CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Censys vs Red Sift

Censys supports investigations with real-time Internet infrastructure visibility and historical context. Red Sift helps security and IT teams embrace the security protocols that keep the internet safe, such as DMARC, SPF, DKIM and TLS. 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
  • Red Sift
Censys vs Red Sift: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
CensysCensys supports investigations with real-time Internet infrastructure visibility and historical context.censys.comRed SiftRed Sift helps security and IT teams embrace the security protocols that keep the internet safe, such as DMARC, SPF, DKIM and TLS.redsift.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.
  • Red Sift OnDMARC[2][9]Email authentication product for DMARC enforcement.
Categories
Headquarters
Ann Arbor, United States[2][21]London, United Kingdom[5][6]
Founded
2017[1]2015[3]
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesPrivately held[2][4][15]
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]
  • October 21, 2026Red Sift notified customers with potentially affected hosts after scanning the Hardenize customer base for PHP-backed hosts, following the PHP security fixes.[18]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[6]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 4, 2026[15]
  • 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, the company sells mainly to security and IT teams that want to adopt protocols such as DMARC, SPF, DKIM and TLS. Save the Children also appears as a customer story for OnDMARC. The about page says the company works across EMEA, APAC and the US.
Last verified
September 27, 2026September 27, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Censys and Red Sift are both filed under External attack surface management.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Censys's primary category is External attack surface management; Red Sift's is Email authentication and DMARC.
  • Censys is also filed under Threat intelligence. Red Sift is also filed under Digital risk protection and Machine identity and PKI.
  • Censys lists Censys Platform, Censys ASM, Adversary Investigation and cencli. Red Sift lists Red Sift OnDMARC.
  • Censys is headquartered in Ann Arbor, United States. Red Sift is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
  • Censys was founded in 2017. Red Sift was founded in 2015.
  • Red Sift is privately held.

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.

What it sells: Red Sift

What Red Sift OnDMARC does[2][9]
Red Sift OnDMARC gives instant visibility into a domain's email security posture and a clear path to DMARC enforcement. It lets customers configure SPF, DKIM, DMARC, BIMI and MTA-STS in one place. Red Sift says it helps organizations reach full DMARC enforcement in just 6 to 8 weeks.

Questions about Censys and Red Sift

What do Censys and Red Sift sell?
Censys sells Censys Platform, Censys ASM, Adversary Investigation and cencli. Red Sift sells Red Sift OnDMARC.
Are Censys and Red Sift in the same category?
They share External attack surface management. Censys's primary category is External attack surface management and Red Sift's is Email authentication and DMARC.
Where are Censys and Red Sift headquartered?
Censys is headquartered in Ann Arbor, United States. Red Sift is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
When were Censys and Red Sift founded?
Censys was founded in 2017. Red Sift was founded in 2015.
Who owns Censys and Red Sift?
Red Sift is privately held.
Who are Censys and Red Sift sold to?
From its own pages, Censys sells to private and public sector security teams. From its own pages, the company sells mainly to security and IT teams that want to adopt protocols such as DMARC, SPF, DKIM and TLS.
What have Censys and Red Sift announced recently?
September 22, 2026: Censys announced an expanded global Channel Partner Program and investments to accelerate its channel-first growth strategy. October 21, 2026: Red Sift notified customers with potentially affected hosts after scanning the Hardenize customer base for PHP-backed hosts, following the PHP security fixes.

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

Red Sift full record

  1. [1]redsift.comRed Sift · redsift.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]The Red Sift Pulse PlatformRed Sift · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Cloud email security brand protection startup red sift rises 54mSiliconANGLE · siliconangle.com · published February 24, 2022 · Tier B
  4. [4]6977295001Austin American-Statesman · statesman.com · published March 4, 2022 · Tier B
  5. [5]Red sift joins future fifty 2026 cohort unveiled by chancellor at downing streetRed Sift via EIN Presswire · thestarpress.com · published March 19, 2026 · Tier B
  6. [6]Red siftThe Wealth Mosaic · thewealthmosaic.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier C
  7. [7]Red Sift | Creating a Fundamentally Safer Internet with Proactive SecurityRed Sift · undated page, accessed October 27, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Proactive, intelligent security for every organization.Red Sift · undated page, accessed October 27, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Red Sift OnDMARC | Stop Email Spoofing FastRed Sift · undated page, accessed October 27, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]OnDMARC Pricing | Plans for SMB to Enterprise + Free TrialRed Sift · undated page, accessed October 27, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Stop lookalike domains before they damage your brandRed Sift · undated page, accessed October 27, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Bird & Bird strengthens trust in legal communications with layered email and domain protectionRed Sift · undated page, accessed October 27, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Find and fix issues 10x faster with Red Sift RadarRed Sift · undated page, accessed October 27, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Red Sift Certificates Lite | Free Certificate MonitoringRed Sift · undated page, accessed October 27, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Red Sift OnDMARC Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 27, 2026 · Tier C
  16. [16]How to Price and Package DMARC Services for Your MSP | Red SiftRed Sift · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]DMARC solutions for healthcare organizationsRed Sift · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Critical PHP vulnerabilities CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619 | Red SiftRed Sift · published October 21, 2026 · Tier A

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