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Rapid7 Metasploit vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

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

Rapid7 Metasploit
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
19th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
The NodeZero Platform by Ho...
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
8th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (11th), Penetration Testing Services (1st), Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) (1st), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Rapid7 Metasploit is 1.7%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai is 1.5%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vulnerability Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai1.5%
Rapid7 Metasploit1.7%
Other96.8%
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1247523 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Sales Services Department at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Extensive exploit database and seamless integration enhance penetration testing capabilities
The automated approach in the audits or in the hacking testing with Rapid7 Metasploit could be improved because even the same attack you provide today will go in different ways another day. I prefer when the auditor or pen-tester provides the attack in a non-automated mode. For some, it might be a valuable option, but I'm not sure it's valuable for us, as after the attack has been provided, we should release a report detailing how it transpired and what the customer should improve to block this way of attack. If the attack was provided in an automated mode, you cannot receive sufficient information that helps with this final report for the customer. While you can check the vulnerability, and the system will tell you there is no vulnerability, usually, a human can change one, two, or three parameters and using the same technique and the same scripts can break the system. Rapid7 Metasploit could be improved in areas concerning the experience with finding particular scripts pre-installed in the solution. Customers, administrators, and pen-testers spend considerable time trying to locate the specific component they need by the name of the technique or the name of the attack, so any improvements in making it easier to find those predefined components by name or timeframe would be beneficial. Search filters could be a correct improvement.
SH
Chief Information Officer at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Has unified our IT teams by providing clear visibility into network vulnerabilities and accelerated remediation with real-world attack testing
One of the things that we've shared with Horizon is just the reporting. They've made a lot of changes over time, but when examining computers, most average normal people don't look at a computer and identify it as 114.82.117.180. They identify it as 'the printer for accounting.' When many of the reports give the very detailed technical IP address or serial number, that's really not helpful for anyone other than the person, the hands-on person that's trying to remediate it. All the managers, all the leaders, having information in that format isn't helpful. Being able to have information about what those devices are would be very helpful. There's a technical reason they can't just have an easy button because some people have really complicated networks. When examining things for the average company, the average executive, that 114 number, there's only one of those. But if examining an AT&T or a Walmart, it isn't unique. They haven't solved that problem. But for the 90% of companies, being able to have just a human readable name for all devices on your network in all of the reports all of the time would be the most beneficial.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's not possible to do penetration testing without being very proficient in Metasploit."
"The tool's most useful feature for penetration testing is its automation capabilities. With the professional edition, you can upload the results from Nessus in the Rapid7 Metasploit solution portal."
"The reporting on the solution is good."
"It contains almost all the available exploits and payloads."
"I use Rapid7 Metasploit for payload generation and Post-Exploitation."
"The most valuable features and capabilities of Rapid7 Metasploit are its tight connection with InsightVM, which searches for potential threats and vulnerabilities and then validates whether we can break the system using those vulnerabilities, serving as a validator component of the InsightVM solution."
"I don't have any other tools like it, and I always use it when I'm doing a pen test. Metasploit is a great solution for penetration testing,"
"When I compare Metasploit with Nessus, I find that Metasploit is faster and it does not burden the system as much."
"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."
"The NodeZero Platform's real attack capabilities help in identifying vulnerabilities on our on-prem systems because it provides actual vulnerabilities by attacking our systems."
"Overall, I'd rate NodeZero at nine to 9.5 out of ten."
"Penetration testing and scans are useful features."
"Honestly, it's one of the most transformational technologies we've implemented in our company."
"After the third party conducts the pen test, The NodeZero Platform is run, and it finds the same things they found and sometimes a few other things that they did not even identify."
"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."
"I rate the stability of the NodeZero Platform a ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"Rapid7 Metasploit can add a GUI feature because it is only available online."
"We'd like them to offer better coverage of malware."
"While Metasploit excels in vulnerability assessment, it could improve in vulnerability management."
"If your company's patch is not up to date, but you have other detection or defense solutions such as endpoint detection and response and antivirus software, the product exploit may not work effectively. This is because its exploit database update process is slow and not real-time. For zero-day vulnerabilities or new security threats, relying on Rapid7 Metasploit alone may not be effective."
"The initial setup was a bit "tweaky" for the open-source version."
"Rapid7 Metasploit could be made easier for new users to learn."
"The reporting feature needs improvement."
"Support is another area where improvement is needed, particularly for assisting non-security users."
"Sometimes even their support doesn't know why we're seeing certain issues."
"The reports are quite useless."
"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."
"They've added a chatbot which isn't particularly useful, but when it can't answer questions, it forwards messages to human support."
"One of the areas where improvement is needed is in the visibility and reporting for large enterprises."
"You need to be cautious about what it scans, as it could potentially cause issues."
"The speed of the scans takes some time, but in my opinion, it is not surprising for what it is doing."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Rapid7 Metasploit is cheaper than Tenable.io Vulnerability Management."
"There are two versions available, one of which is the Pro version, and the other is the free version."
"It is a reasonably priced solution. I would rate it from five out of ten."
"Rapid7 Metasploit is an open-source solution."
"It is expensive. Our license expired, and our company is not thinking to renew because of our budget."
"I have used the free version of Rapid7 Metasploit."
"The cost is approximately $15 per device."
"The great advantage with Rapid7 Metasploit, of course, is that it's free."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Rapid7 Metasploit?
I use Rapid7 Metasploit for payload generation and Post-Exploitation.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rapid7 Metasploit?
The pricing of Rapid7 Metasploit is quite affordable. It has a free version that many customers start with, and after that, they usually purchase the commercial part of the solution due to its deep...
What needs improvement with Rapid7 Metasploit?
The automated approach in the audits or in the hacking testing with Rapid7 Metasploit could be improved because even the same attack you provide today will go in different ways another day. I prefe...
What needs improvement with Horizon3.ai?
I think The NodeZero Platform could improve by leveraging GPUs for password cracking, which would be pretty good.
What is your primary use case for Horizon3.ai?
We use The NodeZero Platform for control validation and we are also looking for the likelihood of vulnerabilities.
What advice do you have for others considering Horizon3.ai?
Based on everything we've looked at and used in the past, I would rate The NodeZero Platform a 10 out of 10 as they are the best.
 

Also Known As

Metasploit
Horizon3.ai
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

City of Corpus Christi, Diebold, Lumenate, Nebraska Public Power District, Prairie North Regional Health, Apptio, Automation Direct, Bob's Stores, Cardinal Innovations Healthcare Solutions, Carnegie Mellon University
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 Rapid7 Metasploit vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,192 professionals have used our research since 2012.