Threat Hunting Tools

Rankings · Logged September 2026

Best threat hunting tools of 2026

7 threat hunting and detection engineering platforms, scored 0 to 10 on seven weighted criteria.

How do the seven tools score on each criterion?

Hunt fit scores, editorial assessment, 0-10. Weights: HNT 25%, FED 20%, EFF 15%, ATK 10%, DAC 10%, DEP 10%, PRC 10%. Reviewed September 2026.
RankToolHNTFEDEFFATKDACDEPPRCWeighted score
#1=Mars Security9 Highest in column9 Highest in column8569 Highest in column27.45
#1=Nebulock9 Highest in column8878727.45
#3Anvilogic69 Highest in column899 Highest in column73 Highest in column7.30
#4Cotool88887627.10
#5Vega87888627.00
#6Artemis Security869 Highest in column75826.75
#7CardinalOps45610 Highest in column8725.60

HNT Hunt automation · FED Works across existing SIEM and data lakes · EFF Analyst effort saved · ATK ATT&CK coverage evidence · DAC Detection-as-code workflow · DEP Deployment · PRC Pricing transparency

Weigh the criteria yourself in the calculator, or compare any two to five tools side by side.

Mars Security and Nebulock have identical weighted totals (7.45) and share first place. They are listed alphabetically.

Which tool fits which job?

Jobs to be done, the tool we pick for each, its hunt fit score and why.
JobPickHunt fit scoreWhy
Turn new threat intelligence into hunts on data in placeMars Security7.45Continuous intel-to-hunt conversion, 30-day backtesting, no ingestion pipeline.
Hypothesis-driven hunting with version-controlled detectionsNebulock7.45LOCK hypothesis framework, retrohunt before deploy, immutable version history.
Detection engineering across many SIEMs and data lakesAnvilogic7.30Thousands of MITRE-mapped detections, detection-as-code, the widest named platform list.
Building your own blue-team agentsCotool7.10Natural-language agents for detection, response and hunting across 40+ integrations.
Handing off a hypothesis and reviewing the workVega7.00Autonomous hunts that show each step, detections kept in source control.
Autonomous investigation of casesArtemis Security6.75Investigation with reasoning chains, human-confirmed response, 240+ connectors.
Measuring ATT&CK coverage in deployed detectionsCardinalOps5.60Coverage heatmaps, rule health scores and 8,000+ curated rules in native syntax.

The ranking, tool by tool

#1=Mars Security (7.45)

Joint top pick: intel-driven hunting across your existing stack
7.45 / 10

Mars reads newly published threat intelligence, turns it into hunts and detections, and runs them against the SIEM, EDR, identity, cloud and data lake sources a team already has, without copying data first. Each new rule is backtested on 30 days of the customer's own data before it goes live, and the vendor says deployment takes hours.

Scores lower on: ATT&CK coverage evidence (5), detection-as-code workflow (6), pricing transparency (2).

Read the Mars Security review

#1=Nebulock (7.45)

Joint top pick: hypothesis-driven hunting with open frameworks
7.45 / 10

Nebulock runs autonomous hunts from threat intelligence and structures analyst-led hunts with its four-stage LOCK framework. Federated search pulls data when a hunt needs it, and every detection must pass a retrohunt against past telemetry before it deploys. Its hunting frameworks are open source under the MIT license.

Scores lower on: deployment detail (7), pricing transparency (2).

Read the Nebulock review

#3Anvilogic (7.30)

Best for multi-platform detection engineering
7.30 / 10

Anvilogic is the most complete detection engineering platform in this guide: thousands of MITRE-mapped detections, coverage scoring against ATT&CK, detection-as-code with version control, and agents that search across four SIEMs, six data lakes and three object stores. Its public pages focus on detection rather than continuous hunting.

Scores lower on: hunt automation (6), pricing transparency (3).

Read the Anvilogic review

#4Cotool (7.10)

Best for building custom blue-team agents
7.10 / 10

Cotool gives blue teams agents for detection, response and hunting that are described in natural language and run across 40+ integrations. It maps a team's detection suite onto ATT&CK and works with existing detection-as-code tooling. Deployment details are not published.

Scores lower on: deployment (6), pricing transparency (2).

Read the Cotool review

#5Vega (7.00)

Best for hand-off hypothesis hunts with source-controlled detections
7.00 / 10

Vega takes a hypothesis and runs the hunt across sources, showing each step, then promotes findings to MITRE-mapped detections that live in source control. It queries data in place, but its public pages do not name the connectors it supports.

Scores lower on: cross-platform detail (7), deployment (6), pricing transparency (2).

Read the Vega review

#6Artemis Security (6.75)

Best for autonomous investigation
6.75 / 10

Artemis runs daily hunts from more than 100 intelligence feeds and investigates cases autonomously, with response actions held for human confirmation. It lists 240 or more connectors, ingesting detection-critical data and querying high-volume data in place.

Scores lower on: detection-as-code workflow (5), cross-platform reach without ingestion (6), pricing transparency (2).

Read the Artemis Security review

#7CardinalOps (5.60)

Best for measuring ATT&CK coverage
5.60 / 10

CardinalOps maps the detections already running in your SIEM and EDR to ATT&CK, scores rule health and fills gaps from more than 8,000 curated rules. Cribl announced in July 2026 that it is acquiring CardinalOps.

Scores lower on: hunt automation (4), works across existing SIEM and data lakes (5), pricing transparency (2).

Read the CardinalOps review

Which data sources does each tool name?

Where each tool hunts: data source types named by 7 threat hunting toolsArtemis Security names all six source types. Mars Security, Nebulock and Cotool name five. Anvilogic names three. CardinalOps names two. Vega names none on its public pages. How it reaches the data: Mars Security: Queries in place, no ingestion. For cloud logs: "No new data copy. No second retention clock." "The SIEM keeps its compliance and retention jobs." Nebulock: Federated search. Helix federated search "to get data just-in-time, not just-in-case". Public pages do not say what data is retained in the platform. Anvilogic: Queries in place; standalone mode also offered. "One query across Splunk, Snowflake, Sentinel, S3, and more, without moving the data"; augment, standalone or combined deployment. Cotool: Stores some logs, queries the rest. "Logs you store in Cotool are optimized for agents" and "a detection can run against logs in Cotool or directly against the tools where your data already lives." Vega: Queries in place. "No migration, ingestion, or egress." Artemis Security: Ingests hot-path data, queries the rest. "Hot-path data ingested, high-volume data queried where it lives." Its connectors page lists Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, Exabeam, LogRhythm and CrowdStrike NG-SIEM among ingested sources. CardinalOps: Works inside the SIEM and EDR. Connects through native APIs and delivers rules in their native syntax; a separate data store is not described.SIEMEDRIdentity providerCloud logsData lake or warehouseSaaS appsMars SecurityMars Security, SIEM: Named (Splunk)Mars Security, EDR: Named (CrowdStrike Falcon)Mars Security, Identity provider: Named (identity providers)Mars Security, Cloud logs: Named (AWS telemetry, Wiz)Mars Security, Data lake or warehouse: Named (Snowflake, Databricks)Mars Security, SaaS apps: Not named5 of 6 namedNebulockNebulock, SIEM: Named (Microsoft Sentinel)Nebulock, EDR: Named (CrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender, SentinelOne)Nebulock, Identity provider: Named (Okta, Microsoft Entra, Duo)Nebulock, Cloud logs: Named (AWS CloudTrail)Nebulock, Data lake or warehouse: Not namedNebulock, SaaS apps: Named (Jamf, GitHub)5 of 6 namedAnvilogicAnvilogic, SIEM: Named (Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, CrowdStrike NG-SIEM, Elastic)Anvilogic, EDR: Not namedAnvilogic, Identity provider: Not namedAnvilogic, Cloud logs: Named (S3, Azure Blob, GCS object storage)Anvilogic, Data lake or warehouse: Named (Snowflake, Databricks, Azure Data Explorer, Amazon Security Lake, Microsoft Fabric)Anvilogic, SaaS apps: Not named3 of 6 namedCotoolCotool, SIEM: Named (Splunk, Panther)Cotool, EDR: Named (CrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender, SentinelOne)Cotool, Identity provider: Named (Okta)Cotool, Cloud logs: Not namedCotool, Data lake or warehouse: Named (Snowflake, Databricks)Cotool, SaaS apps: Named (Code42, Kandji, Jira)5 of 6 namedVegaVega, SIEM: Not namedVega, EDR: Not namedVega, Identity provider: Not namedVega, Cloud logs: Not namedVega, Data lake or warehouse: Not namedVega, SaaS apps: Not named0 of 6 namedArtemis SecurityArtemis Security, SIEM: Named (Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, Google SecOps and others)Artemis Security, EDR: Named (CrowdStrike, Defender XDR, SentinelOne)Artemis Security, Identity provider: Named (Entra ID, Okta)Artemis Security, Cloud logs: Named (AWS Security Lake, AWS Athena)Artemis Security, Data lake or warehouse: Named (Snowflake, BigQuery)Artemis Security, SaaS apps: Named (the homepage names SaaS among the sources it correlates)6 of 6 namedCardinalOpsCardinalOps, SIEM: Named (SIEM via native APIs (platforms not named))CardinalOps, EDR: Named (EDR via native APIs; CrowdStrike Marketplace)CardinalOps, Identity provider: Not namedCardinalOps, Cloud logs: Not namedCardinalOps, Data lake or warehouse: Not namedCardinalOps, SaaS apps: Not named2 of 6 named
  • Named
  • Not named
View the grid as a table
Where each tool hunts, as a table: for each tool and data source type, whether its public pages name it, with the examples named.
ToolSIEMEDRIdentity providerCloud logsData lake or warehouseSaaS appsNamedHow it reaches the data
Mars SecurityNamedSplunkNamedCrowdStrike FalconNamedidentity providersNamedAWS telemetry, WizNamedSnowflake, DatabricksNot named5 of 6Queries in place, no ingestion

For cloud logs: "No new data copy. No second retention clock." "The SIEM keeps its compliance and retention jobs."

Source: marssec.ai/guides/cloud-threat-hunting · Read 2026-10-18 · marssec.ai/guides/ai-threat-hunting · Read 2026-10-18 · Source dates shown above

NebulockNamedMicrosoft SentinelNamedCrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender, SentinelOneNamedOkta, Microsoft Entra, DuoNamedAWS CloudTrailNot namedNamedJamf, GitHub5 of 6Federated search

Helix federated search "to get data just-in-time, not just-in-case". Public pages do not say what data is retained in the platform.

Source: nebulock.io/platform · Read 2026-10-18 · Source dates shown above

AnvilogicNamedSplunk, Microsoft Sentinel, CrowdStrike NG-SIEM, ElasticNot namedNot namedNamedS3, Azure Blob, GCS object storageNamedSnowflake, Databricks, Azure Data Explorer, Amazon Security Lake, Microsoft FabricNot named3 of 6Queries in place; standalone mode also offered

"One query across Splunk, Snowflake, Sentinel, S3, and more, without moving the data"; augment, standalone or combined deployment.

Source: www.anvilogic.com · Read 2026-10-18 · Source dates shown above

CotoolNamedSplunk, PantherNamedCrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender, SentinelOneNamedOktaNot namedNamedSnowflake, DatabricksNamedCode42, Kandji, Jira5 of 6Stores some logs, queries the rest

"Logs you store in Cotool are optimized for agents" and "a detection can run against logs in Cotool or directly against the tools where your data already lives."

Source: www.cotool.ai · Read 2026-10-18 · www.cotool.ai/detect · Read 2026-10-18 · Source dates shown above

VegaNot namedNot namedNot namedNot namedNot namedNot named0 of 6Queries in place

"No migration, ingestion, or egress."

Source: vega.io · Read 2026-10-18 · Source dates shown above

Artemis SecurityNamedSplunk, Microsoft Sentinel, Google SecOps and othersNamedCrowdStrike, Defender XDR, SentinelOneNamedEntra ID, OktaNamedAWS Security Lake, AWS AthenaNamedSnowflake, BigQueryNamedthe homepage names SaaS among the sources it correlates6 of 6Ingests hot-path data, queries the rest

"Hot-path data ingested, high-volume data queried where it lives." Its connectors page lists Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, Exabeam, LogRhythm and CrowdStrike NG-SIEM among ingested sources.

Source: artemissecurity.com/connectors · Read 2026-10-19 · Source dates shown above

CardinalOpsNamedSIEM via native APIs (platforms not named)NamedEDR via native APIs; CrowdStrike MarketplaceNot namedNot namedNot namedNot named2 of 6Works inside the SIEM and EDR

Connects through native APIs and delivers rules in their native syntax; a separate data store is not described.

Source: cardinalops.com · Read 2026-10-18 · Source dates shown above

Notes and sources

Figure 1. Where each tool hunts. Data source types each vendor's public pages name as hunted or queried in place, reviewed 2026-10-18. This records published claims, not tested integrations.

How the grid is built

Which head-to-head comparisons should you read?

Frequently asked questions

Which threat hunting tool is best for a small team?
For a team without dedicated hunters, the tools that run hunts on their own score highest: Mars Security and Nebulock (hunt automation 9 of 10), then Cotool, Vega and Artemis (8). See threat hunting without adding headcount.
Which tool has the best ATT&CK coverage?
We do not measure coverage; we score the evidence vendors publish. CardinalOps scores highest (10) for MITRE-mapped detections plus coverage scoring against ATT&CK.
Do any of these tools publish prices?
No. None publishes a license price. Anvilogic publishes a calculator for data-lake costs that excludes its own licensing.