SurfaceLoop vs UpGuard: EASM and Pricing Compared
SurfaceLoop vs UpGuard at a glance
| Feature | SurfaceLoop | UpGuard |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £149/mo flat, everything included | ~$250/mo (Breach Risk, self-service) |
| Pricing model | One flat price, published | Scales by employee count |
| Scales toward | Stays £149/mo | ~$2,000/mo at larger headcounts |
| Trial | 14 days, full product, no card | 7-day trial, demo-led |
| Primary focus | Your external attack surface | Vendor risk / security ratings |
| Best fit | SMBs up to 200 staff | Larger orgs, vendor risk |
Who UpGuard is really for
UpGuard is a strong, mature platform with a deserved reputation, particularly for third-party risk management and security ratings. If your job is to assess the security posture of a portfolio of vendors, benchmark suppliers, and manage vendor questionnaires at scale, UpGuard is a serious, capable option and does far more than external scanning alone.
For a small business that just wants to monitor its own internet-facing assets, though, UpGuard is a heavy fit. Its Breach Risk product is self-service from roughly $250/mo (about $3,000/year) but scales by employee count, climbing toward around $2,000/mo for larger headcounts. That means your bill can grow as you hire even when your attack surface has not changed. Evaluation is typically demo- and sales-led with a short 7-day trial, so it is harder to just try.
Who SurfaceLoop is for
SurfaceLoop is a focused EASM product for your own internet-facing estate, built for businesses up to around 200 employees. Pricing is one published flat price — £149/mo on a 12-month agreement, billed by invoice — so a growing team never inflates your monitoring cost. You start with a 14-day free trial of the full product on your own domains — no sales call required — with plain-English remediation on every finding.
How SurfaceLoop handles this
SurfaceLoop continuously discovers and monitors the assets you actually own, priced flat rather than by headcount. Start with a demo, then 14 days free on your own domains — no card details.
See External Attack Surface Management feature →Which should you choose?
Choose UpGuard if third-party/vendor risk and security ratings across a supplier portfolio are your priority and you have the budget for headcount-based pricing. Choose SurfaceLoop if you want focused monitoring of your own attack surface, one transparent flat price, and no penalty for growing your team.
Exploring options beyond UpGuard? Our guide to the best UpGuard alternative goes deeper, and our roundup of the best EASM tools for small businesses compares the wider field.
Frequently asked questions
- How does UpGuard's pricing work? +
- UpGuard's Breach Risk product is self-service from around $250/mo (roughly $3,000/year) and scales by your employee count, rising toward about $2,000/mo for larger headcounts. It offers a 7-day trial. SurfaceLoop, by contrast, publishes one flat price -- £149/mo with everything included -- and does not price by headcount.
- Does UpGuard penalise headcount growth? +
- Because UpGuard's Breach Risk pricing scales by employee count, your bill can rise as you hire even if your actual attack surface has not changed. SurfaceLoop is one flat £149/mo, so a growing team never increases your monitoring cost.
- Is UpGuard an EASM tool or something else? +
- UpGuard spans security ratings and third-party/vendor risk management as well as attack-surface features. It is more focused on vendor risk and security-ratings use cases than pure external attack surface management. SurfaceLoop is a focused EASM product for monitoring your own internet-facing assets.
- How much does UpGuard actually cost? +
- As of September 2026, as reported on UpGuard's pricing pages: the self-service Breach Risk plan runs from $250/mo for the smallest organisations to around $2,000/mo at 10,000+ employees, priced by total employee count, and Breach Risk is also available as an add-on from $250/mo. The broader platform -- vendor risk and security ratings -- is sales-led, so its pricing is quote-based.
- Is UpGuard a good product? +
- Yes -- UpGuard is a strong, well-regarded platform, especially for third-party risk management and security ratings across a vendor portfolio. It is simply priced and positioned for larger organisations and vendor-risk use cases, not for a small business wanting affordable, focused EASM.