CTFd
CTFd provides a Capture The Flag cybersecurity competition platform serving training organizations, enterprises, and educational institutions via open-source self-hosted software, managed cloud hosting from $60/month, and an enterprise subscription tier.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersBrooklyn, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What CTFd does
CTFd monetizes through a three-tier model: a free self-hosted open-source download (GitHub), a Hosted CTFd managed cloud service starting at $60 per month, and a CTFd Enterprise plan with custom pricing that adds individualized infrastructure, enhanced support, advanced challenge types, and SAML/OAuth SSO (Okta, OneLogin, Auth0, Azure AD, GitHub). A secondary CTFd Store sells official plugins, themes, and merchandise to extend self-hosted deployments. Go-to-market is primarily product-led via the open-source community, supplemented by direct sales for Enterprise deals; named reference customers span cybersecurity (FireEye/Mandiant, Bugcrowd), education (NYU Tandon School of Engineering), and enterprise security awareness (Toyota). The company is structured as CTFd LLC, a privately held New York-domiciled entity headquartered in Brooklyn, and appears bootstrapped with no disclosed institutional funding.
CTFd firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- CTFd
- Legal name
- CTFd LLC
- Website
- https://ctfd.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- CTFd provides a Capture The Flag cybersecurity competition platform serving training organizations, enterprises, and educational institutions via open-source self-hosted software, managed cloud hosting from $60/month, and an enterprise subscription tier.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
CTFd industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Cybersecurity Training Software
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Virtual CTE & Career Pathways Programs (K–12) (EDAJADAL)
Keywords
Where CTFd is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Brooklyn
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
CTFd business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Hosted/CTFd Cloud Subscriptions: Monthly or annual subscription plans for managed hosting of CTF instances. Subscriptions include pre-configured infrastructure, automatic updates, and management of the CTFd platform. Renewal is automatic with invoicing in advance of each billing cycle.
- Enterprise Plan: Enterprise tier includes new game types, individualized infrastructure, enhanced support, and advanced features like King of the Hill challenges and Application Target challenges.
- Store (Plugins & Themes): Sale of official CTFd plugins and themes that allow Self-Hosted CTFd instances to use some Hosted CTFd customizations. Also includes merchandise like gear/accessories/shirts.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Hosted CTFd - Managed Solution |
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise Plan |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
CTFd product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CTFd provides a Capture The Flag platform that lets organizations design, host, and manage cybersecurity competitions, workshops, and training events. It is delivered as free open-source self-hosted software, a managed Hosted CTFd cloud service, and an Enterprise tier with individualized infrastructure, advanced challenge types, and enhanced support.
Product overview
CTFd is a unified Capture The Flag platform offered in three deployment models: free open-source self-hosted software, managed Hosted CTFd cloud service ($60/month starting), and CTFd Enterprise with advanced features. The core platform provides cybersecurity competition management including challenge creation, user/team tracking, scoring, and scoreboard visualization. Premium offerings include specialized challenge types (Code Challenges, King of the Hill, Application Target, Multiple Choice, Manual Verification, Dynamic Value), custom themes and plugins via the CTFd Store, SAML/OAuth SSO integrations, and Docker-based challenge deployment. All tiers share a common REST API for programmatic access.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- CTFd Open Source Free, open-source Capture The Flag platform for designing cybersecurity competitions and workshops. Built on Flask, it provides challenge management, user tracking, scoreboards, and team functionality.
- Hosted CTFd Fully managed CTFd hosting service with subscription plans starting at $60/month, providing instant deployment, automatic updates, managed infrastructure, and Docker-based challenge deployment.
- CTFd Enterprise Enterprise tier offering individualized infrastructure, enhanced support, and advanced challenge types including King of the Hill, Application Target, and Code Challenges.
- CTFd Plugins and Themes Official plugins and themes available for purchase that extend CTFd functionality and visual customization for self-hosted instances, with free community alternatives available on GitHub.
- Code Challenges Challenge type that grades and evaluates code submissions in multiple programming languages including Python, C/C++, Java, NodeJS, Ruby, Bash, Golang, and Rust. Submissions receive stdin input and must generate expected stdout.
- King of the Hill Challenges Competitive challenge type where users compete to control a server by leaving their identifier on a target; CTFd monitors ownership and awards points to controlling users or teams.
- Application Target Challenges Challenge type deploying per-user instances of applications using Docker Compose specifications, with each participant receiving their own isolated instance and unique flags for cheating detection.
- CTFd REST API REST API enabling programmatic interaction with CTFd instances for automation of challenge creation, user management, scoring, and other platform operations.
Quantifiable outcome
- Organizations report improved data collection for recruitment purposes with accurate participant statistics
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use CTFd
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
CTFd technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration7 records
Feature9 records
CTFd partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators4 records
Recent moves4 records
Expansion highlights5 records
CTFd competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Let’s Defend: Subscription-based blue-team cybersecurity training with CTF-style incident response challenges. Emerging peer in the cybersecurity skills assessment space overlapping with CTFd's enterprise training use cases.
- CyberTalents: Cybersecurity competition platform running CTF challenges with a regional focus on Middle East and Africa. Comparable to CTFd in providing CTF hosting infrastructure for talent identification and skill assessment.
Direct peers
- TryHackMe: Subscription-based cybersecurity training platform offering guided, gamified hacking rooms including CTF-style challenges. Comparable to CTFd in audience (security learners/educators) and content format, though more learner-facing than competition-organizer facing.
- Hack The Box: Cybersecurity training platform providing hands-on hacking labs and CTF-style challenges used by enterprises for security workforce development. Competes directly with CTFd in the offensive security training and CTF competition vertical.
- picoCTF: Carnegie Mellon's cybersecurity competition platform originally built for high school and college students. Direct functional peer to CTFd in hosting CTF competitions for educational institutions, though operated by a single academic program rather than a vendor.
- RangeForce: Enterprise cybersecurity training and skills assessment platform with hands-on labs and team-based challenges. Overlaps with CTFd Enterprise for security workforce development and recruitment use cases, targeting similar enterprise customers.
- CyberDefenders: Blue team cybersecurity training platform offering CTF-style challenges and competitions focused on SOC analyst and incident response skills. Comparable to CTFd for blue-team CTF organizers in enterprise and educational settings.
Broad incumbents
- Immersive Labs: Enterprise cybersecurity training platform covering a broader range of skills (incident response, cyber crisis exercises) with custom content authoring. Broader incumbent serving similar enterprise security workforce customers as CTFd Enterprise but at much larger scale.
- HackerOne: Bug bounty platform that also runs CTF-style hacker challenges and provides security training content. Overlaps with CTFd in CTF competition operations for security talent scouting but is a much broader platform.
Others
- CSAW (NYU): The student-run cybersecurity competition organized at NYU Tandon that CTFd's founders originally built the platform to support. Closely associated ecosystem partner and a major CTF event using CTFd as the underlying platform.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
CTFd social profiles
Digital presenceCTFd financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
CTFd leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
CTFd funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
CTFd M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about CTFd
What does CTFd do?
CTFd provides a Capture The Flag platform that lets organizations design, host, and manage cybersecurity competitions, workshops, and training events. It is delivered as free open-source self-hosted software, a managed Hosted CTFd cloud service, and an Enterprise tier with individualized infrastructure, advanced challenge types, and enhanced support.
Is CTFd a public or private company?
CTFd is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was CTFd founded?
CTFd was founded in 2014. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is CTFd based?
CTFd is headquartered in Brooklyn, United States, in the North America region.
How does CTFd make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Hosted/CTFd Cloud Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are enterprise Plan and store (Plugins & Themes).
Who are CTFd's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Let’s Defend and CyberTalents. Direct peers are TryHackMe, Hack The Box, picoCTF, RangeForce and CyberDefenders. Broad incumbents are Immersive Labs and HackerOne. CSAW (NYU) is listed as an others.
Does CTFd have an API?
Yes. CTFd provides a REST API that allows developers to programmatically interact with CTFd instances. The API can be used to automate challenge creation, user management, scoring, and other platform operations. Available for self-hosted and hosted deployments. Developer documentation is at docs.ctfd.io/docs/api/getting-started.
What industry is CTFd in?
CTFd's product category is Cybersecurity Training Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAJADAL, Virtual CTE & Career Pathways Programs (K–12). Its NAICS code is 51821 and its SIC code is 7372.