CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Corelight vs Darktrace

Corelight sells the Open NDR Platform, which transforms network data into evidence. Darktrace sells security for AI systems and agents, for network, cloud and OT environments, and for email and collaboration tools. CISO Tribune files both under Network detection and response. 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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  • Corelight
  • Darktrace
Corelight vs Darktrace: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
CorelightCorelight sells the Open NDR Platform, which transforms network data into evidence.corelight.comDarktraceDarktrace sells security for AI systems and agents, for network, cloud and OT environments, and for email and collaboration tools.darktrace.com
What it sells
  • Investigator[1][4][9][10][12][13][15][18]A SaaS-based NDR platform for investigations. It uses Agentic Triage playbooks to triage alerts.
  • Corelight Sensors[8][12][13]Sensors that capture a copy of traffic out-of-band and turn it into network evidence with Zeek.
  • Smart PCAP[1][4][12]Links Zeek logs, detections and extracted files to only the packets needed for investigations.
  • AI/ML detections[8]A subscription-based module of AI/ML detections that can be purchased with Corelight Sensors.
  • Threat Intelligence[4][8][13]A licensed feature for Corelight Sensors and Investigator.
  • Cloud Sensors[14]Corelight sensors for cloud networks, available for AWS, GCP and Azure.
  • Darktrace / EMAIL[14][15]Email security that catches phishing, business email compromise, executive impersonation and social engineering attacks.
Categories
Headquarters
San Francisco, United States[3]Cambridge, United Kingdom[2]
Founded
20162013[2]
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesOwned by Thoma Bravo since 2024[3][12][13][17]
Named customers
Not stated on its pages
  • Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast[4]
  • HARMAN International[5]
  • City of Las Vegas[6]
  • Centre Parcs[7]
  • Banco Galicia[8]
Recent news
  • October 6, 2026Corelight announced the establishment of Corelight Canada, a standalone entity intended to work more closely with customers, partners and public sector organizations in Canada.[17]
  • July 27, 2026Corelight announced the appointment of Amanda Berger as its Chief Customer Officer.[5]
  • June 9, 2026Corelight announced that its Open NDR Platform, including Investigator and Hosted Fleet Manager, was listed on the FedRAMP Marketplace as FedRAMP In Process at the Class C (Moderate) level.[18]
  • June 9, 2026Corelight announced it has reached FedRAMP In Process status.[6]
  • September 24, 2026Darktrace launched Signal Labs, a research unit that tests how AI models and agents misbehave in sandboxed environments, and published its first findings.[9]
  • September 22, 2026Darktrace made its SECURE AI product generally available, giving enterprises tools to discover AI use, monitor people and agents, and act on policy risks.[10]
  • August 4, 2026Darktrace announced an integration that feeds behavioral risk signals about AI agents from its SECURE AI product into the Microsoft Agent 365 portal.[11]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 5, 2026[7]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 3, 2026[13]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
From its own pages, Corelight sells mainly to SOC teams that want network evidence for detection, investigation and threat hunting. Corelight describes customers extending visibility across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Customer examples on its pages include a global beauty retailer protecting point-of-sale terminals and a major U.S mortgage lender with data centers and multi-cloud workloads in AWS and Azure.Not written yet
Last verified
September 27, 2026October 10, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Network detection and response is the primary category of both Corelight and Darktrace.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Corelight is also filed under Network visibility and traffic brokering. Darktrace is also filed under Email security and OT and ICS security.
  • Corelight lists Investigator, Corelight Sensors, Smart PCAP, AI/ML detections, Threat Intelligence and 1 more. Darktrace lists Darktrace / EMAIL.
  • Corelight is headquartered in San Francisco, United States. Darktrace is headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom.
  • Corelight was founded in 2016. Darktrace was founded in 2013.
  • Darktrace is owned by Thoma Bravo, since 2024.
  • Darktrace publicly names Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, HARMAN International, City of Las Vegas, Centre Parcs and Banco Galicia.

How they differ

CISO Tribune files Corelight under Network detection and response and Network visibility and traffic brokering, with Network detection and response as its primary category. CISO Tribune files Darktrace under Network detection and response, Email security, and OT and ICS security, also with Network detection and response as its primary category. Corelight sells sensors that capture a copy of traffic out-of-band and turn it into network evidence with Zeek, along with Investigator, a SaaS-based NDR platform. Darktrace sells security for AI systems and agents, for network, cloud and OT environments, and for email and collaboration tools. Both address cloud networks: Corelight offers Cloud Sensors for AWS, GCP and Azure, while Darktrace says its Adaptive AI monitors activity across cloud assets, workloads, APIs, containers, and identities.

Corelight is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, and was founded in 2016. Darktrace is headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom, was founded in 2013, and has been owned by Thoma Bravo since 2024. Corelight's own pages cite a global beauty retailer and a major U.S mortgage lender as customer examples. Darktrace publicly names Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, HARMAN International, City of Las Vegas, Centre Parcs and Banco Galicia as customers.

Corelight announced Corelight Canada on October 6, 2026, a standalone entity intended to work more closely with customers, partners and public sector organizations in Canada. On June 9, 2026, Corelight announced that its Open NDR Platform, including Investigator and Hosted Fleet Manager, was listed on the FedRAMP Marketplace as FedRAMP In Process at the Class C (Moderate) level. Darktrace launched Signal Labs on September 24, 2026, a research unit that tests how AI models and agents misbehave in sandboxed environments. On September 22, 2026, Darktrace made its SECURE AI product generally available.

What it sells: Corelight

What Investigator does[1][4][9][10][12][13][15][18]
Investigator is Corelight's SaaS-based NDR platform that streamlines complex investigations. Agentic Triage uses transparent, expert-written playbooks. SIEM Verdict Export sends triage verdicts, reasoning chains and evidence links into a SIEM.
What Corelight Sensors does[8][12][13]
The sensor captures a copy of all traffic out-of-band, then deduplicates and cleans the data. Powered by Zeek, it performs deep protocol parsing across 70+ data types. The evidence is routed to Investigator, a SIEM or a data lake.
What Smart PCAP does[1][4][12]
Corelight Smart PCAP links Zeek logs, detections and extracted files to only the packets needed for investigations. Corelight says it lets teams store packets longer and find them faster.
What AI/ML detections does[8]
AI/ML detection is a subscription-based module that can be purchased with Corelight Sensors. It can be deployed across air-gapped, hybrid, cloud or multicloud environments. Models are enabled, managed and tuned through Fleet Manager. Many detections run directly on-sensor with no cloud dependency.
What Threat Intelligence does[4][8][13]
Threat Intelligence is a licensed feature for Corelight Sensors and Investigator. It is supported on all sensor options. It is managed through Fleet Manager or the sensor's Threat Intelligence framework.
What Cloud Sensors does[14]
Corelight Cloud Sensors are available for AWS, GCP and Azure. Corelight supports AWS, Azure and GCP native packet mirroring, and third-party packet brokers.

What it sells: Darktrace

What Darktrace / EMAIL does[14][15]
Darktrace / EMAIL learns from each organization's own activity and users, not a shared cross-customer model. Darktrace says it catches phishing, business email compromise, executive impersonation, and social engineering attacks. Behavioral detection extends across Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Slack. Each employee's risk score adapts their email controls.

Questions about Corelight and Darktrace

What do Corelight and Darktrace sell?
Corelight sells Investigator, Corelight Sensors, Smart PCAP, AI/ML detections, Threat Intelligence and 1 more. Darktrace sells Darktrace / EMAIL.
Are Corelight and Darktrace in the same category?
Yes. Network detection and response is the primary category of both on CISO Tribune.
Where are Corelight and Darktrace headquartered?
Corelight is headquartered in San Francisco, United States. Darktrace is headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom.
When were Corelight and Darktrace founded?
Corelight was founded in 2016. Darktrace was founded in 2013.
Who owns Corelight and Darktrace?
Darktrace is owned by Thoma Bravo, since 2024.
Which customers do Corelight and Darktrace name?
Darktrace publicly names Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, HARMAN International, City of Las Vegas, Centre Parcs and Banco Galicia.
Who are Corelight and Darktrace sold to?
From its own pages, Corelight sells mainly to SOC teams that want network evidence for detection, investigation and threat hunting.
What have Corelight and Darktrace announced recently?
October 6, 2026: Corelight announced the establishment of Corelight Canada, a standalone entity intended to work more closely with customers, partners and public sector organizations in Canada. September 24, 2026: Darktrace launched Signal Labs, a research unit that tests how AI models and agents misbehave in sandboxed environments, and published its first findings.

About Corelight

Corelight sells the Open NDR Platform, which transforms network data into evidence. Corelight says that evidence powers AI-driven detection and expert-authored workflows.

Corelight sensors capture a copy of all traffic out-of-band. The sensor then deduplicates and cleans the data, discarding redundant multicast traffic. Powered by Zeek, the sensor performs deep protocol parsing across 70+ data types. The resulting evidence is routed to Corelight Investigator, a SIEM, or a data lake for long-term forensics.[9]

Investigator is Corelight's SaaS-based NDR platform. Corelight says it streamlines complex investigations by eliminating repetitive review steps and enables up to 10x faster triage. Agentic Triage uses transparent, expert-written playbooks to follow consistent triage logic for every investigation. SIEM Verdict Export sends every triage verdict, including the reasoning chain, evidence links and recommended next steps, directly into the customer's SIEM. Investigator also offers host isolation, IP blocking and identity actions through integrated EDR, firewall and identity provider workflows.[1][10]

Corelight fuses machine learning, behavioral analytics and curated signatures in its threat detection. AI/ML detection is a subscription-based module that can be purchased with Corelight Sensors, and AI/ML models are enabled, managed and tuned through Fleet Manager. Many of these detections run directly on-sensor, with no cloud dependency. Threat Intelligence is a licensed feature for Corelight Sensors and Investigator, and it is supported on all sensor options. Corelight Smart PCAP links Zeek logs, detections and extracted files to only the packets needed for investigations.[8][11][12][13]

For cloud environments, Corelight Cloud Sensors are available for AWS, GCP and Azure. Corelight supports AWS, Azure and GCP native packet mirroring, and third-party packet brokers. Performance and Asset Visibility is a Corelight Open NDR module that passively extracts asset classification and network performance telemetry from traffic the sensors are already collecting.[14][15]

Corelight also sells services. Corelight says it can provide a resident engineer to work alongside a customer's team, and services can be purchased standalone or bundled with the platform. Corelight describes integrations with Splunk Enterprise Security and Splunk SOAR, and with Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Entra ID.[1][2][10][12][14][16]

Corelight on the record

Sources

Corelight full record

  1. [1]All productsCorelight · corelight.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]About corelightCorelight · corelight.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]H i g growth partners invests in corelights 75m series d financingH.I.G. Capital · hig.com · published September 3, 2021 · Tier C
  4. [4]Corelight | Evidence-Based NDR & Threat Hunting PlatformCorelight · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Corelight Welcomes Veteran Customer Advocate Amanda Berger as Chief Customer OfficerCorelight · published July 27, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Corelight Achieves FedRAMP In Process Certification, Advancing Network Detection and Response for Federal Government AgenciesCorelight · published June 9, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Corelight Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier C
  8. [8]AI/ML Detections: Transparent, Evidence-Based NDR | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Network Visibility: Complete Visibility for Security Operations | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Investigator: Agentic AI Triage for NDR | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]AI-Powered Threat Detection Platform | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Intrusion Detection System (IDS) Powered by Suricata | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Cyber Threat Intelligence for Open NDR | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Cloud Solutions | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Performance and Asset Visibility | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Professional & Consulting Services | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Corelight establishes Corelight CanadaCorelight · published October 6, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Corelight Achieves FedRAMP In Process Certification, Advancing Network Detection and Response for Federal Government AgenciesPR Newswire · published June 9, 2026 · Tier A

Darktrace full record

  1. [1]ProductsDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Darktrace named technology pioneer by world economic forumDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Darktrace announces formal completion of its acquisition by thoma bravoDarktrace · darktrace.com · published October 1, 2024 · Tier A
  4. [4]Coca cola beverages northeastDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Harman internationalDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]City of las vegasDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Center parcs darktraceDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Banco galiciaDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Darktrace launches signal labs to research emerging risks of enterprise ai agentsDarktrace · darktrace.com · published September 24, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Darktrace extends behavioral security with general availability of darktrace secure aiDarktrace · darktrace.com · published September 22, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Darktrace among first cybersecurity companies selected to integrate risk signals into microsoft agent 365Darktrace · darktrace.com · published August 4, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Darktrace | The Essential AI Cybersecurity PlatformDarktrace · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Darktrace / HYBRID NETWORK Reviews & Product Details - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier C
  14. [14]AI Cyber Security Solutions | Harden Defenses Inside & OutDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Microsoft Azure Security & Compliance | Security ServicesDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]AI-Based Email Security Software | Email Threat ProtectionDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Network Security Management | AI Network Security ProtectionDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Cloud Security Solutions | AI for Cloud Cyber SecurityDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  19. [19]AWS Data Loss Prevention, Security Compliance, & ProtectionDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  20. [20]Operational Technology (OT) Cyber Security SolutionsDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  21. [21]AI Endpoint Security | Cyber Security Endpoint Protection SuiteDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  22. [22]Network Security Integrations | Darktrace/NetworkDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  23. [23]Integrations | Darktrace/EndpointDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A

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