Agentic Index
Horizon3.ai vs XBOW (2026)
Both vendors last verified
Horizon3.ai and XBOW both run autonomous penetration tests that prove each finding with a working exploit. That verdict is the Agentic Index coverage score, graded from each vendor's own published materials.
Horizon3's NodeZero starts inside the network, from a host in your environment, and also covers external, cloud, Kubernetes and web app surfaces. It moves laterally, escalates privilege, schedules tests every day, retests fixes with Quick Verify and runs a FedRAMP High environment for federal buyers. XBOW starts from the application. A coordinator directs short lived attack agents against web apps and APIs, independent validators confirm each exploit, and Autonomous Exposure Management now discovers and tests a company's whole external application estate. Horizon3 publishes list prices per asset, from $15 a test on Flex and $50 a year on Core. XBOW sells usage based credits, with a $50,000 package for 12 months on AWS Marketplace. Choose Horizon3 for network, cloud and federal work. Choose XBOW for deep web app and API testing.
On the Agentic Index AI SOC ranking, neither Horizon3.ai nor XBOW clears the bar, which asks for all five investigation loop capabilities documented in full. Horizon3.ai does not document workflow orchestration in full, nor human oversight and guardrails; XBOW does not document human oversight and guardrails in full. 25 of the 86 vendors in the lane clear it. See the AI SOC ranking
This comparison is published by Agentic Index, an independent agentic AI vendor research platform. Horizon3.ai and XBOW are each graded against the same 14 capability Agentic Index taxonomy, from the vendor's own public materials under the Agentic Index verification standard, alongside 1,084 researched vendors. No vendor pays for placement and no vendor has reviewed this page. How this evidence is graded
This comparison, as a video
Horizon3.ai vs XBOW in 3 minutes
A short walkthrough of what each product does, how they are priced, where they overlap and when to choose each.
Choose Horizon3.ai if
- Internal networks, Active Directory, cloud and Kubernetes are in scope, not only web apps.
- Tests should run from a host inside your own network.
- You need a FedRAMP High environment for federal work.
- Fixes should be retested quickly with Quick Verify.
- You want list prices per asset before you talk to sales.
Choose XBOW if
- Web applications and APIs are the main target.
- Your whole external application estate should be discovered and tested from the outside.
- Each exploit should be confirmed by an independent validator before it is reported.
- Pentests should start from your CI on merge or before a deploy.
- Test data must stay in one region, such as the EU or Singapore.
| Feature | H Horizon3.ai |
X XBOW |
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| Action & orchestration | ||
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Integrations & Tool Calling Ability to connect agents to real systems through native integrations, OAuth-authenticated actions, custom tools, APIs, webhooks, or MCP-compatible tools. |
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Horizon3.aiIntegrations & Tool Calling Against the customer's network, cloud and applications, NodeZero orchestrates hundreds of offensive tools. Findings and Tripwire alerts flow to SIEMs (Splunk Cloud, Microsoft Sentinel and CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM), and tickets go to Jira and ServiceNow. Sourcedocs.horizon3.ai/portal/settings/integrations/crowdstrikeread 2026-09-28 |
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XBOWIntegrations & Tool Calling XBOW integrates with Jira (work items from findings), a Microsoft Sentinel connector and Security Copilot (query findings, run assessments), sends webhooks for assessment and finding events, and gives the agents an offensive toolkit they chain during testing. Sourcedocs.xbow.com/integrationsread 2026-09-28 |
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Workflow Orchestration Ability to sequence, branch, retry, route, and combine deterministic workflow nodes with autonomous agent steps. |
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Horizon3.aiWorkflow Orchestration One agent drives the attack. NodeZero navigates the network without scripts and chains weaknesses using hundreds of offensive tools, following its own attack logic. The pipeline is fixed. The customer sets scope, attack configuration and schedules but does not build the flow, and there are no other agents. Sourcehorizon3.ai/nodezeroread 2026-09-28 |
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XBOWWorkflow Orchestration A coordinator decides what to test, where and in what order and directs short-lived attack agents across the fleet, with independent validators confirming exploitability. Agents run concurrently by default, or one at a time in sequential mode. The agents are all XBOW's own. Sourcexbow.com/platformread 2026-09-28 |
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Triggers & Channel Coverage How agents wake up and where they work: schedules, webhooks, message events, CRM events, inbox events, chat, email, voice, and collaboration tools. |
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Horizon3.aiTriggers & Channel Coverage Pentests can be scheduled "to run every day thereafter" without user intervention, also through the CLI. Tripwires raise alerts when triggered, and Rapid Response sends threat notifications. Sourcehorizon3.ai/nodezeroread 2026-09-28 |
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XBOWTriggers & Channel Coverage Customers can trigger a pentest on merge or pre-deploy through the API from their own CI or scheduler. Console runs start from a Start assessment button, and testing windows pause and resume a running assessment automatically. The trigger is wired through the customer's pipeline. Sourcexbow.com/apiread 2026-09-28 |
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| Knowledge & context | ||
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Knowledge Grounding & RAG Ability to ground agent behavior in company data through document ingestion, retrieval, external knowledge APIs, semantic search, or RAG layers. |
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Horizon3.aiKnowledge Grounding & RAG Each pentest maps the customer's hosts, services, credentials and attack paths, with BloodHound integration and high value targeting, building a fresh map of the estate on each run. There is no maintained retrieval structure the agent draws on, and Horizon3's corpus of past tests is its own, not the customer's. Sourcedocs.horizon3.airead 2026-09-28 |
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XBOWKnowledge Grounding & RAG Source code, documentation, API specifications and prior reports go into a file library shared by the organization and are chosen as context for each assessment, alongside a live map of the attack surface. There is no index or retrieval layer over that library, so context is assembled for each run. Sourcedocs.xbow.com/console/how-to/provide-target-contextread 2026-09-28 |
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Memory & State Persistence Ability to persist context across a run, conversation, workflow, user, team, or longer-term memory layer. |
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Horizon3.aiMemory & State Persistence Quick Verify tests prior findings again against earlier pentests, and a trends view tracks impacts and open weaknesses over time, so state carries between runs. There is no agent memory with a stated scope and lifetime, and learning from past tests is Horizon3's own claim. Sourcehorizon3.ai/nodezeroread 2026-09-28 |
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XBOWMemory & State Persistence Agents are short-lived and retired after each mission. The attack surface map and context library feed each assessment, and context reused on a retest is configuration, not agent memory. Sourcexbow.com/platformread 2026-09-28 |
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| Control & trust | ||
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Human Oversight & Guardrails Approval steps, consent checkpoints, escalation rules, structured guardrails, policy constraints, and pause/resume controls. |
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Horizon3.aiHuman Oversight & Guardrails Customers set scope and attack configuration and monitor tests in RealTime View, and each test runs on isolated infrastructure that is used once. There is no approval step before NodeZero exploits or moves. When a pentest is started through MCP, the tool asks the assistant to confirm, a check that lives in the client, not in NodeZero. Sourcehorizon3.ai/nodezeroread 2026-09-28 |
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XBOWHuman Oversight & Guardrails The customer sets scope, a limit on requests per second, testing windows (business hours, off hours or custom) and sequential mode, and can pause an assessment. In Autonomous Exposure Management the customer approves the target list before any testing begins, XBOW sorts what it finds into what it may attack and what it may only visit, agents prove exploits benignly (a SQL injection gets a one time sleep, not a dropped table), and assessments pause when a target becomes unstable. There is no approve or confirm step before an individual exploit attempt runs. Sourcedocs.xbow.com (execution options) and xbow.com/blog/introducing-autonomous-exposure-managementread 2026-10-24 |
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Security, Identity & Governance RBAC, SSO, auditability, encryption, least-privilege tool access, compliance posture, and data handling policy. |
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Horizon3.aiSecurity, Identity & Governance NodeZero Federal runs in a FedRAMP High environment, and Horizon3 holds Cyber Essentials Plus certification covering its NodeZero EU network on AWS. Across the platform, OIDC single sign on works with Okta, Entra ID, Google, Ping and Keycloak, alongside user roles and access roles. Sourcedocs.horizon3.ai/portal/settings/sso and horizon3.ai/newsread 2026-10-24 |
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XBOWSecurity, Identity & Governance Enterprise organizations get single sign-on through the customer's identity provider, user roles that control what each member can see and do, an IP allowlist and audit events. XBOW's console documentation names SOC 2 Type 1, SOC 2 Type 2 and HIPAA, and a trust center sits at trust.xbow.com. The SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS and NIS 2 line on the homepage describes the customer's compliance requirements, not XBOW's attestations. Sourcedocs.xbow.com/console/get-started/introductionread 2026-10-25 |
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Observability & Auditability Traces, logs, execution histories, metrics, audit events, and debugging detail for production agent behavior. |
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Horizon3.aiObservability & Auditability RealTime View shows the state of a running test. Each proven attack path comes with a step by step summary and proof of the exploit, so the agent's own actions can be read in sequence, and statistics for each pentest are also exposed through the API and MCP. Sourcehorizon3.ai/nodezeroread 2026-09-28 |
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XBOWObservability & Auditability Every action the agents take is logged and can be reviewed. The running assessment shows endpoints assessed, the current request rate and the attack agents' behavior, with a log view on pause. Sourcedocs.xbow.com/console/how-to/monitor-assessmentread 2026-09-28 |
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Deployment & Data Residency Deployment modes and options, including SaaS, dedicated cloud, VPC, on-prem, hybrid, local runtime, and self-hosting. |
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Horizon3.aiDeployment & Data Residency Internal tests run from a NodeZero host in the customer environment, as an OVA or VHD VM, in Docker or on a Linux host, with NodeZero Runner for distributed testing. The platform has named US, EU, AU and FedRAMP High environments, and the EU environment is a data sovereignty site in Germany. Sourcedocs.horizon3.ai and horizon3.ai/newsread 2026-10-24 |
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XBOWDeployment & Data Residency Each organization lives in one region, with findings, assessment results, asset inventory, credentials, uploaded specs and source code, audit logs and user identity stored there. Regions run in the US, the EU and Singapore, and since October 2026 in Australia, Canada and Japan in private preview. Each is a full deployment on AWS with its own console at console.xbow.com or its .eu, .sg, .au, .ca or .jp form. Billing, support tickets and telemetry stay global, and assessments use approved global model providers, so model processing may happen outside the region. Delivery is SaaS, and the cloud marketplaces are purchase channels. Sourcexbow.com/blog/xbow-data-residency-now-available-in-australia-canada-and-japanread 2026-10-24 |
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| Solution readiness | ||
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Prebuilt Agents, Templates & Packs Ready-made workflows, packaged employees, templates, blueprints, industry solutions, and role-specific agents that reduce time-to-value. |
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Horizon3.aiPrebuilt Agents, Templates & Packs NodeZero ships with prebuilt operations covering internal, external, cloud, Kubernetes and WebApp pentests, AD password audits, phishing impact and Tripwires, plus attack configuration templates. These are operation types for the one agent, not separately named agents. Sourcehorizon3.ai/nodezeroread 2026-09-28 |
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XBOWPrebuilt Agents, Templates & Packs Assessment types (a full application assessment or a vulnerability retest) are modes of one product, the customer defines assessment types and context, and the attack agents are XBOW's internal machinery. There is no catalog of assets to adopt. Sourcedocs.xbow.com/console/how-toread 2026-09-28 |
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| Platform extensibility | ||
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Model Flexibility & Routing Ability to work across multiple foundation models, route tasks to different models, or let buyers bring their own providers and keys. |
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Horizon3.aiModel Flexibility & Routing Customers have no model choice or routing, and NodeZero's reasoning is internal. Sourcedocs.horizon3.airead 2026-09-28 |
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XBOWModel Flexibility & Routing XBOW names no model provider, model choice or routing. Sourcexbow.com/platformread 2026-09-28 |
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APIs, SDKs & MCP Extensibility Composability layer: stable APIs, SDKs, MCP tool consumption/serving, custom tools, and integration into internal systems. |
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Horizon3.aiAPIs, SDKs & MCP Extensibility Outside systems reach NodeZero through a GraphQL API and h3-cli. Horizon3 also hosts an MCP server with regional endpoints in the US, EU, AU and FedRAMP High, OAuth 2.1 and six enumerated tools, and through setup_pentest_scope it can start a new pentest. Sourcedocs.horizon3.ai/portal/features/mcp/toolsread 2026-09-28 |
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XBOWAPIs, SDKs & MCP Extensibility XBOW has a REST API to create and configure assets, trigger assessments, retrieve findings and set scope, authentication and safety controls, with bearer-token auth, a pinned X-XBOW-API-Version header, a versioned API reference in preview and signed webhooks with delivery history. Sourcedocs.xbow.com/apiread 2026-09-28 |
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Testing, Debugging & Optimization Testing, debugging, scoring, retries, fallbacks, quality gates, and optimization loops for improving agent workflows before and after deployment. |
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Horizon3.aiTesting, Debugging & Optimization Testing here points at the customer's estate, which NodeZero tests and whose fixes it verifies. There is no way to test or evaluate the agent itself. Sourcehorizon3.ai/nodezeroread 2026-09-28 |
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XBOWTesting, Debugging & Optimization The product tests the customer's applications, not an agent under evaluation, and its validators check XBOW's own findings. There is no harness for evaluating a change to an agent. Sourcexbow.com/platformread 2026-09-28 |
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| Specialist automation | ||
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Browser & Computer Use Browser, desktop, or remote/local computer control for workflows that cannot be handled through stable APIs alone. |
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Horizon3.aiBrowser & Computer Use NodeZero attacks networks, cloud and applications through offensive tooling, and there is no browser or computer use. Sourcehorizon3.ai/nodezeroread 2026-09-28 |
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XBOWBrowser & Computer Use The offensive toolkit includes a steerable headless browser the agents use against the customer's web applications, and XBOW does not describe how the agent drives it. Sourcexbow.com/platformread 2026-09-28 |
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Pricing snapshot
Sourced from the Index pricing dataset · open each vendor's profile for full detail.
| Pricing | H Horizon3.ai |
X XBOW |
|---|---|---|
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Entry price Lowest public entry point |
From $15 per asset per test on Flex. Core $50, Pro $65 and Elite $85 per asset a year with unlimited testing. WebApp Flex $10,000 per app. | AWS Marketplace: 12-month package of attack credits at $50,000 a year (about $4,167 a month). xbow.com quotes usage based pricing on request. |
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Pricing confidence How public the numbers are |
Public, exact | Public, partial |
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Billing Primary billing axis |
Assets tested. Flex counts each asset every time it is tested, while Core, Pro and Elite count each asset once per 12 months. WebApp testing is priced per app. | Attack credits drawn down by testing activity, sold in annual packages. |
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Variable cost Workload / overage exposure |
Medium variable cost | Medium variable cost |
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Free tier / trial Try before you buy |
No free tierTrial
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No free tierTrial
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Buying motion Self-serve vs sales call |
Sales call | Mixed |
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Pricing verified When this pricing was last checked |
Product updates
Newest first, each linked to its source.
Horizon3.ai
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· Integrations
A NodeZero integration for Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR is now on the Cortex Marketplace, certified by Palo Alto Networks.
Source -
· Integrations
Horizon3 released an integration that sends validated NodeZero pentest findings into CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM for correlation.
Source
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