AD Tripwires vs Ensnare: 2026 Comparison
AD Tripwires is a commercial honeypots & deception tool by Horizon3.ai. Ensnare 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.
Small engineering teams running Rails applications will find immediate value in Ensnare because it deploys deception directly into your web stack without requiring separate infrastructure. At 68 GitHub stars with a free model, it's lightweight enough to test in staging within hours, which matters when you're resource-constrained. The tradeoff is real: this is a detection and disruption layer, not a forensics engine, so teams that need detailed post-incident analysis or NIST Respond capabilities should pair it with separate logging infrastructure.
