CompareRight chevron
Black Kite vs BitSight: 2023 Comparison and Review

Black Kite vs BitSight: 2023 Comparison and Review

There are a lot of vendor risk management solutions out there, and choosing the right one can be overwhelming. We've written the post to make it as easy as possible for you to compare Black Kite and BitSight.
There are a lot of vendor risk management solutions out there, so choosing the right one can be overwhelming. We've written this post to make it as easy as possible for you to compare Black Kite and UpGuard.
Trusted by hundreds of companies worldwide
Trusted by hundreds of companies worldwide

Black Kite vs BitSight

See how they compare side-by-side.
Capabilities
5 stars
2,000,000+ organizations scanned daily.
Star rating
Based on ten risk categories and 250+ control items but unknown amount of companies covered.
Star rating
170,000 supported organizations.
Usability and the learning curve
5 stars
High-level summation of risk with the ability to drill down into precise technical details.
Star rating
Unintuitive user workflow, steep learning curve for first-time users.
Star rating
Provides views of identified vendor risks enabling detailed reporting of vendors.
Community support
5 stars
UpGuard Summit brings together a community of security leaders from leading companies, explores the future of security and helps businesses stay secure. The UpGuard cybersecurity and risk management blog is updated four times a week and our breach research blog has uncovered and secured some of the largest data breaches.
Star rating
Company and product blog.
Star rating
BitSight maintains regular blog posts and webinars covering security incidents, feature updates, and industry developments.
Release rate
4 stars
UpGuard has adopted DevOps principles internally to develop, test, and release software continuously, ensuring fast, consistent, and safe releases.
Star rating
Star rating
BitSight does not publicly disclose product release cycle periods but does provide overviews of significant platform updates via their corporate blog.
Pricing and support
5 stars
UpGuard has a transparent pricing model which you can view here. UpGuard pricing starts at $5,999/year and scales with your company.
Star rating
Public pricing information is not available.
Star rating
Public pricing information is not available. Pricing is reported to start at $20,000 plus $2,000-$2,500 per vendor per year.
API and extensibility
4 stars
UpGuard offers a standard API to pull data into other enterprise applications.
Star rating
Offer standard APIs to pull data.
Star rating
BitSight offers the ability for customers to extend security ratings through a Developer API.
Third-party integrations
4 stars
Connect UpGuard with over 4,000+ apps using our Zapier integration.
Star rating
Integrates with Supply Wisdom and VendorInsight.
Star rating
Offers integrations with RSA Archer GRC, CyberGRX, OneTrust Vendorpedia, ProcessUnity, MetricStream, and more.
Predictive capabilities
5 stars
As UpGuard checks for misconfigurations across your Internet footprint, many important breach vectors are covered, including phishing, ransomware susceptibility (like WannaCry), man-in-the-middle attacks, DNSSEC, vulnerabilities, email spoofing, domain hijacking, and DNS issues. Data leaks are automatically surfaced by the platform for your team to assess and close before they become breaches.
Star rating
Performs non-intrusive checks including passive DNS, attack surface detection, passive vulnerability scanning, DNS health, SSL/TLS strength, and email security, as well as asset reputation, credential compromises, hacktivist shares, social media monitoring, dark web search, cloud delivery network security, fraudulent apps, and DDoS detection. They do not, however, provide real transparency into the efficacy of these checks.
Star rating
The IP reputation methodology helps catch active malware installations, but that’s only one possible way a data breach can occur.
Customers
5 stars
The New York Stock Exchange (ICE), Morningstar, TDK, PagerDuty, Hopin, and IAG. Read our customer stories.
Star rating
Customers include Polk & Wardwell, LLP, a Fortune 500 retailer, and an OTC financial institution.
Star rating
Major customers include Optus / Singtel, The University of North Florida, Snam, and PROSA.
G2 rating
Accurate as of March 2023
5 stars
4.5, based on 93 reviews. Named a G2 Market Leader for Third Party & Supplier Risk Management Software.
Star rating
N/A
Star rating
4.6, based on 22 reviews.

Black Kite vs UpGuard

See how they compare side-by-side.
Capabilities
5 stars
2,000,000+ organizations scanned daily.
Star rating
Based on ten risk categories and 250+ control items but unknown amount of companies covered.
Usability and the learning curve
5 stars
Highly intuitive workflow and shallow learning curve for faster VRM program implementation.
Star rating
Unintuitive user workflow, steep learning curve for first-time users.
Community support
5 stars
UpGuard Summit brings together a community of security leaders from leading companies, explores the future of security and helps businesses stay secure. The UpGuard cybersecurity and risk management blog is updated four times a week and our breach research blog has uncovered and secured some of the largest data breaches.
Star rating
Company and product blog.
Release rate
4 stars
UpGuard has adopted DevOps principles internally to develop, test, and release software continuously, ensuring fast, consistent, and safe releases.
Star rating
Pricing and support
5 stars
UpGuard has a transparent pricing model which you can view here. UpGuard pricing starts at $5,999/year and scales with your company.
Star rating
Public pricing information is not available.
API and extensibility
4 stars
UpGuard offers a standard API to pull data into other enterprise applications.
Star rating
Offer standard APIs to pull data.
Third-party integrations
4 stars
Connect UpGuard with over 4,000+ apps using our Zapier integration.
Star rating
Integrates with Supply Wisdom and VendorInsight.
Predictive capabilities
5 stars
As UpGuard checks for misconfigurations across your Internet footprint, many important breach vectors are covered, including phishing, ransomware susceptibility (like WannaCry), man-in-the-middle attacks, DNSSEC, vulnerabilities, email spoofing, domain hijacking, and DNS issues. Data leaks are automatically surfaced by the platform for your team to assess and close before they become breaches.
Star rating
Performs non-intrusive checks including passive DNS, attack surface detection, passive vulnerability scanning, DNS health, SSL/TLS strength, and email security, as well as asset reputation, credential compromises, hacktivist shares, social media monitoring, dark web search, cloud delivery network security, fraudulent apps, and DDoS detection. They do not, however, provide real transparency into the efficacy of these checks.
Customers
5 stars
The New York Stock Exchange (ICE), Morningstar, TDK, PagerDuty, Hopin, and IAG. Read our customer stories.
Star rating
Customers include Polk & Wardwell, LLP, a Fortune 500 retailer, and an OTC financial institution.
G2 rating
Accurate as of March 2023
5 stars
4.5, based on 93 reviews. Named a G2 Market Leader for Third Party & Supplier Risk Management Software.
Star rating
N/A

Black Kite vs BitSight

See how they compare side-by-side.
Capabilities
5 stars
2,000,000+ organizations scanned daily.
Usability and the learning curve
5 stars
High-level summation of risk with the ability to drill down into precise technical details.
Community support
5 stars
UpGuard Summit brings together a community of security leaders from leading companies, explores the future of security and helps businesses stay secure. The UpGuard cybersecurity and risk management blog is updated four times a week and our breach research blog has uncovered and secured some of the largest data breaches.
Release rate
4 stars
UpGuard has adopted DevOps principles internally to develop, test, and release software continuously, ensuring fast, consistent, and safe releases.
Pricing and support
5 stars
UpGuard has a transparent pricing model which you can view here. UpGuard pricing starts at $5,999/year and scales with your company.
API and extensibility
4 stars
UpGuard offers a standard API to pull data into other enterprise applications.
Third-party integrations
4 stars
Connect UpGuard with over 4,000+ apps using our Zapier integration.
Predictive capabilities
5 stars
As UpGuard checks for misconfigurations across your Internet footprint, many important breach vectors are covered, including phishing, ransomware susceptibility (like WannaCry), man-in-the-middle attacks, DNSSEC, vulnerabilities, email spoofing, domain hijacking, and DNS issues. Data leaks are automatically surfaced by the platform for your team to assess and close before they become breaches.
Customers
5 stars
The New York Stock Exchange (ICE), Morningstar, TDK, PagerDuty, Hopin, and IAG. Read our customer stories.
G2 rating
Accurate as of March 2023
5 stars
4.5, based on 93 reviews. Named a G2 Market Leader for Third Party & Supplier Risk Management Software.
Capabilities
Star rating
Based on ten risk categories and 250+ control items but unknown amount of companies covered.
Usability and the learning curve
Star rating
Unintuitive user workflow, steep learning curve for first-time users.
Community support
Star rating
Company and product blog.
Pricing and support
Star rating
Public pricing information is not available.
API and extensibility
Star rating
Offer standard APIs to pull data.
Third-party integrations
Star rating
Integrates with Supply Wisdom and VendorInsight.
Predictive capabilities
Star rating
Performs non-intrusive checks including passive DNS, attack surface detection, passive vulnerability scanning, DNS health, SSL/TLS strength, and email security, as well as asset reputation, credential compromises, hacktivist shares, social media monitoring, dark web search, cloud delivery network security, fraudulent apps, and DDoS detection. They do not, however, provide real transparency into the efficacy of these checks.
Customers
Star rating
Customers include Polk & Wardwell, LLP, a Fortune 500 retailer, and an OTC financial institution.
G2 rating
Accurate as of March 2023
Star rating
N/A
Capabilities
Star rating
170,000 supported organizations.
Usability and the learning curve
Star rating
Provides views of identified vendor risks enabling detailed reporting of vendors.
Community support
Star rating
BitSight maintains regular blog posts and webinars covering security incidents, feature updates, and industry developments.
Release rate
Star rating
BitSight does not publicly disclose product release cycle periods but does provide overviews of significant platform updates via their corporate blog.
Pricing and support
Star rating
Public pricing information is not available. Pricing is reported to start at $20,000 plus $2,000-$2,500 per vendor per year.
API and extensibility
Star rating
BitSight offers the ability for customers to extend security ratings through a Developer API.
Third-party integrations
Star rating
Offers integrations with RSA Archer GRC, CyberGRX, OneTrust Vendorpedia, ProcessUnity, MetricStream, and more.
Predictive capabilities
Star rating
The IP reputation methodology helps catch active malware installations, but that’s only one possible way a data breach can occur.
Customers
Star rating
Major customers include Optus / Singtel, The University of North Florida, Snam, and PROSA.
G2 rating
Accurate as of March 2023
Star rating
4.6, based on 22 reviews.

Black Kite vs BitSight product overview

Black Kite vs UpGuard product overview

Learn more about the products and how they compare.

Black Kite (formerly known as NormShield) and BitSight provide security ratings services (SRS). Security ratings services focus on the analysis of publicly accessible, external data sources to perform vendor assessment, security benchmarking, and risk analysis.

Although each player has a different approach to analyze and evaluate a company's security posture, each provider uses similar resources and techniques to collect data. Common data sources include the internet, hacker sites, social media, internet-wide scanners, reputation services, dark web, and sinkholes.

These services are becoming increasingly popular, largely due to the increasing cost of data breaches, which is now nearly $4 million.

Cybersecurity vendor risk management (VRM) is a top priority for CISOs, Vice Presidents of Security, and other members of senior management, frequently at the Board level. In addition to financial costs, regulatory and reputational costs are increasing too.

Governments have enacted laws and regulations designed to promote or even require the establishment of third-party cyber risk management programs to identify, assess, and mitigate risks created by vendors, fourth-parties, and customers.

For example, in the United States, California has introduced CCPA, and Florida has introduced FIPA to protect the personally identifiable information of its constituents. Outside of the United States, GDPR, LGPD, and PIPEDA are three relevant extraterritorial laws from the European Union, Brazil, and Canada, respectively. Alongside the protection of PII and PHI, many of these laws have introduced mandatory data breach notification requirements, which have significantly increased the reputational impact of inadequate vendor and cybersecurity risk management practices.

Adding to this, security teams have more to do than ever before. The job now encompasses much more than improving security postures and writing information security policies. Today, one of the most sought after skills is the ability to translate technical details from cybersecurity risk assessments and vendor questionnaires into terms that non-technical stakeholders can understand.

The good news is that that's what third-party risk management tools can help you do. The issue is that not all security ratings services are equal in terms of usability, analytics, compliance, technical depth, and threat intelligence capabilities.  

Use this post to make an informed decision when comparing Black Kite, BitSight, and UpGuard, so you can decide which tool is right for you.

Black Kite Overview

Black Kite is a cyber risk rating platform that leverages open-source threat intelligence and non-intrusive cyber reconnaissance to provide information about your vendor risk at scale.

It collects a wide range of information without touching the target customer. It leverages advances in data science and machine learning to provide higher frequency and precise real-time risk assessments.

Like other security ratings providers, its data collection provides continuous risk monitoring of third-parties.

Black Kite's UI
Black Kite's UI. Source: blackkite.com

BitSight Overview

BitSight Technologies is a Cambridge-based company that aims to quantify the external cybersecurity posture of organizations using publicly accessible data. Its FICO-like BitSight security rating is used by underwriters at insurance companies for pricing cyber insurance, 3rd party research for third-party risk teams, and due diligence research for private equity and M&A activities, and more.  

Additionally, security ratings can be used for security performance management and the assessment of third and fourth-party risk.

BitSight's UI. Source: bitsight.com

UpGuard Overview

UpGuard is a third-party risk and attack surface management platform that helps global organizations prevent data breaches, monitor third-party vendors, and improve their security posture. 

UpGuard’s platform uses proprietary security ratings, data leak detection capabilities, and remediation workflows to proactively identify security exposures.

UpGuard’s all-in-one third-party risk and attack surface management software intelligently groups risks into six categories: website risks, email security, network security, phishing & malware, reputation risk, and brand protection. 

Customer Reviews

Gartner Peer Insights

Overall ratings for the IT VRM Solutions market. Accurate as of March 2023.
UpGuard logo

Black Kite

BitSight

Gartner Peer Insights

Overall ratings for the IT VRM Solutions market. Accurate as of March 2023.
5 stars
4.4, based on 144 reviews. Named a Representative Vendor in the 2022 Gartner Market Guide for IT VRM Solutions
Star rating
4.7, based on 78 reviews.
Star rating
4.5, based on 240 reviews.
UpGuard logo

Black Kite

Gartner Peer Insights

Overall ratings for the IT VRM Solutions market. Accurate as of March 2023.
5 stars
4.4, based on 144 reviews. Named a Representative Vendor in the 2022 Gartner Market Guide for IT VRM Solutions
Star rating
4.7, based on 78 reviews.
UpGuard logo
5 stars
4.4, based on 144 reviews. Named a Representative Vendor in the 2022 Gartner Market Guide for IT VRM Solutions
Black Kite
4.7, based on 78 reviews.
BitSight
4.5, based on 240 reviews.

G2

Accurate as of March 2023
UpGuard logo

Black Kite

BitSight

G2

Accurate as of March 2023
5 stars
4.5, based on 93 reviews. Named a G2 Market Leader for Third Party & Supplier Risk Management Software.
Star rating
N/A
Star rating
4.6, based on 22 reviews.
UpGuard logo

Black Kite

G2
Accurate as of March 2023
5 stars
4.5, based on 93 reviews. Named a G2 Market Leader for Third Party & Supplier Risk Management Software.
Star rating
N/A
UpGuard logo
5 stars
4.5, based on 93 reviews. Named a G2 Market Leader for Third Party & Supplier Risk Management Software.
Black Kite
N/A
BitSight
4.6, based on 22 reviews.

Glassdoor

Accurate as of March 2023
UpGuard logo

Black Kite

BitSight

Glassdoor

Accurate as of March 2023
5 stars
4.7
Star rating
4.8
Star rating
4.4
UpGuard logo

Black Kite

Glassdoor
Accurate as of March 2023
5 stars
4.7
Star rating
4.8
UpGuard logo
5 stars
4.7
Black Kite
4.8
BitSight
4.4
Want to see how UpGuard stacks up against the competition?
Start a free trial and get complete visibility into your attack surface and third-party risks.