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Fortra's Cobalt Strike vs The NodeZero Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

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

Fortra's Cobalt Strike
Ranking in Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)
5th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
The NodeZero Platform
Ranking in Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (33rd), Penetration Testing Services (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) category, the mindshare of Fortra's Cobalt Strike is 2.0%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of The NodeZero Platform is 10.7%, up from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
The NodeZero Platform10.7%
Fortra's Cobalt Strike2.0%
Other87.3%
Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)
 

Featured Reviews

CB
Advanced customization empowers offensive security operations
Cobalt Strike offers significant customization capabilities. It allows for the freedom to implement personalized approaches to security tasks, along with easy integrations with scripting tools. The solution provides a high level of automation for attackers, making it a crucial tool for offensive security. Additionally, it can be used by real threat actors, increasing its credibility in emulating real-world scenarios.
Brian W. - PeerSpot reviewer
Effectively prioritizes vulnerabilities and has been one of the most transformative technologies
Prioritization is really key; it's a massive differentiator. The prioritization aspect is crucial. The ability to capture or crack credentials and then use that to move laterally and identify additional vulnerabilities is significant. Their password-cracking capability is a distinct function that is very helpful. Additionally, when a new vulnerability, such as a zero-day exploit, is identified, they review your previous scans to determine if you might be vulnerable to it, and they proactively notify you. That's a huge benefit. Also, the fact that they provide fixes alongside all their identified vulnerabilities means you don’t have to search for fixes yourself. They give you specific actions to take, which is incredibly helpful and saves a lot of time.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It also made a lot of post-exploitation activities easier."
"Cobalt Strike offers significant customization capabilities."
"I rate the stability of the NodeZero Platform a ten out of ten."
"My favorite feature about The NodeZero Platform is that it's autonomous, and it truly delivers on that promise—it can be set and forgotten while it performs its tasks, and it does exactly what it claims to do."
"Penetration testing and scans are useful features."
"The NodeZero Platform is amazing; what I love most about it is that it's automated and comparable to the manual pen testing we did with a third-party company, but with the added benefit of unlimited retesting to validate fixes."
"We experienced a threat that could have severely crippled us, but we were able to shut it down before it escalated, thanks to internal vulnerability testing and addressing critical vulnerabilities using their tool."
"The NodeZero Platform's real attack capabilities help identify vulnerabilities on my on-premise systems by adding an element of validation and offensive security testing on top of known vulnerabilities. The feature that allows security teams to fix and retest vulnerabilities instantly is very useful, even though it may not happen literally 'instantly.' It's a necessary tool for any organization to understand whether vulnerabilities are genuinely exploitable by attackers. With its near-real-time testing capabilities, it's an essential part of any security portfolio."
"Honestly, it's one of the most transformational technologies we've implemented in our company."
"For us, The NodeZero Platform is literally the single best security solution we have because the way that it works is we're able to scan every part of our network, both internally and externally, and then get completely actionable feedback that doesn't matter if it's for an application developer or a network admin."
 

Cons

"The stability of the tool can be improved."
"Probably its delivery methods could be improved."
"Sometimes even their support doesn't know why we're seeing certain issues."
"One of the areas where improvement is needed is in the visibility and reporting for large enterprises."
"The areas for improvement for The NodeZero Platform involve integration and automation. It would be beneficial if it could integrate directly with vulnerability management tools that would allow the platform to automatically import data, identify vulnerable systems, and test targets immediately, potentially even enabling automated feedback loops for rescanning since the process is currently manual."
"The only issue we’ve encountered is that sometimes the scans take a long time to complete."
"The reports are quite useless."
"I encountered challenges with patch management, as we struggled to test and implement patches due to time constraints. This led to our patch management process being ineffective."
"You need to be cautious about what it scans, as it could potentially cause issues."
"They've added a chatbot which isn't particularly useful, but when it can't answer questions, it forwards messages to human support."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's expensive."
Information not available
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
11%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra's Cobalt Strike?
While not inexpensive, Cobalt Strike is a comprehensive platform. Its pricing reflects the capabilities and flexibility it offers. The solution can be cost-effective when utilizing its full potenti...
What needs improvement with Fortra's Cobalt Strike?
The stability of the tool can be improved. There are some limitations, but they tend to be more from outside of the tool rather than within it. The limitations often come from operators who may lac...
What is your primary use case for Fortra's Cobalt Strike?
I use Cobalt Strike to emulate threat actor activities.
What do you like most about Horizon3.ai?
Penetration testing and scans are useful features.
What needs improvement with Horizon3.ai?
One significant area to focus on is external vulnerabilities, particularly in the web application space. This often requires a greater level of human ingenuity, as it typically involves navigating ...
What is your primary use case for Horizon3.ai?
The primary use case that we have for The NodeZero Platform is for scanning the environment and identifying vulnerabilities. The tool prioritizes vulnerabilities, focusing on the most critical ones.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Horizon3.ai
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Government agencies, Defense Industrial Base organizations, and enterprises in regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and criticalinfrastructure rely on NodeZero to meet rigorous security and compliance requirements with continuous, scheduled, and on-demand testing.
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortra's Cobalt Strike vs. The NodeZero Platform and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
871,408 professionals have used our research since 2012.