ssh-auth-logger vs Kippo Detect: 2026 Comparison
ssh-auth-logger is a free honeypots & deception tool. Kippo Detect is a free honeypots & deception tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best honeypots & deception fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of available product data, here is our conclusion:
Security teams running flat networks or isolated honeypot segments will get real value from ssh-auth-logger for one reason: it logs every SSH authentication attempt in structured JSON, making it trivial to pipe into your existing SIEM without custom parsing. Free pricing and a 26-star GitHub footprint mean minimal friction to deploy a decoy SSH server alongside production infrastructure. Skip this if you need honeypot management at scale or cross-protocol deception; ssh-auth-logger does SSH authentication logging and nothing else.
Penetration testers and red teamers who need to validate whether their own SSH honeypots are externally detectable will find Kippo Detect useful for that specific audit. The tool directly fingerprints Kippo instances over the network, catching a common misconfiguration that leaves honeypots exposed. Skip this if you're looking for a general-purpose honeypot detection framework or broader deception monitoring; Kippo Detect does one thing and won't tell you about Cowrie, Dionaea, or other SSH trap variants.
