AccessData FTK Imager vs Unhide: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
AccessData FTK Imager is a free digital forensics and incident response tool. Unhide is a free digital forensics and incident response tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best digital forensics and incident response fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of available product data, here is our conclusion:
Forensic examiners and incident response teams handling disk imaging and evidence preservation should start here; FTK Imager is free and handles the core imaging job without licensing friction that kills adoption in mid-sized shops. It's NIST-validated for forensic acquisition and integrates cleanly with EnCase workflows if you're already in that ecosystem. Skip it if you need integrated timeline analysis or automated artifact parsing; those belong in the paid tier (Forensic Toolkit), and trying to build that workflow in Imager alone wastes investigator time.
Incident responders and forensics teams investigating suspected rootkit infections will get the most from Unhide because it actually surfaces hidden processes and sockets that kernel-mode malware deliberately conceals from standard OS tools. The tool costs nothing, runs on Windows and Linux, and catches what netstat and tasklist miss by comparing multiple detection methods rather than trusting a single enumeration API. Skip this if you need post-compromise artifact recovery or timeline reconstruction; Unhide is visibility-only, not a full forensic platform.
