Cobalt alternative: Pwnkemon vs Cobalt
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Pwnkemon is a self-serve alternative to Cobalt for teams who want transparent, published pricing and an autonomous agent they can run themselves — no sales call — against web, network and code targets. Cobalt and Pwnkemon overlap but aren't identical; below is an honest, sourced look at when each is the better call.
Side by side
| Cobalt | Pwnkemon | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | PTaaS (AI + human sign-off) | Self-serve agentic pentesting |
| Best for | Compliance-driven, human-led pentests on a managed schedule. | Engineering and security teams who want a transparent-priced pentest report or a CI security gate without booking a consulting engagement. |
| Pricing model | Mostly quote-based (annual credits); one published figure: Autonomous Pentest $3,500/test (stated limited-time). | Published, self-serve. Free tier (5 credits/mo); subscriptions $249–$2,999/mo; one-off Pentest Reports from $1,999; SOC 2 Evidence Pack $7,999. Source: pwnkemon.com/pricing. |
| Self-serve start | See vendor — most enterprise tools require a demo/sales call. | Yes — free tier, launch a scan yourself, no sales call. |
When to choose Cobalt
- You need a human tester's sign-off on the report for a specific compliance or customer requirement.
- You want managed, scheduled engagements with a vendor relationship and are comfortable with quote-based pricing.
When to choose Pwnkemon
- You want continuous, self-serve testing between engagements at published, lower prices — with a free tier to start.
- You want to catch regressions on every PR via a GitHub Action, not wait days for a scheduled human engagement.
See Pwnkemon pricing · All AI pentesting tools compared
Frequently asked questions
Is there a Cobalt alternative with transparent pricing?
Pwnkemon, the self-serve agentic AI pentesting platform, publishes every tier — a free plan, subscriptions from $249/mo and one-off reports from $1,999 — and you can start without a sales call. Whether it's the right Cobalt alternative depends on your scope: compare both against your own targets and compliance needs.
What is agentic pentesting?
Agentic pentesting uses an AI agent that plans and carries out an attack chain autonomously — running recon, choosing tools, chaining findings, and adapting based on results — rather than running a fixed list of signature checks. The goal is pentester-like reasoning at software speed: fewer false positives, and findings framed by real exploitability instead of raw CVE counts.
Can AI pentesting replace a manual pentest?
Not entirely, and be wary of anyone who says otherwise. AI pentesting is excellent for continuous coverage, fast triage and catching regressions between engagements. But many compliance frameworks and customer security reviews still expect human-validated testing and a named tester's sign-off. SOC 2 and ISO 27001 don't mandate a pentest by name, but auditors commonly expect one as vulnerability-management evidence and may not accept automated-only output — it's auditor-dependent. The honest model: AI for continuous depth and speed, humans for attestation and novel business-logic work.
How much does AI pentesting cost?
It varies widely. Self-serve AI tools with published pricing run from free tiers into low-thousands per report or a few hundred dollars a month; enterprise autonomous-validation and PTaaS platforms are usually quote-based and land far higher. Pwnkemon publishes its pricing: subscriptions from $249/mo and one-off Pentest Reports from $1,999. Always check whether a vendor lists prices or requires a sales call.
Sources
Facts about Cobalt are drawn from:
Pwnkemon facts: pwnkemon.com/pricing.
Related: AI pentesting tools compared · Benchmarks · Pricing · GitHub Action