CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Cayosoft vs Orchid Security

Cayosoft sells products for managing and protecting Microsoft environments, covering security and control across Active Directory, Azure AD, Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online. Orchid Security sells an identity-first security platform that discovers, analyzes, governs, and proves identity controls across applications. CISO Tribune files both under Identity governance and administration. 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
  • Orchid Security
Cayosoft vs Orchid Security: 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.comOrchid SecurityOrchid Security sells an identity-first security platform that discovers, analyzes, governs, and proves identity controls across applications.orchid.security
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.
  • Orchid Security PlatformAn identity-first security platform that discovers, analyzes, governs, and proves identity controls across all applications.
  • Orchid Identity Audit[8]Continuous observability to identify Identity Dark Matter across all managed and unmanaged environments.
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]Not stated on its pages
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
Not stated on its pages
  • September 15, 2026Orchid Security unveiled AI readiness controls for AI agents, covering ongoing identity drift detection and kill switches operating at the application level.[14]
  • September 9, 2026Orchid Security announced identity drift detection and application-level kill switches for AI agents.[12]
  • May 28, 2026Orchid Security extended its Identity Control Plane with capabilities aimed at governing AI agents.[13]
  • February 5, 2026Orchid Security unveiled Identity Audit, which combines audit data from unmanaged applications with audit logs from governed IAM systems into a unified view of identity activity.[11]
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
Not written yetFrom its own pages, Orchid Security sells mainly to teams in regulated industries under audit pressure and to identity programs with persistent blind spots. Orchid says it covers self-hosted and SaaS applications, along with cloud, on-prem, legacy, and custom-built applications. Orchid describes the risk of orphaned accounts left behind during an acquisition, so organisations that grow through acquisitions are among the buyers it addresses. Orchid integrates with existing IAM, PAM, and IGA tools rather than replacing them, so it speaks to organisations that already run those systems.
Last verified
September 27, 2026October 29, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Cayosoft and Orchid Security are both filed under Identity governance and administration.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Cayosoft's primary category is Directory backup and recovery; Orchid Security's is Identity governance and administration.
  • Cayosoft is also filed under Identity threat detection and response. Orchid Security is also filed under Privileged access management, Non-human identity security and AI model and agent security.
  • Cayosoft lists Cayosoft Guardian Audit & Restore, Guardian Protector, Cayosoft Management and Protection Suite and Cayosoft Group Policy Management. Orchid Security lists Orchid Security Platform and Orchid Identity Audit.
  • Cayosoft is headquartered in Westerville, United States.
  • Cayosoft is privately held.

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: Orchid Security

What Orchid Security Platform does
Orchid discovers SaaS, cloud, on-prem, legacy, and custom-built applications automatically. Orchid analyzes authentication and authorization flows, detects risk, enforces policies, and automates remediation. Orchid integrates with existing IAM, PAM, and IGA tools to enhance visibility and governance.
What Orchid Identity Audit does[8]
Orchid Identity Audit maps identities across all applications, including those using legacy or retired domains. Orchid identifies high risk accounts that lack ownership or appear in dark web credential leaks. Orchid provides continuous evidence of decommissioned accounts.

Questions about Cayosoft and Orchid Security

What do Cayosoft and Orchid Security sell?
Cayosoft sells Cayosoft Guardian Audit & Restore, Guardian Protector, Cayosoft Management and Protection Suite and Cayosoft Group Policy Management. Orchid Security sells Orchid Security Platform and Orchid Identity Audit.
Are Cayosoft and Orchid Security in the same category?
They share Identity governance and administration. Cayosoft's primary category is Directory backup and recovery and Orchid Security's is Identity governance and administration.
Where are Cayosoft and Orchid Security headquartered?
Cayosoft is headquartered in Westerville, United States.
Who owns Cayosoft and Orchid Security?
Cayosoft is privately held.
Who are Cayosoft and Orchid Security sold to?
From its own pages, Orchid Security sells mainly to teams in regulated industries under audit pressure and to identity programs with persistent blind spots.
What have Cayosoft and Orchid Security announced recently?
September 15, 2026: Orchid Security unveiled AI readiness controls for AI agents, covering ongoing identity drift detection and kill switches operating at the application level.

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

Orchid Security full record

  1. [1]orchid.securityOrchid Security · orchid.security · undated page, accessed October 29, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Ai readinessOrchid Security · orchid.security · published September 9, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Orchid - Identity Visibility and Intelligence for the Application LayerOrchid Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Bringing Clarity to the Complexity of IdentityOrchid Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Agentic AI Identity Security: Closing the Gaps Agents ExploitOrchid Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Identity Security Platform: Uncover Identity Dark MatterOrchid Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Beyond Shadow IT: The Identity Dark Matter Undermining ComplianceOrchid Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Security That Survives the Acquisition.Orchid Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Customer StoriesOrchid Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Why 50% of Identity Projects Fail (And How to Fix the "Blueprint")Orchid Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Orchid Launches Identity Audit to Illuminate the Dark Matter of Enterprise Identity ActivityOrchid Security · published February 5, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Orchid Security Adds AI Readiness Controls: Identity Drift Detection and Application-Level Kill Switches for AI AgentsGlobeNewswire · published September 9, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Orchid Security targets AI agent sprawl with new identity governance toolsSiliconANGLE · published May 28, 2026 · Tier B
  14. [14]Orchid Security Introduces AI Agent Readiness Controls Featuring Continuous Identity Monitoring and Kill-Switch CapabilitiesCSO Online · published September 15, 2026 · Tier B

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