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Cybersecurity · head to head

Recorded Future vs Zencity

Recorded Future logo

Recorded Future

Cybersecurity

Intelligence-driven cybersecurity

From
$25000/year
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Zencity logo

Zencity

Government

Resident sentiment analysis combining organic social listening with representative surveys

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Recorded Future no pricing published; all three tiers (Core, Professional, Elite) require sales contact for quotes; Zencity social listening is structurally biased toward residents who post, so a city using the listening product without the survey product will consistently mistake volume for consensus.
  • They diverge on capability: Recorded Future covers Real-time threat intelligence, Zencity covers Organic social listening.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Recorded Future and Zencity actually diverge.

Attributes where Recorded Future and Zencity differ
AttributeRecorded FutureZencity
Starting price$25000/yearOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, Api, CloudWeb
CategoryCybersecurityGovernment
Founded2009Unknown

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

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 Recorded Future

  • Real-time threat intelligence
  • Vulnerability intelligence
  • Internet-wide data analysis
  • Insikt group intelligence
  • Brand intelligence
  • API-first platform
  • Alert and notification system
  • Custom reporting

Only in Zencity

  • Organic social listening
  • Representative surveys
  • Community trust surveys
  • Topic and sentiment analysis
  • Service request integration
  • Leadership reporting

What people use each for

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

Recorded Future

  • Threat intelligence and monitoringnot Zencity
  • Dark web monitoring and brand protectionnot Zencity
  • Third-party risk managementnot Zencity
  • Security operations and incident responsenot Zencity

Zencity

  • A city manager deciding whether a social media outcry reflects a representative viewnot Recorded Future
  • A police department measuring community trust with a sampled instrument rather than complaint volumenot Recorded Future
  • A communications team wanting early warning on a service issue before it reaches councilnot Recorded Future
  • A council needing resident input on a policy without running its own survey operationnot Recorded Future

Where each one falls short

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

Recorded Future

  • No pricing published; all three tiers (Core, Professional, Elite) require sales contact for quotes
  • Pricing depends on organization size, usage levels, and services in addition to tier selection
  • API usage limits vary by package but limits not specified on pricing page

Zencity

  • Social listening is structurally biased toward residents who post, so a city using the listening product without the survey product will consistently mistake volume for consensus.
  • Government analysis of residents' public speech, particularly by police departments, has drawn civil liberties criticism and records request scrutiny in United States cities, and agencies need a public answer ready before signing.
  • Sentiment classification of local slang, sarcasm and non English posts is imperfect, and a misclassified theme presented in a leadership briefing can be acted on before anyone checks the underlying posts.
  • Survey sample sizes at neighbourhood level are often small, so the district level breakdowns that councils most want are the least reliable numbers in the report.
  • It reports on opinion without connecting to service delivery systems, so acting on a finding remains a separate manual process in whatever operational software the agency runs.

Pricing, plan by plan

Recorded Future

$25000/year
  • Threat Intelligence$25000/year
    • Threat feeds
    • IP reputation
    • Domain analysis
  • Vulnerability Intelligence$35000/year
    • CVE monitoring
    • Patch intelligence
    • Vulnerability trending
  • Complete Intelligence$50000/year
    • All features
    • Analyst access
    • Dedicated feed

Zencity

On request
  • Zencity$undefined/year
    • Quoted annually by population served and module scope
    • Survey programmes priced separately from the listening platform
    • Police community trust surveying sold as its own line

Which should you pick?

Choose Recorded Future if

  • You need real-time threat intelligence.
  • You work on Web, Api, Cloud.
  • You also want vulnerability intelligence.
Recorded Future review

Choose Zencity if

  • You need organic social listening.
  • You also want representative surveys.
Zencity review

Questions people ask

Is Recorded Future or Zencity better?
Neither clearly leads. Recorded Future starts at $25000/year and Zencity at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Recorded Future or Zencity?
Recorded Future starts at $25000/year and Zencity at On request.
Does Recorded Future or Zencity run on more platforms?
Recorded Future runs on Web, Api, Cloud. Zencity runs on Web.
What is Recorded Future best used for?
Recorded Future is most often used for threat intelligence and monitoring, dark web monitoring and brand protection, third-party risk management, security operations and incident response. Of those, threat intelligence and monitoring and dark web monitoring and brand protection are not what Zencity is typically brought in for.
What can Recorded Future do that Zencity cannot?
Recorded Future covers Real-time threat intelligence, Vulnerability intelligence, Internet-wide data analysis, Insikt group intelligence. Zencity covers Organic social listening, Representative surveys, Community trust surveys, Topic and sentiment analysis.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Recorded Future: What are the main pricing tiers offered by Recorded Future?

Recorded Future offers three tiers: Core (foundational intelligence), Professional (marked most-popular with automation and autonomous threat hunts), and Elite (comprehensive coverage including third-party risk assessment). Specific pricing requires contacting sales.

Source
Zencity: Is this surveillance of residents?

It analyses publicly posted content and aggregated survey responses rather than private accounts, but the distinction has been contested publicly, especially for police use. Prepare an explanation before procurement.

Recorded Future: What is included in Recorded Future's Core pricing tier?

Core tier includes cyber operations monitoring with threat and malware insights, digital risk protection covering dark web monitoring and credential detection, and the new digital risk hub. Exact cost depends on organization size and usage.

Source
Zencity: Why pair listening with surveys?

Because the people who post are not representative of the people who live there. The gap between the two datasets is often the most useful output.

Recorded Future: What features does Recorded Future Professional tier add?

Professional tier adds autonomous threat hunts, continuous threat monitoring, automated threat preventions, external intelligence ingestion, and external asset discovery. Pricing is custom-quoted based on organization size and services.

Source
Zencity: What did Zencity acquire?

Elucd, in 2021, which brought community trust survey methodology used with police departments.

Recorded Future: How does Recorded Future handle user limits and API access?

Recorded Future does not limit the number of platform users or integrations across any tier. API usage limits vary by package tier but exact limits are not specified on the public pricing page.

Source
Zencity: Can residents find out what our city bought?

Yes. These are public contracts and several have been obtained and published through records requests.

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