Aikido Attack vs ettercap: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
Aikido Attack is a commercial penetration testing tool by Aikido Security. ettercap is a free penetration testing tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best penetration testing 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:
Startups and SMBs that need pen testing but lack in-house expertise will move fastest with Aikido Attack; same-day reports and automated remediation pull requests compress what normally takes weeks into hours. The platform covers OWASP Top 10 and business logic flaws across whitebox, greybox, and blackbox modes with 90-day free re-testing, removing the friction of scheduling and paying for repeat assessments. Skip this if your team needs deep manual testing for complex threat modeling or custom attack scenarios; the AI agents excel at finding known vulnerability classes, not novel ones.
Penetration testers and security researchers who need to validate network segmentation and protocol implementations should reach for ettercap for its straightforward man-in-the-middle capabilities and packet dissection depth that commercial tools often overcomplicate. The 2,691 GitHub stars reflect sustained adoption in labs and red team engagements where live connection sniffing and content filtering matter more than polished UI. Skip this if you're looking for passive network monitoring or threat hunting at scale; ettercap is purpose-built for active testing, not continuous visibility.
