AD Tripwires vs hived: 2026 Comparison
AD Tripwires is a commercial honeypots & deception tool by Horizon3.ai. hived 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 internal honeypot networks on minimal budget will find Hived valuable for its simplicity; it requires no licensing overhead and deploys as straightforward deception infrastructure. The tool's open-source availability on GitHub means you can audit the code yourself and avoid vendor lock-in, a real advantage when your honeypot strategy needs to evolve with your threat model. Skip this if you need commercial support, managed detection services, or integration with your SIEM; Hived is a bare-bones trap, not a detection platform.
