The Sleuth Kit & Autopsy vs Unhide: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
The Sleuth Kit & Autopsy is a free digital forensics and incident response tool. Unhide is a free digital forensics and incident response tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best digital forensics and incident response fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of available product data, here is our conclusion:
Incident response teams and forensic investigators investigating endpoint compromises will get the most from Autopsy because its open architecture lets you write custom analysis modules for your specific artifacts and attack patterns rather than waiting for vendor updates. The tool is free and runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS, removing budget and deployment friction for teams that need deep disk and mobile analysis without licensing negotiations. Skip this if your team lacks forensic expertise or needs guided investigation workflows; Autopsy assumes you know what you're looking for and rewards investigators who can code or script.
Incident responders and forensics teams investigating suspected rootkit infections will get the most from Unhide because it actually surfaces hidden processes and sockets that kernel-mode malware deliberately conceals from standard OS tools. The tool costs nothing, runs on Windows and Linux, and catches what netstat and tasklist miss by comparing multiple detection methods rather than trusting a single enumeration API. Skip this if you need post-compromise artifact recovery or timeline reconstruction; Unhide is visibility-only, not a full forensic platform.
