Acalvio ShadowPlex Cloud Security vs HoneypotPi: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
Acalvio ShadowPlex Cloud Security is a commercial honeypots & deception tool by Acalvio Technologies. HoneypotPi is a free honeypots & deception tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best honeypots & deception fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of NIST CSF 2.0 coverage, core features, company size fit, deployment model, here is our conclusion:
Acalvio ShadowPlex Cloud Security
Enterprise and mid-market teams managing multi-cloud infrastructure should adopt ShadowPlex Cloud Security if detecting lateral movement and privilege escalation in cloud identities is your weakest detection layer. Agentless deployment via native cloud APIs means you're live in AWS, Azure, and GCP without touching workloads, and the honeytoken approach catches attackers during reconnaissance when they're still gathering credentials rather than after breach. This tool prioritizes detection and intent capture over response automation, so it's less valuable for teams already confident in their cloud identity monitoring or those expecting the platform to enforce remediation workflows.
Security teams experimenting with deception tactics on a shoestring budget should use HoneypotPi to stand up a functional honeypot in under an hour on hardware they already own. The free, open-source Raspberry Pi approach eliminates procurement friction and works well for small deployments or lab environments testing detection logic before larger investments. Skip this if you need centralized management across multiple honeypots, advanced threat intelligence feeds, or the polish of a commercial platform; HoneypotPi is a capable DIY tool, not a scalable deception infrastructure.
