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PhishTank Review

Depends

Should I use PhishTank?

Join the fight against phishing - phishtank.com

· 1 week ago

Use it if you are a security team, tool builder, or researcher who wants a free extra phishing-URL feed. Skip it if you need a supported anti-phishing product, or if your own site could suffer from a slow-to-remove false positive.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~45 public sources; heavy academic citation, thin direct user reviews.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of useNo usability evidence in sources
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security postureNo public findings either way

Pricing

$0

Free

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Security teams adding a free intel feed
  • Researchers training phishing detectors
  • Tool/SOAR builders needing a URL lookup API

Not for

  • Anyone wanting a supported anti-phishing product
  • Site owners who fear false positives; removal drags
  • Non-technical users; browser/email filters already cover this
  • Teams needing SLAs, fresh curated intel, or vendor support

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

A false-positive listing can flag your legit site; removal tickets reportedly go unanswered

medium

Crowd-sourced verification means listing accuracy depends on volunteer reviewers

low

Ownership confusion (Cisco?) publicly unresolved; unclear roadmap and support

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Entirely free threat-intelligence database
  • Community-verified phishing URL listings
  • API integrates into SOAR and security tooling
  • Widely cited in academic phishing-detection research

Cons

  • False positives are hard to get removed
  • Listing reviews can stall indefinitely
  • Critics argue mainstream filters have outpaced its data
  • Raw feed, not a complete phishing defense product

Sources & method

- 9 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x2review x5security x1news x1

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 9

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free; nothing to pay
  • Ease of use. No usability evidence in sources
  • Feature depth: 3/5. URL database, verification, basic API only
  • Support quality: 2/5. False-positive removal reportedly stalls
  • Security posture. No public findings either way
  • $0 Price Free community database
  • Yes Free tier The whole service is free
  • 2006 Launched Covered by press Oct 2006
  • 48 Alternatives Listed by CyberSecTools

Pricing

Free

$0

  • Community phishing URL database
  • Submit and verify suspected phishes
  • API for lookups and integrations

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

The loudest users in the evidence are site owners stuck fighting false-positive listings rather than happy feed consumers.

“Phishtank won't remove my legit website from database”
Reddit, r/phishing
“Our website is listed as phishing on Phishtank, but I can't...”
Reddit, r/phishing
“PhishTank false positive review escalation”
Cisco Community

Alternatives

Compare PhishTank with each alternative.

  • Google Safe Browsing

    Free browser-level phishing blacklist; academically compared against PhishTank.

  • RiskAnalytics Community Projects

    Free community threat-intel project compared head-to-head with PhishTank.

  • Browser and email built-in filters

    Mainstream filters critics say already outpace PhishTank's data.

Full analysis

Based on ~45 public sources; heavy academic citation, thin direct user reviews.

Free crowd-sourced phishing URL database: fine as one extra intel signal, weak as your only defense.

Methodology

Based on ~45 public sources; heavy academic citation, thin direct user reviews.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. 48 Best PhishTank Alternatives & Competitors (2026)cybersectools.com
    review
  2. Phishtank won't remove my legit website from databasereddit.com
    review
  3. Our website is listed as phishing on Phishtank, but I can't...reddit.com
    review
  4. PhishTank false positive review escalationcommunity.cisco.com
    review
  5. Why Phishtank should be deprecated for anti-phishinglinkedin.com
    review
  6. PhishTank - DevoSOAR Documentation - LogicHubhelp.logichub.com
    official
  7. Product security pagephishtank.com
    official
  8. Dive into the PhishTankchannelinsider.com
    news
  9. An Analysis of Phishing Blacklists: Google Safe Browsing...dl.acm.org
    security

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