Intruder launches free plan for mid-market security teams

Intruder has launched a free plan for its exposure management suite aimed at mid-market security teams.

The plan provides permanent access to vulnerability management, cloud security posture checks and attack surface monitoring at no charge. It includes weekly scans for up to five external targets, weekly checks across one cloud environment, weekly scans for two container images, continuous monitoring on ports 80 and 443, unlimited remediation scans, a cyber hygiene score, one automated investigation credit each month and support for up to three users.

The London-based cyber security company said the offer is designed for businesses with small attack surfaces or practitioners responsible for a limited part of a larger environment. Users can connect a target, integrate a cloud environment and identify exposures on the same day, it added.

The move targets a part of the market that often falls between products built for large enterprises and those designed for smaller companies. Research cited by Intruder found that 46% of mid-market security teams believe enterprise platforms assume more staff, budget or complexity than they can support, while 29% said tools built for smaller businesses no longer meet their needs.

Market gap

As a result, many teams rely on manual processes or a patchwork of separate tools. Lengthy procurement cycles and six-figure price tags can also slow adoption of security software among smaller and growing businesses, according to Intruder.

Founded in 2015, the company sells software intended to help organisations identify weaknesses across internet-facing systems, cloud environments and container images. It says it now serves more than 3,000 companies worldwide.

Competition in cyber security has intensified as vendors try to reach customers beyond large corporates. Many suppliers have focused either on complex enterprise platforms or entry-level products, leaving medium-sized organisations to assemble their own mix of tools.

Intruder is positioning the free plan as a way for security, IT and DevOps teams to test its software over time rather than through a short trial. Customers can use the service indefinitely and move to a paid tier only if they want broader coverage, it said.

Chris Wallis, chief executive officer and founder of Intruder, outlined the rationale for the launch.

"Security and IT teams at small and medium-sized businesses face the same risks as their enterprise counterparts, but they've been priced out of the tools that would actually help them avoid breaches," Wallis said.

"We built Intruder to enable security for the 99%, and our free plan is the logical extension of that commitment. Intruder benefits from using open-source software as part of our offering. Offering a free plan allows us to give back to the security community, which shouldn't need a six-figure security budget and 10-person team to stay secure."

Feature set

The free tier centres on regular checks rather than unrestricted use. External vulnerability scans are limited to five targets, cloud posture checks to one environment across AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, and container image scans to two images. Monitoring is limited to web ports 80 and 443, while access is capped at three users.

Even with those limits, the package reflects a broader shift in cyber security buying as vendors try to reduce friction in procurement and evaluation. For smaller organisations, proving operational value early can matter as much as the software itself, especially when security teams must justify spending against other technology priorities.

Intruder said the free offer is intended to help practitioners improve risk visibility and reduce remediation times before extending coverage. The plan is now available on a permanent basis.