HailBytes ASM vs Shodan
A self-hosted option for teams that want continuous, active reconnaissance of their own attack surface, rather than a query interface sitting on top of a global passive-scan dataset.
TL;DR
Shodan is the original internet-wide scan dataset, with deep banner-grab history and a powerful query API. HailBytes ASM is a self-hosted attack surface management platform that runs the recon pipeline (subdomain discovery, port scans, web fingerprinting, CVE matching) inside your own AWS or Azure account. The two are complementary, but if you need ownership-grade ASM, Shodan Monitor isn’t the right primitive.
- Pick HailBytes ASM if you need active, continuous scans of your own surface, custom wordlists and scan logic, white-label deliverables, or full data residency.
- Stay with Shodan if your primary use case is querying the global internet-wide dataset for threat intelligence, exposure research, or adversary infrastructure tracking.
Pricing & Cost Model
Price is not the argument here, so we won’t pretend it is. HailBytes ASM starts at the 8 vCPU floor — $11,760/year on a 1-year commitment, $16,800 at list — and Shodan’s Small Business tier is several times cheaper on sticker price. What the money buys is different: HailBytes actively scans assets you own, on your schedule, with your scan logic, inside your own cloud account, and produces white-label output you can hand to a client. Shodan sells access to a global passive dataset.
| Dimension | HailBytes ASM | Shodan / Shodan Monitor |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing axis | Infrastructure ($0.24/vCPU/hour) | Per query credit / per IP monitored |
| Annual cost (small surface) | $11,760 (8 vCPU; $16,800 list) — Shodan’s Small Business tier undercuts our 8 vCPU floor outright; we lose this band | ~$1,200–$5,000 (Small Business) |
| Annual cost (mid surface) | $11,760–$23,520 (8–16 vCPU; $16,800–$33,600 list) — all-in this overlaps Shodan Corporate at 8 vCPU and sits above it at 16; not a price advantage | ~$10,000–$25,000 (Corporate) |
| Annual cost (large surface) | $23,520–$47,110 (16–32 vCPU; $33,600–$67,300 list) — all-in, level with Shodan Enterprise’s floor at 16 vCPU and well above it at 32 | $30,000+ (Enterprise) |
| Free trial | 30 days via AWS / Azure Marketplace | Free tier (limited queries) |
| Procurement path | Cloud marketplace (counts toward EDP / MACC) | Direct subscription |
HailBytes figures are the 1-year commitment price — delivered as an AWS or Azure private offer, not a discount on the published meter — with list alongside, so the comparison sits on the same annual-contract basis as the competitor column. 8 vCPU ($16,800 list) is the entry size. The meter covers software only; the VM, storage, and networking run in your own cloud account and are billed separately at roughly $35/vCPU/month — $280/month at 8 vCPU, $560 at 16, $1,120 at 32 — so scale that line to the size on the row you are reading, not to 8 vCPU. All-in at 8 vCPU that is about $20,160/year at list or $15,120 on a 1-year commitment, and every break-even quoted on this page is calculated on that all-in basis. Full pricing.
Sizing above 8 vCPU: ASM sizes its scan worker from the host, so a larger instance scans proportionally faster — a 16 vCPU deployment gives the scan engine twice the cores an 8 vCPU one does. Instances deployed before August 2026 pick this up on the next update, when the installer rewrites the worker limits to match the machine.
Architecture & Control
| Dimension | HailBytes ASM | Shodan |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment | Self-hosted in your AWS / Azure account | SaaS query interface |
| Source code access | Ships with the deployment; auditable under NDA | Closed source |
| Data residency | Whatever cloud region you pick | Shodan-controlled |
| Scan model | Active scans on demand or scheduled | Passive global crawl + Monitor active probes |
| Custom scan logic / wordlists | ✅ Full control | ❌ |
| Per-tenant isolation | One VM per tenant | Multi-tenant SaaS |
Capability Comparison
| Capability | HailBytes ASM | Shodan |
|---|---|---|
| Subdomain enumeration | ✅ CT logs, brute, passive DNS | 🟡 Hostname pivots |
| Active port & service scanning of your assets | ✅ On-demand and scheduled | 🟡 Monitor (limited cadence) |
| Internet-wide passive scan dataset | ❌ | ✅ Industry standard |
| CVE matching against fingerprinted services | ✅ | ✅ |
| Custom wordlists | ✅ Unlimited | ❌ |
| Web-app fingerprinting / DAST primitives | ✅ 40+ tools orchestrated | 🟡 Banner-level |
| AI-powered finding analysis | ✅ OpenAI + Ollama (local GPU) | ❌ |
| MCP server / AI-agent tooling | ✅ Built-in (Claude / Cursor / Windsurf) | ❌ |
| Jira / Slack / SIEM routing | ✅ Splunk, Sentinel, Elastic, Chronicle | 🟡 Webhook only |
| Government cloud (GovCloud / Azure Gov) | ✅ Both | ❌ |
| White-label for client deliverables | ✅ Built-in | ❌ |
When HailBytes ASM Wins
- You want continuous active scans of your own surface, not a query view of a global passive dataset.
- Pen-test firms packaging continuous monitoring. The cost basis for a white-label deliverable is per instance, not per asset: about $15,120/year all-in at 8 vCPU on a 1-year commitment ($11,760 of software plus roughly $3,360 of cloud infrastructure), however many assets the client has. Pen-test firm playbook.
- You hit query-credit ceilings in Shodan Monitor on a large or fast-changing surface.
- Government and regulated industries. AWS GovCloud and Azure Government deployments keep data inside your tenancy.
- AI-agent recon workflows. A built-in MCP server lets Claude, Cursor, and Windsurf drive scans and triage findings without custom glue code.
When Shodan Wins
- Threat-intel and exposure research across the entire internet, not just your own assets.
- Fast lookups on arbitrary IPs and adversary infrastructure. Shodan’s historical banner data is the moat.
- Cheap, low-volume monitoring of a small static IP set. Shodan Small Business runs ~$1,200–$5,000/year against our ~$15,120 all-in floor, so on a small surface Shodan simply wins on price.
Try HailBytes ASM
The AWS and Azure Marketplace listings include a 30-day trial covering the underlying VM. Most teams end up keeping Shodan for global pivots and running HailBytes ASM for owned-asset coverage.
Related Comparisons
Other internet-scan and ASM platforms usually evaluated alongside Shodan:
- vs Censys — internet-wide certificate and port intelligence.
- vs Detectify — SaaS web-app surface monitoring.
- vs runZero — asset inventory and network discovery.
- vs Microsoft Defender EASM — Azure-native external ASM.
- Full ASM comparison matrix — every vendor side by side, plus the HailBytes ASM product page.
See HailBytes ASM in Action
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Try HailBytes ASM Free
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- ✓ 30-day free trial on AWS or Azure
- ✓ Guided onboarding from our security team
- ✓ No credit card required to start
- ✓ 40+ security tools pre-configured