CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Cayosoft vs Guardz

Cayosoft sells products for managing and protecting Microsoft environments, covering security and control across Active Directory, Azure AD, Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online. Guardz sells an MSP-ready security platform that brings identity, endpoint, email, data, awareness, and exposure protection together. CISO Tribune files both under Identity threat detection and response. 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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  • Cayosoft
  • Guardz
Cayosoft vs Guardz: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
CayosoftCayosoft sells products for managing and protecting Microsoft environments, covering security and control across Active Directory, Azure AD, Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online.cayosoft.comGuardzGuardz sells an MSP-ready security platform that brings identity, endpoint, email, data, awareness, and exposure protection together.guardz.com
What it sells
  • Cayosoft Guardian Audit & Restore[5]Monitors all directory changes and lets administrators roll back those changes.
  • Guardian Protector[4][5]A free, agentless tool for continuous monitoring and real-time threat detection.
  • Cayosoft Management and Protection Suite[6]A suite that includes Cayosoft Administrator and Cayosoft Guardian standard.
  • Cayosoft Group Policy Management[12]Governs, documents and restores GPO changes across every domain.
  • Email Security[2][8]An API-based and AI-native engine to prevent credential theft, ransomware, and impersonation threats.
  • Security Awareness Training[2][4][10]Pre-scheduled security awareness training that alters behavior.
  • Phishing Simulation[14]AI-generated phishing attacks tailored by tone, industry, and language.
Categories
Headquarters
Westerville, United States[1]Not stated on its pages
Founded
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Privately held[4]Privately held[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
Not stated on its pages
  • November 2, 2026Guardz added browser protection from Palo Alto Networks' Prisma Browser for Business to its security platform for managed service providers serving small businesses.[17]
  • March 3, 2026Guardz announced a strategic partnership with FoxPointe Solutions, a cybersecurity advisory firm focused on governance, risk management and virtual CISO services.[18]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 3, 2026[13]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
Not written yetFrom its own pages, Guardz sells mainly to MSPs, and describes its platform as built for them. Guardz says small businesses find it difficult to keep up with their external posture. Guardz says MSPs can use a prospecting tool to attract new clients by showing the extent of SMEs' exposure. Guardz says even non-security experts can respond to cyber events. Guardz says it gives clients visibility and control with configurable admin roles.
Last verified
September 27, 2026September 30, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Cayosoft and Guardz are both filed under Identity threat detection and response.
  • Both are privately held.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Cayosoft's primary category is Directory backup and recovery; Guardz's is MDR and managed SOC.
  • Cayosoft is also filed under Identity governance and administration. Guardz is also filed under EDR and XDR and Email security.
  • Cayosoft lists Cayosoft Guardian Audit & Restore, Guardian Protector, Cayosoft Management and Protection Suite and Cayosoft Group Policy Management. Guardz lists Email Security, Security Awareness Training and Phishing Simulation.
  • Cayosoft is headquartered in Westerville, United States.

What it sells: Cayosoft

What Cayosoft Guardian Audit & Restore does[5]
Cayosoft Guardian Audit & Restore monitors all directory changes and lets administrators roll back those changes. Cayosoft Guardian Audit & Restore is for recovering and protecting Active Directory and hybrid AD data.
What Cayosoft Management and Protection Suite does[6]
The Cayosoft Management and Protection Suite includes Cayosoft Administrator and Cayosoft Guardian standard, to manage, monitor and recover hybrid Microsoft directories, users, groups and other critical objects and settings. The suite can be expanded by adding Cayosoft Guardian Forest Recovery, which protects Active Directory from ransomware and other full forest directory outages.
What Cayosoft Group Policy Management does[12]
Cayosoft Group Policy Management governs, documents and restores GPO changes across every domain. Each GPO moves through edit, check-in, submit, approve and deploy steps so that only approved policy reaches Active Directory. Each checked-in version is archived rather than overwritten, supporting comparison, documentation, rollback to a known-good state and audit review.

What it sells: Guardz

What Email Security does[2][8]
Guardz email protection uses an API-based and AI-native engine to prevent credential theft, ransomware, and impersonation threats. Check Point Harmony powers Guardz Email Security.
What Security Awareness Training does[2][4][10]
Guardz helps teams plan, launch and track automated training campaigns. Campaign frequency can be set monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly.
What Phishing Simulation does[14]
Simulations can be generated in English, French, German, Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian. Failed simulations trigger an awareness issue.

Questions about Cayosoft and Guardz

What do Cayosoft and Guardz sell?
Cayosoft sells Cayosoft Guardian Audit & Restore, Guardian Protector, Cayosoft Management and Protection Suite and Cayosoft Group Policy Management. Guardz sells Email Security, Security Awareness Training and Phishing Simulation.
Are Cayosoft and Guardz in the same category?
They share Identity threat detection and response. Cayosoft's primary category is Directory backup and recovery and Guardz's is MDR and managed SOC.
Where are Cayosoft and Guardz headquartered?
Cayosoft is headquartered in Westerville, United States.
Who owns Cayosoft and Guardz?
Cayosoft is privately held. Guardz is privately held.
Who are Cayosoft and Guardz sold to?
From its own pages, Guardz sells mainly to MSPs, and describes its platform as built for them.
What have Cayosoft and Guardz announced recently?
November 2, 2026: Guardz added browser protection from Palo Alto Networks' Prisma Browser for Business to its security platform for managed service providers serving small businesses.

About Cayosoft

Cayosoft sells products for managing and protecting Microsoft environments, covering security and control across Active Directory, Azure AD, Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online. Cayosoft products are designed for any step in the journey to Microsoft 365. Cayosoft solutions are purpose-built to help manage and protect Microsoft environments that are on-premises, hybrid or Microsoft 365-only. Cayosoft licenses its products by subscription.[5][6]

Cayosoft Administrator offers role-based delegation, rule-based automation, self-service and Microsoft 365 license optimization. Cayosoft Administrator enables IT teams to manage hybrid environments through a single interface. Cayosoft Administrator is a unified TrueHybrid management solution for control over administrators and help desk staff who make changes to Microsoft enterprise systems. Granular Roles and Rules limit administrators to authorized tasks.[5][7]

Cayosoft Administrator comes with more than 125 pre-built templates and requires no extra SQL, LDAP or synchronization. Administrators can run real-time reports on Office 365 or schedule those reports for e-mail delivery, local storage or shared storage. Cayosoft provides pre and post-collection filtering, and reports can be viewed in email, Excel or CSV. Cayosoft offers user-enabled password resets so that users can remedy lockouts without IT assistance. Direct report management lets users update their own attributes and those of subordinates in a web-based self-service portal. Cayosoft puts on-premises AD and Office 365 into one interface for help desk admins, with filtered access to only the necessary tasks.[8][9]

Inclusion Rules define the list of users that must be in a group, and Exclusion Rules define the list of users who should never be in it. Group membership updates can be triggered by events like user provisioning or user deprovisioning, or run on a schedule. Built-in group membership queries can be added to group membership rules to update any Microsoft group type, from Active Directory and Exchange to Azure AD and Microsoft 365 Groups. Self-service group management lets distribution list, application and data owners manage who has access to their resources. Cayosoft Administrator brings Teams administration with delegation, automatically updated groups and Teams membership, telephony management and policy assignment control. Cayosoft manages the available phone numbers, reclaims numbers when users leave and assigns Teams user policies required for Direct Routing. Cayosoft can alert and roll back undesired changes when they are detected.[10][11]

Cayosoft Guardian Audit & Restore monitors all directory changes and lets administrators roll back those changes. Recovery scenarios covered include AD object and attribute, partition, domain controller and forest recovery. Cayosoft supports cutting over to a clean, isolated, standby forest. Guardian Protector is a free, agentless tool that delivers continuous monitoring, real-time threat detection and audit-ready visibility across Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID and key Microsoft 365 services, without time limits or object caps. Cayosoft monitors human and non-human identity activity and supports rollback.[2][5]

The Cayosoft Management and Protection Suite is purpose-built for modern Microsoft environments. The Cayosoft Management and Protection Suite includes Cayosoft Administrator and Cayosoft Guardian standard, to manage, monitor and recover hybrid Microsoft directories, users, groups and other critical objects and settings. The suite can be expanded by adding Cayosoft Guardian Forest Recovery, which protects Active Directory from ransomware and other full forest directory outages.[5][6]

Cayosoft Group Policy Management governs, documents and restores GPO changes across every domain. Each GPO moves through edit, check-in, submit, approve and deploy steps so that only approved policy reaches Active Directory. Active Directory remains unchanged until an approved version is explicitly deployed. Each checked-in version is archived rather than overwritten, supporting comparison, documentation, rollback to a known-good state and audit review. Editing, approval and export or deployment rights can be assigned to different users or groups. Microsoft ended support for Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) on April 14, 2026, with no direct successor. Cayosoft provides a supported approach to Group Policy management with check-in and check-out, approvals, version control, role delegation, analysis, rollback and multi-domain governance.[12]

Cayosoft serves school districts and universities of all sizes, for students, faculty and staff. Cayosoft Administrator provides automated account provisioning and deprovisioning, group management, role-based delegation and group-based license assignment. A large U.S. state replaced a legacy AD management tool with Cayosoft Administrator. The IRS consolidated multiple identity management tools into Cayosoft.[2][3][13][14]

Cayosoft on the record

Sources

Cayosoft full record

  1. [1]AboutCayosoft · cayosoft.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]cayosoft.comCayosoft · cayosoft.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Cayosoft achieves record sales company growthCayosoft · cayosoft.com · published April 17, 2024 · Tier A
  4. [4]Cayosoft – Hybrid Active Directory Management & Recovery PlatformCayosoft · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Products - CayosoftCayosoft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Manage and Protect Microsoft AD and O365 for EnterprisesCayosoft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Hybrid Active Directory and Office 365 AdministrationCayosoft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Active Directory Reporting - Unified AD ReportingCayosoft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Hybrid Microsoft AD Self-Service and Help DeskCayosoft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Dynamic Groups - CayosoftCayosoft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Microsoft Teams ManagementCayosoft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Group Policy Management That Controls Every Change | Cayosoft Group Policy ManagementCayosoft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Manage and Protect Microsoft AD and O365 for K-12 school districts and higher educationCayosoft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Manage and Protect Microsoft AD and O365 for state, local and federal governmentCayosoft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

Guardz full record

  1. [1]guardz.comGuardz · guardz.com · undated page, accessed September 30, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Msp business plan the ultimate blueprint for growthGuardz · guardz.com · published June 12, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]About usGuardz · guardz.com · undated page, accessed September 30, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]AI-Native Security Platform Built for MSPs by GuardzGuardz · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Guardz: Unified Cybersecurity Platform Built for MSPGuardz · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]AI-Native Security Platform Built for MSPs by GuardzGuardz · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]AI-Native Security Platform Built for MSPs by GuardzGuardz · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]AI-Native Security Platform Built for MSPs by GuardzGuardz · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]AI-Native Security Platform Built for MSPs by GuardzGuardz · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Security Awareness Training for MSPs and EmployeesGuardz · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]All-In-One Cloud App Security Solution | GuardzGuardz · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Protect Your Business from External Cyber Threats | GuardzGuardz · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Guardz Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier C
  14. [14]Adaptive Phishing Simulation Platform for MSP SecurityGuardz · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]AI-Native Security Platform Built for MSPs by GuardzGuardz · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Cyber Risk Prospecting report - Thank-you | Guardz.comGuardz · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Exclusive: Guardz brings Palo Alto Networks browser protection to MSPs serving small businessesSiliconANGLE · published November 2, 2026 · Tier B
  18. [18]Guardz Partners with Foxpointe Solutions to Deliver Strategic, Scalable Cybersecurity for MSPs and Their ClientsGuardz · published March 3, 2026 · Tier A

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