What is the difference between Purple Academy by Picus vs SMARTFENSE?

**Purple Academy by Picus**: Platform offering cybersecurity courses for Red, Blue, and Purple Teamers by Picus.. **SMARTFENSE**: Security awareness training platform with phishing/ransomware simulations. built by SMARTFENSE. Core capabilities include Phishing attack simulations, Ransomware attack simulations, Smishing and QR code attack simulations.. Both serve the Security Awareness Training market but differ in approach, feature depth, and target audience.

Is Purple Academy by Picus a good alternative to SMARTFENSE?

Purple Academy by Picus and SMARTFENSE serve similar Security Awareness Training use cases: both are Security Awareness Training tools, both cover Ransomware. Key differences: Purple Academy by Picus is Free while SMARTFENSE is Commercial. Review the feature comparison above to determine which fits your requirements.

Purple Academy by Picus vs SMARTFENSE: Features, Integrations, Reviews (2026) | CybersecTools

Purple Academy by Picus vs SMARTFENSE: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)

Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.

Purple Academy by Picus is a free security awareness training tool. SMARTFENSE is a commercial security awareness training tool by SMARTFENSE. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best security awareness training fit for your security stack.

CST Verdict

Based on our analysis of NIST CSF 2.0 coverage, core features, integrations, company size fit, here is our conclusion:

Purple Academy by Picus

Security teams building internal red team capability or onboarding junior analysts will find Purple Academy's free tier valuable because you get structured attack scenarios and hands-on labs without budget friction. The platform covers Red, Blue, and Purple Team tracks with lab environments that let defenders practice detection and response against realistic attack paths, which beats reading documentation. Skip this if your team needs certification-tied compliance training or wants vendor-specific deep dives; Purple Academy is strongest for foundational threat emulation skills.

Data verified Jun 2026