CloudGoat vs Mellivora: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
CloudGoat is a free cyber range training tool. Mellivora is a free cyber range training tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best cyber range training fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of available product data, here is our conclusion:
Security teams building AWS-native incident response skills need CloudGoat because it's free, hands-on, and designed specifically around real misconfiguration chains rather than generic vulnerabilities. The 3,500+ GitHub stars reflect adoption by security shops serious enough to run their own labs, and the capture-the-flag format forces teams to think like attackers moving laterally through cloud infrastructure. Skip this if your organization needs managed training with compliance reporting or if you lack engineers who can provision and troubleshoot AWS environments independently; CloudGoat teaches through broken infrastructure, not polished courses.
Security teams running internal CTF competitions or capture-the-flag training programs should use Mellivora for its lightweight, self-hosted architecture; you get full control over challenge creation and scoring without vendor lock-in or monthly bills. With 453 GitHub stars and PHP-based deployment, it's proven enough for university programs and mid-sized security training operations that want to host their own infrastructure. Skip this if you need a managed platform with slick UX or integration into a broader security awareness suite; Mellivora requires hands-on administration and assumes your team is comfortable with open-source tooling.
