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Recorded Future vs VirusTotal comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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

Recorded Future
Ranking in Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP)
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Digital Risk Protection (1st)
VirusTotal
Ranking in Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP)
5th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) category, the mindshare of Recorded Future is 6.7%, down from 16.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VirusTotal is 3.6%, down from 5.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Recorded Future6.7%
VirusTotal3.6%
Other89.7%
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP)
 

Featured Reviews

Derek  Lewis - PeerSpot reviewer
Account Manager at Chevron
Continuous threat intelligence has improved brand monitoring and protects against leaked credentials
Some of the areas that need improvement in Recorded Future include email reports that can show unrelated content. Sometimes alerts pop up for articles that have been published years ago but were just recently discovered by Recorded Future. For the browser extension, since the main purpose is to present information regarding IPs, I think it would be best to provide us with an idea of where the IP originates or some additional information about the organization it belongs to. API capabilities in Recorded Future are improving, but there are still some features that are missing and some errors that are hard to handle and understand. The price of Recorded Future is a bit high, especially for smaller teams working on a tight budget, but it is very effective and relatively competitive for large organizations.
reviewer2588199 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Improves security alerts and analysis with comprehensive insights
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 category of websites. The addition of a file selection option to analyze files would also enhance the service.

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 is Recorded Future's protection of exposed customer data on the hardware side."
"It can collect data from various sources, including social media and the dark web."
"The features and capabilities of Recorded Future that I have found the most valuable are its AI-driven capabilities that make a significant impact."
"After implementing Recorded Future, I can point out two positive impacts: first, the tool helps our SOC team save 30 to 40 percent of effort due to the reduction of manual threat detection and false positives, and second, the quality of our threat hunting has improved considerably, leading to a better understanding of the threat landscape."
"As a threat intelligence tool, it's very helpful."
"Recorded Future has positively impacted our organization as we are able to cover a lot of sources with only this intelligence provider, not having to have specific tools for clear web or social media monitoring."
"Has the ability to conduct and build any query without limitations."
"The most valuable feature of Recorded Future is how it detects everything regarding our domain."
"It is quite simple for anyone if they just want to check some suspicious URLs."
"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."
"With VirusTotal, I can check for any hash, malware, file, domain, IP URL, or malicious URL, and Kaspersky stays clean."
"VirusTotal provides 95% to 98% accurate information."
"The product is easy to use with coding, such as Python or Java, via its API."
"It provides detailed insights into possible malicious behavior, dropped files, and TCP connections."
"It gives detailed information about suspicious IPs, which is one of its most valuable features."
"The most valuable feature is the worldwide malware information database."
 

Cons

"The customer support is frustrating and not efficient. They always request logs and screenshots that seem irrelevant."
"The product gives many false positives. If someone talks about the brand or organization name in the public domain over chats or blocks, it gets highlighted. It may not necessarily be a threat but still gets highlighted which increases the false positive count."
"The tool can be pricey, especially for smaller companies."
"It sometimes detects false positives and reduces the overall accuracy of the system."
"The documentation and support resources provided by Recorded Future are bad."
"When you add one website to Recorded Future, it should automatically call all other websites and social media platforms."
"Some advanced intelligence features require additional licensing, which can significantly increase costs."
"A possible improvement for Recorded Future would be better filtering options, particularly when dealing with large datasets."
"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."
"I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy."
"There is room for improvement, particularly in making some of the most useful features more accessible in the non-paid version."
"VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved."
"The platform could improve in the areas of endpoints and networks."
"VirusTotal needs better advertisement and promotion, especially in the Middle East, since it is not yet widely recognized or popular in that region."
"I would like to see an improved user interface and some automation."
"They can improve the telemetry. Whenever we handle a sample, they cannot provide any information about a victim."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The biggest disadvantage of Recorded Future is the cost here in Eastern Europe. The solution is correctly priced for big companies who have the money to invest in such solutions. Also, the solution is useless on its own, which means that you have to invest in other solutions with which Recorded Future can be integrated. At present, Recorded Future can cost 60,000 euros per year. I am able to offer my clients a 5% to 10% discount, but in this region, the cost is still prohibitive even with the discount. If Recorded Future were more flexible in terms of price, there would be better sales opportunities in Europe and Eastern Europe, in particular, because we have more small- and medium-sized companies here."
"There appear to be up to five different levels, with the most expensive version costing around $95,000 to $105,000 a year for subscription services."
"The price of the solution is worth it. The overall performance of the solution outweighs the cost."
"I would rate the solution’s pricing a seven out of ten."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"VirusTotal is an expensive solution."
"We are using VirusTotal with free licenses, managing the license limits across three or four accounts, thus incurring no costs."
"The pricing is very economical."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Recorded Future?
The price of Recorded Future is a bit high, especially for smaller teams working on a tight budget, but it is very effective and relatively competitive for large organizations.
What needs improvement with Recorded Future?
I cannot think of a way that Recorded Future can be improved. I don't have anything to add about the needed improvements, even small things such as interface tweaks or integrations.
What is your primary use case for Recorded Future?
My main use case for Recorded Future is as a threat and vulnerability feed. In relation to my use case with Recorded Future, it is the go-to tool when it comes to checking for third-party issues, a...
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...
What is your primary use case for VirusTotal?
As I work in an incident response role, my daily task is to mitigate the security alert and perform the analysis part. When any alerts come, I check the IPs from where they originate and the locati...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Fujitsu, Regions, SITA, St. Jude Medical, Accenture, T-Mobile, TIAA, Intel Security, Armor, Alert Logic, NTT, Splunk
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Recorded Future vs. VirusTotal and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,417 professionals have used our research since 2012.