CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Censys vs CyCognito

Censys supports investigations with real-time Internet infrastructure visibility and historical context. CyCognito sells a platform for external attack surface management that identifies and validates exposures across an organization's internet-facing assets. CISO Tribune files both under External attack surface management. This page sets the two records side by side: what each sells, where it is based, who owns and funds it, the customers it names and its recent news, each fact numbered to its source.

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  • Censys
  • CyCognito
Censys vs CyCognito: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
CensysCensys supports investigations with real-time Internet infrastructure visibility and historical context.censys.comCyCognitoCyCognito sells a platform for external attack surface management that identifies and validates exposures across an organization's internet-facing assets.cycognito.com
What it sells
  • Censys Platform[3][8][17][18][19][20][21]Delivers visibility and intelligence for triage, threat investigation, adversary hunting and Internet exposure management.
  • Censys ASM[8]Reveals Internet-facing assets, services and exposures across all 65,535 ports.
  • Adversary Investigation[3][4][5][9][17][19]An add-on module to the Censys Platform to detect, analyze and track threat infrastructure.
  • cencli[20]A command line tool for running search queries, looking up assets and performing aggregations.
  • CyCognito PlatformA platform that automatically discovers, tests and prioritizes an organization's internet-facing assets and risks by simulating how an attacker would view the organization.
Categories
Headquarters
Ann Arbor, United States[2][21]Palo Alto, United States
Founded
2017[1]Not stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • September 22, 2026Censys announced an expanded global Channel Partner Program and investments to accelerate its channel-first growth strategy.[14]
  • July 22, 2026Censys announced record first half 2026 growth, reflecting growing enterprise adoption of Internet intelligence.[13]
  • July 8, 2026Censys expanded its Internet Map to include real-time DNS visibility.[25]
  • June 18, 2026Censys announced its expansion into security operations, enabling organizations to use its internet intelligence across security workflows.[26]
  • June 18, 2026Censys announced its expansion into security operations, enabling organizations to use its Internet intelligence across security workflows.[12]
Not stated on its pages
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[6]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 3, 2026[3]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
From its own pages, Censys sells to private and public sector security teams. Censys describes a plan for threat hunting and CTI teams looking to hunt, track and engineer detections for adversary campaigns and infrastructure. Censys describes a plan for enterprises that want to use Censys data across alert triage, IR, threat intel and detection engineering. Censys offers purpose-built internet intelligence with specialized datasets for government specific investigations and exposure management requirements. Censys offers Single Sign-On through a SAML-based integration to Enterprise and Government users.From its own pages, CyCognito sells mainly to enterprise security teams that want to find and test their internet-facing assets. A case study covers a healthcare conglomerate running a hospital network. CyCognito says its testing covers attack surfaces with millions of assets and tens of thousands of web applications.
Last verified
September 27, 2026November 2, 2026

Where they overlap

  • External attack surface management is the primary category of both Censys and CyCognito.
  • Both are headquartered in the United States.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Censys is also filed under Threat intelligence.
  • Censys lists Censys Platform, Censys ASM, Adversary Investigation and cencli. CyCognito lists CyCognito Platform.
  • Censys is headquartered in Ann Arbor, United States. CyCognito is headquartered in Palo Alto, United States.
  • Censys was founded in 2017.

How they differ

CISO Tribune files Censys under External attack surface management and Threat intelligence, with External attack surface management as its primary category. Censys is headquartered in Ann Arbor, United States, and was founded in 2017, while CyCognito is headquartered in Palo Alto, United States.

Censys sells Censys Platform, Censys ASM, the Adversary Investigation add-on module and the cencli command line tool. Censys ASM uses first-party scanning to find Internet-exposed assets across all 65,535 ports, and the Adversary Investigation module is meant to detect, analyze and track threat infrastructure. CyCognito sells CyCognito Platform, which discovers, tests and prioritizes internet-facing assets and risks by simulating how an attacker would view the organization. CyCognito states that it runs more than 100,000 security tests across more than 30 exposure categories. Both companies therefore address external exposure, but Censys also sells threat investigation tooling and CyCognito centers on active testing of exposures.

CyCognito publishes a case study on Asklepios, a healthcare conglomerate that operates a hospital network with 50,000 employees. On June 18, 2026, Censys announced its expansion into security operations, and on September 22, 2026, it announced an expanded global Channel Partner Program.

What it sells: Censys

What Censys Platform does[3][8][17][18][19][20][21]
Censys Platform has API endpoints for integrating Platform functionality with a customer tech stack. Censys Platform uses a language called Censys Query Language. Censys Platform includes a web property dataset covering name-based assets on the internet, including websites, APIs and web-based applications.
What Censys ASM does[8]
Censys ASM uses first-party scanning to find Internet-exposed assets, including services on nonstandard ports, self-signed certificates, hosts in residential networks and dangling DNS records. Censys ASM sends alerts on changes such as new hosts and services, open ports and reissued certificates. Censys ranks risks by severity, category and affected asset.
What Adversary Investigation does[3][4][5][9][17][19]
The Adversary Investigation module is an add-on to the Censys Platform for organizations to detect, analyze and track threat infrastructure. Actions that use CensEye to discover related infrastructure for a host, web property or certificate are only available to users with access to the Adversary Investigation module.

Questions about Censys and CyCognito

What do Censys and CyCognito sell?
Censys sells Censys Platform, Censys ASM, Adversary Investigation and cencli. CyCognito sells CyCognito Platform.
Are Censys and CyCognito in the same category?
Yes. External attack surface management is the primary category of both on CISO Tribune.
Where are Censys and CyCognito headquartered?
Censys is headquartered in Ann Arbor, United States. CyCognito is headquartered in Palo Alto, United States.
When were Censys and CyCognito founded?
Censys was founded in 2017.
Who are Censys and CyCognito sold to?
From its own pages, Censys sells to private and public sector security teams. From its own pages, CyCognito sells mainly to enterprise security teams that want to find and test their internet-facing assets.
What have Censys and CyCognito announced recently?
September 22, 2026: Censys announced an expanded global Channel Partner Program and investments to accelerate its channel-first growth strategy.

About Censys

Censys supports investigations with real-time Internet infrastructure visibility and historical context. Censys supports tracking attacker infrastructure and uncovering related assets. Censys supports discovering unknown assets, identifying critical risks and protecting an external attack surface. Censys supports identifying third-party risk by continuously monitoring supplier Internet exposure. Censys names Global 2000 enterprises and governments as the organizations that choose it for Security Operations and Exposure Management. Censys ARC publishes original research covering emerging threats, attacker infrastructure, vulnerabilities and Internet-wide exposure.[8][10]

Censys ASM reveals Internet-facing assets, services and exposures across all 65,535 ports, using the Censys Internet Map. Censys maps the global internet across all 65K ports to show what attackers, customers and regulators can see. Censys ASM uses first-party scanning to find Internet-exposed assets, including services on nonstandard ports, self-signed certificates, hosts in residential networks and dangling DNS records. Censys maps the JavaScript libraries, web technologies and plugins running across an environment, then detects and flags the vulnerabilities and risks present.[8][16]

Censys ASM monitors a surface continuously and sends alerts on changes such as new hosts and services, open ports and reissued certificates. Censys ranks risks by severity, category and affected asset. Censys ASM integrates with ticketing, SIEM, vulnerability management and other tooling to auto-create, route and track remediation tasks. The Censys Assistant takes plain-language questions about an inventory, such as which CVEs affect it or which cloud providers are in use, and generates executive-ready reports on demand.[8]

Censys Platform has API endpoints for integrating Platform functionality with a customer tech stack. Censys Platform uses a language called Censys Query Language. Censys Platform includes a web property dataset covering name-based assets on the internet, including websites, APIs and web-based applications. Collections let users track and monitor the results of a Censys query over time. The Adversary Investigation module is an add-on to the Censys Platform for organizations to detect, analyze and track threat infrastructure. Censys offers CensEye for automated pivoting jobs that find assets related to an IP, web property or certificate. Censys offers the cencli command line tool for running search queries, looking up assets and performing aggregations.[4][9][17][18][19][20]

Censys Platform data can enrich IPs, web properties and certificates in Google SecOps. Censys has an Attack Surface Management (ASM) integration with Google SecOps. Censys integrates natively with many SIEM, SOAR, TIP and other security tools. API access is included across all Censys tiers.[19]

Censys Credits power searches, lookups and other actions within the Censys Platform. Censys sets Starter plans to begin at 500 credits, and Enterprise customers use credits only for API usage. Censys Platform access is organised in Censys Free, Censys Starter, Censys Search and Censys Core tiers. Censys describes a plan for threat hunting and CTI teams looking to hunt, track and engineer detections for adversary campaigns and infrastructure. Censys describes a further plan for enterprises that want to use Censys data across alert triage, IR, threat intel and detection engineering. Censys offers Single Sign-On through a SAML-based integration to Enterprise and Government users. Censys offers purpose-built internet intelligence with specialized datasets for government specific investigations and exposure management requirements.[20]

Censys created fast Internet scanning at the University of Michigan and released the ZMap open source scanner. Censys introduced Censys Search and data downloads, initially scanning 16 popular Internet protocols. Censys evolved from a research project into a free-standing company. Censys architected a new scan engine with proprietary scanning technology. Censys goes to market in Nordics, France, Australia, Singapore, Japan and more. Censys says it empowers private and public sector security teams.[4][5][8][9][10][11][16]

Censys on the record

Sources

Censys full record

  1. [1]Censys introduces the ground truth for internet intelligence the censys internet map 301938734Censys via PR Newswire · prnewswire.com · published September 26, 2023 · Tier A
  2. [2]CareersCensys · censys.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Censys | The Authority for Internet Intelligence and InsightsCensys · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Platform API Transition GuideCensys · published October 5, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]SAML AuthenticationCensys · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Censys Attack Surface Management Reviews & Product Details - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  7. [7]Censys Search - CensysCensys · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Censys | Attack Surface Management | Internet VisibilityCensys · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Adversary Investigation - CensysCensys · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Critical Infrastructure Monitoring - CensysCensys · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Trusted by Global Leaders for VisibilityCensys · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Censys Expands Into Security Operations with Internet Intelligence-Powered WorkflowsCensys · published June 18, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Censys Delivers Record First Half 2026 Growth as AI Driven Demand for Internet Intelligence AcceleratesCensys · published July 22, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Censys Transforms Global Channel Program to Accelerate Partner-Led GrowthCensys · published September 22, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Censys Reviews, Ratings & Features 2026 | Gartner Peer InsightsGartner Peer Insights · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier C
  16. [16]Censys | External Exposure Management & Attack Surface MappingCensys · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Platform API Transition GuideCensys · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Platform FAQsCensys · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  19. [19]Google SecOps SOAR IntegrationCensys · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  20. [20]Platform CLI ToolCensys · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  21. [21]Pricing | CensysCensys · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  22. [22]Censys Built by Cybersecurity Experts for Real-Time Threat IntelligenceCensys · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  23. [23]Censys Unveils Censys ARC, Formalizing Its Global Internet Threat Research TeamCensys · published March 10, 2026 · Tier A
  24. [24]Censys Powers SOC Modernization with Real-Time Internet Context and Risk ScoringCensys · published April 9, 2026 · Tier A
  25. [25]Censys Expands Its Internet Map to Include DNS IntelligenceCensys · published July 8, 2026 · Tier A
  26. [26]Censys Expands Into Security Operations with Internet Intelligence-Powered WorkflowsCensys · published June 18, 2026 · Tier A

CyCognito full record

  1. [1]CompanyCyCognito · cycognito.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Cycognito secures 100m to accelerate next evolution of attack surface managementDark Reading · darkreading.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier B
  3. [3]CyCognito Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier C
  4. [4]Preemptive Exposure Management | ASM Leader | CyCognitoCyCognito · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Qualys vs CyCognito | Qualy AlternativesCyCognito · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Continuous Security Validation | AutoPT | CyCognitoCyCognito · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Healthcare Conglomerate Asklepios Significantly Improves Risk Exposure with CyCognitoCyCognito · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]API Security: 2026 Guide to Threats, Challenges, and Best Practices | CyCognitoCyCognito · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A

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