Nearly half of security leaders now use threat intelligence to guide business investments, as organizations mature their programs and 91% plan to increase spending in 2026.

Key points

1. The third annual State of Threat Intelligence Report reveals that nearly half of security decision-makers use threat intelligence for strategic planning and investment, making it one of the most common use cases for enterprise organizations.
2. With data breaches growing, most enterprises allocate substantial cybersecurity budgets to threat intelligence—and they plan to increase their spending in 2026.
3. While threat intelligence maturity has improved year over year, more than half of respondents consider their organizations to be less than advanced—and almost half cite poor integration as a major challenge.
4. More than half of security professionals expect moderate to significant changes to their threat intelligence needs in the next 12 months, and 81% said they plan to consolidate threat intelligence vendors.

Discover enterprises’ threat intelligence use cases, challenges, and future plans

Threat intelligence is no longer a nice-to-have—it's mission-critical. With state-sponsored attacks, cybercrime, and AI-powered threats on the rise, organizations are doubling down on threat intelligence as their secret weapon for proactive defense.

The 2025 State of Threat Intelligence is Recorded Future’s third annual flagship research report designed to take the pulse of the cybersecurity industry. Incorporating data from 615 cybersecurity executives, managers, and practitioners, the report reveals enterprise organizations’ use cases, challenges, and future investment plans.

By sharing what we’ve learned, we hope to help organizations make smarter decisions about their investments, vendor choices, and program maturity. And, it helps keep us grounded in the real challenges our customers face every day.

Check out key themes and highlights, and then explore the report for full details.

Threat intelligence usage and adoption

The report reveals that, in 2025, enterprises increasingly trust and rely on threat intelligence to inform business-critical decisions. Not only do 43% use it to guide strategic investments and planning, but most also say it helps them make decisions related to purchasing, risk assessment, and resource allocation.

Compared to 2024, a larger percentage of organizations now have full-time threat intelligence teams, and 89% pay at least one threat intelligence vendor. Find out about their top use cases, how frequently they use it, and the variety of teams across their organizations that actively consume the intelligence.

Threat intelligence spending and success metrics

Data breaches involving a third party doubled from 2024 to 2025, so no surprise that our survey found that most enterprise organizations allocate substantial cybersecurity budgets to threat intelligence. Seventy-six percent invest $250k or more per year in external threat intelligence products (excluding services), and 14% spend more than $1 million per year.

When asked about how they measure the ROI of threat intelligence, most said their organizations focus on speed and efficiency gains. See how they rank success metrics, from improved threat detection and response times to reduction in the number of incidents to cost savings from prevented incidents.

Challenges with threat intelligence maturity

The survey found that threat intelligence maturity is improving year over year, with 49% of surveyed security professionals saying their maturity level is advanced. In other words, they have tools that combine outputs from multiple threat intelligence sources, a dedicated threat intelligence team, and automated workflows that integrate with most security activities including business risk assessment.

As their organizations increase investment to grow their maturity, survey respondents told us they’re also experiencing challenges related to threat intelligence vendors. Almost half are frustrated by poor integration with their existing security tools, but issues ranging from vendor credibility and cost effectiveness also come into play. Explore the challenges your peers are facing on the journey to threat intelligence maturity.

Future plans to strengthen threat intelligence

Finally, we asked respondents to tell us how they plan to improve their threat intelligence maturity and outcomes. Ninety-one percent said they plan to invest more in threat intelligence in 2026, and more than half expect moderate to significant changes to their threat intelligence needs in the next 12 months.

Given that 81% said they plan to consolidate threat intelligence vendors, they should prioritize vendors that support the most critical capabilities across a number of use cases. See the top five capabilities our respondents prioritize in their day-to-day work.

Find out where your organization stands in relation to your peers

The 2025 State of Threat Intelligence Report makes it clear: As threat intelligence delivers increasing strategic value, forward-thinking enterprises are boosting investment and evolving their use cases.

Download the report to discover ideas and information that can help your organization succeed on its own maturity journey.