Section 01 · Public Positioning
How Optiv positions publicly
Optiv describes itself as a leading cybersecurity solutions and services firm, carrying hundreds of vendor relationships alongside an in-house services arm that includes offensive testing. It has been owned by private-equity firm KKR since 2017, per public reporting.
Section 02 · Market Read
Where Optiv actually plays
Optiv's core business is moving cybersecurity product, with a services layer wrapped around it. The offensive practice is real and the senior people are competent, but it sits inside a portfolio that includes architecture, integration, identity, MSS, GRC, and a reseller relationship with most major vendors in the market. The conversation that starts with a pentest tends to widen into a discussion of your overall security stack, because that is the breadth the firm is built to sell.
Section 03 · Where We Fit
Where Alacrinet sits next to them
The cleanest way to read this one is through the business model. Optiv carries a large product-reseller business alongside its services, so a pentest can sit next to product procurement and a roadmap conversation under one partner; that consolidation is exactly what some buyers want. We resell nothing. There is no product line behind our recommendation, so the only thing we have to sell against a finding is the fix that closes it. If you want one partner who can quote you almost anything in security and run a pentest alongside it, Optiv's breadth is the draw. If you want the testing to stand on its own, with no product relationship in the room, that is what we do.
Section 04 · Side By Side
Side by side, on the dimensions that actually separate us
| Dimension | Alacrinet | Optiv |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Business model | Pure-play offensive services. | Cybersecurity reseller plus services; product margin is a meaningful revenue line. |
| 02 Practice positioning | Offensive testing is the entire firm. | Offensive practice is one of many service lines next to identity, GRC, MSS, and architecture, per their published reseller model. |
| 03 What follows the engagement | The report, the readout, and operator availability for retest. | Account-team cadence covering product renewals, architecture, and adjacent services. |
| 04 Operator continuity | Same senior operator scopes and delivers. | Delivery from a large consulting bench, assigned post-signature. |
| 05 Pricing posture | Mid-market accessible, no platform or product attached. | Enterprise services pricing, often quoted alongside a product or architecture line. |
Section 05 · Buyer-Side Honesty
When each firm is the right pick
When Optiv is the right pick
- You want a single partner for product procurement plus services and value consolidating vendor management.
- You are running a large architecture or transformation program where offensive testing is one work-stream of many.
- You need a national account team for a distributed enterprise footprint.
When Alacrinet is the right pick
- You want offensive testing decoupled from any product reseller relationship.
- You want the senior operator on the call, not a sales executive plus an assigned delivery team.
- You do not want adjacent services pulled into a testing scope.
- You want a report whose findings are not implicitly tied to fixing them with a product Optiv resells.
Section 06 · The Tiebreaker
How to decide without a bake-off
Read this one through the business model. Ask both firms, in writing, how the offensive engagement is priced and whether any product or architecture work is bundled into or quoted alongside it. Optiv's answer will show you where the testing sits inside its product relationship; ours will show a fixed fee with nothing attached. Then send the twelve-question checklist to both. If consolidating product and services on one partner is the goal, Optiv's answers will make that case. If you want the testing to stand alone, ours will.
Section 07 · Frequently Asked
Frequently asked questions
Q1 Are you small compared to Optiv?
Yes, by headcount and by revenue. By offensive-testing focus, no. Optiv carries the overhead of a reseller business and a wide services portfolio; we carry the overhead of an offensive services firm. The pricing and the engagement model reflect the difference.
Q2 How does the product reseller relationship affect testing?
Optiv resells most major security vendors, so the same account relationship can cover both a pentest and product procurement; for a buyer who wants both, that is a feature, and the firm can speak to how it keeps the two separate. We resell nothing, so there is no product to attach to any finding. Our reports recommend the change that closes the attack path. Whether you buy a product to implement it is your call and your relationship with whoever you buy it from.
Q3 Can we use Optiv for procurement and you for testing?
Yes, and several clients do. The cleanest pattern is to keep product procurement on whichever reseller paper makes sense for you and run the offensive program separately, on its own scope and its own SOW.