Bishop Fox is the 800-pound gorilla of offensive security. Two decades in business, $154 million in funding, Fortune 100 clients, and a research lab that has shaped the industry. If you're evaluating offensive security vendors, their name will come up. It should.
But here's the thing: not every company needs a gorilla. If you're a growth-stage company, a startup that just closed a Series A, or a mid-market team that needs expert penetration testing without a six-figure engagement and a months-long sales cycle, the calculus changes. That's where Lorikeet Security fits in.
This isn't a hit piece. Both firms do legitimate offensive security work. The question is which one is built for your organization right now.
Who They Are
Bishop Fox is widely considered the leading authority in offensive security. Founded in 2005 by Vincent Liu and Francis Brown, the firm has grown to roughly 380-390 employees and raised over $154 million in funding, including a $129 million Series B from Carrick Capital, WestCap, and others. They're headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, and their client roster reads like a who's-who of corporate America: Google, Equifax, Zoom, John Deere, Flock Safety. Over 25% of the Fortune 100 and half of the Fortune 10 rely on Bishop Fox. In three years, they've completed 16,000+ projects for over 1,000 customers.
Their services span the full offensive security spectrum: application penetration testing, network penetration testing, red teaming, cloud security assessments, product and hardware security, and AI/LLM security assessments. They also operate Bishop Fox Labs, an open-source research arm responsible for tools like Sliver C2, CloudFox, and Broken Hill, along with 50+ security advisories and dozens of CVEs. They're a CREST member company and a PCI DSS Approved Scanning Vendor.
On the platform side, Bishop Fox offers Cosmos, their continuous attack surface management platform. Cosmos was named the only "Platform Leader" by GigaOm in its ASM evaluation. It provides continuous external penetration testing, and in February 2026 they launched Cosmos AI to layer artificial intelligence into their continuous testing workflows.
Lorikeet Security is a cybersecurity consulting firm with 170+ completed projects and a focus on hands-on offensive security. Their service catalog is broad and deep: web application testing, API penetration testing, cloud security testing across AWS, Azure, and GCP, Active Directory testing, red team operations, physical penetration testing, IoT and hardware testing, desktop application testing, and specialized engagements like ATM/banking terminal and kiosk security testing. They also offer vibe coding security reviews for teams shipping AI-generated code, a service category that barely existed two years ago.
Beyond point-in-time testing, Lorikeet offers managed services including attack surface management at $476/month, vulnerability management, SOC as a Service, and patch management. Every engagement is delivered through a real-time client portal with live vulnerability tracking, and free retesting is included with every project.
Service Comparison
Offensive Security Capabilities
Both firms are legitimate offensive security shops. Bishop Fox has been doing this for 20 years, and their depth of experience shows. They've built specialized practices around product security, hardware security, and AI/LLM security assessments that reflect two decades of evolving with the threat landscape. Their team has found vulnerabilities in products used by millions of people, and their research output through Bishop Fox Labs is a genuine contribution to the security community. Tools like Sliver C2 are used by red teams worldwide.
Lorikeet Security covers the same core offensive security disciplines, with a service catalog that goes deeper in some niche areas: ATM and kiosk testing, desktop application assessments, and physical penetration testing are all on the menu alongside the standard web app, API, cloud, and red team engagements. Where Lorikeet has carved out a distinct lane is in vibe coding security reviews, purpose-built assessments for applications written with AI coding assistants, starting at $2,500.
The difference isn't capability. It's scale and access. Bishop Fox is built for enterprises that need a firm with hundreds of consultants, a named platform, and a track record with Fortune 100 boards. Lorikeet is built for companies that need the same quality of testing without the enterprise overhead.
Platform and Continuous Testing
Bishop Fox's Cosmos platform is a serious differentiator in the enterprise market. It combines continuous attack surface management with ongoing external penetration testing, giving large organizations persistent visibility into their external exposure. The GigaOm "Platform Leader" designation adds third-party validation, and the recent Cosmos AI launch signals where they're heading with automation.
Lorikeet Security offers attack surface management as a managed service at $476/month, which includes continuous asset discovery and automated vulnerability scanning. It's not a named platform with analyst recognition, but it delivers the core functionality that most organizations actually need: knowing what's exposed and what's vulnerable, continuously, at a price point that doesn't require a board-level budget approval.
Research and Industry Contribution
This is where Bishop Fox stands alone. Their Labs team has published 50+ security advisories, disclosed dozens of CVEs, and released open-source tools that are standard equipment in the offensive security community. Sliver is a legitimate alternative to commercial C2 frameworks. CloudFox helps security teams find attack paths in cloud environments. Broken Hill is a research tool for AI/LLM security. This kind of sustained research investment is rare outside of the largest security firms, and it speaks to the depth of their technical bench.
Lorikeet Security's focus is on client delivery rather than public research. Their expertise shows up in engagement results and their client portal, not in conference talks and CVE counts. For most buyers, that's fine. You're hiring a pentesting firm to test your applications, not to publish papers.
Client Experience and Delivery
Lorikeet Security's client portal is a standout. Vulnerabilities appear in real time as testers find them, with remediation guidance attached. You can track remediation status, communicate directly with the testing team, and download compliance-ready reports. Free retesting is included with every engagement, so you can verify your fixes without paying for another round.
Bishop Fox delivers through a more traditional consulting engagement model, which makes sense at their scale. When you're running 16,000+ projects across 1,000+ customers, the delivery model is built for repeatability and consistency across a large team. Their Cosmos platform adds a self-service layer for continuous testing clients, but point-in-time assessments follow a conventional delivery workflow.
At a Glance
| Lorikeet Security | Bishop Fox | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Offensive security consulting | Offensive security + continuous ASM platform |
| Best For | Startups, growth-stage, mid-market | Enterprise, Fortune 100, upper mid-market |
| Delivery | Real-time client portal, free retesting | Traditional consulting + Cosmos platform |
| Team Size | Boutique, senior-led engagements | ~380-390 employees |
| Pricing | Published, from $2,500 | Custom, $20K-$80K+ per engagement |
| ASM | $476/mo managed service | Cosmos platform (enterprise pricing) |
| Retesting | Free, included | Engagement-dependent |
Pricing Reality
This is where the decision gets practical. Bishop Fox is a premium vendor with premium pricing. Their Nest Partner program, designed for smaller assessments, runs $20,000 to $80,000 per engagement. Full-scope red team operations and multi-application assessments for enterprise clients go well beyond that. This pricing is appropriate for their market: large enterprises with dedicated security budgets expect to pay for a firm with Bishop Fox's reputation and track record.
But if you're a 50-person startup that needs a web application pentest before closing an enterprise deal, $20,000 is a hard pill to swallow. If you're a growth-stage company that needs quarterly testing across three applications, the math gets uncomfortable fast.
Lorikeet Security publishes their pricing: web application pentests start at $7,500, compliance testing at $7,599, vibe coding security reviews at $2,500, and attack surface management at $476/month. No enterprise sales cycle. No "request a quote" form that leads to a three-week discovery process. You know what you're paying before the first call.
Transparent pricing isn't just a convenience, it's a signal. It tells you the vendor has standardized their delivery enough to price predictably. It also means you're not subsidizing a 390-person headcount and $154 million in investor expectations.
Which One Should You Choose?
Choose Bishop Fox if:
- You're a Fortune 500 or large enterprise with a dedicated security budget
- You need a vendor with 20 years of track record for board-level reporting
- You want continuous ASM through a recognized, analyst-validated platform
- You need specialized product/hardware security or AI/LLM assessments at scale
- Your procurement process already handles six-figure security engagements
Choose Lorikeet Security if:
- You need expert penetration testing without a $20K+ minimum
- You're a startup or growth-stage company that needs to move fast
- You want real-time visibility into findings through a modern client portal
- You're shipping AI-generated code and need right-sized security reviews
- You want transparent pricing and free retesting included
- You need managed services like ASM or vulnerability management at accessible price points
The Bottom Line
Bishop Fox earned their reputation. Twenty years of offensive security work, serious research output, Fortune 100 clients, and a platform that has analyst validation. If you're an enterprise with the budget and the procurement infrastructure, they're a safe choice.
But "safe for enterprises" doesn't mean "right for everyone." Most companies aren't Fortune 100. Most security budgets can't absorb $20,000+ per engagement without serious scrutiny. Most teams don't need a 390-person firm when a senior-led boutique team can deliver the same caliber of testing, faster, with more transparency, at a fraction of the cost.
Lorikeet Security exists for those companies. Same offensive security disciplines. Same manual, hands-on testing. Real-time delivery through a modern portal. Transparent pricing. Free retesting. No enterprise sales gauntlet.
The worst decision isn't choosing one over the other. It's delaying testing entirely because the "name brand" vendor is out of budget. Every week you wait is another week your applications run with vulnerabilities that an attacker won't wait to find.
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