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Offensive Security

Kali Linux Penetration Testing

Composite Score

8.4 /10

CX Score

8.7 /10

28 Reviews Write a Review

What is Kali Linux Penetration Testing?

Offensive Security provides practitioners with the highly sought-after skills required to advance their careers and better protect their organizations. We’re committed to funding and growing Kali Linux, the most widely used operating system for penetration testing, ethical hacking and network security assessments.

Company Details

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Kali Linux Penetration Testing Ratings

Real user data aggregated to summarize the product performance and customer experience.
Download the entire Product Scorecard to access more information on Kali Linux Penetration Testing.

Product scores listed below represent current data. This may be different from data contained in reports and awards, which express data as of their publication date.

95 Likeliness to Recommend

100 Plan to Renew

89 Satisfaction of Cost Relative to Value

Product Experience

Negotiation and Contract

Conflict Resolution

Strategy & Innovation

100

Service Experience

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Emotional Footprint Overview

Product Experience:: 97%
Negotiation and Contract:: 97%
Conflict Resolution:: 94%
Strategy & Innovation:: 97%
Service Experience:: 100%

Product scores listed below represent current data. This may be different from data contained in reports and awards, which express data as of their publication date.

+97 Net Emotional Footprint

The emotional sentiment held by end users of the software based on their experience with the vendor. Responses are captured on an eight-point scale.

How much do users love Kali Linux Penetration Testing?

0% Negative

0% Neutral

100% Positive

Pros

Helps Innovate
Continually Improving Product
Reliable
Performance Enhancing

Feature Ratings

Average 87

Host Target Scanning

Diversity of Tools

Exploits

Reconnaissance

Automation

Crawling

Payload Transport

Multi Faceted Testing

Maintaining Access

Reporting

Countermeasures Circumvention

Vendor Capability Ratings

Average 83

Quality of Features

Breadth of Features

Business Value Created

Ease of Customization

Ease of Implementation

Ease of Data Integration

Usability and Intuitiveness

Availability and Quality of Training

Ease of IT Administration

Product Strategy and Rate of Improvement

Vendor Support

Kali Linux Penetration Testing Reviews

Azhaan N.

Role: Information Technology
Industry: Technology
Involvement: IT Development, Integration, and Administration

Validated Review

Verified Reviewer

Submitted May 2025

Great for Pen Testing, But Not Beginner-Friendly

Likeliness to Recommend

10 /10

What differentiates Kali Linux Penetration Testing from other similar products?

Kali Linux really sets itself apart when it comes to penetration testing. One of the biggest things that makes it different is that it comes with a huge collection of tools pre-installed—everything you need for ethical hacking is pretty much ready to go right out of the box. No need to waste time setting things up.

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

What I love most about Kali Linux is that everything I need for penetration testing is already there. I don’t have to waste time downloading or setting things up there’s a tool for almost every kind of test built right in. Whether I’m scanning a network, testing for vulnerabilities, or just experimenting, it’s all ready to go.

What do you dislike most about this product?

What I dislike most about Kali Linux is that it’s not very beginner-friendly.

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

Make sure you’ve got some basic Linux knowledge. Kali isn’t super user-friendly, especially if you’re new to command-line stuff. It’ll be way easier if you already know your way around a terminal. Also take advantage of the community and tutorials online. There’s a ton of helpful content out there, and it makes a big difference when you're learning. Kali’s a great tool, but it definitely rewards patience and curiosity.

Pros

Helps Innovate
Continually Improving Product
Reliable
Performance Enhancing

Ted Q.

Role: Information Technology
Industry: Finance
Involvement: End User of Application

Validated Review

Verified Reviewer

Submitted Jan 2025

Kali Linux: The Ethical Hacker’s tool

Likeliness to Recommend

9 /10

What differentiates Kali Linux Penetration Testing from other similar products?

Its specialization and ease of use for cybersecurity professionals make it unparalleled in the penetration testing landscape

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

I particularly love its portability—being able to run it on a bootable USB or virtual machine makes it incredibly versatile. The seamless integration with tools like Burp Suite and John the Ripper for password cracking is another highlight

What do you dislike most about this product?

The user interface is utilitarian and can feel a bit outdated, which might be off-putting for those who prefer modern aesthetics

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

Kali is best suited for cybersecurity professionals or ethical hackers with a solid foundation in Linux and penetration testing

Pros

Continually Improving Product
Effective Service
Reliable
Enables Productivity

Arnaldo Ariel A.

Role: Information Technology
Industry: Utilities
Involvement: IT Development, Integration, and Administration

Validated Review

Verified Reviewer

Submitted Oct 2024

Excellent suite of tools for security tasks

Likeliness to Recommend

10 /10

What differentiates Kali Linux Penetration Testing from other similar products?

The amount of included softwares and tools.

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

It easyness of use and tools availability.

What do you dislike most about this product?

Nothing to dislike.

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

You should try it and become familiar with all its features and tools.

Pros

Helps Innovate
Continually Improving Product
Reliable
Performance Enhancing

Latest Research

Kali Linux Penetration Testing

What is Kali Linux Penetration Testing?

Company Details

Need Assistance?

Kali Linux Penetration Testing Ratings

95 Likeliness to Recommend

100 Plan to Renew

89 Satisfaction of Cost Relative to Value

Emotional Footprint Overview

Emotional Footprint Overview

+97 Net Emotional Footprint

How much do users love Kali Linux Penetration Testing?

Chart

Pros

Feature Ratings Average rating of all product features, some of which may not be shown below

Host Target Scanning Ability to scan across a defined spectrum, including port numbers, protocols, IP address ranges, etc.​

Diversity of Tools Penetration testing software often come in a suite of individual tools, each designed to penetrate different aspects of a system.

Exploits Simulates the exploits that will likely be implemented once the system is penetrated.

Reconnaissance Analysis of the target system to gather information order to assess its susceptibility to attack, and to plan for the attack strategy.

Automation Able to automate regressive testing and perform repeat tasks in a very rapid fashion (as fast as the target system’s hardware will allow).​

Crawling Once a system has been penetrated, crawling should occur to determine how far unauthorized access has extended.

Payload Transport The penetration software should mimic hackers' ability to gain unauthorized access in order to drop harmful payload (e.g. malicious code) onto a target system.

Multi Faceted Testing Penetration testing tools should have the ability to test a wide range of platforms, systems and applications.

Maintaining Access Maintaining persistent access to the application or system with the rationale being, the longer a hacker has access to a system, the more damage they can do.

Reporting Reporting of both strengths and vulnerabilities of the target system.

Countermeasures Circumvention The pen testing tool should perform like a hacker employing techniques to circumvent countermeasures aimed to prevent a security risk.

Vendor Capability Ratings Average rating of all vendor capabilities, some of which may not be shown below

Quality of Features Feature quality is just as important as quantity. Use this data to determine if this product will do what you're purchasing it to do, easily, intuitively, reliably, and effectively.

Breadth of Features Users prefer feature rich software that enables them to perform diverse series of tasks. This data expresses user satisfaction with the product's breadth of features.

Business Value Created Software needs to create value for employees, customers, partners, and, ultimately, shareholders. This data expresses user satisfaction - or lack thereof - with the product's business value.

Ease of Customization Don't get bogged down in a difficult customization; use this data to make sure you can easily achieve the functionality you need for your particular situation.

Ease of Implementation Successfully implementing new software is necessary to realize its full value and promote end user adoption. This data indicates whether or not the product is easy to implement.

Ease of Data Integration Use this data to determine whether the product will cause headaches or make data integration easy.

Usability and Intuitiveness End user learning curves cost the organization money. Pay attention to your end users' technical ability to determine how important UX is in your purchase.

Availability and Quality of Training Effective and readily available training enables users to get the most out of the software you've chosen. Use this section to make sure your vendor's training programs and materials measure up.

Ease of IT Administration This data indicates whether IT personnel will be able to resolve issues and perform configurations efficiently and effectively.

Product Strategy and Rate of Improvement Vendors who don't stay on top of emerging needs and trends won't enable you to meet your business goals. Use this data to separate innovators from imposters.

Vendor Support The importance of vendor support will vary for each organization depending on internal capabilities, but there will always be issues that only the vendor can resolve.

Kali Linux Penetration Testing Reviews

Azhaan N.

Great for Pen Testing, But Not Beginner-Friendly

Likeliness to Recommend

Pros

Ted Q.

Kali Linux: The Ethical Hacker’s tool

Likeliness to Recommend

Pros

Arnaldo Ariel A.

Excellent suite of tools for security tasks

Likeliness to Recommend

Pros

Title

Feature Ratings

Host Target Scanning

Diversity of Tools

Exploits

Reconnaissance

Automation

Crawling

Payload Transport

Multi Faceted Testing

Maintaining Access

Reporting

Countermeasures Circumvention

Vendor Capability Ratings

Quality of Features

Breadth of Features

Business Value Created

Ease of Customization

Ease of Implementation

Ease of Data Integration

Usability and Intuitiveness

Availability and Quality of Training

Ease of IT Administration

Product Strategy and Rate of Improvement

Vendor Support