AD Tripwires vs Impost: 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. Impost 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 active defense capabilities will find Impost valuable for its honeypot deployment speed and packet inspection depth; the free pricing removes procurement friction for teams piloting deception tactics before committing budget to commercial platforms. The tool's sniffer component catches evasion techniques that passive monitoring misses, particularly useful for validating detection rules before production rollout. Skip Impost if you need managed threat intelligence feeds or automated response workflows; this is a hands-on auditing tool, not a detection platform.
