Recorded Future vs DigitalStakeout: When Cyber-Only Threat Intelligence Isn't Enough

Recorded Future is the largest player in cyber threat intelligence. Their platform excels at what it was built for: vulnerability intelligence, malware analysis, CVE tracking, and network-level indicator management. For SOC teams defending network infrastructure against cyber intrusion, Recorded Future is a strong choice.

But corporate security teams don’t face only cyber threats.

Different Problems, Different Platforms

Recorded Future was built for information security teams tracking cyber indicators of compromise. Their intelligence model is structured around IP addresses, malware hashes, CVEs, command-and-control infrastructure, and technical attack patterns. This is essential intelligence for defending networks and systems.

DigitalStakeout was built for corporate security teams protecting people, brands, and physical assets. The platform monitors for executive targeting, social media threats, brand impersonation, credential exposure, dark web targeting, and physical security indicators — intelligence categories that exist outside a cyber-only framework.

These aren’t competing products in the traditional sense. They serve different threat models.

Where the Overlap Exists

Both platforms provide dark web monitoring and credential breach detection. In these areas, there’s genuine overlap, and evaluation should compare coverage breadth, classification quality, and price-to-value.

Where There’s No Overlap

Recorded Future does not provide social media threat monitoring for physical security indicators — workplace violence, protest coordination, executive targeting, stalking, or harassment campaigns. It doesn’t monitor 750+ platforms for brand impersonation. It doesn’t provide geo-fenced monitoring around facilities and events. It doesn’t classify content against Physical Security, Reputation Risk, Societal Risk, or Crime Risk domains.

If your threat model includes any of these categories, Recorded Future doesn’t address them — regardless of the quality of its cyber intelligence.

The Corporate Security Gap

Many organizations start their threat intelligence journey with Recorded Future because their CISO champions the purchase. The SOC gets excellent cyber intelligence. But corporate security — responsible for executive protection, workplace violence prevention, brand safety, and event security — gets nothing from the platform.

Corporate security then purchases a separate tool for social media monitoring, another for brand protection, and maybe another for executive digital footprint management. The result is a fragmented toolkit with no integration between cyber intelligence and physical security intelligence.

DigitalStakeout addresses this by covering all 14 risk domains in a single platform. Cyber threats, physical threats, reputational threats, and operational threats are classified and surfaced through the same alert stream. The SOC and corporate security work from the same intelligence picture.

Pricing Reality

Recorded Future’s enterprise contracts reportedly start at six figures annually. Their pricing model reflects their position as the premium cyber threat intelligence platform.

DigitalStakeout’s pricing starts at $499/month with entity-based scaling. For organizations that need intelligence across physical, cyber, and reputational domains, the price-to-coverage ratio favors DigitalStakeout significantly — particularly for organizations whose threat model extends beyond network defense.

The Decision

If your organization’s threat model is entirely cyber and your budget supports premium cyber intelligence, Recorded Future is a strong platform for that specific purpose.

If your organization needs intelligence across physical, cyber, reputational, and operational risk domains — and needs it at a price point that doesn’t require a six-figure annual commitment — DigitalStakeout provides broader coverage at a fraction of the cost.

Some organizations use both: Recorded Future for deep cyber intelligence and DigitalStakeout for the physical, social, and reputational coverage that Recorded Future doesn’t provide.

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See the full comparison. DigitalStakeout vs Recorded Future or view pricing.