Hack The Box Review: Overview, Features, Pricing & Alternatives in 2025

Tired of learning cybersecurity from outdated PDFs?

If you’re evaluating platforms like Hack The Box, you’re likely frustrated by how hard it is to get real, hands-on hacking experience without expensive infrastructure or legal headaches.

The truth? Most training tools leave you stuck in theory. You’re not actually able to test real attack skills day to day, so your progress stalls.

Hack The Box fixes this with a practical “cybersecurity gym” designed for real skill-building, not just check-the-box lessons. I’ve spent serious time analyzing their Labs, Academy, Pro Labs, and even their hiring features to see what actually works.

In this review, I’ll show you how Hack The Box gives you proven, job-ready skills through practical, competitive practice.

You’ll get my first-hand breakdown of Hack The Box’s features, pricing tiers, real user experience, and who wins in this Hack The Box review compared to the closest alternatives.

By the end, you’ll have the insights and confidence to pick the features you need to actually level up your security career.

Let’s dig into the details.

Hack The Box Overview

Hack The Box has been around since 2017, based in Folkestone, Kent, UK. Their mission centers on connecting cybersecurity professionals worldwide through a hands-on, gamified training platform that emphasizes practical skill building.

What sets them apart is how they focus on cybersecurity professionals and enterprises seeking realistic, challenge-based learning. You’ll notice their user base spans individual enthusiasts to mid-sized and large organizations wanting to upskill teams with practical, scenario-driven exercises.

Their recent $55 million Series B funding was smart — you can see the impact in how Hack The Box review highlights growth in enterprise offerings and new products like Cloud Labs that expand real-world training options.

Unlike competitors jostling for broad training audiences, Hack The Box leans into a more authentic and challenging cybersecurity gym environment. It feels like a platform built by users who truly understand pentesting demands, rather than just textbook theory or entry-level tutorials.

They work with a broad mix: individual learners, cybersecurity students, and hundreds of companies deploying team training or talent sourcing solutions at scale.

I found Hack The Box’s strategy focused heavily on expanding enterprise adoption while maintaining relevance for ambitious individual users — a good fit if you want both depth and community in your cyber skills development.

Now let’s examine their capabilities.

Hack The Box Features

Struggling to gain real cybersecurity skills hands-on?

Hack The Box solutions offer a comprehensive suite for anyone from beginners to pros, blending learning, practice, competition, and hiring. These are the five core Hack The Box solutions that cover the entire cybersecurity skill-building journey, solving different pain points you likely face.

1. HTB Labs

Frustrated by theory without practical application?

Many cybersecurity learners hit a wall trying to bridge textbook concepts with real attacks. It’s tough to practice safely without proper environments.

HTB Labs is the flagship solution offering hundreds of virtual machines designed to practice penetration testing legally and realistically. From my testing, the gamified platform keeps you engaged by rewarding successful exploits, while presenting authentic challenges. This is the true “cybersecurity gym” where you sharpen skills against evolving threats.

This means your team can build solid hands-on expertise that directly translates to workplace readiness.

2. HTB Academy

Lost starting out with no guidance?

Beginners often feel overwhelmed jumping straight into hacking labs, unsure where to begin or how to build foundational knowledge.

HTB Academy fills this gap with structured, theory-based modules and interactive labs in clear career paths like penetration testing. What I love about this solution is how the step-by-step learning prepares you effectively for real lab challenges. It turns confusion into clarity, helping you develop a strong base that accelerates mastery and reduces frustration.

This helps you or your trainees develop a strong base that accelerates mastery and reduces frustration.

3. Pro Labs

Ready for real-world enterprise scenarios?

Individual hacking exercises don’t prepare you for complex, multi-system environments many cybersecurity professionals face daily.

Pro Labs simulate entire corporate networks requiring advanced skills like Active Directory exploitation, pivoting, and persistence. This solution pushes users with persistent, realistic scenarios evaluated over weeks or months in my experience. This is where Hack The Box shines for seasoned professionals wanting challenging, authentic red team practice.

This ensures your team gains experience tackling enterprise-level attacks safely, improving job performance.

4. Capture The Flag (CTF) Platform

Need engaging cybersecurity competitions?

Organizing team events or recruitment contests often involves tedious setup, risking low participation or poor planning.

The CTF solution lets you launch time-boxed, branded hacking competitions easily from a curated challenge library. Here’s what I found — it handles scoring, team management, and leaderboards automatically, removing logistical headaches. This keeps participants focused on problem-solving and brings everyone together through gamified learning.

You get a powerful tool to boost skills, collaboration, and recruitment success with minimal admin effort.

5. Talent Search & Hiring

Struggling to verify cybersecurity candidates?

Resumes often overstate skills, while traditional recruitment misses hands-on capabilities critical for security roles.

Talent Search taps into the active HTB community, letting you filter candidates based on demonstrated skill levels and ongoing performance. What stands out is how this solution flips hiring to skills-first evaluation, using HTB ranks and profiles as practical portfolios. I found this approach speeds up hiring by increasing confidence in candidate quality.

This means you can build stronger security teams faster with proven, job-ready talent.

These Hack The Box solutions work together to create a fully integrated cybersecurity training ecosystem that supports continuous skill growth, from beginner learning to professional recruitment and beyond.

Hack The Box Pricing

Wondering how much Hack The Box really costs?

Hack The Box pricing offers a transparent freemium model for individuals with clear monthly rates, while business and enterprise plans require contacting sales for custom quotes tailored to your team’s needs.

Plan	Price & Features
Free Plan	€0/month • Access to 20 rotating active machines • Limited HTB Academy content • Shared, slower VPN connection
VIP Plan	€14/month or €140/year • Access to all active machines • Full access to retired machines with walkthroughs • Dedicated, faster VPN connection
VIP+ Plan	€20/month or €200/year • All VIP benefits • 200 cubes monthly to unlock Academy modules • Integrated practice labs and learning content
Student Plan	€8/month (verification required) • Unlimited access to Tier 0-2 Academy modules • Focused learning pathway for students
Silver Plan	€49/month or €490/year • Unlimited access up to Tier 4 Academy modules • Includes one certification exam voucher annually
Business & Enterprise	Custom pricing – contact sales • Professional & Dedicated Labs • Team management and performance analytics • Custom CTF events and talent search

1. Value Assessment

Clear pricing tiers support varied needs.

From my cost analysis, what stands out is how Hack The Box pricing balances a free entry point with competitively priced upgrades that unlock comprehensive access. Their pricing approach emphasizes flexibility and staged investment, allowing you to pay just for the level of access and training intensity your budget requires.

This means your monthly costs grow only as you deepen your engagement, making it budget-friendly for learners and professionals alike.

2. Trial/Demo Options

Free plan as a lasting trial.

Instead of a temporary trial, Hack The Box offers a robust Free plan letting you test the platform’s core capabilities indefinitely. What I found valuable is that this permanent free access helps you evaluate baseline functionality and decide whether investing in paid plans fits your learning goals and budget.

Budget-wise, you can try key features without financial risk before committing to the VIP or Academy subscriptions.

3. Plan Comparison

Choosing to fit your training level.

You’ll pay lowest upfront with the Free or Student tiers, suitable for beginners and budget-minded learners. The VIP plans add faster VPN and broader access, while Silver and VIP+ provide the most extensive academy and certification benefits. What impressed me is how the business plans offer scalable, custom solutions based on your organization’s needs.

So for your situation, matching pricing to your actual usage and team size keeps costs aligned with value.

My Take: Hack The Box pricing smartly serves individuals from beginners to professionals with transparent tiers and growth paths, while the custom quotes for businesses ensure you get tailored training solutions that fit your team size and goals.

Overall, Hack The Box pricing offers flexible, transparent options for all budget levels.

Hack The Box Reviews

Are Hack The Box reviews trustworthy?

In analyzing Hack The Box reviews from G2, Capterra, and forums, I looked closely at user feedback patterns to paint a clear picture of practical user experiences with this cybersecurity training platform. What I found in user feedback highlights both enthusiasm and typical challenges, helping you understand what actual customers think before diving in.

1. Overall User Satisfaction

Most users express strong satisfaction.

From my review analysis, Hack The Box maintains remarkably high ratings, often around 4.8 to 4.9 stars on major review sites. What stood out was that users consistently praise the hands-on learning experience, which is seen as extremely valuable by both beginners (after using Academy) and professionals. The volume of positive reviews shows a strong, loyal user base.

User satisfaction tends to stem from the platform’s effective balance of challenge and real-world skill application.

2. Common Praise Points

Users rave about realism and community.

Here’s what users consistently say: the platform offers very realistic hacking challenges that mimic actual vulnerabilities in enterprise environments. Many reviews highlight the gamified approach and vibrant community support as major motivation boosters. The constant addition of new machines and learning modules keeps users engaged over time.

These features mean your skills will stay sharp and you’ll benefit from helpful peer interaction when stuck.

3. Frequent Complaints

Difficulty and access issues surface frequently.

Common user frustrations revolve around the steep learning curve for absolute beginners and occasional resource contention on free tiers. Review-wise, the lack of detailed guidance in main labs is a recurring theme, prompting newcomers to rely heavily on HTB Academy first. While some cite outdated walkthroughs on retired machines, these are less critical for active users.

For most, these complaints are manageable with patience and upgraded access rather than deal-breakers.

From the Hack The Box reviews I analyzed, it’s clear the platform excels in delivering practical cybersecurity skills, with strong, credible user endorsements across sources.

Best Hack The Box Alternatives

Too many cybersecurity training choices?

The best Hack The Box alternatives include several strong options, each better suited for different business sizes, budgets, and use cases. From my competitive analysis, you should consider these alternatives carefully based on your team’s experience level and specific training goals.

1. TryHackMe

Looking for beginner-friendly guided learning?

TryHackMe stands out as an excellent alternative if you’re new to cybersecurity and prefer a more structured, step-by-step approach. What I found comparing options is that TryHackMe offers highly guided learning paths that combine theory and practice more closely than Hack The Box’s challenge-focused setup.

Choose TryHackMe if you want a gentler introduction before tackling Hack The Box’s more realistic and demanding environments.

2. Offensive Security Proving Grounds

Focused on passing the OSCP exam?

Offensive Security’s Proving Grounds is the go-to alternative when your main goal is to prepare for the OSCP certification. From my competitive analysis, Proving Grounds aligns directly with OSCP exam requirements, providing hands-on labs designed by OSCP creators, unlike Hack The Box’s broader curriculum.

Select this option if your priority is exam-focused practice rather than a wide variety of cybersecurity topics.

3. Immersive Labs

Need broad, enterprise-wide skill development?

Immersive Labs is the best alternative for large organizations wanting to upskill both offensive and defensive teams through a single platform. What I found comparing options shows that Immersive Labs covers blue team and executive training areas beyond Hack The Box’s offensive security focus.

You’ll want Immersive Labs when your business requires comprehensive cyber training across multiple security roles.

4. PentesterLab

Specializing in web application security?

PentesterLab should be your alternative if you want deep, hyper-focused expertise in web app penetration testing and bug bounty techniques. From my analysis, PentesterLab provides unmatched depth in web security content, whereas Hack The Box offers a broader but less specialized pentesting scope.

Choose PentesterLab when your team needs specialized web application skills rather than generalist offensive practice.

The best Hack The Box alternatives come down to your specific training goals and user experience level rather than feature comparisons alone.

Setup & Implementation

Wondering how tough Hack The Box implementation really is?

In this Hack The Box review, I’ll break down the deployment approach and what you can practically expect in terms of complexity. This analysis will set reasonable preparation steps for different business environments considering your team’s size and expertise.

1. Setup Complexity & Timeline

Setup isn’t exactly plug-and-play.

What I found about deployment is that enterprise-level Hack The Box implementation typically takes several weeks to a few months due to requirement definition, lab customization, and user provisioning. Dedicated collaboration with HTB engineers speeds setup and ensures the environment fits your security training needs.

You’ll want to prepare for scheduling alignment and clear objectives upfront to avoid drawn-out setup delays.

2. Technical Requirements & Integration

Integration may need careful planning.

Your IT team will manage network configs for VPN access, API integrations with LMS or dashboards, and user access controls. From my implementation analysis, integration with existing systems often demands thoughtful coordination to ensure smooth data flow and user tracking during implementation.

Expect to allocate technical resources familiar with your internal tools to handle setup and ongoing maintenance.

3. Training & Change Management

User buy-in can challenge success.

The learning curve is steep for cybersecurity newcomers, and your team will likely need structured training via HTB Academy before starting labs. From my analysis, effective training programs directly impact adoption rates and reduce frustration with platform complexity during implementation.

You should plan regular training sessions and establish champions who can support peers throughout this learning period.

4. Support & Success Factors

Vendor support proves valuable here.

Enterprise clients enjoy responsive HTB support, including technical help and guidance during implementation stages. What I found about deployment is that having direct access to dedicated support shortens troubleshooting and keeps your implementation on track.

For success, prioritize consistent communication with HTB and internal stakeholder alignment to sustain momentum.

Overall, Hack The Box implementation demands structured planning and committed resources but rewards teams with practical cybersecurity skills gains when done right.

Who’s Hack The Box For

Is Hack The Box right for your cybersecurity team?

In this Hack The Box review, I analyze who gets the most from the platform by focusing on real business profiles, team sizes, and practical use cases—helping you quickly determine fit for your specific needs.

1. Ideal User Profile

Best for hands-on cybersecurity learners.

If you’re an aspiring penetration tester, bug bounty hunter, or a current cybersecurity pro seeking to sharpen practical skills, Hack The Box suits you well. From my user analysis, security teams and individuals valuing practical, challenge-based learning stand out as ideal targets for Hack The Box review insights.

Successful users thrive when they actively engage in real-world style labs and competitive environments, building job-ready skills.

2. Business Size & Scale

Optimal for small to mid-sized security teams.

Hack The Box works best in companies with dedicated security professionals or small teams focused on continuous skills development. What I found about target users is that teams of 5-50 security staff benefit most because they can allocate the time needed to maximize hands-on training without excessive overhead.

If your business has a core cybersecurity team committed to ongoing skills growth, your scale matches well.

3. Use Case Scenarios

Ideal for skills training and candidate assessment.

You’ll find this software excels at practical penetration testing training, red team exercises, and technical hiring assessments. From my analysis, the platform’s strength lies in skill validation through realistic challenges that simulate attack and defense scenarios relevant to security operations teams.

Use it when your use case demands hands-on expertise development over theoretical knowledge or broad compliance training.

4. Who Should Look Elsewhere

Not suited for absolute beginners or broad enterprise training.

If your team lacks foundational IT skills or you need general cybersecurity awareness training, Hack The Box may feel daunting. From my user analysis, organizations requiring beginner-friendly, broad security education may prefer alternatives like TryHackMe or Immersive Labs instead.

Look to those platforms if you want guided learning paths or wider role coverage beyond penetration testing-focused challenges.

Who should use Hack The Box depends heavily on your team’s readiness for practical, challenge-based skills development rather than just theoretical knowledge.

Bottom Line

Is Hack The Box the right fit for you?

This Hack The Box review offers a balanced final assessment, recommending it strongly for cybersecurity professionals ready to engage with hands-on training while highlighting key considerations for beginners and enterprises.

1. Overall Strengths

Exceptional hands-on cybersecurity training experience.

Hack The Box excels by combining an extensive library of realistic challenges with engaging gamification and an active global community. From my comprehensive analysis, its practical, job-ready skill development approach stands out, supported by a well-structured Academy and scalable enterprise offerings that cater to both individuals and teams.

These strengths enable continuous skill growth and enhanced workforce readiness, crucial for organizations prioritizing practical cybersecurity preparedness.

2. Key Limitations

Steep learning curve challenges newcomers initially.

The platform demands a solid IT foundation, especially in the main Labs where guidance is minimal. Based on this review, the initial difficulty can deter beginners without prior knowledge despite mitigating efforts through HTB Academy and VIP tier features like dedicated machine instances.

For advanced users, these limitations are manageable, but newcomers should prepare to invest time or consider supplemental training before fully leveraging the platform.

3. Final Recommendation

Highly recommended for committed cybersecurity learners and teams.

You should choose Hack The Box if your goal is authentic, hands-on skill-building supported by a community and scalable enterprise options. From my analysis, this software offers unmatched practical training value for professionals and organizations serious about advancing cybersecurity expertise.

Your next step should involve evaluating the Academy for foundational learning, then progressing to Labs or enterprise packages with confidence in the platform’s industry-leading relevance.

This Hack The Box review reflects strong recommendation confidence for engaged cybersecurity learners while advising preparation for its challenge level.