TrustSek as a Bitsight alternative
Both rate an organisation's security from externally observable evidence. They differ in scale, in how the number is built and in what surrounds it. This page sets out those differences from public sources.
Last reviewed
Bitsight is a cyber risk intelligence platform.
As described on its website on 27 September 2026, Bitsight “delivers a dynamic map of assets and vulnerabilities — prioritized by real-time threat intelligence — across your enterprise and supply chain”. Its site groups its products under third-party risk management, exposure management, cyber threat intelligence and governance, with security ratings as one of them. Its guide dates Bitsight's security ratings to 2011.
Bitsight Security Ratings are a number on a scale of 250 to 900, “with a current achievable range of 300 to 820”; a higher number means stronger performance. The guide describes risk vectors grouped into four weighted categories (Compromised Systems, User Behavior, Diligence and Public Disclosures), scores converted to percentiles across all rated organisations, and ratings updated daily. It states that Bitsight “does not conduct penetration testing or any other intrusive activity”.
TrustSek reads one domain against a fixed baseline.
TrustSek scores an organisation from the outside in as well. You give it a domain; it collects public evidence and returns a score with every finding explained. There is nothing to install and no access to your systems.
The number is a multiplier on a baseline. The scoring policy starts from a 2% chance that an average organisation has a cyber incident in a year; 1.0× is where a domain with no findings lands, and 3.0× means roughly three times as likely. The score is read against that fixed baseline rather than ranked against other organisations, and it falls into one of four bands.
Six modules make up the score, each with a published weight:
| Module | Weight | What it looks at |
|---|---|---|
| Email securitySPF, DMARC, DKIM, MTA-STS, TLS-RPT, CAA, DNSSEC and nameserver redundancy. | 20% | SPF, DMARC, DKIM, MTA-STS, TLS-RPT, CAA, DNSSEC and nameserver redundancy. |
| TLS and web hygieneWhether HTTPS is served, certificates, protocol versions and ciphers, redirects, security headers and cookie flags. | 20% | Whether HTTPS is served, certificates, protocol versions and ciphers, redirects, security headers and cookie flags. |
| Ransomware exposureClaims naming the organisation on ransomware leak sites, from two independent trackers. | 20% | Claims naming the organisation on ransomware leak sites, from two independent trackers. |
| ReputationThe domain and its addresses on threat-intel, malware, phishing and botnet lists. | 15% | The domain and its addresses on threat-intel, malware, phishing and botnet lists. |
| VulnerabilitiesAdvertised software versions matched against known-exploited and published vulnerabilities. | 15% | Advertised software versions matched against known-exploited and published vulnerabilities. |
| Attack surfaceSubdomains, high-risk hostnames, open non-web ports, domain age and lookalike domains. | 10% | Subdomains, high-risk hostnames, open non-web ports, domain age and lookalike domains. |
Every finding says what was tested, why it matters, what the impact is and how to fix it. When a source could not be asked or failed, the scan shows it as not checked instead of counting it as clean. The methodology has the full calculation. TrustSek is built for Sweden and the Nordics. The site and the methodology are in Swedish and English; findings in the app are reported in English.
The approaches side by side.
The Bitsight column contains only what its website stated on 27 September 2026. Where it did not say, we do not guess.
| TrustSek | Bitsight | |
|---|---|---|
| What the score looks like | A multiplier on a 2% annual baseline, in four bands | A number from 250 to 900 (current achievable range 300 to 820) |
| What the score is compared with | A fixed baseline set in the scoring policy | Percentiles across all rated organisations |
| How the score is built | Six modules with weights fixed per policy version and published on the methodology page | Risk vectors in four weighted categories, described in their guide |
| Where the evidence comes from | Public sources, plus one TLS handshake and two web requests to the domain; non-intrusive, no port scans | Externally observable evidence; “does not conduct penetration testing or any other intrusive activity” |
| How often it updates | When you run a scan, in about 30 seconds; no monitoring between scans | Updated daily |
| Around the score | Supplier tracking, portfolio views, PDF reports, a REST API | Third-party risk, exposure management, threat intelligence, identity and credential intelligence, ransomware intelligence |
| Language and market | Built for Sweden and the Nordics; site and methodology in Swedish and English, findings in English | Not stated in the sources cited |
When TrustSek may fit.
- You want a score read against a fixed baseline, with weights you can look up and a fix attached to every finding.
- You want to see which sources were not checked before you rely on the number.
- You work in Sweden or the Nordics and want the method explained in Swedish as well as English.
- You are an IT partner or a company that needs a clear outside-in starting point for a client, a supplier or your own domain.
When Bitsight may fit better.
- You need ratings that update daily and monitoring between assessments. TrustSek is a scan you run; it does not watch domains between scans or send alerts.
- You want to benchmark against a very large rated population. Bitsight's home page describes “a rated universe of 325M+ organizations”.
- You need breach, credential or threat intelligence alongside the rating. TrustSek does not include breach or leaked-credential data.
- You want your rating expressed as a percentile against other rated organisations. Bitsight's guide describes scores converted to percentiles across all the organisations it rates.
About this comparison
Bitsight is a trademark of its owner, and TrustSek is not affiliated with Bitsight. Everything said about Bitsight here comes from the public pages listed as sources, as they read on 27 September 2026. We make no claim about its accuracy, prices, customers or quality. If something is out of date, tell us at sales@trustsek.com and we will correct it. Other comparisons are on the compare page.
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Free, from public evidence. Every finding comes with the reason and the fix.