Cybersecurity Evaluation Tool (CSET) vs Diligent AI Risk Essentials: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)

Cybersecurity Evaluation Tool (CSET)

Organizations assessing industrial control systems and critical infrastructure will get the most from Cybersecurity Evaluation Tool (CSET) because it combines standards-based frameworks with hybrid risk scoring rather than forcing a choose-your-own-adventure through NIST controls. The tool is free, runs on Windows without external dependencies, and maps directly to IEC 62443 and NERC CIP alongside NIST CSF, making it unusually useful for facilities teams who need to speak both engineering and compliance language. Skip this if you're managing primarily IT networks or need continuous monitoring; CSET is an assessment snapshot, not a platform, and it won't replace your vulnerability scanner or SIEM.

Diligent AI Risk Essentials

Mid-market and enterprise risk leaders drowning in fragmented spreadsheets will find real value in Diligent AI Risk Essentials' peer benchmarking engine, which pulls from 180,000+ SEC-filed risks to surface blind spots in weeks instead of months. The 7-day implementation timeline and board-ready reporting satisfy GV.RM and GV.OV requirements without the six-month deployment tax of traditional ERM platforms. Skip this if your organization already has mature risk governance in place and needs deeper operational risk quantification; Diligent leans toward risk identification and communication over modeling and scenario analysis.