Censys
Internet intelligence platform for searching hosts, certificates and exposed services worldwide.
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About Censys
Censys maps the Internet by continuously scanning IP addresses, ports, services, certificates and DNS, and makes that data searchable for security teams. It grew out of University of Michigan research and is now a commercial company aimed at security operations, threat hunters and organisations managing their external attack surface. Censys Search lets you look up hosts and certificates and pivot between related infrastructure, while products such as Attack Surface Management discover assets you didn't know you had and flag risky exposures. A free account gives basic visibility into standard ports and services, and paid use works through Censys Credits, consumed by searches, lookups and other actions, plus enterprise plans for larger teams. API access is included across plans. Compared with Shodan it leans further toward enterprise security workflows and threat intelligence, which makes it powerful but more expensive and sales-led at the top end.
Best for: Security teams that need Internet-wide host and certificate data plus attack surface management.
Pros and cons
What works
- Broad data covering hosts, ports, certificates, websites and DNS
- Attack surface management and threat hunting built on the same data
- API access included on all plans
Why people leave
- Free account covers only basic visibility into standard ports
- Credit-based billing makes costs harder to predict
- Larger plans go through sales demos
Top Censys alternatives
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Shodan66.5Simpler, long-established device search with an easy CLI and lower entry cost.
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Censys: common questions
Is Censys free?
Censys has a free plan and paid plans. Free plan: Yes (basic visibility) (checked on Censys's own site).
Is Censys open source?
No, Censys is not open source.
What platforms does Censys run on?
Censys is available for Web.
What are the best alternatives to Censys?
The highest-ranked Censys alternatives right now are Shodan. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.