Softwr

Government · head to head

ShotSpotter vs Teleport

ShotSpotter logo

ShotSpotter

Government

Gunshot Detection Technology

From
$5000/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Teleport logo

Teleport

Cybersecurity

Certificate-based access to servers, Kubernetes, databases and apps, replacing shared credentials and VPNs

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: ShotSpotter shotSpotter now trades as SoundThinking and shotspotter.com redirects to soundthinking.com; Teleport pricing is not published and is described as active users plus protected resources, so an autoscaling estate cannot forecast the bill and finance teams discover the true cost only after the first true-up.
  • They diverge on capability: ShotSpotter covers Gunshot Detection, Teleport covers Short-lived certificates.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ShotSpotter and Teleport actually diverge.

Attributes where ShotSpotter and Teleport differ
AttributeShotSpotterTeleport
Starting price$5000/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidLinux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Cloud
CategoryGovernmentCybersecurity
Founded1996Unknown

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 ShotSpotter

  • Gunshot Detection
  • Location Triangulation
  • Real-time Alerts
  • Forensic Analysis
  • Historical Data
  • CAD Systems
  • 911 Centers
  • Camera Systems

Only in Teleport

  • Short-lived certificates
  • Protocol coverage
  • Session recording and replay
  • Access Requests
  • Device Trust
  • Identity provider integration
  • Machine identity
  • FIPS and FedRAMP builds

What people use each for

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

ShotSpotter

  • Gunshot detection and location alerting for police departmentsnot Teleport
  • Directing patrol response to outdoor firearm dischargesnot Teleport
  • Building incident data for law enforcement analysisnot Teleport

Teleport

  • Removing long-lived SSH keys and shared database passwords so that offboarding an engineer takes one action in the identity providernot ShotSpotter
  • Producing session recordings and per-user database audit trails as direct evidence for SOC 2 or FedRAMPnot ShotSpotter
  • Giving contractors or on-call engineers time-boxed, approved access to production instead of standing admin rightsnot ShotSpotter
  • Replacing a flat VPN with per-resource authorisation across servers, Kubernetes and internal web appsnot ShotSpotter

Where each one falls short

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

ShotSpotter

  • ShotSpotter now trades as SoundThinking and shotspotter.com redirects to soundthinking.com
  • No pricing is published; the site routes to contact and demo requests with no published rate, minimum or cost driver
  • The service depends on an acoustic sensor array installed across a defined coverage area rather than being software alone

Teleport

  • Pricing is not published and is described as active users plus protected resources, so an autoscaling estate cannot forecast the bill and finance teams discover the true cost only after the first true-up.
  • The proxy is a hard dependency on reaching production, so it needs its own high availability deployment and a tested break-glass path or an outage in Teleport becomes an outage in your ability to respond to outages.
  • The open source Community Edition omits Access Requests, Device Trust and the FIPS builds, which are exactly the controls an auditor asks about, so the free tier rarely survives a compliance review.
  • Self-hosting means running and upgrading a certificate authority and its backing store, and Teleport releases frequently enough that upgrade work becomes a standing operational commitment.
  • Coverage across protocols is uneven in depth, so teams with legacy systems, unusual databases or bespoke network appliances find gaps that still require the old VPN to remain in place alongside it.

Pricing, plan by plan

ShotSpotter

$5000/month
  • Detection Service$5000/month
    • Gunshot Detection
    • Real-time Alerts
    • Forensic Reports

Teleport

On request
  • Teleport Community Edition$undefined/year
    • Open source, self-hosted
    • SSH, Kubernetes, database and app access
    • Session recording
  • Teleport Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Cloud-hosted or self-hosted
    • Access Requests and approval workflow
    • Device Trust and hardware key enforcement

Which should you pick?

Choose ShotSpotter if

  • You need gunshot detection.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want location triangulation.
ShotSpotter review

Choose Teleport if

  • You need short-lived certificates.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want protocol coverage.
Teleport review

Questions people ask

Is ShotSpotter or Teleport better?
Neither clearly leads. ShotSpotter starts at $5000/month and Teleport at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ShotSpotter or Teleport?
ShotSpotter starts at $5000/month and Teleport at On request.
Does ShotSpotter or Teleport run on more platforms?
ShotSpotter runs on Web, Ios, Android. Teleport runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Cloud.
What is ShotSpotter best used for?
ShotSpotter is most often used for gunshot detection and location alerting for police departments, directing patrol response to outdoor firearm discharges, building incident data for law enforcement analysis. Of those, gunshot detection and location alerting for police departments and directing patrol response to outdoor firearm discharges are not what Teleport is typically brought in for.
What can ShotSpotter do that Teleport cannot?
ShotSpotter covers Gunshot Detection, Location Triangulation, Real-time Alerts, Forensic Analysis. Teleport covers Short-lived certificates, Protocol coverage, Session recording and replay, Access Requests.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

ShotSpotter: Does SoundThinking publish ShotSpotter pricing?

No. SoundThinking does not disclose ShotSpotter pricing on their website. Interested municipalities and organizations must request a consultation, contact the sales team, or book a demo.

Source
Teleport: Is the open source edition usable in production?

Yes, but it lacks Access Requests, Device Trust and FIPS builds, which most compliance programmes end up requiring.

ShotSpotter: How do I get a ShotSpotter quote?

SoundThinking directs prospects to book a demo, contact them directly, or request a consultation through their website. No self-serve pricing, calculator, or trial is available.

Source
Teleport: How is it priced?

Not publicly. The vendor prices on active users and protected resources and provides a quote after a sales conversation.

ShotSpotter: Who is ShotSpotter for?

ShotSpotter is a gunshot detection system designed for law enforcement and municipalities to improve public safety response.

Source
Teleport: What happens if Teleport goes down?

Nobody reaches the resources behind it, so you need a highly available deployment and a documented break-glass procedure.

Teleport: Does it replace our VPN?

For anything you put behind it, yes. Legacy systems and appliances it does not support will keep the VPN alive.

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