PentestOps vs Rapid7

Capability	PentestOps	Rapid7
Deployment model	SaaS platform with a single outbound-only on-premise agent (Docker, RPM or DEB) for internal LAN scanning; agentless for cloud and Kubernetes.	InsightVM's Insight Agent installs on each endpoint and reassesses automatically every 6 hours; the Security Console runs on-premises (software or hardware appliance), cloud-hosted, or hybrid.
Product scope in one platform	One platform covers discovery, safe automated exploitation, evidence, remediation guidance and reporting under a single login and one set of Rules of Engagement.	Split across separate Rapid7 products: InsightVM for vulnerability management, Exposure Command (built on Surface Command) for attack surface and risk prioritisation, and Metasploit for exploitation.
Internal network scanning	On-premise agent installs in about 5 minutes, needs zero inbound firewall rules, and runs natively on the LAN instead of tunnelling every packet out to a remote scanner.	Insight Agent runs on every monitored endpoint and is functionally pre-authenticated once installed; InsightVM also supports credentialed agentless network scans from the Security Console.
External attack surface visibility	24+ external recon modules and PTES-aligned perimeter discovery, no agent required for external network testing.	Surface Command and Project Sonar continuously scan the public internet for exposed assets, feeding into Exposure Command's prioritised exposure view.
Web application and API testing	Built-in OWASP Top 10 and API Top 10 testing (REST and GraphQL) with a live WebSocket finding stream, alongside network and cloud testing.	Handled by a separate Rapid7 product, InsightAppSec, a dedicated dynamic application security testing tool, not part of InsightVM or Exposure Command.
Cloud security posture	800+ automated checks across AWS, Azure, GCP and Microsoft 365, mapped to CIS Benchmarks, using read-only credentials.	Cloud asset and configuration exposure feeds into Exposure Command alongside on-premises and hybrid findings, with a further dedicated cloud product, InsightCloudSec, for cloud posture management.
Risk prioritisation and scoring	CVE correlation, CVSS v3.1 scoring, exploit-availability indicators and CISA KEV prioritisation, feeding a strategy engine that picks the best exploitation technique per finding.	Active Risk scores vulnerabilities on a 0 to 1000 scale, combining CVSS with threat-intelligence feeds. Exposure Command adds exploit likelihood, reachability, severity and business context.
Exploitation and validation approach	Safe automated exploitation gated by per-tenant Rules of Engagement, with a strategy engine and a full evidence trail on every confirmed finding, described on methodology.	InsightVM can integrate with Metasploit, Rapid7's separate exploitation framework, to run a controlled exploit against a target and confirm it is exploitable. Running Metasploit is a practitioner-operated task.
Kubernetes-specific testing	Agentless RBAC and workload posture audit over a read-only kubeconfig, plus a short-lived auto-cleaned node-level CIS Benchmark job, covering GKE, EKS, AKS, OpenShift, k3s and on-prem.	No dedicated Kubernetes-specific testing module named in Rapid7's public InsightVM or Exposure Command materials.
Remediation workflow integrations	AI-guided per-finding fix steps with one-click playbook deployment via the on-premise agent over SSH (Enterprise), and rollback on validation failure.	Automated remediation projects with native ticketing integrations, including Jira and ServiceNow, to track fixes through to close.
MSP and reseller support	Built-in white-label multi-tenancy with per-tenant namespace and database isolation, custom domains and SSL, and fleet-wide agent management.	No published multi-tenant white-label or reseller programme in Rapid7's public InsightVM or Exposure Command materials.
Pricing and onboarding	Transparent asset-wise pricing published at pricing; self-serve signup with a 7-day free trial.	Quote-based subscription scoped to billable assets and modules; no published price list or self-serve trial, onboarding through a sales conversation.

Choose PentestOps if you need

You want one platform that runs discovery, safe automated exploitation and evidence collection, not vulnerability management plus a separate practitioner-operated exploitation tool.
You want transparent, published asset-wise pricing and a self-serve 7-day free trial instead of a quote-based sales cycle.
You need internal LAN scanning without installing an agent on every endpoint, using one outbound-only on-premise agent per network.
You want web application and API testing (OWASP Top 10 and API Top 10) built into the same platform as your network and cloud testing.
You run Kubernetes clusters and want agentless RBAC and posture auditing bundled with the rest of your testing, without a separate product.
You need built-in MSP multi-tenancy to white-label or resell testing to your own clients.

Rapid7 may suit you if

You already manage a large fleet of endpoints and want mature agent-based vulnerability management with automatic reassessment across thousands of hosts.
You want Active Risk scoring that blends CVSS with multiple threat-intelligence feeds, plus Exposure Command's reachability and business-context prioritisation across hybrid environments.
You rely on deep ticketing integrations such as Jira and ServiceNow as a core part of your remediation workflow.
You want direct access to Metasploit for practitioner-run exploitation alongside vulnerability management.
Your organisation already runs other Rapid7 products, such as InsightAppSec or InsightCloudSec, and wants to consolidate under one enterprise vendor with a dedicated account team.

Use both if

You already run InsightVM across a large endpoint fleet and want to keep that coverage, adding PentestOps as the layer that proves what is exploitable.
Your remediation queue lives in Rapid7 projects with Jira or ServiceNow, and you want exploitation evidence to decide the order that queue gets worked.
You want Exposure Command's breadth across a hybrid estate plus scoped, Rules-of-Engagement-gated testing that demonstrates a real attack path.
Rapid7 covers your endpoints and servers, and you want web, API and Kubernetes testing in one subscription rather than as further products.
You are an MSP delivering Rapid7 to clients and need white-label multi-tenancy plus exploitation evidence for client-facing pentest reports.

PentestOps and Rapid7 at a glance

Rapid7 is best known for InsightVM, a vulnerability management platform built around agent-based endpoint scanning at enterprise scale, and its newer Exposure Command platform, built on Surface Command, which adds attack surface visibility and risk-based prioritisation across hybrid environments. Rapid7 separately owns Metasploit, a widely used exploitation framework that can integrate with InsightVM to confirm a vulnerability is genuinely exploitable.

PentestOps is a single platform: discovery, safe automated exploitation, evidence collection, remediation guidance and reporting under one login and one set of Rules of Engagement, priced per asset. The two vendors are adjacent but overlapping. Rapid7's core strength is scanning and risk-scoring across large, agent-monitored endpoint fleets; PentestOps focuses on proving exploitability end to end for the assets in scope, with a self-serve trial rather than a sales cycle.

Vulnerability detection, risk scoring and exploitation validation

PentestOps correlates findings against the CVE database, scores them with CVSS v3.1, flags exploit availability and applies CISA KEV prioritisation after false-positive reduction. Confirmed findings then pass to a strategy engine that automatically picks the best exploitation technique and, gated by Rules of Engagement, runs safe automated exploitation, building phased chains such as one weak credential escalating into a validated pivot, with a full evidence trail attached to every step.

Rapid7's InsightVM scores vulnerabilities with Active Risk, a 0 to 1000 scale that blends CVSS with real-world threat-intelligence feeds. Exposure Command layers on exploit likelihood, reachability, severity and business context to surface toxic combinations across the environment. To move from a scored finding to a confirmed exploit, InsightVM can integrate with Metasploit, but running that exploit is a practitioner-operated step in a separate Rapid7 product, not an automated, Rules-of-Engagement-scoped capability built into InsightVM or Exposure Command itself.

Deployment: on-premise agent versus Insight Agent and Security Console

PentestOps uses one lightweight on-premise agent for internal LAN testing. It ships as a Docker container, RPM or DEB package, deploys in about 5 minutes, needs zero inbound firewall rules, and runs internal network testing natively on the LAN instead of tunnelling every packet out to a remote scanner. External, cloud and Kubernetes testing stay fully agentless.

Rapid7's Insight Agent installs on each individual endpoint rather than once per network. Because it assesses the host from within, it is functionally pre-authenticated and reassesses automatically every 6 hours, complemented by credentialed agentless network scans. The InsightVM Security Console runs on-premises as software or a hardware appliance, cloud-hosted, or in a hybrid mix, which suits organisations that already manage large endpoint-agent fleets.

Attack surface, web application testing and Kubernetes and cloud coverage

PentestOps bundles built-in OWASP Top 10 and API Top 10 web and API testing, agentless Kubernetes security testing over a read-only kubeconfig with a short-lived node-level CIS Benchmark job, and cloud posture auditing covering 800+ checks across AWS, Azure, GCP and Microsoft 365, all in one platform.

Rapid7's external visibility comes through Surface Command and Project Sonar, which continuously scan the public internet for exposed assets and feed Exposure Command's prioritised view. Web application testing sits in a separate Rapid7 product, InsightAppSec, rather than inside InsightVM or Exposure Command, and cloud posture has its own dedicated product, InsightCloudSec. No Kubernetes-specific testing module is named in Rapid7's InsightVM or Exposure Command materials.

Pricing, onboarding and who each platform suits

Budgeting is where the two models diverge. PentestOps prices per asset in scope and publishes the figures on the pricing page, so the cost of adding a subnet or a cloud account is knowable before you commit, and re-scanning is unlimited within fair use. Every paid plan starts with a 7-day free trial. A card is required to start your trial and is only charged after the trial ends, unless you cancel first.

Rapid7 prices InsightVM and Exposure Command through a custom quote scoped to billable assets, endpoints and module selection, without a published price list or self-serve trial. If you already run a large agent-monitored endpoint estate and want mature vulnerability management with deep ticketing integrations, that model can be a good fit. If you want one platform with transparent pricing that also proves exploitability, see how PentestOps works or explore the MSP and reseller programme if you are buying on behalf of clients.

Looking for a Rapid7 alternative?

Teams that move from Rapid7 to PentestOps tend to share a shape. They are small to mid-sized security or platform teams without a dedicated vulnerability management function, who found that rolling out and keeping an agent healthy on every endpoint was more programme than they could staff. Others are MSPs and consultancies that need per-client isolation and white-label reporting. A third group simply wants published pricing and a trial they can start themselves instead of a quote cycle before the first scan.

What they gain is scope in one subscription: external, internal, web, API, cloud and Kubernetes testing under one login; safe automated exploitation gated by Rules of Engagement with an evidence trail rather than another severity score; one outbound-only agent per network instead of an agent per host; and published asset-wise pricing with a 7-day free trial.

What they give up is real and worth naming. Rapid7 has a far longer track record in vulnerability management at very large scale, deeper native ticketing integrations such as Jira and ServiceNow, and Active Risk scoring built on threat-intelligence feeds we do not attempt to replicate. We are also a smaller Australian vendor offering one platform rather than a product suite, so if your buying committee wants a single long-established supplier with a dedicated account team spanning endpoint, application and cloud products, staying with Rapid7 is a reasonable decision. For many teams the better answer is not a swap at all but the pairing described above. Talk to us and we will say so if replacing Rapid7 is the wrong move for you.

How we keep this comparison honest

Everything stated here about Rapid7 is drawn from publicly available vendor information: product documentation, datasheets and Rapid7's own website, reviewed as at July 2026. We do not benchmark competitor products in a lab, and we do not publish competitor pricing figures we cannot source, which is why Rapid7 pricing is described as quote-based rather than given a number.

Where Rapid7's public materials do not describe a capability, we say exactly that rather than claiming the capability does not exist. Vendor roadmaps move quickly and features ship between reviews, and scope also varies by which products are licensed, so verify current details directly with Rapid7 before deciding on the strength of this page alone.

If you work at Rapid7, or you are a customer who spots something out of date or simply wrong, tell us. We correct errors on request, amend the page rather than quietly removing it, and refresh the review date when we do.

This comparison is based on publicly available vendor information as at July 2026. Capabilities and pricing change; always verify current details with each vendor. Rapid7 and related marks, including InsightVM, Exposure Command, Surface Command, InsightAppSec, InsightCloudSec and Metasploit, are trademarks of their respective owners, used solely for identification and comparison. Spotted an error? Email us and we will correct it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is PentestOps a direct replacement for Rapid7 InsightVM?

Not exactly. InsightVM is agent-based vulnerability management built for scale across large endpoint fleets, with Active Risk scoring and deep ticketing integrations. PentestOps is a single platform for discovery through safe automated exploitation and evidence, priced per asset with a self-serve trial. Teams that want proof of exploitability end to end, without deploying an agent per endpoint, tend to prefer PentestOps; teams standardised on agent-based endpoint monitoring at scale may prefer InsightVM.

Does PentestOps do what Metasploit does?

PentestOps includes a strategy engine that automatically picks the best exploitation technique for a confirmed finding and runs safe automated exploitation gated by Rules of Engagement, with a full evidence trail, described on our methodology page. Metasploit is a separate, practitioner-operated exploitation framework that Rapid7 integrates with InsightVM; running it requires a person to select and launch the exploit rather than an automated, RoE-scoped workflow.

Can I try PentestOps without a sales call, the way I would with Rapid7?

Yes. PentestOps plans are self-serve: pick a plan on pricing and start a 7-day free trial. A card is required to start the trial and is only charged after it ends, unless you cancel first. Rapid7's InsightVM and Exposure Command pricing is quote-based and scoped through a sales conversation, with no published self-serve tier.

Does PentestOps test web applications the way Rapid7's InsightAppSec does?

Yes, but as a built-in part of the same platform rather than a separate product. PentestOps covers OWASP Top 10 and API Top 10 testing across REST and GraphQL, with a live WebSocket finding stream, alongside network and cloud testing. Rapid7 addresses web application testing through InsightAppSec, a dedicated dynamic application security testing product, separate from InsightVM and Exposure Command.

How does pricing compare between PentestOps and Rapid7?

PentestOps uses transparent, published asset-wise pricing at pricing: you pay per asset in scope, with unlimited scans within fair use. Rapid7 prices InsightVM and Exposure Command through a custom quote scoped to billable assets, endpoints and module selection, without a published price list.

Do I need to install an agent on every endpoint, like with Rapid7?

No. PentestOps uses a single on-premise agent per network for internal LAN scanning; it deploys in about 5 minutes, needs zero inbound firewall rules, and scans natively rather than tunnelling every packet. Rapid7's Insight Agent installs on each individual endpoint and reassesses automatically every 6 hours, which suits organisations that already manage endpoint-agent fleets at scale.

Is PentestOps or Rapid7 better for MSPs and resellers?

PentestOps has built-in MSP multi-tenancy: isolated per-client namespaces and databases, custom domains and SSL, and fleet-wide agent management, available through a sales-led partner programme. Rapid7's public InsightVM and Exposure Command materials do not describe an equivalent white-label or reseller programme.

Is this comparison biased?

We sell PentestOps, so read this as a vendor comparison rather than independent research. Here is how we try to keep it factual: every Rapid7 claim comes from publicly available vendor material, capabilities we cannot source are described as not documented rather than absent, we publish no competitor pricing figures, and we correct errors on request. There are also clear cases where Rapid7 is the better buy: continuous authenticated posture across a very large endpoint fleet, Active Risk scoring built on threat-intelligence feeds, deep Jira and ServiceNow remediation workflows, and consolidation under one long-established enterprise vendor with a dedicated account team. If those are your buying criteria, InsightVM is the stronger fit and we would rather you learned that here than after a procurement cycle.

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