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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
23rd
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
11th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (12th), Penetration Testing Services (1st), Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) (1st), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Rapid7 Metasploit is 1.5%, up from 1.5% 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 Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai1.5%
Rapid7 Metasploit1.5%
Other97.0%
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

"I use Rapid7 Metasploit for payload generation and Post-Exploitation."
"All of the features are great."
"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."
"Rapid7 offers comprehensive features within one platform, eliminating the need to integrate multiple tools to see all alerts in one place."
"It allows us to concentrate solely on identified vulnerabilities without the hassle of additional setup."
"The solution is open source and has many small targetted penetration tests that have been written by many people that are useful. You can choose different subjects for the test, such as Oracle databases or Apache servers."
"The most valuable feature for us is the support for testing Linux-based web server components."
"Rapid7 Metasploit is a useful product."
"Penetration testing and scans are useful features."
"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."
"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."
"Honestly, it's one of the most transformational technologies we've implemented in our company."
"Overall, I'd rate NodeZero at nine to 9.5 out of ten."
"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."
"I rate the stability of the NodeZero Platform a ten out of ten."
"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."
 

Cons

"The database is not always updated with the latest vulnerabilities or zero-day exploits. If a vulnerability arises a month or two ago, it might not be included in the database, which is something I would like to see improved."
"Metasploit cannot be installed on a machine with an antivirus."
"We'd like them to offer better coverage of malware."
"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."
"Rapid7 Metasploit can add a GUI feature because it is only available online."
"The solution is not user-friendly and has room for improvement."
"At the time I was using it, the graphical user interface needed some improvements."
"It is necessary to add some training materials and a tutorial for beginners."
"You need to be cautious about what it scans, as it could potentially cause issues."
"I think The NodeZero Platform could improve by leveraging GPUs for password cracking, which would be pretty good."
"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."
"The reports are quite useless."
"They've added a chatbot which isn't particularly useful, but when it can't answer questions, it forwards messages to human support."
"Sometimes even their support doesn't know why we're seeing certain issues."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive. Our license expired, and our company is not thinking to renew because of our budget."
"The pricing structure involves a one-time purchase cost of approximately twenty thousand dollars or euros for all customers."
"Rapid7 Metasploit is an open-source solution."
"It is a reasonably priced solution. I would rate it from five out of ten."
"The cost is approximately $15 per device."
"We pay monthly. The pricing is reasonable."
"The great advantage with Rapid7 Metasploit, of course, is that it's free."
"I use the open-source version of this product. Pricing is not relevant."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
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 Business6
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

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 do you like most about Horizon3.ai?
Penetration testing and scans are useful features.
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.
 

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: February 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.