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Recorded Future vs VirusTotal comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 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

Recorded Future
Ranking in Threat Intelligence Platforms
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Digital Risk Protection (1st)
VirusTotal
Ranking in Threat Intelligence Platforms
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Threat Intelligence Platforms category, the mindshare of Recorded Future is 18.0%, down from 18.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VirusTotal is 4.1%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Threat Intelligence Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Dr. Merrick Watchorn - PeerSpot reviewer
Traceless online searches, stable, and scalable
There is a semantic oncology dynamic relationship between how the MIGR Tech framework needs more data infusion enrichment capabilities. To be clear, what the vendor is doing is of a high standard, and my only critique is that they need to make new enhancements. I am aware that the vendor is making a concerted effort to add additional information to their repository, and it is something they actively do. The vendor has publicly stated that they will work on this, and I always pay attention to make sure they adhere to that. This does not change over time. The export feature of the recording needs to stop being so restricted. When they record in order to save themselves by operations, I would expect that as a super user, if I asked to download the dataset I'm looking for, I would not be limited in my data downloads. One of the cool things is, let's say we do our entire research and we want to save all of the materials that were returned, and that special custom search that we made, we can export that into a CSV file. The problem is it gets restricted. So sometimes when I say it's restricted, we don't get all the data that we saw online. So then we have to go and manually search for the specific thing we're looking for. I would like to have the URI and whatever value set that I search off, and for the NLP package to not be stripped out. It's like saying I want to do a Pcap analysis. Don't strip out the Pcap when I asked to see Pcap. That's what they're doing. They do this for many different reasons. One of them is, imagine if everyone downloaded datasets that are very large and it brings the whole system down.
Chinmay Banerjee - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps businesses collect threat data while keeping privacy in mind and apable of detecting, blocking, and removing viruses and malware
There are two gray areas I still need to explore. I have worked with VirusTotal because it easily integrates with over seventy antivirus scanners and blacklisting services. In addition to those there is much scope to improve and add other services or integrations. The areas for improvement are that VirusTotal is not using much AI or generative AI models, while other competitors are starting to build them. For example, VirusTotal's work is based on the setup done by their engineers. If you want to do scanning or protection activities for a specific site, app, or device, that is the area VirusTotal is currently focused on. But other competitors are building AI models that can do things like left-side scanning and provide auto-generated reports. VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved. Secondly, the API is very limited if I want to integrate VirusTotal with other applications. They need to build more connectors and provide support for Webhook connectors for the API. If you can't build your own connector, it's always good to have provisions for Webhook setup connectors across platforms. Thirdly, Kaspersky, a competitor of VirusTotal, is using a methodology called "gatekeeper." A gatekeeper is a security system that protects the inside of a building from outside threats. This is the model Kaspersky is currently using. You have your website set up, but the entire army of VirusTotal or Kaspersky is standing guard, protecting you from the first gate itself. Right now, VirusTotal detects threats from your domain, but it is always better to verify inside the domain and protect it from the first level when people or malware are entering. This first level of protection is lacking in VirusTotal right now. The security bridge and protection gate are missing.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The intel that they were providing us over the emails was very good. If it found any hashtag in our organization's name on the dark web, a rogue IP, or a marketplace, it would send us an email and notify us that this is being mentioned, and if we want, they can take some action."
"The most valuable feature of Recorded Future is how it detects everything regarding our domain."
"Recorded Future allows me to maintain very accurate alerts."
"The most valuable features of Recorded Future are the useful alerts it provides. If we are monitoring a domain, the solution will provide us with an alert in a prompt manner. It is simple for clients to receive alerts. The advanced search is useful for more accurate filter results."
"The tool can integrate with a lot of security control and proactive protection devices."
"The most valuable feature is Recorded Future's protection of exposed customer data on the hardware side."
"The tool is helpful in vulnerability assessment of zero-day vulnerabilities and phishing domains. The solution provides information on any domains of the organization that has undergone phishing or any other cyberattacks."
"It can collect data from various sources, including social media and the dark web."
"The initial setup is easy."
"It provides detailed insights into possible malicious behavior, dropped files, and TCP connections."
"VirusTotal provides 95% to 98% accurate information."
"I have never had any problems with stability or bugs while using VirusTotal."
"It allows us to see if there have been previous reports on certain indicators of compromise, providing insights from other security professionals."
"It gives detailed information about suspicious IPs, which is one of its most valuable features."
"It is quite simple for anyone if they just want to check some suspicious URLs."
"The most valuable feature is the worldwide malware information database."
 

Cons

"The tool should improve its third-party supply chain risks because there is a lack of visibility."
"When you add one website to Recorded Future, it should automatically call all other websites and social media platforms."
"The solution could improve in reducing the false positives. However, most of the other tools on the market have false positives. If they enhance their data algorithm, it could improve the accuracy of results and minimize false positives. Identifying patterns of false possibilities can aid in developing better reporting features that could potentially eliminate them in the future. This recording feature tool could benefit from adopting similar techniques utilized by other tools to enhance its functionality. By doing so, it could minimize the need for manual efforts in distinguishing true positives from false positives, ultimately reducing the workload."
"It sometimes detects false positives and reduces the overall accuracy of the system."
"At present, my clients need to be trained by me or another organization on how to use Recorded Future and how to get the best out of it as an analyst, engineer, and administrator. It would be better if clients could directly learn these things without having to go through me or other organizations."
"Recorded Future is a very expensive solution, and its pricing could be improved."
"The solution would benefit from introducing automation."
"The customer support is frustrating and not efficient. They always request logs and screenshots that seem irrelevant."
"VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved."
"There is room for improvement, particularly in making some of the most useful features more accessible in the non-paid version."
"VirusTotal has different versions, and sometimes the parameters of the API are not very clear."
"They can improve the telemetry. Whenever we handle a sample, they cannot provide any information about a victim."
"VirusTotal is hard to understand because you need to know Google Docs to create queries, and it doesn't have documentation for that."
"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."
"I would like to see an improved user interface and some automation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the solution’s pricing a seven out of ten."
"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."
"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."
"The pricing is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Recorded Future?
The most valuable feature of Recorded Future is how it detects everything regarding our domain.
What needs improvement with Recorded Future?
Recorded Future depends on or relies on just the deep and dark web analysis through their quantum computing and algorithms. Sometimes, the feed is not accurate or valuable. Other threat intelligenc...
What is your primary use case for Recorded Future?
I am currently working with Recorded Future's cloud solution. We provide Recorded Future to our customers as a reseller. We provide the customers with support on the API integration and the bidirec...
What do you like most about VirusTotal?
With VirusTotal, I can check for any hash, malware, file, domain, IP URL, or malicious URL, and Kaspersky stays clean.
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...
 

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: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.