Is Rapid7 profitable in 2026?

Yes on a cash basis: Rapid7 posted $130M free cash flow on $860M FY2025 revenue (as of 2025-12-31), and guides FY2026 non-GAAP operating income of $112-118M on $836-842M revenue, per its May 5, 2026 guidance.

Is Rapid7 stock a good buy right now?

Rapid7's stock trades near $815M market cap as of July 20, 2026, down roughly 95% from its 2021 all-time high of $145, and analysts (Canaccord, DA Davidson, Truist) cut price targets to $6.50-$10 in March 2026 citing flat ARR.

Could AI replace Rapid7's security analysts?

Rapid7 itself cut 21 jobs (under 1% of staff) in July 2026 explicitly tied to increased AI use in security operations, while its March 2026 Kenzo Security acquisition claims up to 94% reduction in investigation time for SOC alerts.

Is Rapid7 being acquired or taken private?

No deal has closed as of July 2026, but Rapid7 explored a sale in 2023 and fielded buyout interest from PE firms including Advent, Bain, and EQT in October 2024, amid a market cap trading below its annual revenue.

Who is Rapid7's biggest competitor?

Palo Alto Networks (Cortex XSIAM), CrowdStrike (Falcon), and Microsoft Defender are consolidating exposure management and SOC functions into unified platforms, pressuring Rapid7's discrete-product model as of mid-2026, alongside direct rivals Tenable and Qualys.

Rapid7 is an independent Nasdaq-listed public company (ticker RPD); activist investor Jana Partners disclosed a roughly 13% economic stake in October 2024 and secured board seats, but no single owner controls the company as of July 2026.

Cybersecurity companies · United States

Rapid7

rapid7.com ↗

Rapid7 sells vulnerability management and detection & response tools to over 11,500 companies.

Losing its protection

Assessed 21 July 2026 · Evidence as of 21 July 2026

The structural protection is eroding.

On the recordSince 21 July 2026 · Checkable from August 10, 2026 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Q2 2026 earnings report, first full quarter under new CEO Wael Mohamed

The call

Rapid7 still makes money and has real customer data nobody else has, but its stock price says the market expects Palo Alto or CrowdStrike to eat its lunch before AI even gets a bite.

Rapid7 sells software that helps companies find and fix security problems. The company has been around 25 years and built up a lot of old data and tools (like Metasploit) that are hard for others to replicate, and it has thousands of paying customers. But bigger companies like Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike, and Microsoft are now offering similar all-in-one security platforms that do what Rapid7 does plus more, so customers are switching to them instead. The stock has crashed 95% from its peak, the company is barely growing or actually shrinking, and a brand new CEO just took over. Whether the new CEO can turn the company around by building new AI-powered products and winning back customers over the next few quarters will decide if this is a comeback story or a slow decline.

Why

AI pressure: AI-native SOC startups and agentic MDR triage tools. AI automates the alert triage work Rapid7's human analysts do, threatening the labor-heavy MDR margin that funds the business. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.

Bigger players: Palo Alto Networks (Cortex XSIAM), CrowdStrike (Falcon), Microsoft (Defender). These bigger platforms bundle exposure management, detection, and response into one buy, squeezing Rapid7's standalone tools out of consolidation deals. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.

What protects it. Twenty five years of proprietary vulnerability telemetry, the Metasploit ecosystem, and over 800 MSP partners who resell Rapid7 into customers directly.

What would change this call

Rapid7's Q2 2026 earnings on August 10, 2026 show ARR growth above 5% YoY. Would indicate the platform is stabilizing customer losses to Palo Alto and CrowdStrike.
Rapid7 announces a take-private or acquisition deal within the next two quarters. Would confirm the depressed valuation made it a buyout target rather than a standalone competitor.
New CEO Wael Mohamed announces further layoffs or a strategic review outcome by Q4 2026. Would show whether the AI-SOC pivot is working or the company is shrinking to survive.

Key numbers

$860M FY2025 revenue, ARR flat YoY at $840M (2025-12-31)
Market cap ~$815M, below annual revenue (2026-07-20)
Stock down 95% from 2021 peak of $145 (2026-06-01)

Named risks

Flat-to-declining ARR and FY2026 revenue guidance implying 2-3% YoY decline. Severity: high
Depressed valuation (market cap below annual revenue) invites take-private/PE acquisition. Severity: medium
New CEO (6 weeks into tenure as of mid-July 2026) creates strategic and execution uncertainty. Severity: medium
AI-native SOC startups undercutting labor-heavy MDR margins. Severity: high
Activist investor Jana Partners (~13% stake) may push for further disruptive strategic changes. Severity: medium

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
Palo Alto Networks (Cortex XSIAM)	gaining on	Positioned as consolidator vs Rapid7's discrete-product model, as of 2026-07-06
CrowdStrike (Falcon)	gaining on	Falcon expanding into exposure management, competing directly per 2025-11-09 vendor comparison
Microsoft (Defender)	gaining on	Bundling exposure management into enterprise licensing, pressuring standalone vendors, 2026-07-06
Tenable and Qualys	contesting	Closest direct rivals in vulnerability/exposure management per 2025-12-04 comparison
AI-native SOC startups	losing to	Analyst quoted saying small AI-native firms are grabbing big customers, Boston Globe 2026-07-14

Questions people ask

Is Rapid7 profitable in 2026?: Yes on a cash basis: Rapid7 posted $130M free cash flow on $860M FY2025 revenue (as of 2025-12-31), and guides FY2026 non-GAAP operating income of $112-118M on $836-842M revenue, per its May 5, 2026 guidance.
Is Rapid7 stock a good buy right now?: Rapid7's stock trades near $815M market cap as of July 20, 2026, down roughly 95% from its 2021 all-time high of $145, and analysts (Canaccord, DA Davidson, Truist) cut price targets to $6.50-$10 in March 2026 citing flat ARR.
Could AI replace Rapid7's security analysts?: Rapid7 itself cut 21 jobs (under 1% of staff) in July 2026 explicitly tied to increased AI use in security operations, while its March 2026 Kenzo Security acquisition claims up to 94% reduction in investigation time for SOC alerts.
Is Rapid7 being acquired or taken private?: No deal has closed as of July 2026, but Rapid7 explored a sale in 2023 and fielded buyout interest from PE firms including Advent, Bain, and EQT in October 2024, amid a market cap trading below its annual revenue.
Who is Rapid7's biggest competitor?: Palo Alto Networks (Cortex XSIAM), CrowdStrike (Falcon), and Microsoft Defender are consolidating exposure management and SOC functions into unified platforms, pressuring Rapid7's discrete-product model as of mid-2026, alongside direct rivals Tenable and Qualys.
Who owns Rapid7?: Rapid7 is an independent Nasdaq-listed public company (ticker RPD); activist investor Jana Partners disclosed a roughly 13% economic stake in October 2024 and secured board seats, but no single owner controls the company as of July 2026.

Timeline

2026-07-14Laid off 21 employees (under 1%) citing increased AI use in security operations, alongside Snyk cuts
2026-07-13Disclosed exclusive access to Anthropic's Project Glasswing (Claude Mythos Preview)
2026-06-01Wael Mohamed becomes CEO, replacing 13-year CEO Corey Thomas (now Executive Chairman)
2026-05-07Joined OpenAI's Trusted Access for Cyber program, using GPT-5.5 internally for SOC triage
2026-05-05Issued FY2026 guidance of $836-842M revenue, implying 2-3% YoY decline
2026-04-21Released free open-source MCP Server and Agent Skill for AI-ready data export
2026-03-26Acquired Kenzo Security, an agentic AI autonomous SOC investigation platform
2026-02-10Reported FY2025 results: $860M revenue (+2% YoY), $840M ARR (flat)
2025-07-01Launched Incident Command, a next-gen SIEM with embedded agentic AI
2024-10-28Fielded PE buyout interest from Advent, Bain, and EQT per Reuters sources

Revision history

21 July 2026

First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

In the same band

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