AD Tripwires vs Blacknet: 2026 Comparison
AD Tripwires is a commercial honeypots & deception tool by Horizon3.ai. Blacknet 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:
Mid-market and enterprise security teams that treat Active Directory as a detection problem, not just a hardening problem, should evaluate AD Tripwires. It deploys honeypot objects directly into AD to catch reconnaissance and lateral movement before it reaches production assets, and the integration with Horizon3.ai's NodeZero platform means you validate that your tripwires actually work against your real attack surface. Skip this if your team lacks the AD expertise to maintain decoy objects or if you're looking for a tool that also handles response automation; AD Tripwires is detection and alerting only.
Security teams building SSH honeypot networks on minimal budget will find Blacknet's multi-head architecture useful for distributed threat collection across lab and production perimeter segments. The free, open-source model with active GitHub presence means you're not locked into vendor pricing while experimenting with deception tactics. Skip this if you need commercial support, managed deployment, or high-interaction honeypots that simulate full application stacks; Blacknet's low-interaction design trades realism for operational simplicity.
