CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Archipelo vs Knostic

Archipelo develops Salmon, Execution Verification Infrastructure for establishing cryptographically verifiable execution history and state lineage. Knostic discovers and secures agents, coding assistants, and their supply chain, from MCP to skills and Code to Cowork. CISO Tribune files both under AI model and agent security. 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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  • Archipelo
  • Knostic
Archipelo vs Knostic: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
ArchipeloArchipelo develops Salmon, Execution Verification Infrastructure for establishing cryptographically verifiable execution history and state lineage.archipelo.comKnosticKnostic discovers and secures agents, coding assistants, and their supply chain, from MCP to skills and Code to Cowork.knostic.ai
What it sells
  • Salmon[1][2][3][4][5]Execution Verification Infrastructure for establishing cryptographically verifiable execution history and state lineage.
  • Kirin[4][5][6][7][11]Runs on the endpoint inside supported agents. Denies or blocks unsafe agent actions.
  • AgentMesh[4][5][6][7][11]Rates every skill, server, and extension.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesReston, United States[3]
Founded
Not stated on its pages2023[2][7]
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesPrivately held[5]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
Not stated on its pages
  • June 12, 2026Knostic was recognized in the Cloud Security Alliance's first Agentic AI Security Innovator Market Map.[10]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
From its own pages, Archipelo's Salmon addresses software in which autonomous agents, tools, runtimes, and controllers perform consequential actions. Archipelo describes incident investigation teams as needing to work backward from a consequential state change toward the execution associated with it. Archipelo names systems that investigate, evaluate, govern, and depend upon execution as the systems for which verifiable execution history matters.From its own pages, the company sells mainly to developers and teams that use AI coding agents and IDEs, with plans written for individual developers, growing teams, and engineering managers. Its pages describe developers and business users who install agents, extensions, MCP servers, and skills from open ecosystems. It lists an inventory export described as a register of AI systems for compliance and risk reporting. Its stated support covers macOS and Windows.
Last verified
September 30, 2026September 27, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Archipelo and Knostic are both filed under AI model and agent security.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Archipelo's primary category is Software supply chain security; Knostic's is AI model and agent security.
  • Archipelo is also filed under Insider risk management. Knostic is also filed under AI governance.
  • Archipelo lists Salmon. Knostic lists Kirin and AgentMesh.
  • Knostic is headquartered in Reston, United States.
  • Knostic was founded in 2023.
  • Knostic is privately held.

What it sells: Archipelo

What Salmon does[1][2][3][4][5]
Salmon is Execution Verification Infrastructure for establishing cryptographically verifiable execution history and state lineage. Execution is represented as a cryptographically signed event with explicit context. Salmon captures execution as it occurs upstream within supported environments.

What it sells: Knostic

What Kirin does[4][5][6][7][11]
Kirin runs on the endpoint inside supported agents and sees the tools, extensions, servers, and skills actually installed and used. Kirin denies a destructive command before it executes, tells the developer why, and logs a Prevented alert for the SOC. Kirin blocks the connection to an MCP server before it is established, after AgentMesh scans and rates the server. Kirin deploys as an extension for Cursor and VS Code.
What AgentMesh does[4][5][6][7][11]
AgentMesh rates every skill, server, and extension. AgentMesh scans MCP servers for prompt injection, malicious behaviour, and supply-chain risk. AgentMesh detects prompt injection in skills, MCP servers, and extensions before install. Every paid AgentMesh plan includes Kirin IDE security.

Questions about Archipelo and Knostic

What do Archipelo and Knostic sell?
Archipelo sells Salmon. Knostic sells Kirin and AgentMesh.
Are Archipelo and Knostic in the same category?
They share AI model and agent security. Archipelo's primary category is Software supply chain security and Knostic's is AI model and agent security.
Where are Archipelo and Knostic headquartered?
Knostic is headquartered in Reston, United States.
When were Archipelo and Knostic founded?
Knostic was founded in 2023.
Who owns Archipelo and Knostic?
Knostic is privately held.
Who are Archipelo and Knostic sold to?
From its own pages, Archipelo's Salmon addresses software in which autonomous agents, tools, runtimes, and controllers perform consequential actions. From its own pages, the company sells mainly to developers and teams that use AI coding agents and IDEs, with plans written for individual developers, growing teams, and engineering managers.
What have Archipelo and Knostic announced recently?
June 12, 2026: Knostic was recognized in the Cloud Security Alliance's first Agentic AI Security Innovator Market Map.

About Archipelo

Archipelo develops Salmon, Execution Verification Infrastructure for establishing cryptographically verifiable execution history and state lineage. Archipelo builds Salmon for autonomous multi-actor software systems. Archipelo, Inc. is the company developing and stewarding Salmon.[1][3][4][5]

Archipelo states that autonomous agents, tools, runtimes, and controllers increasingly perform consequential actions themselves. Archipelo states that the resulting state alone cannot show which execution occurred, in what order, or how each state transition derived from the ones before it. Archipelo develops infrastructure that makes autonomous multi-actor software execution independently verifiable. Archipelo states that safe and reliable agents need verifiable evidence of their execution history.[4][5]

Archipelo points to Git as showing the value of persistent, linked source code history. Archipelo says Execution Verification Infrastructure addresses a different problem, which is establishing a verifiable record of state transitions and the resulting state.

Archipelo describes execution as represented by a cryptographically signed event with explicit context. Archipelo states that Salmon captures execution as it occurs upstream within supported environments, not downstream after the event has already taken place. Archipelo states that Salmon does not visually or structurally manufacture execution continuity when execution continuity has not been established.

Archipelo states that agent generated changes can involve delegated execution, tools, subprocesses and multiple state transitions. Archipelo states that execution history provides a durable record of supported execution relationships to verify outcomes. Archipelo states that during incident investigation, teams need to work backward from a consequential state change toward the execution associated with it, to determine what caused the outcome.

One principle is that downstream systems should not be forced to establish execution history solely through retrospective inference where it can be captured during supported execution. Archipelo states that what an actor was permitted or instructed to do is distinct from what it actually executed. Archipelo states that machine-speed software systems require execution evidence that other software systems can consume and verify. Archipelo describes identity, policy, observability, security, engineering, and governance systems as solving adjacent problems.[5]

Archipelo describes itself as a deep tech company building foundational infrastructure for verifiable autonomous systems.[1][3][4][5]

Archipelo on the record

Sources

Archipelo full record

  1. [1]archipelo.comArchipelo · archipelo.com · undated page, accessed September 30, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Archipelo - Making Autonomous Software Execution VerifiableArchipelo · undated page, accessed October 30, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Terms of Service — SalmonArchipelo, Inc. · published September 20, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Archipelo - This page has been retiredArchipelo · undated page, accessed October 30, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]About — SalmonArchipelo · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

Knostic full record

  1. [1]Knostic - The control plane for agentic AI on the endpointKnostic · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Ending llm oversharing we raised 11 million to secure enterprise aiKnostic · knostic.ai · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Rsac 2025 innovation sandbox knostic reshaping the access control paradigm for enterprise ai securitySecurity Boulevard · securityboulevard.com · published April 25, 2025 · Tier B
  4. [4]Shadow AI Discovery & Governance - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Pricing - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]AI Agent Security - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]MCP Security Posture Management - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Terms of Service - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Knostic Knostic Trust Center | Powered by SafeBaseKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Knostic Featured Across Three Categories in CSA's Agentic AI Security Innovator Market MapKnostic · published June 12, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Prompt Injection Defense - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

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