Learn how to choose the right attack surface management tool for your security team’s specific environment and needs.
• ASM tools find exposed assets you forgot about. They don’t detect stolen credentials circulating on the dark web.
• 69% of organizations have been attacked through unknown or unmanaged internet-facing assets.
• Each tool has different strengths: Microsoft for Azure shops, Cortex Xpanse for large enterprises, CyCognito for zero-input discovery, Breachsense for ASM combined with dark web intelligence.
• Complete visibility requires ASM plus dark web monitoring for credential exposure and stolen data.
Your company adds over 300 new services every month. That’s not a guess. Unit 42’s Attack Surface Threat Research found that average across organizations they studied. And nearly 32% of those new services create high or critical exposures.
Here’s the problem. Most security teams can’t keep up. They don’t know about half the assets connected to their network. Shadow IT, forgotten test servers, cloud resources spun up by developers who left two years ago. Attackers find these before you do.
Attack surface management tools solve part of this problem. They continuously scan for internet-facing assets and find the ones you forgot about. Organizations using ASM reduced breach costs by $160,547 on average, according to IBM’s 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Report.
But which tool fits your environment? We’ve compared 13 leading ASM platforms to help you decide. No vendor rankings. Just honest analysis of what each does well and where they fall short.
Security teams need visibility. You can’t protect what you don’t know exists.
Attack surface management (ASM) tools continuously discover, classify, and monitor all internet-facing assets that could be exploited by attackers. These platforms automatically find forgotten servers, shadow IT, misconfigured cloud resources, and exposed APIs. The goal is to give security teams the same view of their organization that attackers have.
Traditional vulnerability scanners only check assets you already know about. ASM tools work from the outside in. They start with your domain name and continuously discover everything connected to your organization.
The challenge? These tools show you what’s exposed. They don’t show you if your data is already being sold on the dark web.
Before comparing specific platforms, establish what actually matters for your environment. Not every feature benefits every organization.
Asset Discovery Depth: How comprehensively does it find assets? Some tools excel at cloud resources. Others focus on traditional infrastructure. Match discovery capabilities to your environment.
Integration Capabilities: ASM data needs to flow into your existing tools. SIEM integration. SOAR automation. Ticketing systems. If the tool creates another silo, you’ve added work instead of reducing it.
False Positive Management: Alert fatigue kills ASM programs. The best tools reduce noise through validation and context, not just volume.
Scan Frequency: How often does the tool refresh your asset inventory? Daily? Weekly? Real-time? Your attack surface changes constantly. Your visibility should keep pace.
With these criteria in mind, let’s examine what each major platform offers.
Best for: Organizations heavily invested in Microsoft and Azure ecosystems.
Microsoft Defender EASM leverages the infrastructure Microsoft uses to scan the entire internet for its own threat intelligence. That means global reach and comprehensive asset discovery.
Key Features:
Strengths: The native integration with Microsoft security tools makes it compelling for existing Microsoft shops. No additional vendor relationship required. Discovery capabilities benefit from Microsoft’s massive internet scanning infrastructure.
Considerations: Organizations not using Microsoft Sentinel or Defender XDR lose significant integration value. The platform works best as part of a broader Microsoft security investment, not as a standalone tool.
Best for: Organizations wanting attack surface discovery combined with dark web intelligence and credential exposure monitoring.
Most ASM tools tell you what’s exposed. Breachsense EASM tells you what’s exposed and if your data is already being sold on the dark web. The platform combines traditional attack surface discovery with real-time dark web monitoring through a unified API.
Key Features:
Strengths: The combination of ASM and dark web intelligence fills gaps other tools ignore. API-first architecture enables seamless integration with existing security workflows. Real-time alerting catches credential exposure before attackers exploit it. With over 343+ billion compromised credentials indexed, security teams can find and reset exposed accounts before they’re exploited.
Considerations: If you only need asset discovery without dark web intelligence, a simpler platform might be a better fit.
Best for: Large enterprises requiring continuous discovery across complex environments.
Cortex Xpanse originated from Expanse, one of the original ASM pioneers. Palo Alto acquired them and integrated the technology into the Cortex platform.
Key Features:
Strengths: The attacker-perspective approach means you see what adversaries see. Integration with Cortex XSOAR enables automated remediation workflows. Strong enterprise support and proven scale.
Considerations: Enterprise pricing puts it out of reach for mid-market organizations. Full value requires broader Palo Alto platform adoption. Implementation typically requires professional services engagement.
Best for: Organizations wanting unified endpoint and attack surface visibility in one platform.
CrowdStrike built Falcon Surface to extend their endpoint visibility to external attack surfaces. The result combines their threat intelligence with asset discovery.
Key Features:
Strengths: If you already use Falcon for endpoint protection, adding Surface creates unified visibility. CrowdStrike’s threat intelligence adds context other tools lack. Single vendor relationship simplifies procurement.
Considerations: Standalone value without Falcon endpoint is limited. Pricing assumes broader CrowdStrike adoption. Organizations using competing endpoint solutions get less integration benefit.
Best for: Organizations prioritizing threat intelligence integration with attack surface visibility.
Mandiant’s ASM capability now lives within Google Cloud Security. It combines Mandiant’s incident response expertise with automated attack surface discovery.
Key Features:
Strengths: Nobody has more incident response data than Mandiant. That intelligence informs what exposures actually lead to breaches. M&A assessment capability helps due diligence teams evaluate acquisition targets.
Considerations: Best value for Google Cloud customers. If you don’t use Google Security Operations as your SIEM, you’ll miss the native integration. Mandiant’s premium positioning means premium pricing.
Best for: Organizations with existing Tenable vulnerability management wanting unified external visibility.
Tenable extended their vulnerability management coverage into attack surface discovery. The result integrates external and internal vulnerability data.
Key Features:
Strengths: Existing Tenable customers get unified vulnerability context across internal and external assets. Strong compliance reporting for regulated industries. Proven vulnerability prioritization methodology.
Considerations: Best for existing Tenable customers. If you’re not already using their vulnerability management platform, dedicated ASM tools offer deeper discovery.
Best for: Mid-market organizations seeking integrated vulnerability and attack surface management.
Rapid7’s Surface Command brings external visibility to organizations already using InsightVM or InsightConnect. It emphasizes practical remediation workflows.
Key Features:
Strengths: More affordable than enterprise alternatives. If you already use InsightVM, you get unified visibility across internal and external assets. InsightConnect automation helps smaller teams do more with less.
Considerations: Best for existing Rapid7 customers. If you’re not using their other tools, dedicated ASM platforms offer stronger discovery and cloud coverage.
Best for: Organizations wanting comprehensive discovery without providing seed information.
CyCognito pioneered the “zero-input” approach. Point it at your organization, and it discovers your entire attack surface without seed lists or IP ranges.
Key Features:
Strengths: Zero-input discovery finds assets other tools miss because it doesn’t rely on seed data you provide. You point it at your organization name, and it maps your entire external footprint.
Considerations: Premium pricing reflects specialized capabilities. Discovery thoroughness means longer initial scan times. Some organizations prefer more control over the discovery scope.
Best for: Organizations needing research-grade internet scanning data and flexible analysis.
Censys emerged from academic research into internet-wide scanning. Their data powers many threat intelligence platforms and security research projects.
Key Features:
Strengths: Research-grade data quality from Censys’s academic roots. Flexible query language lets you run custom searches. API-first design makes automation easy.
Considerations: Not a turnkey solution. You need analysis expertise to get value from the raw data. The UI isn’t as polished as commercial competitors.
Best for: Cloud-native organizations needing code-to-cloud visibility across multi-cloud environments.
Wiz took the cloud security market by storm with agentless scanning and unified cloud visibility. Their attack surface capabilities focus on cloud infrastructure.
Key Features:
Strengths: Cloud-native architecture means superior coverage for modern infrastructure. Attack path analysis shows which exposures actually reach sensitive resources. Rapid deployment without agents or network changes.
Considerations: Limited visibility into traditional on-premises infrastructure. Premium cloud-focused pricing. Organizations with significant non-cloud assets need complementary solutions.
Best for: Compliance-focused organizations with existing Qualys VMDR deployments.
Qualys added external attack surface management to their vulnerability management platform. The integration creates unified visibility for organizations already using VMDR.
Key Features:
Strengths: If you already use Qualys, you get external visibility without adding another vendor. Strong compliance reporting for regulated industries.
Considerations: Best for existing Qualys customers. If you’re not already using their platform, dedicated ASM tools offer deeper discovery.
Best for: Organizations wanting adversary simulation integrated with attack surface discovery.
Randori brought a different approach. Instead of just finding assets, the platform validates which exposures attackers can actually exploit through continuous automated red teaming.
Key Features:
Strengths: Randori doesn’t just find assets - it tests whether they’re actually exploitable. Continuous automated red teaming instead of one-time assessments.
Considerations: Enterprise pricing. Best for existing IBM Security customers. Automated attacks need careful scoping to avoid unintended impact on production systems.
Best for: Development and security teams focused on web application attack surfaces.
Detectify crowdsources vulnerability research from ethical hackers. Their discovery focuses on web applications and the exposures that affect them.
Key Features:
Strengths: Crowdsourced research catches vulnerabilities before they’re widely known. Developer-friendly approach fits modern DevSecOps workflows. Web application focus provides depth other tools lack.
Considerations: Limited coverage beyond web applications. Smaller organizations may not need crowdsourced research depth. Infrastructure and network assets require complementary tools.
That’s 13 tools, each with distinct strengths. But here’s what most of them miss.
External attack surface management (EASM) focuses specifically on internet-facing assets visible to attackers outside your network. While general ASM includes internal assets, EASM platforms scan for exposed services, forgotten subdomains, cloud misconfigurations, and leaked credentials from an attacker’s outside-in perspective.
ASM tools find your assets. They tell you what’s exposed. They don’t show you if your data is already being sold on the dark web.
Think about it. Attackers don’t just look for vulnerabilities. They look for shortcuts. Stolen credentials let them walk through the front door. Leaked session tokens bypass MFA entirely. Leaked API keys grant access without exploitation.
Only 20% of breaches start with vulnerability exploitation, according to the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. Credential abuse is the number one way attackers gain initial access. Finding your assets won’t help when attackers already have your employees’ passwords.
Here’s what’s missing from pure ASM approaches:
Credential exposure monitoring: Your employees’ passwords are probably already leaked. Infostealer malware harvests credentials daily. Combo lists circulate on dark web forums. ASM tools don’t watch for this.
Dark web intelligence: Initial access brokers sell network access to your organization. Ransomware gangs post stolen data on leak sites. This intelligence exists. ASM tools don’t collect it.
Stolen session tokens: Modern infostealers grab browser session tokens, not just passwords. These tokens bypass authentication entirely. ASM tools can’t detect token theft.
Third-party breach exposure: When your vendors get breached, your data gets exposed. ASM tools watch your assets. They don’t watch your vendors'.
Complete visibility requires both. ASM tools show what’s exposed. Dark web monitoring shows if your data is already being sold. Credential monitoring alerts you when passwords leak so you can reset them first.
Starting an ASM program requires more than purchasing a tool. Implementation determines whether you get value or add another unused platform.
Define scope first. What domains do you own? What IP ranges? What cloud accounts? Start with known assets, then let discovery expand your view.
Establish asset ownership. Discovery finds assets. Someone needs to own remediation. Map assets to business units before findings overwhelm your team.
Integrate with existing workflows. ASM findings need to flow into your vulnerability management, ticketing, and SIEM systems. Isolated tools create isolated data.
Set realistic expectations. Initial discovery will find problems. Lots of them. Prioritize by actual risk, not just count. Fix critical exposures first.
Complement with threat intelligence. ASM shows what’s exposed. Add external attack surface management, vulnerability scanning, and credential monitoring to see the complete picture.
Attack surface management tools solve a real problem. You can’t protect assets you don’t know about. These 13 platforms help security teams discover and monitor internet-facing assets.
But ASM alone isn’t complete visibility. If you use attack surface management, you can reduce breach costs by $160,547 on average. That’s significant. It’s also incomplete. 20% of breaches start with vulnerability exploitation. Most start with stolen credentials, compromised vendors, or threats most ASM tools never see.
Match your tool to your environment. Microsoft shops get integration value from Defender EASM. Large enterprises benefit from Cortex Xpanse’s scale. Cloud-native organizations should evaluate Wiz. Mid-market teams might find Rapid7 or Detectify more accessible. Organizations wanting ASM combined with dark web intelligence should evaluate Breachsense.
Then fill the gaps. Your attack surface extends beyond what scanners find. It includes every leaked credential, stolen session token, and third-party vendor breach that affects your organization. Complete visibility requires both asset discovery and threat intelligence. Check your dark web exposure to see what attackers already know about your organization.
An ASM tool continuously discovers and monitors all your internet-facing assets that attackers could target. Think forgotten servers, shadow IT, misconfigured cloud resources, and exposed APIs. The tool finds them automatically so you know what you need to secure. For complete visibility, combine ASM with dark web monitoring to detect stolen credentials.
It depends on your environment. Microsoft Defender EASM works best for Azure-heavy organizations. Cortex Xpanse suits large enterprises needing comprehensive coverage. CyCognito excels at zero-input discovery. Wiz dominates cloud-native environments. For ASM combined with threat intelligence, Breachsense EASM adds dark web monitoring.
ASM covers all attack surfaces including internal assets. EASM focuses specifically on external, internet-facing assets visible to attackers. EASM shows you what attackers see from outside your network. Most organizations need EASM first since external assets face the highest risk.
Enterprise ASM platforms typically run $50,000 to $500,000+ annually depending on asset count and features. Mid-market solutions like Intruder and Detectify start around $10,000 to $50,000. Pricing usually scales with the number of assets monitored or domains tracked.
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