Assetnote ASM vs crawley: 2026 Comparison
Assetnote ASM is a commercial external attack surface management tool by Assetnote. crawley is a free external attack surface management tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best external attack surface management 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 managing sprawling external infrastructure will get the most from Assetnote ASM because its hourly asset discovery actually catches exposures before your business units spin up new services, not weeks after. The platform covers ID.AM and DE.CM across NIST CSF 2.0, meaning you're building a real asset inventory while monitoring it continuously, and the exploit-based verification eliminates the noise that buries actionable findings in traditional scanners. Skip this if your organization lacks the headcount to operationalize a workflow-driven program; Assetnote's strength is enabling lean teams to prioritize, not giving you a dashboard to ignore.
Security teams building custom reconnaissance workflows or integrating web discovery into existing automation pipelines should start with Crawley; it's free, written in Go for speed, and handles multiple protocols and authentication methods that most off-the-shelf crawlers require workarounds to support. The 308 GitHub stars reflect active maintenance and real-world use rather than enterprise polish. Skip this if you need a GUI, managed hosting, or out-of-the-box reporting; Crawley is deliberately a building block, not a finished product.
