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) (2nd), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (11th), Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (2nd)
VirusTotal
Ranking in Threat Intelligence Platforms
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Threat Intelligence Platforms category, the mindshare of Cymulate is 1.2%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VirusTotal is 4.1%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Threat Intelligence Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Ondrej Kováč - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Chinmay Banerjee - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps businesses collect threat data while keeping privacy in mind and apable of detecting, blocking, and removing viruses and malware
There are two gray areas I still need to explore. I have worked with VirusTotal because it easily integrates with over seventy antivirus scanners and blacklisting services. In addition to those there is much scope to improve and add other services or integrations. The areas for improvement are that VirusTotal is not using much AI or generative AI models, while other competitors are starting to build them. For example, VirusTotal's work is based on the setup done by their engineers. If you want to do scanning or protection activities for a specific site, app, or device, that is the area VirusTotal is currently focused on. But other competitors are building AI models that can do things like left-side scanning and provide auto-generated reports. VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved. Secondly, the API is very limited if I want to integrate VirusTotal with other applications. They need to build more connectors and provide support for Webhook connectors for the API. If you can't build your own connector, it's always good to have provisions for Webhook setup connectors across platforms. Thirdly, Kaspersky, a competitor of VirusTotal, is using a methodology called "gatekeeper." A gatekeeper is a security system that protects the inside of a building from outside threats. This is the model Kaspersky is currently using. You have your website set up, but the entire army of VirusTotal or Kaspersky is standing guard, protecting you from the first gate itself. Right now, VirusTotal detects threats from your domain, but it is always better to verify inside the domain and protect it from the first level when people or malware are entering. This first level of protection is lacking in VirusTotal right now. The security bridge and protection gate are missing.

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."
"Cymulate is easy to set up, install, and configure."
"The reporting capabilities are very good."
"It provides detailed insights into possible malicious behavior, dropped files, and TCP connections."
"It can scan the dark web and find if an email ID has been compromised. This is another area that we have not explored yet."
"The initial setup is easy."
"With VirusTotal, I can check for any hash, malware, file, domain, IP URL, or malicious URL, and Kaspersky stays clean."
"It is quite simple for anyone if they just want to check some suspicious URLs."
"The product is easy to use with coding, such as Python or Java, via its API."
"The feature I like the most is the ability to see the MD5 or SHA-256 signature of the file, and also the composition of the file according to its segments."
"I have never had any problems with stability or bugs while using VirusTotal."
 

Cons

"The product must provide consultancy for initial setup."
"The reporting process requires significant improvement as it often takes longer than expected and the quality is lacking."
"The cost can be quite high, and it impacts scalability as more simulations require additional expenses."
"The platform could improve in the areas of endpoints and networks."
"VirusTotal is hard to understand because you need to know Google Docs to create queries, and it doesn't have documentation for that."
"There is room for improvement, particularly in making some of the most useful features more accessible in the non-paid version."
"There should be room for improvement, particularly in the API side of things."
"I would like to see improved correlation with other threat intelligence sources, not just reliant on its own database, to enhance the database of threat intelligence that VirusTotal offers."
"They can improve the telemetry. Whenever we handle a sample, they cannot provide any information about a victim."
"I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy."
"VirusTotal has different versions, and sometimes the parameters of the API are not very clear."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is affordable."
"Cymulate's services are expensive."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"VirusTotal is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is very economical."
"We are using VirusTotal with free licenses, managing the license limits across three or four accounts, thus incurring no costs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cymulate?
The most valuable feature for us is the zero-day.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cymulate?
The pricing for Cymulate could be better. If I were to rate it, it would be a six out of ten.
What needs improvement with Cymulate?
The main area for improvement in Cymulate is its pricing. The cost can be quite high, and it impacts scalability as more simulations require additional expenses.
What do you like most about VirusTotal?
With VirusTotal, I can check for any hash, malware, file, domain, IP URL, or malicious URL, and Kaspersky stays clean.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VirusTotal?
I do not know about the pricing or licensing as our organization services VirusTotal for our clients.
What needs improvement with VirusTotal?
I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy. VirusTotal should add more details like those from competitors such as URL Void or Symantec URL Checker, which show the categ...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Euronext, YMCA, Telit, Nemours 
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cymulate vs. VirusTotal and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,960 professionals have used our research since 2012.