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Breach and attack simulation · November 2026 Edition

MITRE Caldera vs Infection Monkey

Zero of fourteen models named MITRE Caldera first on the direct prompt; zero named Infection Monkey. MITRE Caldera was named by nine of the fourteen models and Infection Monkey by nine and both carry 11 labels, so the shares below are directly comparable.

MITRE Caldera

accepted challenger

Named in one category this edition.

Infection Monkey

accepted challenger

Named in one category this edition.

First-choice share9%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate9%9%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#4#8A position in a field of 13; printed, not drawn.
Labels1111Equal, which is what makes the shares comparable.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, MITRE Caldera reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Picus Security Validation Platform was named alongside these two in thirteen of the fourteen direct answers. Cymulate vs MITRE Caldera · Cymulate vs Infection Monkey · Picus Security Validation Platform vs MITRE Caldera

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the breach and attack simulation page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
MITRE CalderaFirst choices, of fourteen modelsInfection Monkey
Direct00
Paraphrase00
Comparative00
Budget-constrained511 against Infection Monkey
Scale-constrained001 against MITRE Caldera
Negative00
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, MITRE Caldera and Infection Monkey were named in the same answer twelve times, of the 21 answers naming MITRE Caldera and the 39 naming Infection Monkey. In those answers Infection Monkey took the first choice one time and MITRE Caldera six.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where MITRE Caldera and Infection Monkey stood in it.
ModelDirectMCIMParaphraseMCIMComparativeMCIMBudget-constrainedMCIMScale-constrainedMCIMNegativeMCIM
Claude Haiku 4.5MC
GPT-5.4 miniIM
Gemini 3.5 FlashMCIM
Perplexity SonarMC
Grok 4.20MCIMMC
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 FlashMC
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2MCIMIM
GLM 4.7 FlashXMCIMIM
MiniMax M2.5MCIM
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30BMCIM
MC MITRE CalderaIM Infection MonkeyMC first choiceMC named as an alternativeMC argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, MITRE Caldera on the left and Infection Monkey on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where MITRE Caldera and Infection Monkey stood in it.

Neither was named

14 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
Claude Haiku 4.5Cymulate alternatives: Pentera, Picus Security Validation Platform, Validato
GPT-5.4 miniCymulate alternatives: Picus Security Validation Platform
Gemini 3.5 FlashCymulate alternatives: Pentera, Picus Security Validation Platform
Perplexity SonarCymulate alternatives: AttackIQ, Horizon3.ai NodeZero, Picus Security Validation Platform
Grok 4.20Cymulate alternatives: Pentera, Picus Security Validation Platform
Mistral SmallCymulate, Picus Security Validation Platform alternatives: Pentera, Sakeon
DeepSeek V4 FlashCymulate alternatives: AttackIQ, Picus Security Validation Platform
Llama 4 Maverickno first choice
Qwen 3.7 FlashPicus Security Validation Platform alternatives: AttackIQ, SafeBreach
Kimi K2Cymulate, Picus Security Validation Platform alternatives: AttackIQ, Pentera
GLM 4.7 FlashXCymulate alternatives: AttackIQ, Picus Security Validation Platform, SafeBreach
MiniMax M2.5Cymulate, Picus Security Validation Platform alternatives: Pentera
GPT-6 LunaCymulate alternatives: AttackIQ Flex, Picus Security Validation Platform
Muse Glimmer 30BCymulate alternatives: AttackIQ, Picus Security Validation Platform

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Infection Monkey leads by eight points.
Infection Monkey12%#4 of 11
MITRE Caldera4%#– of 11
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
The order flips: MITRE Caldera leads at mid-market.
MITRE Caldera9%#4 of 13
Infection Monkey2%#8 of 13
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
Level: the same share of first choices.
MITRE Caldera0%#– of 8
Infection Monkey0%#– of 8
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about MITRE Caldera

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of five in this category shown.

“Open-source alternatives (e.g., MITRE Caldera, Atomic Red Team) can supplement but usually lack the enterprise polish” Grok 4.20 · scale prompt · soft negative
“free and open-source BAS tools like MITRE Caldera and Prelude Operator offer powerful capabilities for simulating adversary behaviors without any licensing fees” Claude Haiku 4.5 · budget prompt · first choice
“MITRE Caldera (or a combination with Atomic Red Team) is the best breach and attack simulation (BAS) option for a company with a limited budget.” Grok 4.20 · budget prompt · first choice
“Start free: Deploy Atomic Red Team or MITRE Caldera to establish baseline testing” MiniMax M2.5 · budget prompt · first choice

What the models said about Infection Monkey

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of five in this category shown.

“it's generally less polished and more DIY than commercial platforms” GPT-5.4 mini · budget prompt · soft negative
“Infection Monkey is the easiest free option for hands-on breach simulation and lateral movement mapping.” Muse Glimmer 30B · budget prompt · first choice
“Free for basic use; focuses on lateral movement, breach simulation, and self-propagation testing.” Grok 4.20 · budget prompt · alternative
“Cost: Free (GPL-3.0) ... Tests network segmentation and lateral movement” Kimi K2 · budget prompt · alternative
Also compared

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.