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AttackIQ vs Fortra's Cobalt Strike comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 21, 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

AttackIQ
Ranking in Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)
8th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.2
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (56th), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (25th), Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (11th)
Fortra's Cobalt Strike
Ranking in Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)
6th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) category, the mindshare of AttackIQ is 8.9%, up from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortra's Cobalt Strike is 2.7%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortra's Cobalt Strike2.7%
AttackIQ8.9%
Other88.4%
Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2797743 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Development Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Continuous attack simulations have improved real-world threat detection and response skills
The best features AttackIQ offers include being a cybersecurity platform specializing in breach attack simulation and AEF validation, as it tests the organization's defenses by simulating real-world attack behavior, which are aligned with the MITRE ATT&CK framework, providing a platform where I can run real-world attack scenarios and identify and mitigate them. AttackIQ is well-aligned with the MITRE ATT&CK framework and has strong continuous validation. The platform is built to run continuous and automation tests, which helps during point-in-time checks or reduces blind spots. AttackIQ positively impacts my organization as most of my colleagues and seniors have been using it to understand real-world attack scenarios and how to cope with those situations, benefiting the company, colleagues, and team. After using AttackIQ, it has helped the team and the company improve on false positives and reduce risk, as most people are now capable of identifying how to work on detection, improving fine-tuning and all those things. It has definitely benefited the organization in terms of faster risk identification and faster response times.
reviewer2519427 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber Security Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Compact, versatile, creates shell codes for bypassing antivirus and built-in report templates streamline the process
Probably its delivery methods could be improved. It might need some improvements on its spear phishing module. You can clone a web page, and then you can spear phish a target, and the target connects to your beacon. I believe that it needs to be more modernized to the current standards of multi-factor authentication bypass. Although there are already tools that actually do that, like Evilginx that’s been used as a proxy server, I truly believe Cobalt Strike could do something like that. I believe if Cobalt modernize this specific feature to try to bypass multi-factor authentication, it’s gonna be something. I’m not aware if it’s actually a feature in the latest Cobalt Strike updates, but from my version, I don’t see that it’s possible right now. I don’t think AI is at the stage where it can conduct such complex operations. AI is mostly being used to create phishing templates, very simple stuff. AI is not mature enough to do something more complex, although I truly believe that in a few years, it might have such capabilities.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Overall, I've had a good experience with the product. It's worked well for me."
"After using AttackIQ, it has helped the team and the company improve on false positives and reduce risk, as most people are now capable of identifying how to work on detection, improving fine-tuning and all those things."
"Cobalt Strike offers significant customization capabilities."
"It also made a lot of post-exploitation activities easier."
 

Cons

"The initial setup was quite difficult and took a long time."
"The stability of the tool can be improved."
"Probably its delivery methods could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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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.
 

Also Known As

DeepSurface
No data available
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Cymulate, Horizon3.ai, Pentera and others in Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS). Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.