# PlayCISO vs Cyberbit: live-fire cyber range or browser incident simulation?

> An honest comparison of PlayCISO and Cyberbit (including RangeForce): what each one trains, live-fire exercises vs decision simulations, pricing models, who each is for, and how to use them together.

Source: https://playciso.com/blog/playciso-vs-cyberbit · Published: 2026-10-29 · Publisher: PlayCISO (https://playciso.com)

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Cyberbit and PlayCISO both say "cyber readiness", but they train different moments of an incident. Cyberbit puts analysts on a live-fire cyber range and attacks them with real malware while they defend with real tools. PlayCISO puts incident commanders, managers and analysts in front of the decisions that come with an incident, in the browser, with no range at all. This page compares them honestly so you can pick the right one, or both. Disclosure: this is PlayCISO’s blog. Cyberbit details were checked on cyberbit.com in October 2026. Where Cyberbit is the better choice, we say so. ## What does Cyberbit do? Cyberbit sells the Cyberbit Readiness platform. Its main parts, as listed on its site in October 2026: - Team Live-Fire Exercises (LFEs): a team defends a virtual network during an end-to-end attack, using enterprise tools. Cyberbit says only full exercises with real attacks, tools and networks test every element of incident response. - Solo exercises and labs: Cyberbit lists 100+ team exercises and 2,800+ solo labs, including RangeForce content. - Crisis Sim 360°: a crisis simulation for the wider organisation, sold only as an add-on to a Readiness plan. - Measurement: skills-gap tracking, a Defense Readiness Index, and the CREW framework for measuring teamwork in incident response. Cyberbit acquired RangeForce in September 2025; RangeForce runs as a wholly owned subsidiary, and four RangeForce certificate programmes have ANAB accreditation. Exercises can be self-run or facilitated by a Cyberbit RangeMaster. ## What does PlayCISO do? PlayCISO is a browser-based practice platform for security leaders and the analysts working towards that role. Nothing to install, no VM. - Cyber War Room: 25 branching incident scenarios across 3 fictional companies, each modelled on a real breach. Every decision changes what happens next and is graded, and a board of AI executives questions your calls at the end. - Virtual SOC: pick up cases across 20 attack domains and work them to close. - Decision drills: the Ransom Decision Lab, Tabletop Facilitation Lab, Invoice Fraud BEC Lab and others, 10 to 20 minutes each. - 139 browser labs (see /labs), such as the Detection Lab for writing SIEM rules against labelled logs, with project tracks that end in a certificate of completion. - Incident response hub: a master plan, 12 domain playbooks and 13 scenario labs in English, Spanish and Portuguese, with classroom mode on the IR Playbook Lab. What PlayCISO does not have: live-fire networks, real attack tooling, commercial SIEM or EDR consoles, red vs blue events, or an accredited certification. ## How do PlayCISO and Cyberbit compare side by side? CyberbitPlayCISO Best forSOC and IR teams proving technical readinessIncident commanders, managers, CISOs and analysts practising decisions FormatCloud cyber range, live-fire team exercises, solo labsBrowser simulations, decision drills, browser labs Real attacks and toolsYes: real attacks, networks and enterprise toolsNo: simulated logs, alerts and consequences Team exercisesYes, booked in advance, optionally facilitatedGroup play and classroom mode; no live multi-team range Leadership and board decisionsCrisis Sim 360° add-onCore of the product (War Room, board debrief, Boardroom game) Time per sessionHours for a full exercise10 to 45 minutes CredentialsFour ANAB-accredited RangeForce certificate programmesCertificate of completion (not an industry certification) Free tierFree Edition of solo labs; free team exercise in a proof of conceptMany tools and 5 arcade games free without an account; one free War Room run Price (as of October 2026)Annual plans, quoted; minimum 5 licences; invoice and PO$5/month or $40/year; team seats 30% off from 5 seats, by card ## When is Cyberbit the better choice? - You need evidence that analysts can detect and contain a real attack in the tools they use every day. - Your SOC is large enough to run monthly or quarterly team exercises and measure response times between them. - You want a facilitator to run and assess the exercise, and a single vendor for solo labs and team exercises. - You need accredited certificate programmes for your analysts. ## When is PlayCISO the better choice? - Your post-incident reviews keep blaming escalation, ownership, communication or slow decisions, not missed alerts. - The people who need practice are incident commanders, IT managers, new CISOs or executives. - You need 20-minute sessions people can do between meetings, across time zones, without booking a range. - Budget is tight: ten people on PlayCISO team yearly seats cost $280 a year at today’s founding-member prices ($28 per seat per year). ## Can you use Cyberbit and PlayCISO together? Yes, and it is a sensible design. A live-fire exercise is expensive and infrequent; decisions decay between exercises. A combined quarter could look like this: - Month 1: Cyberbit live-fire ransomware exercise for the SOC. Record MTTD, MTTR and where escalation stalled. - Month 1, same week: the incident commander and managers run a War Room ransomware scenario and the Ransom Decision Lab, and compare their choices with what happened on the range. - Month 2: analysts take solo labs on the gaps the exercise exposed; leaders run a BEC or identity scenario. - Month 3: a 60-minute tabletop using the facilitation drill to prepare the facilitator, then the next live-fire exercise. ## Checklist: which one should you buy first? - Did your last incident or exercise fail on detection or on decisions? Detection points to Cyberbit; decisions point to PlayCISO. - Who needs the practice most: analysts (Cyberbit) or the people they escalate to (PlayCISO)? - Can you commit to an annual plan and booked exercises? If not, start in the browser. - Do you need accredited certificates? Cyberbit’s RangeForce programmes have ANAB accreditation; PlayCISO’s certificates do not. - Do you need to train people outside the SOC (legal, comms, executives)? Plan for a tabletop or simulation layer either way. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is PlayCISO an alternative to Cyberbit? Only for part of the job. Cyberbit runs live-fire team exercises on a cloud cyber range with real attacks and commercial security tools, plus thousands of solo labs. PlayCISO runs browser-based incident and leadership simulations, graded decision drills and browser labs. If you need to test analysts in Splunk or CrowdStrike against a real attack, Cyberbit is the right tool. If you need incident commanders and managers to practise decisions every month on a small budget, PlayCISO is. Many teams use one for each. ### What are the alternatives to RangeForce for SOC team drills? RangeForce is now part of Cyberbit (acquired September 2025), so the Cyberbit Readiness platform is the direct continuation. Other live-fire options as of October 2026 are Hack The Box Threat Range, Cloud Range and CYBER RANGES. For the decision and escalation side of a SOC drill without a range, browser simulations such as PlayCISO’s Virtual SOC and War Room are a low-cost complement. ### How much does Cyberbit cost? Cyberbit does not publish prices as of October 2026. It sells annual Readiness plans (Foundational, Operational and Advanced) that differ by the number of facilitated team exercises, requires at least 5 user licences, does not sell one-time live-fire licences, and invoices against a purchase order. There is a Free Edition of solo labs and a free team exercise as part of a proof of concept. ### What is the best way to practise a ransomware incident as a team? Run the technical side on a range (a live-fire ransomware exercise where analysts must detect and contain the encryption) and the decision side as a tabletop or browser simulation (whether to isolate, whether to pay, who to notify and when). Cyberbit covers the first and sells Crisis Sim 360° for the second; PlayCISO covers the second with the War Room, the Ransom Decision Lab and a ransomware playbook.