Hoxhunt vs Adaptive Security: Side-by-Side Enterprise Buyer’s Guide (2026)

Both Hoxhunt and Adaptive Security offer phishing simulations, deepfake scenarios, and AI-generated content. This guide compares the two platforms across real-world enterprise criteria: sustained behavior change, SOC-ready workflows, Microsoft 365 alignment, and global scalability. Both vendors offer modern multichannel simulations and AI-generated content. But one is engineered for lasting outcomes.

Based on customer feedback, competitive analysis, and live enterprise rollouts, Hoxhunt is the safer default for most mid–large enterprises. Adaptive can look exciting in demos (especially around deepfakes and multichannel simulations) but Hoxhunt consistently wins on realism, behavior change, operational maturity, and trust.

‍

Adaptive Security vs Hoxhunt: Side-by-side comparison

The table below summarizes where Hoxhunt and Adaptive align and where Hoxhunt’s focus on threat-informed training, behavior change, and Microsoft 365 workflows makes it the safer long-term choice.

‍

Simulation realism: Real threats vs. AI demos

What looks “real” in a demo often fails in production. Adaptive’s definition of realism centers on OSINT‑powered, AI‑generated phishing stories. These are often visually impressive, but frequently detached from what employees are actually receiving. Hoxhunt takes a fundamentally different approach. Its simulations are built from real phishing emails that are bypassing enterprise filters right now, curated daily by a threat operations team, and then enhanced with deepfake, SMS, and voice overlays. The result isn’t just believable scenarios... it’s training aligned to live threats. This is realism you can operationalize, not just demonstrate.

What to validate in a pilot

• How many high-literacy users (IT, security, execs) fail simulations?
• Are scenarios clearly derived from current attacks, or generic templates with AI flavoring?
• Do deepfakes feel production-grade or proof-of-concept?

‍

Behavior change: Automated loops vs one-off scenarios

Adaptive focuses on deepfake scenarios and novelty. That can be useful for awareness, but it doesn’t guarantee behavior change.

Hoxhunt is built as a behavior-change system, not just a simulation engine. It focuses on repeatable loops:

• Adaptive difficulty per user
• Continuous exposure run as a program, not campaigns
• Micro-training immediately after fail/report
• Instant feedback to reporters
• Gamified mechanics that keep participation high

Customers consistently report that Hoxhunt reduces phishing repeat offenders, challenges power users, and improves reporting quality - all without turning security teams into full-time campaign managers. Qualcomm even used Hoxhunt to turn their 1,000 highest-risk employees into their top performers (quick breakdown here).

Quick buyer checklist (pass/fail)

• Weeks 6-10 plateau test: are high performers still challenged?
• Repeat offenders: does the platform suppress them without spamming everyone else?
• Feedback: does anything happen immediately when someone reports or fails? Do users get instant feedback?

‍

Personalization & adaptivity: Who actually gets smarter over time?

Both vendors talk about “adaptive training.” The real difference is whether adaptivity is truly individual and automatic, or just segmented campaigns with an AI layer on top.

Hoxhunt:

• Adjusts difficulty, cadence, and content at the individual level
• Uses large-scale threat data plus behavior to adapt over time
• Targets repeat offenders without punishing everyone else
• Continues increasing difficulty for strong performers

Adaptive:

• Leads with AI-driven personalization messaging
• In practice, buyers often describe simulations as broad and random, closer to manual campaigns than true behavior-driven adaptivity
• Risk of “looks personalized” without long-term difficulty progression

Questions to ask both vendors

• Is adaptivity per user, or just per role/department?
• Can you show data on repeat offender reduction over 6-12 months?
• How do you prevent power users from plateauing and learning the templates?

‍

Microsoft 365 & SOC integration: Built-in vs bolted-on

For Microsoft 365 environments, the question is not “do you integrate?” - but how deeply and how operably?

Hoxhunt is designed around M365 and SOC workflows:

• Single, branded Report Phishing button in Outlook and Gmail
• Real-time feedback on reported threats to users
• Automated routing into Defender/SOC workflows
• Behavior-based training triggers from tools like Microsoft Defender or CrowdStrike
• SCIM / Entra ID provisioning and documented multi-tenant patterns

Adaptive references M365 and AI phishing readiness, but buyers report:

• More friction deploying reporting flows
• Fewer published details on SCIM / multi-tenant governance
• Reporting data less tightly coupled to SOC workflows

What to insist on in a PoC

• End-to-end demo using your M365 + Defender stack
• Clear mapping: user report → SOC view → user feedback → triggered micro-training
• Evidence that integration stays maintainable over time

‍

Employee experience & culture: Gamified habits vs AI intensity

Security awareness fails when employees tune out or complain. The question is not just “is it engaging?” but does it create durable reporting habits without backlash?

Hoxhunt:

• Uses gamification (stars, streaks, leaderboards) to keep engagement high
• Delivers instant, educational feedback so users feel rewarded, not punished
• Keeps tone accessible for the general population, while allowing different handling for executives and high-risk roles
• Frequently gets described as “fun” and “addictive” in internal feedback and G2 reviews

Adaptive:

• Often perceived as more “serious” and AI-heavy
• Deepfake focus can impress executives but without strong coaching loops, it risks feeling like a one-off stunt rather than a sustained habit builder
• Less emphasis on positive reinforcement; more on simulation variety

Questions to test with users

• How do employees feel after they fail? Coached, or reprimanded?
• Do execs get an experience tuned to their reality, not just generic simulations?
• Are people talking about the program in a positive way or just tolerating it?

‍

Admin & rollout: Scale without overhead

Enterprise rollouts break on admin drag, not feature gaps.

Hoxhunt is repeatedly chosen by teams that:

• Run global, multi-language programs
• Need clear multi-tenant administration
• Have lean security teams who can’t babysit campaigns
• Want “day-2 program motion” handled by the platform, not manual work

Feedback about Adaptive from switching customers often includes:

• Longer setup and launch times
• More manual campaign configuration
• Admin settings and reports gated behind support
• Integration complexity that “brings more sorrow than joy” when things don’t work as expected

Checklist for security teams

• Can one person realistically run this for 10k+ users?
• How much is truly automated vs campaign-based?
• How fast can you add a new region/language without a services project?

‍

Reporting & ROI: What actually reaches the board

Boards and executives don’t care how many scenarios you’ve shipped. They care whether human risk is going down and whether security tools and training reinforce each other.

Hoxhunt focuses reporting on:

• Reporting rate and quality, not just click failures
• Repeat offender trends and how they change over time
• Time-to-report and how quickly users escalate real threats
• User-level and team-level motion, not vanity metrics

Adaptive’s narrative emphasizes:

• AI-driven personalization and risk scoring
• Scenario coverage and simulation counts
• Less emphasis (in public materials and buyer feedback) on clear, behavior-change KPIs tied to business outcomes

Hoxhunt tends to be chosen as the most mature and comprehensive platform evaluated, with:

• Strongest customer service experience
• Full HRM capabilities, not just SAT
• Best-in-class deepfake quality according to customers
• Clear security evidence and enterprise references
• A roadmap that balances innovation with stability

‍

Why organizations choose Hoxhunt over Adaptive

On G2, Hoxhunt has 3,488 reviews, whilst Adaptive Security’s has 68 reviews at the time of writing. The enterprise skew is even clearer: 73.6% of Hoxhunt’s reviews come from enterprise customers, compared to 23.0% for Adaptive. If you care about how a platform performs in large, complex organisations, Hoxhunt simply has far more real-world signal.

Hoxhunt’s social proof isn’t just about review counts:

• Depth and diversity of feedback: A very large volume of verified reviews across G2 and other platforms, covering multiple industries, sizes, and maturity levels. The themes are consistent: realistic simulations, strong support, and sustained engagement.
• Enterprise-grade recognition: Inclusion in analyst grids and “customers’ choice” style recognitions in the security awareness / CBT space, based on verified end-user feedback.
• Security evidence and Trust Center: SOC reports, penetration testing reports, and security documentation available via a Trust Center, which materially reduces friction with security and procurement.
• Microsoft ecosystem proof: Official Microsoft Entra / SCIM provisioning documentation and listings that show a deeper level of ecosystem maturity than a generic “works with M365” claim.

By contrast, Adaptive has far fewer total reviews and far fewer enterprise reviews. There is simply less independent evidence that it performs reliably at the scale and complexity of a global Microsoft 365 environment.

When you combine this with threat-informed simulations, behavior-change loops, and deep Microsoft 365 alignment, Hoxhunt isn’t just a feature-rich option... it’s the low-risk, high-confidence choice for enterprise security teams.

‍

Final verdict: Pick the platform that drives outcomes

If you’re a mid-large enterprise, especially in a Microsoft 365 environment, your core questions are:

• Will this platform reduce repeat offenders?
• Will it improve reporting quality and speed into our SOC?
• Can we run it globally without building a full awareness team?
• Does it align training with real threats, not just AI demos?

Across these dimensions, Hoxhunt is the safer, more proven choice. Adaptive’s deepfake and AI-first story is compelling in evaluations, but long-term behavior change, governance, integrations, and support are where real customers see the gap.

‍

See Hoxhunt in action

Everything in this comparison comes down to one question: what does the program feel like in the hands of your admins and end users day after day... and does that feeling translate into less risk for the business?

Hoxhunt is designed so that every interaction with an employee pushes in the right direction:

Realistic simulations that matter

Employees see simulations that look like the attacks actually bypassing your filters today - BEC, finance fraud, exec impersonation, SaaS takeovers - not generic templates. That makes every interaction relevant and keeps even experienced users on their toes.‍

Instant feedback that creates habits

When someone reports or fails, they don’t wait for a quarterly module. They get immediate, targeted feedback that explains what happened and what to look for next time. Over thousands of small moments, that feedback loop quietly rewires behaviour.

Gamification that drives participation, not gimmicks

Stars, streaks, and leaderboards are there to keep people coming back, not to trivialise the topic. For most of the organisation they turn security into a light, recurring challenge instead of another mandatory chore, while high-risk groups and executives can be handled with a more serious tone.

Adaptive pressure on the right people

High performers are gradually pushed into more advanced scenarios; repeat offenders get more focused attention without flooding everyone else. The system learns where the risk is and adjusts difficulty and cadence automatically.‍

Aligned with your security stack, not parallel to it

Reports go into the right place, signal flows into your SOC, and behaviour-based nudges can be triggered from tools like Microsoft Defender. Training and operations reinforce each other instead of competing for attention.

If you want to see how these mechanics actually play out, you can explore a sample flow in the interactive demo below.

‍

‍

Hoxhunt vs Adaptive Security FAQs

Does Hoxhunt’s behavior-change model actually outperform Adaptive’s AI-driven approach, or is this just marketing?

Customer references and PoC outcomes consistently point to Hoxhunt driving deeper engagement, more realistic simulations, and stronger reporting habits - particularly over 6-12 months.

Is Hoxhunt behind Adaptive on deepfakes, vishing, and AI-driven attacks?

No. Hoxhunt supports deepfakes, vishing, and SMS (smishing) but as part of a threat-aligned program, not just as a demo feature. Customers often rate Hoxhunt’s deepfake quality higher, and Hoxhunt’s scenarios are grounded in real attacks employees are actually getting.

Is “adaptive training” meaningfully different between the two platforms?

Yes. Hoxhunt’s adaptivity controls difficulty, cadence, and content at the individual level and is tied to real behavior and threat data. Adaptive emphasizes AI-generated content, but buyers frequently describe it as more campaign-driven than truly behavior-driven.

Do employees find gamification childish compared to Adaptive’s more “serious” tone?

In practice, enterprises report the opposite: Hoxhunt’s gamification is a key driver of participation and completion, and executives still receive a more tailored, serious experience. Gamification is a mechanism to maintain attention, not a replacement for depth.

Which platform integrates more cleanly with Microsoft 365 and SOC workflows?

Hoxhunt. It offers a single reporting button, Defender and EDR-driven training triggers, SCIM/Entra provisioning, and documented multi-tenant patterns. Adaptive requires more validation and often more manual work to achieve similar outcomes.

Which is easier to run with a lean security team?

Hoxhunt. It’s designed as a program that mostly runs itself once configured, with automation around targeting, difficulty, and coaching. Feedback from teams moving off Adaptive highlights higher admin overhead and more frequent need for support intervention.

Are either of these fundamentally better than traditional SAT platforms?

Yes. Hoxhunt, in particular, is built as an ongoing, adaptive behavior-change system linked to real threats and SOC workflows - not a checkbox training tool.

_Sources

^{Hoxhunt reviews and ratings - G2
‍Hoxhunt user reviews and pricing - Capterra
‍Hoxhunt product overview and customer feedback - Software Advice
‍Hoxhunt enterprise customer reviews - Gartner Peer Insights
‍Adaptive Security reviews and ratings - G2
‍Adaptive Security user reviews - Slashdot
‍Adaptive Security product reviews - SourceForge}