How the Pacesetters are scored
Mandos Pacesetters ranks cybersecurity companies by market momentum. Each company gets a score showing how its growth compares with peers in the same category and growth stage. The score uses publicly available data on each company.
What it shows, and what it does not
It shows
- Which companies are gaining ground faster than peers in their category and growth stage
- Market momentum across seven measures of team growth, hiring, funding and market presence
- A snapshot of one quarter, frozen when it is published
It does not show
- Whether the product is good, or right for your team
- Revenue of private companies. That data is not public
- Customer satisfaction, or who wins deals
High momentum often comes with fresh funding, and funded companies are the ones that buy.
What goes into a score
Seven measures in three parts. Each is compared with similar companies, then weighted into one score from 0 to 100.
- Team growth over the last 6 months (the last month when the history is shorter)17%
- Hiring: open roles against team size13%
- Growth in job postings over the last 6 months (the last month when the history is shorter)10%
- How recent the latest funding round is, equity or convertible note (revenue growth for public companies)19%
- Equity raised (stock trend for public companies)16%
- LinkedIn follower growth (posting and engagement when follower data is missing)13%
- News found by our weekly news scan in the last 90 days12%
How to read a score
A score says how a company is moving compared with similar companies. 50 is about the middle of its group. A high score means it is growing faster than most of them this quarter.
0–29
Well behind peers
30–49
Behind peers
50–69
In line with peers
70–84
Ahead of peers
85+
Well ahead of peers
Compared with companies of the same size
Early
Up to 50 people and under $10M equity raised
Growth
Over 50 people or $10M+ equity raised
Scale
Over 500 people or $200M+ equity raised
Public
Listed companies
The rules
01
Enough data, or no score
A company needs at least 4 of the 7 measures to receive a score. With fewer measures, the score moves toward the middle (50).
02
Small numbers count less
A measure based on a few events, like 2 news stories or 1 open job, is pulled toward the middle, so it cannot put a company at the top on its own.
03
Tested against what happened next
We scored about 1,500 companies on each of three days (April, May and June 2026; 4,602 scores in all), using only what was known on that day. Over the next 3 to 6 months, the top third grew their teams by 6.3% (median) and the bottom third by 0%. 7.8% of the top third raised a new equity round, against 1.6% of the bottom third.
04
Compared with similar companies
Each measure is compared with companies in the same category and growth stage. Small groups are blended with the whole market.
05
Company status
Acquired and shut-down companies are not ranked.
06
Who can be ranked
Only pure-play cybersecurity companies that sell a product mainly to businesses (services-only firms, and companies that also sell to consumers, are not ranked), with full data (6 or 7 measures) and at least 25 people. A company outside these rules still has a score on its own page; it just isn't ranked.
07
Only full categories
A category needs at least 10 eligible companies to be ranked.
08
Top 10, all Pacesetters
Each edition shows the top 10 per category. All 10 are Pacesetters, and each shows its exact rank.
09
Frozen once published
Scores are recomputed after each quarter ends, then frozen. A published edition is never changed.
Most compared on CybersecTools
What it is
The pairs people look up most in each category: how often Google showed the CybersecTools comparison page for those two companies in search results, over the last 90 days.
The rules
Both companies in the same category, active, and selling a paid product. At least 50 search impressions in 90 days. We show the order, never the count.
What it means
It shows which names the market puts side by side. It is search demand, not a survey of buyers, and it does not say who wins the deal.
For how clearly a company explains itself to a buyer, see the CISO Positioning Framework. See the latest Pacesetters