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Cybersecurity · head to head

Rapid7 InsightVM vs Semperis

Rapid7 InsightVM logo

Rapid7 InsightVM

Cybersecurity

Vulnerability management at scale

From
$1.62/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Semperis logo

Semperis

Cybersecurity

Identity threat detection and Active Directory forest recovery for AD, Entra ID and Okta, from a privately held US vendor.

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Rapid7 InsightVM insightVM is now sold inside Exposure Command rather than as a standalone product; Semperis scope is limited to Active Directory, Entra ID and Okta, so an organisation whose critical identity lives elsewhere gets little from it, and the recovery value declines in direct proportion to how much has already moved off on-premises AD.
  • They diverge on capability: Rapid7 InsightVM covers Asset discovery, Semperis covers Active Directory Forest Recovery.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Rapid7 InsightVM and Semperis actually diverge.

Attributes where Rapid7 InsightVM and Semperis differ
AttributeRapid7 InsightVMSemperis
Starting price$1.62/monthOn request
Pricing modelusage-basedquote
PlatformsWeb, Cloud, ApiWeb
Founded2000Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cybersecurity).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Rapid7 InsightVM

  • Asset discovery
  • Vulnerability scanning
  • Risk prioritization
  • Threat intelligence
  • Custom policies
  • Remediation tracking
  • Compliance reporting
  • API access

Only in Semperis

  • Active Directory Forest Recovery
  • Malware-free restore
  • Replication-stream monitoring
  • Automated rollback
  • Attack indicator scoring
  • Entra ID and Okta coverage
  • Purple Knight
  • Forest Druid

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Rapid7 InsightVM

  • Vulnerability management and risk assessmentnot Semperis
  • Web application security scanningnot Semperis
  • Cloud infrastructure security monitoringnot Semperis

Semperis

  • An organisation that cannot answer an auditor or insurer asking how long it would take to rebuild Active Directory after a destructive attacknot Rapid7 InsightVM
  • Post-incident recovery where domain controllers are compromised and restoring from system-state backup would reintroduce the attacker's footholdnot Rapid7 InsightVM
  • Continuous detection of privileged group changes and directory-level tampering that domain controller security logs missnot Rapid7 InsightVM
  • Hybrid estates where AD, Entra ID and Okta all matter and no single tool currently shows changes across the threenot Rapid7 InsightVM

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Rapid7 InsightVM

  • InsightVM is now sold inside Exposure Command rather than as a standalone product
  • Rapid7 states pricing is not publicly listed and is provided by custom quote based on the customer's environment
  • Billing counts billable assets including devices, software, identities, cloud compute instances and applications, so the asset count grows faster than a device inventory suggests
  • Cloud security, compliance, infrastructure as code scanning and application security testing require the Ultimate package rather than Essentials
  • Volume discounts are described as commonly available for larger asset counts, so smaller buyers pay the higher unit rate

Semperis

  • Scope is limited to Active Directory, Entra ID and Okta, so an organisation whose critical identity lives elsewhere gets little from it, and the recovery value declines in direct proportion to how much has already moved off on-premises AD.
  • The licence buys tooling, not a proven runbook: forest recovery is only worth what your last rehearsal demonstrated, and a plan that has never been executed end to end in a lab is an untested assumption regardless of what was purchased.
  • It overlaps with backup and directory management products from Quest, Veeam, Commvault and others, so the buyer must argue internally why a dedicated product is needed alongside a backup contract that already claims to protect Active Directory.
  • Running Directory Services Protector well requires someone who understands AD internals, replication metadata and Tier 0 attack paths, and without that person the alerts on privileged changes are either ignored or auto-reverted in ways that break legitimate administration.
  • Licensing is driven by identity object counts, so directories carrying years of stale user accounts and service principals pay for objects that should have been deleted, and the cleanup project that would reduce the bill is the one nobody has time for.

Pricing, plan by plan

Rapid7 InsightVM

$1.62/month
  • InsightVM$1.62/month per asset
    • Vulnerability risk management
    • Unlimited user accounts
    • 24/7 technical support
  • InsightAppSec$175/month
    • Web application security
    • Per application pricing
    • Unlimited user accounts
  • InsightCloudsec$5775/month
    • Cloud security
    • Up to 500 instances
    • Unlimited user accounts

Semperis

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Semperis review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Rapid7 InsightVM if

  • You need asset discovery.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, Api.
  • You also want vulnerability scanning.
Rapid7 InsightVM review

Choose Semperis if

  • You need active directory forest recovery.
  • You also want malware-free restore.
Semperis review

Questions people ask

Is Rapid7 InsightVM or Semperis better?
Neither clearly leads. Rapid7 InsightVM starts at $1.62/month and Semperis at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Rapid7 InsightVM or Semperis?
Rapid7 InsightVM starts at $1.62/month and Semperis at On request.
Does Rapid7 InsightVM or Semperis run on more platforms?
Rapid7 InsightVM runs on Web, Cloud, Api. Semperis runs on Web.
What is Rapid7 InsightVM best used for?
Rapid7 InsightVM is most often used for vulnerability management and risk assessment, web application security scanning, cloud infrastructure security monitoring. Of those, vulnerability management and risk assessment and web application security scanning are not what Semperis is typically brought in for.
What can Rapid7 InsightVM do that Semperis cannot?
Rapid7 InsightVM covers Asset discovery, Vulnerability scanning, Risk prioritization, Threat intelligence. Semperis covers Active Directory Forest Recovery, Malware-free restore, Replication-stream monitoring, Automated rollback.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Rapid7 InsightVM: What is the starting price for Rapid7 InsightVM?

InsightVM starts at $1.62 per month per asset, with example pricing provided for 500-asset deployments.

Source
Semperis: Does this replace my backups?

No. It replaces the Active Directory recovery procedure specifically. You still need backups for everything else, and the point of Semperis is that a generic system-state backup of a domain controller is a poor way to recover a forest because it restores the operating system along with whatever compromised it.

Rapid7 InsightVM: How much does InsightAppSec cost?

InsightAppSec starts at $175 per month per application for web application security scanning.

Source
Semperis: Is it useful if we are cloud-only on Entra ID?

Partly. Directory Services Protector covers Entra ID and Okta for change tracking and posture, but the forest recovery product, which is the strongest reason to buy, applies to on-premises Active Directory. A genuinely cloud-only organisation should weigh it against Microsoft's own tooling.

Rapid7 InsightVM: What does InsightCloudsec cover?

InsightCloudsec starts at $5,775 per month for cloud security monitoring of up to 500 instances.

Source
Semperis: Are Purple Knight and Forest Druid really free?

Yes, both are free downloads with no licence requirement, and they are widely used by organisations that are not Semperis customers. They are also, transparently, the top of the sales funnel.

Rapid7 InsightVM: Do Rapid7 products include unlimited user accounts?

Yes, all Rapid7 products include unlimited user accounts, 24/7 technical support, single sign-on, and customer-success team access.

Source
Semperis: How long does forest recovery actually take?

The honest answer is whatever your rehearsal took. The vendor's case is hours instead of days, and automation genuinely removes most manual steps, but the number that matters for your board is the one from a test in your own environment.

Semperis: Does it require agents on domain controllers?

It collects directory changes from the AD replication stream, which is what lets it see changes that bypass the security log. Deployment details vary by product and version, so confirm the exact architecture against your domain controller change-control rules.

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