Censys Internet Map vs Chaos Client: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
Censys Internet Map is a commercial external attack surface management tool by Censys. Chaos Client 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:
Enterprise security teams managing complex attack surfaces across subsidiaries, cloud environments, and critical infrastructure should pick Censys Internet Map for its ability to discover assets an organization doesn't know it owns, which is where most breaches actually start. The platform covers asset discovery and continuous monitoring across ID.AM and DE.CM in NIST CSF 2.0, and its internet-wide scanning capability surfaces shadow IT and unknown exposures that traditional vulnerability scanners simply cannot reach. Skip this if your primary need is incident response or forensics; Censys is built for prevention and reconnaissance, not post-breach analysis.
DevOps and security teams building attack surface inventory integrations will get immediate value from Chaos Client because it's a lightweight, free API client that eliminates custom integration work against Chaos DB. The 763 GitHub stars and Go-native implementation mean you're deploying battle-tested code with minimal dependency overhead. Skip this if you need a UI-driven platform or dashboard; Chaos Client is for teams comfortable treating your attack surface data as an API-first resource to pipe into your existing toolchain.
