Zscaler AI Protect vs Cisco AI Defense vs Knostic vs Lasso Security
A side-by-side look at scores, pricing and features — with RECATOOLS' ASEAN-aware verdict for each.
Zscaler AI Protect
Zscaler's AI security layer: find shadow AI, govern access, test your...
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Cisco AI Defense
Cisco's AI security suite, from red teaming to runtime guardrails for...
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Knostic
Security for AI coding agents, MCP servers and Copilot oversharing
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Lasso Security
Discovery, red teaming and runtime guardrails for AI agents
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| RECATOOLS Score | 7 / 10 | 7.4 / 10 | 7.8 / 10 | 7.2 / 10 |
| Capability | ||||
| Value for money | ||||
| Ease of use | ||||
| ASEAN readiness | ||||
| API quality | ||||
| Pricing | Enterprise | Freemium | Freemium | Enterprise |
| Free tier | — | Explorer Edition: self-serve agent and model red teaming, free to start; Cisco publishes no usage limits | Kirin Free plan for 1-5 users (project, extension, MCP and generated-code scanning); 14-day trial of Team/Enterprise; free LLM Oversharing Tester and OpenAnt | — |
| Paid from | Not published — GenAI Security is an add-on module, quoted after a demo | Quoted on request (AI Defense Enterprise, also via AWS Marketplace private offer) | From $15/user/month (Kirin Team); Copilot Readiness $50,000/yr on AWS Marketplace | $50,000/year (Secured Gateway for LLMs, AWS Marketplace annual commit) |
| Has API | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Open source | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free to use | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Users | — | — | Early-stage enterprise; ~9 customers (per Knostic, March 2025 — customers not publicly named) | A growing roster of enterprise and public-sector customers, including via Lasso Federal |
| Founded | 2026 | 2025 | 2023 | 2023 |
| Maker | Zscaler, Inc. | Cisco Systems | Independent (Knostic Inc.) | Elad Schulman (CEO), Ophir Dror (CPO), Lior Ziv (CTO), Yuval Abadi (COO) |
| Verdict | AI Protect tackles a real problem for large enterprises: staff and developers are already using AI that security teams cannot see. Discovery across 2,900+ recognised AI apps, inline prompt inspection and automated red te... |
Cisco AI Defense covers the whole path from finding AI in use to red-teaming models and agents and guarding them at runtime, and its 2026 releases added an AI bill of materials, an MCP server catalogue and guardrails for... |
Knostic has moved with the market: what began as need-to-know controls for Microsoft 365 Copilot is now mainly Kirin, a policy and scanning layer for the coding agents, MCP servers and IDE extensions developers are adopt... |
Lasso covers the full lifecycle of an AI deployment, from finding unsanctioned agents to red teaming them and enforcing policy inline, and its new CPU-based LEAP guardrail is a credible answer to the cost of putting an L... |
| Full review → | Directory listing → | Directory listing → | Full review → |
Comparisons cover up to 4 tools. Scores are RECATOOLS editorial assessments; verify current pricing on each vendor's site.