Deception-as-Detection vs HonTel: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
Deception-as-Detection is a free honeypots & deception tool. HonTel 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 available product data, here is our conclusion:
Lean security teams with limited budget will get the most from Deception-as-Detection; it builds honeypots and honey resources cheap enough to deploy across your entire network without licensing costs. The MITRE ATT&CK mapping means alerts come tagged with technique IDs, cutting your triage time versus generic honeypot noise. Skip this if you need managed threat hunting or automated response; this is detection-only, and you're operating the honeypots yourself.
Security teams running legacy infrastructure with exposed Telnet ports should deploy HonTel to catch reconnaissance activity that IP reputation lists miss; it's free and requires minimal setup, making it practical for resource-constrained ops teams managing aging systems. With 162 GitHub stars and active maintenance, the tool delivers reliable signal for a narrowly focused attack surface. Skip this if your environment has already eliminated Telnet entirely or if you need honeypots covering SSH, HTTP, or databases; HonTel does one thing well and stops there.
