Pixelscan Alternative: cside vs Pixelscan

TL;DR: cside vs Pixelscan

• Pixelscan is a free, no-registration checker page: it scans the browser you visit it with and reports what your fingerprint, IP, DNS, and WebRTC reveal. It serves the person in front of the screen.
• cside Device Intelligence is a hosted platform for the website owner: 250+ signals per session, a stable visitor ID, VPN and residential proxy detection, behavioral and AI agent detection, and compliance-grade evidence.
• They are two sides of the same science. Pixelscan shows an individual what detection sees. cside gives a business the detection. If you run a website, you cannot protect it with a checker page, and if you just want to inspect your own browser, you do not need a platform.

Comparison Summary

• Pixelscan is the best-known free browser checking tool. It bundles a fingerprint consistency check, proxy and VPN detection, IP blacklist lookup, DNS and WebRTC leak tests, and a bot check into one instant scan. No signup, no cost, no data stored.
• cside is a device intelligence platform. The same categories of signal (canvas, WebGL, fonts, IP characteristics, connection metadata) are collected on your site, for your traffic, and turned into visitor IDs, risk signals, and enforcement rules.
• The honest split: they rarely compete for the same buyer. Pixelscan answers "what does my browser reveal?". cside answers "which of my visitors is hiding something?". The overlap is the audience that finds Pixelscan while researching how fingerprinting works, and actually needs the business side of it.

Introduction

If you found Pixelscan, you were probably checking what your own browser leaks, testing a proxy or antidetect setup, or researching how browser fingerprinting works. Pixelscan does the first two well: it is a free page that scans the visiting browser and reports fingerprint consistency, IP reputation, DNS and WebRTC leaks, and likely bot status in seconds.

cside sits on the other side of that scan. We build the detection: a device intelligence product that websites embed to fingerprint sessions, catch proxies and VPNs, detect automation and AI agents, and recognise returning devices across cookie clearing and incognito mode. You can see it live. The device intelligence page runs a real fingerprint demo on your own browser, the same engine customers deploy.

Note from the author: As a disclosure - we built cside, and we acknowledge the bias. This comparison aims to be factually accurate about both tools and help you understand which one fits your situation. It's based on publicly available information as well as user reports and we try to update it periodically to keep it current.

How cside differentiates its device intelligence

The core difference is machine learning. On top of the 250+ browser, device, and network signals cside collects in each session, it runs separate models for cursor movement, for input and typing patterns, and for broader behavioural signals, then combines their verdicts. Many established tools score a session with one broad, general model. cside reads each behavioural channel with a model built for it.

cside is also specialised rather than generalistic. Instead of one broad platform stretched across every fraud category, it is tuned for specific use cases: account takeover, account sharing, chargeback evidence, and AI agent detection. That focus is what keeps the behavioural models accurate on the attacks that matter to your team.

Comparison Table: cside vs Pixelscan

Pixelscan vs cside: head-to-head comparison

What each tool actually does

Pixelscan is a diagnostic. You open pixelscan.net in the browser you want to inspect, and it runs its checks against that browser: is the fingerprint internally consistent, does the IP look like a datacenter or a residential line, is a VPN or proxy detectable, do DNS or WebRTC leak your real network. The output is a report for you, about you.

cside Device Intelligence is a detection service. A first-party script tag in your website collects 250+ signals from every session (the same families of evidence Pixelscan inspects, plus in-session behavior like mouse movement patterns and typing cadence) and returns a stable visitor ID with risk signals your rules can act on.

The audience overlap that matters

Pixelscan's audience splits in two. Privacy-conscious users checking what they leak, and people validating proxy or antidetect-browser setups before using them somewhere. If your business is on the receiving end of that second group (fake accounts from residential proxies, card testing behind VPNs, bots wearing tampered fingerprints), then the tool your attackers rehearse against is the strongest argument for running deeper detection yourself.

Signals collected

Pixelscan publishes no signal inventory; its checks cover fingerprint consistency, IP reputation and blacklists, proxy/VPN indicators, DNS and WebRTC leaks, and a bot verdict. cside collects 250+ signals per session, hashes 40+ of them into the device ID, and adds behavioral analysis and AI agent detection on top. On mobile, native iOS and Android SDKs in beta collect the same 250+ signals as the web client, plus signals only an app can see.

Implementation

There is nothing to implement with Pixelscan. That is its point, and its limit. It has no documented API, SDK, or integration path. cside deploys as a single first-party script tag on the web, and as native iOS and Android SDKs in beta; access to the mobile SDKs is by talking to us.

Compliance (GDPR, PCI DSS, SOC 2)

Pixelscan states it stores no data from scans, which fits its role as a self-test. It makes no compliance claims because it has no business deployment to make them for. cside operates as a commercial platform: fingerprinting without cookies, privacy-compliant by design, with PCI DSS 4.0.1 requirements 6.4.3 and 11.6.1 covered by the bundleable script monitoring product and chargeback evidence aligned with CE 3.0 through the Chargebacks911 partnership.

When Pixelscan is the best fit

• You want to know what your own browser and connection reveal, right now, for free.
• You are testing whether a proxy or VPN setup is detectable.
• You are learning how fingerprinting works and want to see a live readout of your own device.

When cside is the best fit

• You run a website and need to recognise returning devices across incognito sessions and cookie clearing.
• You are fighting fake signups, account takeover, or card testing that arrives through residential proxies and VPNs.
• You need automation and AI agent detection with behavioral signals, not just a one-off bot check.
• You need the fingerprinting to come with rules, enforcement, webhooks, and compliance evidence, and optionally native mobile SDK coverage in beta.

What is cside?

cside is a web security company with two product families: client-side script monitoring, which watches what third-party scripts do in real browser sessions, and device intelligence, which fingerprints sessions with 250+ signals to detect proxies, bots, AI agents, and returning fraudsters. Both deploy from a single first-party script tag.

What is Pixelscan?

Pixelscan (pixelscan.net) is a free browser checking tool. It scans the visiting browser and reports fingerprint consistency, IP details and blacklist status, proxy and VPN detectability, DNS and WebRTC leaks, and a bot verdict. It requires no registration, states that it stores no scan data, and offers no API or business product.

What cside covers that Pixelscan does not

Everything on the business side of the scan: a stable visitor ID, detection running on your own traffic, behavioral and AI agent analysis, pre-made rules and enforcement, webhooks, chargeback evidence, PCI DSS coverage through bundleable script monitoring, and mobile SDKs in beta. Pixelscan tells a visitor what their browser reveals; cside tells you which visitors are not what they claim.

Related resources

• cside Device Intelligence, the product page, with a live fingerprint demo of your current browser
• cside vs Fingerprint, how cside compares to the biggest commercial fingerprinting vendor
• cside vs ThumbmarkJS, how cside compares to the open-source fingerprinting library
• VPN detection, the detection Pixelscan users test their setups against