PlayCISO vs Cloud Range: live-fire simulation or browser decision training?

Cloud Range and PlayCISO are often mentioned together because both say "simulation". They simulate different things. Cloud Range simulates the attack: real malware on a virtual enterprise network, defended by your team with real tools. PlayCISO simulates the incident around the attack: the alerts, the pressure, the stakeholders and the decisions. Here is what each does, where each is stronger, and how to use them together.

Disclosure: this is PlayCISO’s blog. Cloud Range details were checked on cloudrangecyber.com in October 2026. Note that Cloud Range is not the same company as CloudRange (cloudrange.io), an unrelated AWS training range in beta.

What does Cloud Range offer?

Cloud Range calls itself a full-service, end-to-end cyber simulation provider. Its product list in October 2026:

• Live-fire cyber attack simulations across IT, OT/ICS, cloud and hybrid environments, aligned to MITRE ATT&CK and based on real threats, with expert-guided missions.
• Range365 hosted cyber range platforms and FlexRange instructor-led readiness programmes.
• A replica of your network: a dedicated environment designed to emulate your own, with simulated user traffic, and licensed versions of the same security tools your SOC uses.
• Tabletop 2.0 simulation-supported tabletop exercises, FlexLabs skills courses, a CTF platform and RightTrak cyber aptitude assessments.
• AI Validation Range: tests the behaviour and decisions of AI agents, not just humans.
• Performance Portal with readiness metrics; Cloud Range lists 1,500+ labs, courses and simulations.

Cloud Range has run OT/ICS live-fire training (PLCs, HMIs, SCADA, sector environments such as energy and water) since 2023, and was named Overall Cyber Posture Solution of the Year in the 2026 CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards.

What does PlayCISO offer?

• Cyber War Room: 25 branching incidents across 3 fictional companies, each based on a real breach, with a graded debrief and an AI board that questions your calls.
• Virtual SOC with cases across 20 attack domains, and the SOC log triage trainer.
• OT browser labs: the OT historian ransomware lab, SCADA HMI attack lab, Modbus lab and an ICS attack threat model.
• AI incidents: the AI agent IR tabletop lab and the agent harness attack-surface lab, for people, not for testing agents themselves.
• 139 browser labs, a master IR plan with 12 playbooks, and the Tabletop Facilitation Lab.

PlayCISO does not have a live-fire network, a replica of your environment, real security tool consoles, expert-led missions or an AI validation range.

How do PlayCISO and Cloud Range compare?

When should you choose Cloud Range?

• You run a SOC or an OT security team and need measured improvements in time to detect and respond.
• You want training in your own topology with your own tools, not a generic network.
• You want a partner to design, run and report on the programme for you.
• You are deploying AI agents in security operations and need to validate them before giving them more autonomy.

When should you choose PlayCISO?

• You need decision practice for incident commanders, IT managers and leaders, every month, without scheduling.
• You want to prepare a tabletop facilitator or let executives rehearse a ransomware decision before the real tabletop.
• You are a small team or an individual building leadership skills on a personal budget.

How do you combine a live-fire range with browser simulations?

Use the range to measure and the browser to rehearse. Run a Cloud Range live-fire mission twice a year; between missions, have analysts work Virtual SOC cases and leaders play War Room scenarios on the same threat (ransomware, identity compromise, OT disruption). Feed the range’s findings into the next tabletop as injects. That way the expensive exercise measures progress instead of being the only practice anyone gets.

Which one fits which role?

• SOC analyst: Cloud Range for live-fire detection and response with real tools; PlayCISO’s Virtual SOC and Detection Lab for cheap, frequent practice between exercises.
• OT engineer or plant security lead: Cloud Range for hands-on OT/ICS attack response; PlayCISO OT labs for the decision to isolate, shut down or keep running.
• Incident commander or IR manager: both. The range shows how the team performs; the War Room trains the calls you make on their findings.
• CISO and executives: Cloud Range Tabletop 2.0 when you want a facilitated, evidence-backed exercise; PlayCISO War Room and Boardroom game for individual rehearsal before it.
• Teams adopting AI agents in the SOC: Cloud Range’s AI Validation Range for testing the agents; PlayCISO’s AI incident labs for training the humans who supervise them.

Checklist: questions to ask before choosing

• Which failure are you fixing: technical detection and containment, or decisions and communication?
• Do you need your own network and tools replicated? Only a range does that.
• How often can people practise? Live-fire is scheduled; browser simulations are on demand.
• Do you need OT coverage for engineers (range) or for managers who decide on plant shutdowns (simulation)?
• What will you show the board: range metrics such as MTTD and MTTR, decision scores from simulations, or both?

Frequently asked questions

Is PlayCISO a Cloud Range alternative?

Not for live-fire training. Cloud Range runs live-fire attack simulations on a virtual enterprise network, can replicate your own network and loads licensed versions of the security tools your SOC uses. PlayCISO is a browser simulation of the decisions around an incident, plus browser labs. They complement each other: Cloud Range for technical team readiness, PlayCISO for monthly decision practice and leadership.

What is the best training platform for OT and ICS security labs?

For live-fire OT/ICS exercises with real PLCs, HMIs and SCADA components in a virtual environment, Cloud Range and CYBER RANGES (OT WORLDS) are purpose-built options as of October 2026. For browser practice of OT incident decisions and protocol basics, PlayCISO has free OT labs such as the OT historian ransomware lab, a SCADA HMI attack lab and a Modbus lab. SANS ICS courses are the usual route to an OT certification.

Which cyber range has purple team scenarios?

Ranges that execute real attacks against a defended network support purple teaming, because the attacking and defending sides can work the same scenario together. Cloud Range, CYBER RANGES, Cyberbit and Hack The Box all advertise MITRE ATT&CK-aligned scenarios that can be used this way. PlayCISO does not run purple team exercises; its Attack Path Simulator shows an ATT&CK-tagged kill chain for teaching, not for testing.

How much does Cloud Range cost?

Cloud Range does not publish prices as of October 2026; you request a demo and receive a quote. Its offerings range from hosted ranges (Range365) and instructor-led programmes (FlexRange) to skills courses (FlexLabs), so the price depends on the mix.