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Fortra's Cobalt Strike vs Picus Security comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 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

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
Picus Security
Ranking in Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)
4th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) category, the mindshare of Fortra's Cobalt Strike is 2.5%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Picus Security is 12.8%, down from 18.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Picus Security12.8%
Fortra's Cobalt Strike2.5%
Other84.7%
Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
erdemerdag - PeerSpot reviewer
Cybersecurity Operations Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Breach and attack simulation software that provides network, endpoint, and email vectors
According to the attack vectors, you cannot specify which product is failing or which product is working well because there's no agent. The best case scenario is to add an agent solution where an agent would have the ability to actually detect which programs aren't working. For the attack software, you put a peer on the cloud site, and you have another peer internal network. There is IPS, firewall, WAF, and DBS amongst these peers. The cloud's peer is trying to send the attack file to the internal network. Maybe the firewall is blocking it, maybe the IP, maybe the WAF, but you cannot see the details. You can say, "Yes, my security product is blocking that attack scenario," or, "I cannot block this attack."

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It also made a lot of post-exploitation activities easier."
"Cobalt Strike offers significant customization capabilities."
"One of the most valuable features would be the detection capability, specifically the ability to detect alarms and logs collected from SIEM tools."
"You have the liberty of physically executing a specific set of rules in your environment."
"The list of vulnerabilities that get detected is the most valuable feature."
"Picus Security has improved and is still improving the security level of my organization."
"It's very useful software because the customer mostly configures their IPS and manages their firewalls, WAF, and the DBS according to the latest update, latest news, or according to the situation."
"The most valuable feature of Picus Security is its threat intelligence, providing suggestions to block and prevent attacks by identifying malicious files and providing threat IDs."
"It provides good reports and offers signature-based solutions."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its integration capabilities with the other security tools."
 

Cons

"The stability of the tool can be improved."
"Probably its delivery methods could be improved."
"To improve, Picus Security could consider establishing a data center in India to address trust issues and increase interest from Indian customers."
"The amount of integrations that the product can handle is an area of concern, making it one of the aspects where improvements are required."
"There are a lot of other products which are performing better; as far as Picus is concerned, we have been aggressively trying to reach out to customers to try to sell it, but have not been successful."
"Let's say if a customer's environment has 10 security devices and they need to know that there is an attack that has bypassed their devices, they cannot go and inspect every device and every rule in their security devices."
"There is room for improvement in the response rate provided by customer support."
"The reporting and data analysis could be improved. Specifically, the analysis of the results."
"According to the attack vectors, you cannot specify which product is failing or which product is working well because there's no agent."
"According to the attack vectors, you cannot specify which product is failing or which product is working well because there's no agent."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's expensive."
"They have certain price ranges for their products, depending upon the use cases, and the number of applications the customer wants to try."
"There is a yearly license according to the number of vectors. The pricing is moderate."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Transportation Company
11%
Healthcare Company
9%
Hospitality Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What do you like most about Picus Security?
The most valuable feature of Picus Security is its threat intelligence, providing suggestions to block and prevent attacks by identifying malicious files and providing threat IDs.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Picus Security?
The pricing of Picus Security is average, and it offers a good value for money.
What needs improvement with Picus Security?
There is room for improvement in the response rate provided by customer support. Picus Security could improve the response time.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Akbank, Exclusive Networks, Garanti, ING Bank, QNB Finansbank, Turkcell, Vodafone, Yapı Kredi
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortra's Cobalt Strike vs. Picus Security and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,286 professionals have used our research since 2012.