Developer Tools · head to head
Refact vs Semperis
Refact
Developer Tools
Autonomous AI coding agent for development tasks
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
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
- Free plan
- No
The short version
- Only Refact has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Refact requires configuration for optimal performance; 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: Refact covers Autonomous agent workflows, 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 Refact and Semperis actually diverge.
Identical on both: 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 Refact
- Autonomous agent workflows
- IDE chat
- Real-time code completions
- GitHub integration
- Database integration
- On-premise deployment
- Multi-LLM support
- 25+ language support
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.
Refact
- Autonomous code generation for development tasksnot Semperis
- End-to-end bug fixes and refactoringnot Semperis
- Multi-language software development accelerationnot Semperis
- Enterprise development with data privacy requirementsnot 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 Refact
- Post-incident recovery where domain controllers are compromised and restoring from system-state backup would reintroduce the attacker's footholdnot Refact
- Continuous detection of privileged group changes and directory-level tampering that domain controller security logs missnot Refact
- Hybrid estates where AD, Entra ID and Okta all matter and no single tool currently shows changes across the threenot Refact
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Refact
- Requires configuration for optimal performance
- On-premise deployment adds operational complexity
- Free tier limited by daily agent request quota
- Coin system adds complexity to cost calculation
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
Refact
Free- FreeFree
- Limited daily agent usage
- Unlimited completions
- 2,000 coins for agent and chat
- Pro$10/month
- 40 daily agent requests
- 64k context window
- 10,000 coins monthly
- Enterprise$undefined/custom
- On-premise deployment
- Custom coin allocation
- Fine-tuning support
Semperis
On requestNo published plan breakdown. See the Semperis review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Refact if
- You need autonomous agent workflows.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on VS Code, Web.
- You also want ide chat.
Choose Semperis if
- You need active directory forest recovery.
- You also want malware-free restore.
Questions people ask
- Is Refact or Semperis better?
- Neither clearly leads. Refact starts at Free and Semperis at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Refact or Semperis?
- Refact has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Refact and On request for Semperis.
- Does Refact or Semperis run on more platforms?
- Refact runs on VS Code, Web. Semperis runs on Web.
- Can I use Refact for free?
- Yes. Refact has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Semperis starts at On request.
- What is Refact best used for?
- Refact is most often used for autonomous code generation for development tasks, end-to-end bug fixes and refactoring, multi-language software development acceleration, enterprise development with data privacy requirements. Of those, autonomous code generation for development tasks and end-to-end bug fixes and refactoring are not what Semperis is typically brought in for.
- What can Refact do that Semperis cannot?
- Refact covers Autonomous agent workflows, IDE chat, Real-time code completions, GitHub integration. Semperis covers Active Directory Forest Recovery, Malware-free restore, Replication-stream monitoring, Automated rollback.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Refact: How many programming languages does Refact support?
Refact supports 25+ programming languages including Python, JavaScript, Go, Rust, Java, C++, and many others.
SourceSemperis: 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.
Refact: Can I deploy Refact on-premises?
Yes. Refact offers on-premise deployment options for organizations requiring complete data control and privacy.
SourceSemperis: 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.
Refact: What LLMs does Refact support?
Refact works with multiple LLMs including Claude, GPT-4, and open-source models, giving you flexibility in model selection.
SourceSemperis: 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.
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.
Related pages
Other head to heads
- Refact vs GitHub Copilot
- Refact vs Swagger UI
- Refact vs Sweep
- Refact vs Coder
- Refact vs Deep Code
- Refact vs Pieces for Developers
- Refact vs CodeSandbox
- Refact vs GNU Emacs
- Refact vs Moonrepo
- Refact vs Pants Build
- Refact vs Atlantis
- Refact vs Backstage
- Refact vs JetBrains Rider
- Refact vs Spacelift
- Refact vs Argo CD
- Refact vs Blacksmith
- Refact vs Bitdefender Total Security
- Refact vs 1Password
- Refact vs Norton 360
- Refact vs LastPass
- Refact vs NICE Actimize
- Refact vs Netwrix
- Refact vs VMware Carbon Black
- Refact vs LogRhythm SIEM
- Refact vs One Identity
- Refact vs Ping Identity
- Refact vs Signicat
- Refact vs CrowdStrike Falcon
- Refact vs Authy
- Refact vs Baffle
- Refact vs Beyond Identity
- Refact vs BeyondTrust
- Refact vs Burp Suite
- Refact vs Bitdefender VPN
- Semperis vs GitHub Copilot
- Semperis vs Swagger UI
- Semperis vs Sweep
- Semperis vs Coder
- Semperis vs Deep Code
- Semperis vs Pieces for Developers
- Semperis vs CodeSandbox
- Semperis vs GNU Emacs
- Semperis vs Moonrepo
- Semperis vs Pants Build
- Semperis vs Atlantis
- Semperis vs Backstage
- Semperis vs JetBrains Rider
- Semperis vs Spacelift
- Semperis vs Argo CD
- Semperis vs Blacksmith
- Semperis vs Bitdefender Total Security
- Semperis vs 1Password
- Semperis vs Norton 360
- Semperis vs LastPass
- Semperis vs NICE Actimize
- Semperis vs Netwrix
- Semperis vs VMware Carbon Black
- Semperis vs LogRhythm SIEM
- Semperis vs One Identity
- Semperis vs Ping Identity
- Semperis vs Signicat
- Semperis vs CrowdStrike Falcon
- Semperis vs Authy
- Semperis vs Baffle
- Semperis vs Beyond Identity
- Semperis vs BeyondTrust
- Semperis vs Burp Suite
- Semperis vs Bitdefender VPN