Hack The Box Hacking Labs vs Root the Box: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
Hack The Box Hacking Labs is a commercial cyber range training tool by Hack The Box. Root the Box 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 NIST CSF 2.0 coverage, core features, company size fit, deployment model, here is our conclusion:
Security teams building a defensible workforce need Hack The Box Hacking Labs to make hands-on training stick at scale; 1,720 labs across difficulty levels mean junior analysts and architects both find relevant practice without the friction of lab sprawl. The platform covers both NIST ID.RA and PR.AT functions, with Sherlocks forensics modules and Guided Mode walkthroughs reducing the setup tax that kills most training programs before they gain momentum. Skip this if your org needs simulation of your actual infrastructure or red-team coordination; Hack The Box is a skills foundry, not an incident response sandbox.
Security teams running internal capture-the-flag programs or red team training will get the most from Root the Box because it handles real-time scoring and leaderboards without vendor lock-in or licensing friction. Free pricing and 1,092 GitHub stars signal active maintenance and a community willing to self-host, which matters when you're iterating on wargame content monthly. Skip this if you need a managed SaaS platform with built-in scenario libraries; Root the Box requires you to author and maintain your own challenges.
