A TryHackMe CTF alternative for organizers who want to run their own event
TryHackMe is a superb place to learn. Its CTFs come in three tiers, from a limited builder for Business and Education license holders to fully managed corporate events from $5,000 for a one-day event, priced by event length. CTF7 is an event platform you can start on for ₹0, or have our team manage. Here is a dated, sourced look at tiers, price, SOC Simulator and King of the Hill.
TryHackMe figures as of October 2026. Its managed price includes challenges and written walkthroughs. Sources below.
The right TryHackMe CTF alternative depends on who runs the event. As of October 2026, TryHackMe's managed corporate events start from $5,000 for a one-day event, and its CTF Builder comes only with a Business ($99/month) or Education license. CTF7 lets anyone run a jeopardy CTF free for up to 50 players, or ₹9,999 per event for up to 500.
TL;DR verdict
- Choose TryHackMe if your team already learns on TryHackMe, you want guided, beginner-friendly content with walkthroughs, or you need a fully managed corporate CTF for a very large headcount at a flat day rate.
- Choose CTF7 if you want to run your own CTF without a training subscription, want per-event hosting priced in INR, need registration, fee collection and ticketing, or want formats beyond jeopardy: Raw Ops is self-serve, while attack-defense and King of the Hill are managed events our team runs, quoted per event.
- Tiers: TryHackMe sells CTFs in three tiers: a free but limited CTF Builder, a CTF bank of ready-made challenges and private events, and fully custom events with never-seen challenges.
- SOC: TryHackMe's SOC Simulator is part of a mature business training suite. CTF7's SOC simulation is a newer, scored event format, run by our team as a managed event and quoted per event.
- KotH: TryHackMe's King of the Hill is a 60-minute game for up to 10 players. CTF7 runs King of the Hill as a managed, quoted event for your own participants, on your own leaderboard.
Disclosure: CTF7 wrote this comparison. Every TryHackMe fact comes from TryHackMe's own pages (business, pricing, help center and blog), reviewed on October 1, 2026 and linked at the end. Prices and features change, so check their site for current details.
CTF7 vs TryHackMe for hosting CTF events
TryHackMe facts as of October 1, 2026. Check their site for current details. Swipe sideways on mobile.
| Capability | CTF7 | TryHackMe |
|---|---|---|
| Primary product | Cybersecurity event platform (CTFs, hackathons, conferences) plus War Zone practice operations and Bootcamp courses | Guided cybersecurity learning platform plus business training suite |
| CTF tiers | Free, Standard and Premium event plans, plus custom challenge development | Free CTF Builder ("limited portfolio"), CTF bank, Custom CTF |
| Managed event price | Premium: custom quote | From $5,000 for a one-day event, priced by event length |
| Self-serve event price | Free ₹0 (up to 50 players, jeopardy); Standard ₹9,999 per event (up to 500 players) | CTF Builder included with Business ($99/month) or Education licenses |
| Host without a subscription | Sign up and create an event | Builder needs a Business or Education license |
| Participants | 50 / 500 / unlimited (Premium) | Unlimited on managed events and the CTF bank, no per-user fees |
| Challenge content | Your own challenges; bring-your-own Docker challenge images (Standard); managed container deployment (Premium); custom challenge development by CTF7 | Builder: 200+ existing challenges, 8 per event day. CTF bank: public and private challenges. Custom: never-seen challenges |
| Walkthroughs & debrief | Community writeups hub; not included by default | Written walkthroughs on managed events; resolution walkthroughs and Q&A with creators on Custom CTFs |
| Jeopardy CTF | All plans | Builder rooms and managed half-day to multi-day events |
| SOC / blue team | SOC simulation as a managed event on request, quoted per event (newer offering) | SOC Simulator and Threat Hunting Simulator in the business suite |
| King of the Hill | Managed event on request, quoted per event; our team runs the game infrastructure | 60-minute game, up to 10 players; private games listed on the MAX plan |
| Attack-defense | Managed event on request, quoted per event; our team runs the game infrastructure | Described as a format in its corporate CTF guide; no A/D product documented. Live Breach Exercises offered to businesses |
| Raw Ops (report-based, CVSS 4.0) | Self-serve event format | Not documented |
| Dynamic flags & anti-cheat | Standard and Premium | Not documented in the pages we reviewed; ask TryHackMe |
| Event branding & domain | Custom branding (Standard); custom domain and managed SSL (Premium) | Builder creates a room inside TryHackMe; branding not documented. Custom CTFs offer storyline theming |
| Registration fees, RSVP, tickets | Built in, with fee collection | No public registration or paid ticketing documented |
| Hackathons & conferences | Built in | Not documented |
| Beginner learning content | War Zone operations and Bootcamp courses; personal plans from ₹499/month | Core strength: structured paths, 1,000+ labs, 535 practice challenges, 8M+ users (TryHackMe's figures) |
| Currency | INR, including per-event hosting prices | Business and events in USD; individual plans shown in INR to visitors in India |
TryHackMe data as of October 2026. Check their site for current details. Full source list at the end of this page.
TryHackMe's three CTF tiers, explained
TryHackMe's help center article on capture the flag describes three ways to get a CTF. Here is what each includes, as of October 2026, and where CTF7 fits.
Free CTF Builder
Described as a "limited portfolio". The Builder generates a CTF room from TryHackMe's 200+ existing challenges, with 8 challenges per event day. It's included for Business and Education license holders, so "free" means no extra charge on top of a license.
CTF7 equivalent: self-serve jeopardy events on Free (₹0, up to 50 players) or Standard (₹9,999 per event, up to 500), with no license needed.
CTF bank
Public and private challenges plus complete private events, such as a "Defensive Cloud CTF" or a "Telecom themed CTF". Includes browser access or OpenVPN, bulk accounts, unlimited participants and a scoreboard, with an optional consultant and swag.
CTF7 equivalent: Standard or Premium with your own challenges, or challenges commissioned from our challenge development team.
Custom CTF
Never-seen challenges with content review rounds, optional storyline theming (TryHackMe's example is "Game of Thrones"), optional hosting in your own environment, resolution walkthroughs, Q&A with the creators and swag.
CTF7 equivalent: Premium (full setup and challenge hosting, custom domain, unlimited participants) plus custom challenge development, priced by complexity.
The pattern is clear: TryHackMe's CTF tiers grow from its training library, while CTF7's plans grow from event operations. If your participants already train on TryHackMe and your company holds a Business license, the Builder is a convenient extra. If you're a college, club or conference running a public event with registrations, the event layer matters more than the content library. See CTF platforms for universities for how campus organizers weigh this.
What a TryHackMe corporate CTF costs
As of October 2026, TryHackMe's CTF events page says managed corporate events start from $5,000 for one-day events, priced by event length rather than headcount. Its interactive price slider starts at an 8-hour duration, and custom durations from half-day to multi-day are available. TryHackMe adds that new challenges don't automatically trigger custom pricing, and complex requirements are scoped upfront.
The package includes unlimited participants with no per-user fees, unpublished or bespoke challenges across 12 domains (from web, forensics and crypto to cloud and OT), remote or on-site delivery, team, individual or hybrid play, written walkthroughs, prizes and swag, and a free month of TryHackMe premium access for every attendee.
At $5,000 or more before taxes, that is a serious training investment. For a 1,000-person internal event at a large company it can be very reasonable per head. For a college fest, a community meetup or a startup's first internal CTF, it is usually out of range.
Here is how the same need maps to CTF7:
| Your event | TryHackMe (from, Oct 2026) | CTF7 |
|---|---|---|
| Club practice CTF, 40 players | From $5,000 managed, or the Builder with a Business ($99/month) or Education license | ₹0 Free plan |
| College fest CTF, 400 players, 1 day | $5,000+ | ₹9,999 Standard (you provide challenges) |
| Company-wide CTF, 1,500 staff, 1 day | $5,000+ (unlimited participants) | Premium quote (unlimited participants, full setup) |
| Multi-format event with A/D or Raw Ops | No A/D or report-based product documented | Scoped quote from the CTF7 team |
The fair caveat: TryHackMe's price includes content and walkthroughs. If you want CTF7 to write challenges, add a challenge development quote before comparing. Estimate your own total with the CTF cost calculator, and see CTF7 pricing.
TryHackMe pricing at a glance (October 2026)
What TryHackMe showed on its pricing pages on October 1, 2026, viewed from India. Check their site for current prices and seat terms.
| TryHackMe product | Price shown | What it means for organizers |
|---|---|---|
| Individual Free | ₹0 / $0, 1 hour a day of AttackBox | Practice only; no event hosting |
| Premium | Paid monthly or annual plan; prices vary by region (see tryhackme.com/pricing) | Learner plan; no event hosting |
| MAX | ₹1,249.92/month billed annually (₹1,732 list) | Pricing matrix lists private King of the Hill games |
| Student | 20% off Premium | Learner discount |
| Business | $99/month; free trial for up to 30 days; SSO and a dedicated CSM at 10+ seats | Includes CTF Builder access |
| Corporate CTF events | From $5,000 for one-day events | Managed, unlimited participants |
A note on INR. TryHackMe now shows its individual plans in rupees to visitors in India, so "priced in INR" alone doesn't set CTF7 apart. The real difference is INR per-event hosting pricing: ₹0 for up to 50 players or ₹9,999 per event for up to 500, with no annual training subscription needed to run a CTF.
TryHackMe CTF Builder vs CTF7 self-serve hosting
Both let you build your own event. The difference is who is allowed to, and what the event looks like.
How the TryHackMe CTF Builder works
TryHackMe announced the CTF Builder in September 2023, and its help center article (October 2024) describes the current flow. You pick topics, difficulty and duration, and the Builder generates a room called "My CTF event" from the 200+ challenges already on TryHackMe, at 8 challenges per event day. The room has its own scoreboard, admins can assign the event to their team with deadlines, and there is no setup: players use the browser-based AttackBox or OpenVPN. Any Business or Education license holder can create one.
That makes it a good fit for internal practice inside an organization that already pays for TryHackMe. Two things to weigh: the Builder draws on challenges that already exist on the platform, and TryHackMe's own corporate CTF guide discusses how to keep challenges from being solved on GitHub before an event, which is why its paid tiers use private or never-seen challenges. Registration pages, event branding and custom domains aren't documented for Builder events.
Running your own CTF on CTF7
If you don't hold a TryHackMe license, CTF7 is a direct TryHackMe CTF Builder alternative. Sign up and run a jeopardy CTF for up to 50 players on the Free plan, or choose Standard at ₹9,999 per event for up to 500 players with dynamic flags, anti-cheat, hints, custom branding and bring-your-own Docker challenge images. Dynamic flags give each team (each player in solo events) a unique flag, which blunts flag sharing even if a challenge idea is public (see dynamic flags and anti-cheat).
- Choose a format and plan: jeopardy on Free or Standard, or talk to us about other formats.
- Add challenges in the admin panel: write your own (our guide to creating CTF challenges helps), or commission them.
- Set scoring: static or dynamic points that decay as more teams solve, plus hints that can cost points (Standard; CTF scoring explained).
- Open registration: open, invite-only or paid, with fee collection and digital passes.
- Run it live: real-time scoreboard, announcements and live submission tracking, then post-event analytics.
CTF7 also adds the event layer TryHackMe doesn't document: RSVPs, fee collection, passes, certificates and a hackathon or conference alongside the CTF. New to organizing? Our how to host a CTF guide walks through format, budget, challenges and launch.
TryHackMe SOC Simulator vs CTF7 SOC simulation
TryHackMe lists the SOC Simulator in its business training suite, next to a Threat Hunting Simulator, AI-driven tabletop exercises, Live Breach Exercises, a Cyber Range, a Custom Content Studio and a Management Dashboard that maps skill coverage to MITRE ATT&CK. It is built for ongoing analyst training across a team. Check TryHackMe's site for which plans include which scenarios.
CTF7's SOC simulation is a newer offering built for events rather than individual training: alert triage, log analysis and incident reports as a scored blue-team round, run by our team as a managed event and quoted per event. Choose TryHackMe for ongoing SOC analyst training at scale. Choose CTF7 when you want a defensive track inside a competition, next to jeopardy or Raw Ops. For the bigger picture, see red team vs blue team.
TryHackMe KotH game vs CTF7 King of the Hill
TryHackMe's King of the Hill is a well-loved competitive game: up to 10 players, 60 minutes per game, a pool of 15 machines, spectating and a dedicated KotH leaderboard. You can join a public game or create a private one, and TryHackMe's pricing matrix lists private King of the Hill games on its MAX plan.
It's great practice, but it's a game inside TryHackMe, not an event you brand and run for hundreds of your own participants. CTF7 runs King of the Hill as a managed event, quoted per event: gain and keep control of a shared machine, patch it and defend it against rival teams, scored on a live leaderboard alongside the rest of your event. Our team runs the game infrastructure; talk to us to scope and price it.
When TryHackMe is the better choice
Guided learning
Structured paths, walkthrough rooms and a large practice library make TryHackMe a strong starting point in cybersecurity.
Beginner-heavy audiences
If most participants are brand new, TryHackMe content and walkthroughs lower the barrier more than a blank board.
Existing Business or Education customers
If you already pay for TryHackMe Business or Education, the CTF Builder and business suite are included value.
Huge one-day headcount
A flat day rate with unlimited participants and no per-user fees can be excellent value for thousands of staff.
Choose CTF7 when…
- You want to run your own CTF without a training subscription: free for up to 50 players, or ₹9,999 per event for up to 500.
- You want per-event hosting priced in INR, rather than a USD day rate or an annual license.
- You're a college, club or conference that needs registration, fee collection and passes.
- You want custom challenges tied to your theme, stack or hiring needs (hiring CTFs).
- You want formats beyond jeopardy, such as self-serve Raw Ops, or attack-defense and King of the Hill as quoted managed events.
Learners can use both: practice on TryHackMe and the other sites listed in our CTF for beginners guide, then compete in live events.
Sources
Competitor facts verified on October 1, 2026, viewed from India. Prices and features change, so check each vendor's site for current details. TryHackMe is named for identification only; CTF7 is not affiliated with TryHackMe.
- TryHackMe: Corporate CTF events (pricing, inclusions, price slider)
- TryHackMe Help Center: Capture The Flag (CTF), the three tiers (Aug 27, 2026)
- TryHackMe Help Center: The CTF Builder (Oct 10, 2024)
- TryHackMe blog: Introducing our New CTF Builder Feature (Sep 29, 2023)
- TryHackMe: Business pricing
- TryHackMe: Premium plans (individual pricing, INR shown in India)
- TryHackMe: Business (SOC Simulator and business suite, user and team claims)
- TryHackMe blog: Corporate CTF events (Aug 7, 2026)
- TryHackMe: King of the Hill
- TryHackMe: Challenges (practice library)
- CTF7: Pricing
Host a free event, or talk to us
Start a jeopardy event for up to 50 players on the Free plan, or tell us what you need written and run and we will scope it with you.
Read how we protect accounts and event data on the security page, or contact us with questions.
