Cymulate vs IBM X-Force Exchange comparison

Cymulate and IBM are both solutions in the Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) category. Cymulate is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.3, while IBM is ranked #15 with an average rating of 9.0. Cymulate holds a 1.5% mindshare in TIPT, compared to IBM’s 1.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cymulate users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Cymulate

Read 6 Cymulate reviews

4,214 Views
548 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM X-Force Exchange

Read 4 IBM X-Force Exchange reviews

896 Views
726 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cymulate

IBM X-Force Exchange

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 2024

IBM X-Force Exchange and Cymulate are both prominent products in the cybersecurity landscape. Despite IBM X-Force Exchange's strong support and competitive pricing, Cymulate stands out for its comprehensive features, which users find justify the higher cost.

What features are offered by IBM X-Force Exchange in comparison to Cymulate?

IBM X-Force Exchange offers valuable threat intelligence, a collaborative environment, and competitive pricing. Cymulate provides breach and attack simulation capabilities, continuous security assessments, and comprehensive security testing features.

What areas of improvement can be found in IBM X-Force Exchange in comparison to Cymulate?

IBM X-Force Exchange needs enhanced integration capabilities, real-time data processing, and improved flexibility in integrations. Cymulate requires broader integration with other security tools, enhanced report customization, and improved flexibility for security testing.

How is the ease of deployment and customer service of IBM X-Force Exchange in comparison to Cymulate?

IBM X-Force Exchange's deployment is straightforward with responsive customer service. Cymulate also offers easy deployment but with slightly more complexity in setup and proactive support.

What setup costs and ROI can be seen with IBM X-Force Exchange in comparison to Cymulate?

IBM X-Force Exchange is cost-effective and offers solid ROI. Cymulate's higher setup costs are balanced by its extensive feature set, leading to favorable ROI over time.

To learn more, read our detailed Cymulate vs. IBM X-Force Exchange Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cymulate vs. IBM X-Force Exchange

December 2025

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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

Cymulate

Ranking in Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP)

9th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) (1st), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (10th), Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (2nd)

IBM X-Force Exchange

Ranking in Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP)

15th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

8.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) category, the mindshare of Cymulate is 1.5%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM X-Force Exchange is 1.6%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cymulate	1.5%
IBM X-Force Exchange	1.6%
Other	96.9%

Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP)

Featured Reviews

SaarBar

Security Architec at Shikun & Binui

Support and integration enhance security posture over three years

I don't know if there's something that could be improved. They surprise me. As I mentioned, I returned a month ago. I haven't fully investigated the complete system yet. I must say that we have been with them for around three years. This is amazing because throughout these three years, they have supported us every week. We meet weekly to review results and fix issues together. Apart from occasional days off, this weekly support has been consistent for three years. It's remarkable because many products are sold and then the product teams forget about you, but this isn't the case with Cymulate.

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InnocentMapanga

IT Infrastructure Security Lead at South Consult

Speed threat assessment ,security investigations leveraging on real time actionable threat intel integrated to your Security Intelligence Platform

The most valuable features I found include : The ability to add a vulnerability report Support for STIX and TAXII Threat Feed Manager- While viewing X-Force reports, users can enrich IP, URL and malware reports using threat intelligence So suppose you're investigating an a possible threat and you just found that there is an offense that is saying, one of your users had access to some honey port defined address You can quickly leverage X-Force to help you by doing an X-Force exchange look-up quickly. If you have an aspect of interest, such as an email, file , vulnerability data for, you can leverage X-Force to understand this in-depth.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cymulate has positively impacted our organization by helping us to take care of the efficacy and reviewing the policies and configuration."

"With Cymulate, the best features are the capacity to test the EDR or malware, anti-malware solution."

"The most valuable feature for us is the zero-day."

"The security validation feature helps my organization in assessing our security posture."

"The reporting capabilities are very good."

"Cymulate is easy to set up, install, and configure."

"This product has helped to increase staff productivity."

"The most valuable feature is you have the expertise of human experience directly involved. There is a team of experts."

"It's quite integratable so you can actually integrate and get IP malware and URL information. It also gives you some form of intelligence into what you're trying to investigate or what you're trying to understand."

Cons

"The product must provide consultancy for initial setup."

"We have had some trouble with the agents."

"The reporting process requires significant improvement as it often takes longer than expected and the quality is lacking."

"The cost can be quite high, and it impacts scalability as more simulations require additional expenses."

"The way Cymulate works for EDR could be improved, as it drops payload and requires action from the EDR console for remediation, which can block the whole process of Cymulate execution."

"I will be honest, we have it, but in the last year, I didn't maintain the system until a month ago."

"You have to look for the new information from X-Force. X-Force will provide it but you have to look for it. We need clearer visibility."

"I would like to see better integration with other systems, solutions, and vendors."

"We would like to have more AI capabilities to detect threats and improve its productivity from a cybersecurity standpoint."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cymulate's services are expensive."

"The product is affordable."

"One of the fastest ways to cut costs is reducing staff, and this product can reduce staff by 70 percent."

"Cost is clearly a consideration, but the important thing is what we do with the data and how we protect it."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

11%

Outsourcing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Large Enterprise	3

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cymulate?

The most valuable feature for us is the zero-day.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cymulate?

I don't know if it's expensive. It depends on the modules that you want, or the time, because they give you a tenant. A tenant for you.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cymulate?

I don't know if that helped with quick decision making for my security team because I am the security team and you must have a dedicated team to work with this tool. I don't use the analytics modul...

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What needs improvement with IBM X-Force?

It is very expensive.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM X-Force?

It's a threat intelligence platform, and we aim to enhance its intelligence by integrating additional security solutions.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering IBM X-Force?

It falls under the category of AI-embedded threat intelligence, which makes detection more efficient by reducing the rate of false positives and improving the overall detection rate. When the threa...

See all answers

Comparisons

Pentera vs Cymulate

Compared 23% of the time

Picus Security vs Cymulate

Compared 13% of the time

XM Cyber vs Cymulate

Compared 9% of the time

SafeBreach vs Cymulate

Compared 7% of the time

The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai vs Cymulate

Compared 6% of the time

More Cymulate Competitors

VirusTotal vs IBM X-Force Exchange

Compared 21% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs IBM X-Force Exchange

Compared 15% of the time

ReversingLabs vs IBM X-Force Exchange

Compared 14% of the time

Recorded Future vs IBM X-Force Exchange

Compared 13% of the time

ThreatConnect Threat Intelligence Platform (TIP) vs IBM X-Force Exchange

Compared 12% of the time

More IBM X-Force Exchange Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cymulate

January 2026

Download Cymulate product report

Buyer's Guide

Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP)

December 2025

Download IBM X-Force Exchange product report

Also Known As

No data available

X-Force Exchange, X-Force

Overview

For companies that want to manage their security posture against the evolving threat landscape: Cymulate SaaS-based Extended Security Posture Management (XSPM) deploys within an hour, enabling security professionals to continuously challenge, validate and optimize their cyber-security posture end-to-end across the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

The platform provides out-of-the-box, expert and threat intelligence-led risk assessments that are simple to deploy and use for all maturity levels, and constantly updated. It also provides an open framework to create and automate red and purple teaming by generating penetration scenarious and advanced attack campaigns tailored to their unique environments and security politices. Cymulate allowes professionals to manage, know and control their dynamic environment.

Cymulate

IBM X-Force Exchange is a cloud-based threat intelligence sharing platform enabling users to rapidly research the latest security threats, aggregate actionable intelligence and collaborate with peers. IBM X-Force Exchange is supported by human- and machine-generated intelligence leveraging the scale of IBM X-Force.

IBM

Sample Customers

Euronext, YMCA, Telit, Nemours

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Cymulate vs. IBM X-Force Exchange

December 2025

Free Report: Cymulate vs. IBM X-Force Exchange

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