AD Tripwires vs Kako: 2026 Comparison
AD Tripwires is a commercial honeypots & deception tool by Horizon3.ai. Kako 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.
Teams building embedded device security programs on AWS will find Kako's honeypot templates worth testing because they're purpose-built for the IoT attack surface rather than generic network deception. The free pricing and JSON output integration mean you can spin up realistic device traps without procurement friction. Skip this if you need honeypots that also handle cloud infrastructure or require vendor support; Kako's 28 GitHub stars and active-project status suggest community maintenance rather than backed commercial infrastructure.
