ZeroFox vs. Netcraft: Which is Better for Phishing and Takedown Protection?

Modern organizations understand the importance of a skilled cybersecurity team standing ready to defend their corporate network from the inside. However, today’s businesses are more likely to seek out customers across digital marketplaces, social networks and other third-party spaces beyond the traditional corporate perimeter. This search for new opportunities also opens up a new attack surface to an onslaught of cyber threats.

Despite the risks, many companies still view activities like phishing or brand impersonation as inevitable nuisances that are just part of the cost of doing digital business. But when criminals steal your identity, to carry out a phishing campaign, for example, it not only hurts your customers and damages your reputation, it also raises questions of your legal liability for any harm that occurs.

The numbers tell a worrying story: While 75% of phishing links come from reputable websites, around one million new phishing websites are set up every month, a 700% rise in just five years, leading to a 140% increase in phishing attacks year-on-year. Criminal actors create convincing brand impersonations faster than regular security teams can respond, with more than 50% of web-based phishing attacks involved impersonating brands. Executive impersonations alone cost organizations up to $44,000 per incident. More broadly, $16 billion is lost to online scams every year.

To combat these threats, more and more companies are seeing the value of working with external cybersecurity platforms to protect their brands across the Internet. There are a variety of providers competing with each other in this area,but one prominent rivalry is that of ZeroFox vs. Netcraft. Both vendors promise robust protection against criminal activity like phishing and advertise rapid takedown capabilities, yet their approaches, coverage, and results can differ significantly. Read on to discover the user experiences and insights that reveal how ZeroFox and Netcraft perform in real-world conditions, and find out which one can best protect you.

But first, let’s take a look at what exactly external threat intelligence platforms do.

What are Threat Intelligence Platforms?

Josh Mayfield, Sr. Director, Product Marketing at ZeroFox, paints a dramatic picture of external threat intelligence platforms operating as “Digital sentinels, roaming the vast expanse of the internet outside your perimeter, constantly scanning for dangers”.

"They crawl through the Internet the same way that Google does. The main difference is they're biased toward trying to find that which is bad," he explains.

To hunt these threats, platforms like ZeroFox and Netcraft scan and analyze text and images across billions of web pages, from legitimate sites to dark web forums. By doing things like clicking through webapps, filling in forms, and mapping connections, they go far beyond the sort of basic contextual scraping carried out by search engines, to learn how a web page actually interacts with users and figure out if it poses any danger. 

Once a threat intelligence platform identifies malicious content—whether that's a phishing site mimicking your login page or a fraudulent social media account scamming customers—the takedown process begins. To make sure it’s effective, you need a network that’s global in scope and scale to advocate on your behalf and disrupt bad actors on demand 24/7 365 days a year.

The best solution leverages contacts and partnerships across the industry and coordinates with hosting providers, domain registrars, and platform administrators to remove the threats with minimal friction. This speed is crucial: every hour a phishing site remains active can mean more compromised credentials and even greater breaches of trust.

So, that’s the theory behind external threat intelligence. Now, let’s compare ZeroFox vs. Netcraft and see how they live up to it in practice.

Platform Overview: ZeroFox vs. Netcraft

Examining Netcraft's Capabilities

Netcraft, founded in 1994, provides cybercrime detection and takedown services focused mainly on anti-phishing protection. The company gained recognition as a strategic security vendor for the UK government in 2016, establishing its credibility in the public sector. Its automated digital risk protection platform combines detection, threat intelligence, and disruption and takedown capabilities. Netcraft claims to safeguard organizations and their customers from various online threats, including phishing, scams, fraud, and cyberattacks. 

Core Detection Technology

Netcraft's phishing detection system hinges heavily on AI-based identification of phishing and domain abuse. The system processes billions of data points annually from different sources, including DNS registrations, spam emails, anti-phishing community reports, and proprietary feeds. Its domain monitoring capabilities include active screenshots from various regions and a sandbox for analyzing URLs.

Threat Disruption

Once its AI thinks it has spotted a potential phishing threat, Netcraft activates countermeasures in an attempt to limit access. For example, the Netcraft app and browser extensions claim to check visited websites against a constantly updated blocklist of malicious sites to protect against phishing attacks and other web-based threats on mobile devices. This is supposed to provide temporary cover for users while the formal takedown process gets started.

Takedown Process

Netcraft’s takedown infrastructure leans extensively on automation capabilities, with 80-90% of takedowns performed without any human oversight. The platform is given free rein to identify relevant parties (hosting providers, domain registrars, webmasters) and determine effective notification methods all by itself. While Netcraft says they have takedown speeds from between 2 and 8 hours, that's a wide range. After initial takedown, they monitor for further attacks and reactivate takedown processes (if threats reemerge within 7 days).

Threat Intelligence

In addition to takedown responses, Netcraft can offer threat intelligence to help with  phishing and other cybercrime concerns.

Netcraft Digital Risk Protection: Problems and Limitations

Unfortunately, user reviews, expert opinions, and studies comparing Netcraft tell a different story of what it’s actually like to rely on Netcraft for your phishing and takedown needs. Here's what they're saying:

User Engagement*

While most reviews on G2 are positive about Netcraft’s main features, a closer look shows these numbers actually highlight a disconnect between Netcraft's claims and the actual user experience. The company has been around for 30 years, but only seven G2 users are willing to go on record with any feedback at all. And over on Gartner's Peer Insights, just 10 Netcraft users have responded, with only two giving the full 5 stars. Do these reviews show weak market adoption or low brand enthusiasm? Why is Netcraft earning such a lukewarm response? Let’s break it down.

Interface Problems Frustrate Users

Customers consistently complain about Netcraft's outdated interface, saying that the platform looks and feels old compared to modern security tools. This failing goes beyond aesthetics—many businesses find Netcraft's products difficult to understand, and new users struggle to grasp how the system works.

The Platform Lacks Key Features

As for its aspirations to establish itself as a true cyber threat intelligence (CTI) provider, users criticize Netcraft for being anything but, with statements complaining that it’s “very limited for non-phishing/brand use cases” and offers “very limited coverage for threat intelligence use cases”. Some users have openly stated how Netcraft is redundant to their primary CTI solutions, making them consider discontinuing the service to reduce costs.

Reports Lack Customization

Users expressed frustration about being unable to customize Netcraft's reports to meet their most fundamental needs. Attack-type reporting, severity-level analysis, and prioritization are basic requirements for mitigating exposures and threats, yet these are completely absent from Netcraft's solution.

Too Reactive

Customers say they want Netcraft to be "more proactive about threats rather than waiting for reports with charts and graphs." They want the platform to "dig deeper without being provided IOCs for research." 

Above all, their most forceful complaints are about Netcraft's rigidity interfering with their workflows and actually becoming a distraction from the job of protecting and mitigating threats.

Support Falls Short

Customer support during implementation needs improvement, with new users often reporting feeling lost and unsure if the product is working properly. Such a lack of trust in the Netcraft product and company is significant when you’re trying to protect your brand from serious exposures and threats.

Over Automation

Netcraft relies extensively on automation to scale its operations, a one-size-fits-all solution that creates its own problems, such as large numbers of false positives that lead to sometimes taking down legitimate sites. It seems unwise to gamble your brand on a company more focused on what they can automate to support a cheap business model instead of investing in the success of their clients.

Pricing Raises Concerns

Netcraft initially appears as an affordable solution, but costs can rapidly escalate as usage increases. It faces persistent criticism for its "nickel and dime" pricing model, an approach that mirrors the in-app purchase model of consumer apps, but applied to enterprise cybersecurity services. 

Customers complain about unexpected charges for core services, features, and actions they assumed were included in their base package. This lack of pricing transparency leaves customers unable to predict or budget their expenses effectively. Ultimately it damages Netcraft's credibility, especially when contrasting its specialized solution with competitors offering predictable flat-rate pricing for a much more comprehensive range of included features.

Technical Ratings Show Weakness

Gartner Peer Insights reveals specific shortcomings compared to ZeroFox:

• Scalability: 4.5 for ZeroFox vs. Netcraft’s 4.0
• Customization: 4.3 for ZeroFox vs. Netcraft’s 3.9
• Integration: 4.4 for ZeroFox vs. Netcraft’s 4.1
• Evaluation & Contracting: 4.7 for ZeroFox vs. Netcraft’s 4.1
• Service & Support: 4.5 for ZeroFox vs. Netcraft’s 4.2

Perhaps most telling are the areas where Netcraft receives absolutely no ratings whatsoever on Gartner Peer Insights, while ZeroFox is awarded strong scores:

• Pricing Flexibility: 4.0 for ZeroFox vs. Netcraft’s 0.0
• Ability to Understand Needs: 4.0 for ZeroFox vs. Netcraft’s 0.0
• Ease of Deployment: 5.0 for ZeroFox vs. Netcraft’s 0.0
• Quality of End-User Training: 5.0 for ZeroFox vs. Netcraft’s 0.0
• Ease of Integration using Standard APIs and Tools: 4.0 for ZeroFox vs. Netcraft’s 0.0
• Availability of 3rd-Party Resources: 4.0 for ZeroFox vs. Netcraft’s 0.0
• Timeliness of Vendor Response: 5.0 out of 5 for ZeroFox vs. Netcraft’s 0.0
• Quality of Technical Support: 5.0 out of 5 for ZeroFox vs. Netcraft’s 0.0
• Quality of Peer User Community: 5.0 out of 5 for ZeroFox vs. Netcraft’s 0.0

These null ratings suggest that, either users don't care enough to provide feedback or, these services aren’t offered by Netcraft in meaningful ways. Either way, Netcraft is not making the impact they would like you to believe they are.

In a nutshell, while they’ve had 30 years to build something that customers would want, use, and value, Netcraft has ended up as a savant without skills, inadequate, painful to operate, and unable to help anyone but themselves. They spent three decades focused on figuring out how to automate their security systems. But they failed to ensure those systems were actually working well in the first place, breaking the first rule of engineering by optimizing something that shouldn't be there. 

Their overall approach seems designed to benefit their own operations and cut their costs, keeping Netcraft in business at the expense of their customer's safety and security. They've built a system that allowed them to exist and keep existing.

What does the ZeroFox Platform Offer?

Established in 2013, ZeroFox is widely recognized as the pioneer of unified end-to-end external cybersecurity. The Baltimore-based company protects thousands of clients, including four of the Fortune 10 companies.

ZeroFox's approach combines artificial intelligence with the human expertise of 100 threat analysts working across 27 languages with a Global Disruption Network to block and take down threats worldwide.

For a company one third the age of Netcraft, ZeroFox has garnered twice as many evaluations on Gartner Peer Insights, where the platform earns a 4.7-star rating from 20 verified reviews. Notably, 65% of ZeroFox reviews reward it with the maximum 5-star rating. In the specific "Security Threat Intelligence Products and Services" market on Gartner, ZeroFox has garnered 20 reviews, demonstrating strong market validation in this key category.

Beyond Gartner, the platform's exceptional performance is recognized on G2.com, where ZeroFox has accumulated 55 user reviews to earn a strong 4.5 out of 5 stars overall rating. Qualitative feedback from G2 users consistently highlights two key strengths: "Exceptional Customer Support" with 15 specific mentions, and "Ease of Use and Implementation" cited in 12 reviews.

Let's drill down deeper into ZeroFox's capabilities and performance:

Comprehensive Digital Risk Protection

ZeroFox delivers multichannel coverage to eliminate blind spots from your external security posture. 

The platform identifies threats across:

• Deep and dark web forums where stolen credentials and attack plans circulate
• Social media platforms where 50% of cyberattacks involving impersonation originate
• Mobile app stores containing fraudulent applications
• Digital marketplaces selling counterfeit products
• Surface web domains targeting brands, employees, and customers

In practice, this means ZeroFox:

• Continuously monitors 30 million domains and URLs
• Infiltrates 1000s of dark web forums
• Captures 1.3 million posts from deep and dark web sources every month

These ongoing efforts enrich a vast data lake that already boasts 12 billion threat intelligence records, providing unmatched visibility into emerging threats. But aside from the data, ZeroFox’s threat intelligence is inherently relevant, originating as it does with the fusion of CTI with DRP. ZeroFox starts with the organization then works outward into the extended attack surface to discover threats relevant to the customer’s attack surface.

The end result means that ZeroFox can:

• Secure 4 million client assets daily
• Safeguard 6,200+ brands across social channels
• Defend 100 million+ domains daily from fraud and phishing
• Protect 21,000 executives and VIPs

Your assets. Your brands. Your domains. Your people. 

One Gartner reviewer praised the platform as "The outstanding brand monitoring tool," noting that "Brand monitoring is intact and alerts are generated in a quick manner." Another verified user described it as "a comprehensive and easy to use threat monitoring solution," highlighting that they were able to set up accounts and start monitoring their assets in "a few minutes." Yet another user highlighted ZeroFox’s “Ease of use and ability to detect impersonations which would be near impossible to find otherwise."

Full-Spectrum Threat Intelligence

ZeroFox's sophisticated systems and 100+ threat analysts collaborate to provide round-the-clock intelligence services, including:

• Customizable finished intelligence reports
• Technical cybersecurity analysis
• Threat assessments tailored to specific industries
• On-demand investigations into threat actors and campaigns

Thanks to this intelligence-driven approach, organizations can anticipate threats rather than simply react to attacks after damage occurs.

Next-Generation Takedown Capabilities

The ZeroFox platform's automated remediation capabilities include:

• Comprehensive Coverage at Scale

ZeroFox pursues and performs takedowns from common use cases to the most complex, across millions of web domains, social media networks, app stores, and more. Our experienced disruption analysts can quickly remediate everything from impersonations, fraudulent mobile apps, fake marketplace listings, intellectual property violations, phishing domains, and even assess and file UDRP disputes against cybersquatting, all on your behalf. 

• Rapid Threat Resolution

ZeroFox’s partnership and direct API integration with Google Web Risk enables rapid priority review of submitted domain threats, such as phishing and malware sites, blocking malicious domains in as little as 15 minutes across 5 billion devices worldwide. This industry-leading response time significantly reduces the window of exposure for in-flight phishing attacks.

• 100% In-House Disruption Team

Unlike services like Recorded Future that outsource takedowns or rely heavily on automation like Netcraft, ZeroFox maintains the industry's largest team of disruption analysts who process and execute takedowns directly. This in-house approach ensures faster resolution and better accountability. A verified user on Gartner Peer Insights specifically praised this functionality, stating they were "Experiencing faster online takedown process with ZeroFox."

• Global Disruption Network

The platform leverages relationships with over 80 disruption partners and major network APIs, including ISPs, DNS providers, domain hosts, registrars, and web security blocklists. This unique network enables proactive blocking while takedowns process, minimizing threat exposure.

• PII Removal Services

The platform automatically removes personally identifiable information from data broker sites—protecting key personnel from social engineering attacks and identity theft through comprehensive online presence management, with monthly reporting to ensure PII stays removed.

• Workflows with Full Transparency 

Cut response times, conserve resources, and shrink threat exposure with streamlined takedown workflows, automated in-platform requests, and an intuitive takedown dashboard promoting visibility and full transparency throughout the remediation process.

Thanks to this extensive suite of capabilities, ZeroFox executes 1 million+ successful takedowns yearly with a 95% success rate for executive, brand, and domain takedowns. What’s more, the platform performs an impressive 8 million disruption actions annually through automated systems.

Physical Security Intelligence

ZeroFox also provides 24/7/365 monitoring to block physical threats emerging from the digital world. Among other things, this unique capability protects executives, employees, and facilities from:

• Targeted harassment and doxxing
• Swatting attempts
• Transport planning and logistics
• Travel security risks

Implementation and Support Excellence

ZeroFox offers superior implementation and ongoing support:

• Seamless Integration

The platform integrates smoothly with existing security tools through comprehensive APIs, enhancing rather than replacing current investments.

• Dedicated Customer Success

Each customer receives a dedicated Customer Success Manager who ensures smooth onboarding and continuous value realization. One reviewer specifically praised: "At the beginning, we would meet weekly to go over onboarding steps. The process was well executed."

• Expert Managed Services

The OnWatch team provides 24/7 monitoring and alert triage, reducing the burden on internal security teams.

Key Differentiators: ZeroFox vs Netcraft

Gartner Peer Insights verifies the user and their experience through direct contact. Their research demonstrates that users award wins to ZeroFox across multiple dimensions:

Superior Customer Satisfaction Metrics

• Service Excellence

ZeroFox achieves a 4.5 rating for Service & Support, with one reviewer noting "My experience with ZeroFox has been great from the get-go. The sales team was helpful in negotiating terms and pricing and handed me over to our CSM for implementation."

• Ease of Deployment

ZeroFox scores 4.3, with users specifically praising the implementation process: "The process was well executed, allowing us to fully deploy within two weeks."

• Product Capabilities

ZeroFox achieves a 4.3 rating, reflecting its broader feature set and deeper protection capabilities. What’s more, the platform listens to its users. Direct tie-ins allow them to communicate with product teams, submit requests for enhancements (RFEs), order tailored research with on-demand investigations (ODIs), and access the ZeroFox community to leverage the hive intelligence of other users.

• Technical Superiority

ZeroFox excels with ratings of:

• 4.5 for Scalability
• 4.3 for Customization
• 4.4 for Integration

The platform also achieves perfect 5.0 scores in multiple areas where Netcraft shows zero ratings: 

• 5.0 for Quality of Technical Support
• 5.0 for Timeliness of Vendor Response
• 5.0 for Quality of End-User Training
• 5.0 for Quality of Peer User Community

If there’s one number that sums up just how far behind Netcraft is left trailing in ZeroFox’s dust, it’s the willingness to recommend. One glance is all it takes to see who wins the ZeroFox vs. Netcraft grudge match:

• While just 70% of Netcraft users would recommend it to others
• ZeroFox gets a 95% recommendation from twice as many reviewers

Real-World Impact

Organizations across industries trust ZeroFox for comprehensive external cybersecurity. The platform protects:

• 10,000+ brands across financial services, retail, technology, and media
• 21,000 executives and VIPs from targeted attacks
• 400,000+ active domains from phishing campaigns

As we’ve seen, customer testimonials consistently highlight ZeroFox's superiority. One Director of Global Cyber Defense praised the platform's comprehensive capabilities and stated unequivocally: "ZeroFox is head and shoulders above the competition." 

Industry Recognition

Leading analyst firms recognize ZeroFox's market leadership:

• Named best-in-class for brand intelligence and takedown services by Forrester
• Recognized as a leader in external threat intelligence by multiple industry reports
• Praised by Intel Capital for establishing global leadership in public attack surface protection

The Gartner reviews show ZeroFox competes successfully against multiple alternatives, while Netcraft struggles to differentiate itself.

Additionally, ZeroFox has earned numerous Leader badges from G2:

1. Leader — Grid® Report for Dark Web Monitoring
2. Leader — Grid® Report for Brand Protection
3. Leader — Grid® Report for Fraud Detection
4. Leader — Grid® Report for Threat Intelligence
5. Leader — Grid® Report for System Security
6. Leader — Grid® Report for Web Security
7. Leader — Grid® Report for E-Commerce

ZeroFox also received 2024 Cyber Defense Magazine Global Infosec Awards and Cybersecurity Excellence Awards:

• Publisher's Choice in Attack Surface Management
• Winner in External Attack Surface Management
• Winner in Cybersecurity for Financial Services
• Best Cybersecurity Podcast

Return on Investment

A Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact™ study concluded that ZeroFox customers achieve a 267% return on investment over three years. This impressive ROI stems from:

• Reduced Executive Impersonation Risk

With executive impersonations costing up to $44,000 per threat, ZeroFox's proactive protection and rapid takedowns prevent significant financial losses.

• Lower Fraud Takedown Costs

Automated remediation saves hundreds of thousands in labor costs compared to manual takedown processes. Organizations increase their ability to identify spoofed domains, fake mobile apps, and false social media accounts while resolving them faster.

• Prevented Revenue Loss

By blocking phishing campaigns before they reach customers, ZeroFox helps maintain brand trust and prevents the customer churn associated with successful attacks.

The Verdict: Trust ZeroFox

As technology races ahead, external threats will continue evolving, growing more sophisticated and damaging each day. To survive and prosper, your organization needs protection that stays ahead of this complexity—not just to defend against today's phishing attempts, but to neutralize any of tomorrow's emerging attack vectors.

ZeroFox makes sure you're never alone in the fight against external threats, delivering industry-leading threat detection, the fastest takedown capabilities available, and comprehensive coverage monitoring.

Ready to see the difference? Request a demo today.

*All ratings correct at time of writing, may be subject to change