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Cybersixgill vs VirusTotal comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 2024

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

Cybersixgill
Ranking in Threat Intelligence Platforms
22nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (63rd), Digital Risk Protection (5th), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (24th)
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 May 2025, in the Threat Intelligence Platforms category, the mindshare of Cybersixgill is 2.2%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VirusTotal is 4.1%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Threat Intelligence Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1533792 - PeerSpot reviewer
Contains a huge amount of information regarding deep web and dark web, reducing investigation times
In the search engine, you are able to use operators. These operators allow you to do specific searches or open searches. The main things are: * If you want to search everything related to a specific malware family but you don't want to have anything related to specific search. So, you can just upload it from the search engine and search for it. * If you only wanted to know about one specific vulnerability, but you don't care what is in Telegram or GitHub as repositories, then it will only care for these things in the dark web forums. You can narrow your search to that. * If you want only sites in Spanish, but not in other languages, you can narrow your search to that. There are a lot of possibilities when using the search engine. It has become really useful for my analysts. The solution has enabled us to access sources that we have not seen anywhere else, such as Telegram. It also gives us access to the Genesis Marketplace. Otherwise, we would have to pay someone for that. However, with Cybersixgill, we can go to the platform and search for whatever we want.
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 solution’s approach of using limited open source intelligence and focusing, instead, on the Deep Web and Dark Web is what seals the deal. That is why I like them. I have other tools that I can aggregate all the open source intelligence from. I value Cybersixgill because it provides access to things that no one else does."
"They also provide some of the greatest notification capabilities. I put in a customer's company name and domain names, or sometimes I put in their IP addresses as a keyword. Once Sixgill collects information that includes those keywords, they then provide us email notifications. That means we can catch information related to our customers as soon as possible."
"To be diligent for the customer, we usually go into Cybersixgill Investigative Portal to analyze and search things. The solution tells us the reputation of cyber threat actors. So, if someone has a reputation of one, it is a really bad idea to care about what that person is saying. However, if you find someone with a reputation of nine, then there is a high probability that we need to address the problem. You can get information about these type of actors in Cybersixgill Investigative Portal. They have a huge collection, which is like having the rules/goals of the dark web and deep web without having to go there. Our analysts avoid going dark web because they have Cybersixgill Investigative Portal and can get the news from their browser, searching wherever they want."
"The advanced analysis has made our security operations more efficient. It has also potentially given us quicker access to data that we might not have otherwise located."
"The most valuable feature is the worldwide malware information database."
"I have never had any problems with stability or bugs while using VirusTotal."
"VirusTotal provides 95% to 98% accurate information."
"It allows us to see if there have been previous reports on certain indicators of compromise, providing insights from other security professionals."
"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."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The feature I like the most is the ability to see the MD5 or SHA-256 signature of the file, and also the composition of the file according to its segments."
 

Cons

"The breadth of access to data is good, but there are gaps. More data would be my suggestion because the platform is good and I have no complaints about the system. I think it is just a case of always trying to get more data sources."
"Sixgill has strong capabilities based on search queries, but there is some difficulty in using Sixgill. Their querying is very powerful but it can be difficult. It's not hugely complex but you need some skill to use Sixgill querying."
"We need real-time updated information. If we could have this, it would be amazing. For example, if someone was posting something, then ten second later, it was on the platform. Sometimes, it takes a minute or hours right now, depending on the forum."
"Regarding their scraping abilities, things could be solidified. There are definitely improvements that could be made on the specificity for setting certain queries."
"There should be room for improvement, particularly in the API side of things."
"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 improvements in the score consistency and accuracy."
"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."
"VirusTotal has different versions, and sometimes the parameters of the API are not very clear."
"VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved."
"VirusTotal needs better advertisement and promotion, especially in the Middle East, since it is not yet widely recognized or popular in that region."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing and licensing are good. It is expensive for us because the US dollar is quite strong compared to our dollar. Otherwise, it is quite reasonable for what it is. All the tools in the market are around the same price from my experience."
"Sometimes, Cybersixgill Investigative Portal is cheaper than its competitors."
"The pricing is cheap compared with Recorded Future. Sixgill's cost-effectiveness is very good."
"The pricing is very economical."
"We are using VirusTotal with free licenses, managing the license limits across three or four accounts, thus incurring no costs."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"VirusTotal is an expensive solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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

Current customers include large enterprises, financial services, manufacturing, GSIs, MSSPs, government and law enforcement entities.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cybersixgill vs. VirusTotal and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.