Fortra Cobalt Strike vs Rapid7 Metasploit: side-by-side comparison (2026)
Fortra Cobalt Strike is a commercial red-team & adversary emulation solution by Fortra. Rapid7 Metasploit is a commercial penetration testing solution by Rapid7. Features, integrations, deployment and the company behind each one, side by side.
Threat emulation product for adversary simulations and red team operations
Penetration testing software for simulating attacks and validating vulnerabilities
Side-by-side comparison
Feature
Fortra Cobalt Strike
Rapid7 Metasploit
Pricing model
Commercial
Commercial
Category
Red-Team & Adversary Emulation
Penetration Testing
Deployment and fit
Deployment type
On-Premises
Hybrid
Company size fit
Mid-Market, Enterprise
SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise
Company
Company
Fortra
Rapid7
Use cases and capabilities
Red Team
Yes
Yes
Post Exploitation
Yes
Yes
C2
Yes
No
Lateral Movement
Yes
No
Exploitation Framework
No
Yes
Core features
- Post-exploitation payload (Beacon) with PowerShell execution, keylogging, screenshots, and file downloads
- Malleable Command and Control (C2) language for network indicator customization
- Browser pivoting for hijacking authenticated web sessions
- System Profiler for target fingerprinting and reconnaissance
- Shared team server for collaborative red team operations
- Asynchronous low and slow communication for stealth
- Multiple report types including activity, hosts, IOCs, sessions, and TTPs
- Extensible framework supporting custom scripts and extensions
10 features listed
Integrations
No integrations listed
1 integration listed
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