Cybersecurity · head to head
Semperis vs Termly
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
- -
Termly
Cybersecurity
Legal policy generator and cookie consent banner for small websites
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Termly has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: 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.; Termly a standard plan licenses one website, so an agency or a business with several brand domains multiplies the headline price by the number of sites and the cheap option stops being cheap at four or five domains.
- They diverge on capability: Semperis covers Active Directory Forest Recovery, Termly covers Policy generator.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Semperis and Termly actually diverge.
Identical on both: platforms (Web), 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 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
Only in Termly
- Policy generator
- Automatic policy updates
- Consent banner
- Script auto blocker
- Cookie scanner
- Consent log
- WordPress plugin
- Do not sell handling
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Semperis
- An organisation that cannot answer an auditor or insurer asking how long it would take to rebuild Active Directory after a destructive attacknot Termly
- Post-incident recovery where domain controllers are compromised and restoring from system-state backup would reintroduce the attacker's footholdnot Termly
- Continuous detection of privileged group changes and directory-level tampering that domain controller security logs missnot Termly
- Hybrid estates where AD, Entra ID and Okta all matter and no single tool currently shows changes across the threenot Termly
Termly
- A small e-commerce shop that needs a privacy policy, terms and a compliant cookie banner before launch without engaging a solicitornot Semperis
- A freelance web developer standardising the legal and consent layer across client sites, buying a licence per site or an agency arrangementnot Semperis
- A WordPress site owner who needs scripts blocked before consent and does not have a tag manager set upnot Semperis
- A US small business newly in scope for a state privacy law that needs a do not sell opt-out on the site quicklynot Semperis
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
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.
Termly
- A standard plan licenses one website, so an agency or a business with several brand domains multiplies the headline price by the number of sites and the cheap option stops being cheap at four or five domains.
- Generated policies are templates conditioned on questionnaire answers, so they describe the data practices you claimed rather than the ones your code performs, and a regulator comparing the policy to actual tracking finds the gap not the vendor.
- Banner view limits apply on the lower tiers, and a site that spikes in traffic can exhaust its allowance mid month, which is the worst possible moment for consent handling to degrade.
- It covers websites well but has little for mobile apps, so a company with an iOS and Android app alongside its site needs a second consent mechanism and a second consent record.
- There is no data mapping, subject rights automation or vendor inventory, so any company that grows into real privacy programme obligations outgrows Termly entirely rather than upgrading within it.
Pricing, plan by plan
Semperis
On requestNo published plan breakdown. See the Semperis review.
Termly
Free- FreeFree
- 1 basic legal policy
- 10,000 monthly banner views
- Cookie consent banner
- Starter$10/month
- 2 legal policies
- 10 policy edits
- 50,000 monthly banner views
- Pro Plus$15/month
- Unlimited banner views
- Additional legal policies
- Multilingual banners
Which should you pick?
Choose Semperis if
- You need active directory forest recovery.
- You also want malware-free restore.
Choose Termly if
- You need policy generator.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want automatic policy updates.
Questions people ask
- Is Semperis or Termly better?
- Neither clearly leads. Semperis starts at On request and Termly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Semperis or Termly?
- Termly has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Semperis and Free for Termly.
- Does Semperis or Termly run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Termly for free?
- Yes. Termly has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Semperis starts at On request.
- What is Semperis best used for?
- Semperis is most often used for an organisation that cannot answer an auditor or insurer asking how long it would take to rebuild active directory after a destructive attack, post-incident recovery where domain controllers are compromised and restoring from system-state backup would reintroduce the attacker's foothold, continuous detection of privileged group changes and directory-level tampering that domain controller security logs miss, hybrid estates where ad, entra id and okta all matter and no single tool currently shows changes across the three. Of those, an organisation that cannot answer an auditor or insurer asking how long it would take to rebuild active directory after a destructive attack and post-incident recovery where domain controllers are compromised and restoring from system-state backup would reintroduce the attacker's foothold are not what Termly is typically brought in for.
- What can Semperis do that Termly cannot?
- Semperis covers Active Directory Forest Recovery, Malware-free restore, Replication-stream monitoring, Automated rollback. Termly covers Policy generator, Automatic policy updates, Consent banner, Script auto blocker.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
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.
Termly: Does one Termly plan cover all my websites?
No. A standard plan licenses one website. Multiple domains need multiple licences or an agency arrangement, and this is the single most common surprise on the bill.
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.
Termly: Are the generated policies legally sufficient?
They are templates conditioned on your answers and are not legal advice. They are proportionate for a simple site and inadequate where actual data flows are complex or regulated.
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.
Termly: Is there a genuinely free plan?
Yes, one basic policy, one site, 10,000 monthly banner views and quarterly cookie scans, with no card required.
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.
Termly: Does it handle US state privacy opt-outs?
Yes, including a do not sell or share mechanism and regional rule sets, alongside GDPR consent for EU visitors.
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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