AD Tripwires vs DCEPT: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
AD Tripwires is a commercial honeypots & deception tool by Horizon3.ai. DCEPT 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 protecting Active Directory in mid-market environments will get immediate value from DCEPT because it catches privilege escalation attempts that your existing monitoring likely misses, using honeytokens as tripwires rather than waiting for lateral movement to surface. The tool is free and deploys in minutes without agents, making it a practical complement to your Detect controls even if your EDR is already in place. Skip DCEPT if your organization needs centralized deception management across multiple directories or cloud IAM platforms; this is purpose-built for AD and doesn't scale into enterprise multi-cloud environments.
