CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Archer vs UpGuard

Archer sells a governance, risk and compliance platform that connects enterprise risk, compliance, audit, AI governance, ESG, third-party risk and resilience on shared data and one reporting layer. UpGuard sells tools that move third-party risk monitoring from static snapshots to continuous oversight. CISO Tribune files both under Third-party risk and security ratings. This page sets the two records side by side: what each sells, where it is based, who owns and funds it, the customers it names and its recent news, each fact numbered to its source.

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  • Archer
  • UpGuard
Archer vs UpGuard: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
ArcherArcher sells a governance, risk and compliance platform that connects enterprise risk, compliance, audit, AI governance, ESG, third-party risk and resilience on shared data and one reporting layer.archerirm.comUpGuardUpGuard sells tools that move third-party risk monitoring from static snapshots to continuous oversight.upguard.com
What it sells
  • IT & Security Risk Management[1]A module that helps organizations manage IT and security risk within the Archer platform.
  • AI Governance[1][2]A module for governing the use and risk of artificial intelligence within an organization.
  • Third-Party Governance[1]A module that manages risk related to third-party vendors and suppliers.
  • Audit Management[1]A module that supports internal audit processes and documentation.
  • Enterprise & Operational Risk[1]A module for tracking and managing enterprise-wide and operational risks.
  • Regulatory & Corporate Compliance[1]A module that helps organizations manage regulatory and corporate compliance obligations.
  • User Risk[1][5][10]Human risk management that gives visibility into human risk and enables safe AI adoption.
  • Risk Automations[1][10]Risk automation that connects a risk stack to system APIs to automate discovery, notification and remediation.
  • Questionnaire AI[11]Automatically completes questionnaires using a customer's own security documentation.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesHobart, Australia[2]
Founded
Not stated on its pages2012[2]
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesPrivately held[2][3]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[3]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
Archer states that it delivers enterprise capabilities for companies of all sizes. Archer says its products are designed to meet the needs of GRC teams and business users, and its IT risk material describes roles from IT risk analyst to enterprise risk officer. Archer Evolv can be deployed on-premises or as SaaS.Not written yet
Last verified
November 2, 2026September 27, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Archer and UpGuard are both filed under Third-party risk and security ratings.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Archer's primary category is GRC and integrated risk platforms; UpGuard's is Third-party risk and security ratings.
  • Archer is also filed under AI governance. UpGuard is also filed under External attack surface management and Human risk management.
  • Archer lists IT & Security Risk Management, AI Governance, Third-Party Governance, Audit Management, Enterprise & Operational Risk and 1 more. UpGuard lists User Risk, Risk Automations and Questionnaire AI.
  • UpGuard is headquartered in Hobart, Australia.
  • UpGuard was founded in 2012.
  • UpGuard is privately held.

What it sells: UpGuard

What User Risk does[1][5][10]
User Risk continuously detects unsanctioned applications running across a workforce and exposes over-privileged permissions and credential leaks. User Risk nudges employees mid-workflow and redirects them to approved corporate alternatives. User Risk sits in the browser and blocks unauthorized file uploads and copy-pastes.
What Risk Automations does[1][10]
UpGuard describes risk automation that connects a risk stack to system APIs to automate discovery, notification and remediation. The offering automates discovery, notification and resolution by integrating a risk stack.
What Questionnaire AI does[11]
Questionnaire AI automatically completes questionnaires using a customer's own security documentation. Customers upload documents such as a SOC 2 report, an information security report and previously completed questionnaires.

Questions about Archer and UpGuard

What do Archer and UpGuard sell?
Archer sells IT & Security Risk Management, AI Governance, Third-Party Governance, Audit Management, Enterprise & Operational Risk and 1 more. UpGuard sells User Risk, Risk Automations and Questionnaire AI.
Are Archer and UpGuard in the same category?
They share Third-party risk and security ratings. Archer's primary category is GRC and integrated risk platforms and UpGuard's is Third-party risk and security ratings.
Where are Archer and UpGuard headquartered?
UpGuard is headquartered in Hobart, Australia.
When were Archer and UpGuard founded?
UpGuard was founded in 2012.
Who owns Archer and UpGuard?
UpGuard is privately held.
Who are Archer and UpGuard sold to?
Archer states that it delivers enterprise capabilities for companies of all sizes.

About Archer

Archer sells a governance, risk and compliance platform that connects enterprise risk, compliance, audit, AI governance, ESG, third-party risk and resilience on shared data and one reporting layer. Archer brings risk, controls, obligations and evidence into one governed system. Archer says regulatory change moves faster than teams can interpret, assess and operationalize it. More than 1,500 organizations run on Archer, including half the Fortune 500.[2][3]

Archer Evolv adds AI-powered intelligence to an existing GRC program and connects regulatory change obligations, controls, policies and assurance evidence. Archer Evolv can be deployed standalone or alongside Archer GRC, on-premises or SaaS. Archer describes a system of record, a system of intelligence and a system of outcomes as one connected foundation that uses existing permissions and audit trail. Archer Evolv turns data from the GRC environment into governed intelligence with AI operators.[3][6]

Workplace is where Evolv operators run, and each operator handles one governed task, such as mapping a new obligation to the controls it touches. In Archer, a reviewer approves the result of an operator before it reaches the customer's controls. Archer Evolv operators run third-party reviews end to end, monitor vendors between assessments and enforce the customer's requirements. Archer Evolv operators monitor technology risks, controls and issues, enforce the customer's standards and rank what needs attention first. Archer monitors 8,000+ regulatory sources across 180 jurisdictions, from SEC and FINRA to DORA, and flags what applies to a business.[3][4]

Archer Evolv assesses each citation against a customer's jurisdictions, products and legal entities. A wizard in Archer captures a customer's jurisdictions, entities, products and themes, and assesses each incoming citation against that profile. Archer parses citations, rulebooks, statutes and a customer's own policies into discrete obligations, each linked to its type, its theme and its source citation. Archer clusters up to 10,000 obligations per assessment by meaning. Archer compares a customer's obligations against the controls it already holds, names the gaps and conflicts and proposes a resolution. Archer Evolv extracts obligations, maps them to controls and business units, routes the assessment to named owners and publishes the result into Archer.[5]

Archer turns regulations and a customer's policies into live AWS Bedrock guardrails that are enforced before the model is invoked. Guardrails are deployed as drafts and go live only after the customer approves them. Traffic is evaluated against guardrails before inference inside the customer's AWS account, and violations are blocked and logged as a governed control breach. Every deployed guardrail is tested on a cycle against the control the customer approved. Findings from each violation route into Archer issue management workflows. Prompt content, model responses, documents, embeddings, customer PII and model weights do not reach Archer, and only the violation event does.[6]

Archer's IT and security risk offering has nine interconnected use cases with workflows that move findings and controls from assessment through closure. Archer's IT risk register catalogs the organization and its IT assets and logs each IT risk against the systems it touches. Archer tests IT controls on a project schedule and pulls in results from automated systems. Archer ranks threats and vulnerabilities by what they put at risk in the business, using asset context and scan results. Archer ships current security frameworks and control catalogs with the use case, including the ISO 27000 series, COBIT 5, the NIST 800 series and PCI DSS. Archer rolls test results up to the primary control and reports compliance for each control set separately. Archer stores evidence in a versioned repository as tests run, tied to the control and the standard it serves.[7][8]

Archer gives financial institutions one connected view of obligations, controls and risk. Archer connects regulatory compliance, third-party risk, operational risk and IT security in one system. Archer helps government agencies unify FedRAMP, CMMC and FISMA obligations. Every control in Archer links back to the exact FedRAMP, CMMC or FISMA requirement it satisfies, and every AI output goes through Expert-in-the-Loop review. Archer tests controls against live evidence, flags a gap as it appears, routes it to an owner and keeps a time-stamped record. Archer translates risk into financial terms based on modeled loss exposure and stated assumptions. Archer states SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 and describes 25+ years as a system of record. The Archer Vulnerability Response Team coordinates the response and disclosure for all product vulnerabilities reported to Archer.[2][3][4][6][7][8][9][10]

Archer on the record

Sources

Archer full record

  1. [1]archerirm.comArcher · archerirm.com · undated page, accessed November 2, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]About Archer – GRC & Risk Management Solutions | ArcherArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Archer® | Regulatory Change ManagementArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Financial Services | ArcherArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Archer Evolv Compliance for AI-Powered Enterprise ComplianceArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Archer Evolv™ AI Compliance | ArcherArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]IT & Security Risk Management | ArcherArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Archer Regulatory & Corporate Compliance ManagementArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Government GRC Solutions | ArcherArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Vulnerability Response Policy | ArcherArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

UpGuard full record

  1. [1]upguard.comUpGuard · upguard.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Upguard raises 75m in series c funding to accelerate market leadership in cyber risk posture managementUpGuard · upguard.com · published February 26, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]UpGuard Vendor Risk Reviews & Product DetailsG2 · undated page, accessed October 29, 2026 · Tier C
  4. [4]Continuous Third-Party Risk Monitoring | UpGuardUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]The #1 Cyber Risk Posture Management Platform | UpGuardUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Pricing For The UpGuard CRPM Platform | UpGuardUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Third-party Risk Assessment Software | UpGuardUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Lucid Security Rating & Data Breaches | UpGuardUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]GiftPay Security Rating & Data Breaches | UpGuardUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]User Risk: A Human Risk Management Platform | UpGuardUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Free AI-Powered Security Questionnaires Done in MinutesUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

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