Puredns vs tko-subs: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros and cons, compared head to head.
Puredns is a free external attack surface management tool. tko-subs 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. Independent and vendor-neutral: we never sell rankings.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of available product data, here is our conclusion:
Penetration testers and bug bounty hunters doing reconnaissance at scale will get the most from Puredns because its resolver-based approach is measurably faster than traditional subdomain bruteforcers; the 1,982 GitHub stars reflect active adoption in the offensive security community, and free pricing removes friction for individuals and small teams. The tool prioritizes speed and accuracy in the enumeration phase, which means it excels at the discovery work that feeds into subsequent testing but doesn't handle post-discovery exploitation or validation. Skip this if you need a commercial product with support SLAs or integration into a broader pentesting platform.
Pentesters and bug bounty hunters looking to quickly identify subdomain takeover opportunities should reach for tko-subs; it's purpose-built for finding dead DNS records that expose attackers to domain hijacking, and the 766 GitHub stars reflect active use in offensive security communities. The tool excels at the reconnaissance phase where speed matters, automating what would otherwise be manual domain validation across hundreds of subdomains. Skip this if you need deeper DNS validation, certificate transparency correlation, or integration with broader asset discovery platforms; tko-subs does one thing and doesn't attempt the ecosystem around it.
