ConfigCobra vs ScoutSuite

Scout Suite is a focused auditing tool. Its README says it was designed by security consultants and auditors to give a point-in-time, security-oriented view of a cloud account, and that is the job it fits.

• Nothing hosted. It runs from your own machine. The wiki says it holds the configuration data in memory while it runs and expects a modern laptop or equivalent VM to be enough. Once the data is gathered, the README notes, all usage may be performed offline.
• Simple to start. Install with pip, or use the Docker image, point it at credentials you already configured for the provider's own CLI and run it.
• Three main clouds, plus more in alpha. AWS, Azure and Google Cloud are listed as supported, with Alibaba Cloud, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Kubernetes on a cloud provider and DigitalOcean marked alpha. ConfigCobra does not cover those.
• A single report to read. The output is a local HTML report with findings and the account configuration, in place of dozens of console pages.
• Tunable. The wiki documents exceptions files, and the repository ships helper tools for automation.
• Open source. It is published under GPL version 2, so you can read the code; its README states no price.

ConfigCobra is a hosted service rather than a command-line run. It is built around four clouds including Microsoft 365, each measured against the CIS benchmarks, with one inventory and a set of modules on top. It is read-only and never changes a tenant.

• CSPM. CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark v7.0.0 with 160 controls (143 automated, 17 manual), four CIS Azure benchmarks with 339 controls, CIS Google Cloud Platform Foundation Benchmark v5.0.0 with 93 controls and four CIS AWS benchmarks with 306 controls. Each finding carries evidence and a severity estimate, which is ConfigCobra's own prioritisation because CIS publishes no severity. A dashboard shows the compliance score and the most severe failures.
• Inventory & Insights. One inventory with a per-cloud and an All clouds view. On Microsoft 365 it holds users, guests, admins, groups, devices, enterprise apps, app registrations, mailboxes, SharePoint sites, policies, domains, licences and directory roles. Azure, Google Cloud and AWS resources come with their security properties. Built-in risk views include users inactive 90 days, guests who never signed in and expired or soon-expiring app credentials. A relation graph shows how objects connect, findings link to the objects they concern, and the inventory exports to CSV.
• Cost & licence optimisation. Three views of the inventory: unused paid licences, licences of inactive users and unattached disks.
• Remediation impact analysis. Before you apply a fix, it lists the users, groups, mailboxes, apps and policies (or the resources and identities on the other clouds) that would be affected, with the effect, a confidence level and a prepare step. Impact is rated High, Medium, Low or None.
• Monitoring & drift detection. Every connected cloud is scanned automatically every day, you can start an ad hoc scan, and you get an email when a control regresses or drift appears.
• Reports & evidence. A PDF report with findings, evidence and a timestamped snapshot, an audit-ready evidence export and a read-only auditor seat for clients or external auditors.
• AI assistant. A native MCP server lets Claude, Cursor or another MCP client ask about posture, findings and global admins, answered from live scan data.
• Multi-tenant workspace. Assess subsidiaries or client tenants from one workspace.

Microsoft 365, Azure, Google Cloud and AWS are all available. Google Workspace is coming soon.

The two answer different questions.

• Scout Suite fits a consultant or engineer who wants a quick, local, point-in-time look at an AWS, Azure or Google Cloud account, with no hosted service, and who is comfortable running Python tools and reading a report.
• ConfigCobra fits a team that needs Microsoft 365 as well, wants CIS benchmark results with evidence on every scan, the cross-cloud inventory with its risk views, licence and disk savings, a preview of what a fix changes, daily scans with email notifications and reports for clients or auditors.
• Run both when an engineer wants a local look at a cloud account's raw configuration while the wider team follows CIS results, the inventory and change over time in ConfigCobra.

There is no data to convert between the two, so move by running them side by side.

1. Keep running Scout Suite the way you do now, with the credentials and roles listed in its wiki.
2. Start the ConfigCobra 14-day free trial, which has full access, and connect the same cloud or tenant read-only.
3. When the first scan finishes, compare the findings you already know from Scout Suite's report with ConfigCobra's CIS results. Expect different wording, because the two tools organise their checks differently.
4. Open the inventory risk views and the remediation impact analysis for the items you plan to change, then make the changes yourself. ConfigCobra suggests the script or portal steps but never changes the tenant.
5. After a few daily scans, decide whether to keep Scout Suite for ad hoc local reviews. If you stop using it, remove the roles you granted it.

Facts about Scout Suite on this page come from its README, wiki and licence file, checked on 2026-11-02.