Sherlock PowerShell Script vs Synack Sara: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
Sherlock PowerShell Script is a free penetration testing tool. Synack Sara is a commercial penetration testing tool by Synack. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best penetration testing 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:
Red teamers and pentesters validating Windows privilege escalation paths will find Sherlock PowerShell Script indispensable; it identifies missing patches faster than manual enumeration and runs with zero dependencies on air-gapped systems. The 1,997 GitHub stars reflect sustained adoption among practitioners who value speed over UI polish. Skip this if your team needs ongoing patch compliance monitoring or cross-platform coverage; Sherlock is a point-in-time assessment tool for Windows-only environments.
Security teams drowning in scan results will cut through the noise fastest with Synack Sara, which filters exploitable vulnerabilities from false positives through autonomous pentest logic rather than forcing analysts to triage manually. A 2-3 day time-to-value with AI testing in hours and human validation in days beats the standard 6-8 week pentest cycle, and the 75% cost reduction per engagement is real when you're running quarterly assessments across mid-market or enterprise infrastructure. Skip this if you need continuous runtime detection or prioritize speed over validation; Sara's strength is confidence in findings, not coverage velocity, and that human handoff means you're still waiting days for the final report.
