CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Chainguard vs Neo

Chainguard sells hardened open source artifacts that replace vulnerable or malicious versions found publicly. Neo sells security for AI and agentic software across every endpoint, SaaS app, and cloud service. CISO Tribune files both under Software supply chain 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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  • Chainguard
  • Neo
Chainguard vs Neo: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
ChainguardChainguard sells hardened open source artifacts that replace vulnerable or malicious versions found publicly.chainguard.devNeoNeo sells security for AI and agentic software across every endpoint, SaaS app, and cloud service.neo.ai
What it sells
  • Chainguard Containers[7][10][14]Container images for over 3,000 projects, rebuilt continuously.
  • Chainguard Libraries[12]A malware-free catalog of open source dependencies.
  • Chainguard VMs[13]Minimal Linux virtual machine images based on Chainguard OS.
  • Chainguard OS Packages[14]30,000+ zero-CVE packages for building custom images.
  • Chainguard Actions[15]A catalog of 1,000+ hardened third-party actions.
  • Chainguard Guardener[10]A migration tool that rebuilds Dockerfiles layer by layer.
  • Chainguard Workspaces[19]Chainguard-hardened microVMs that isolate untrusted code.
  • Neo Node[3][5][6]Enforces policy on the laptop, on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Decides each agent action with allow, ask, or block.
  • Neo Console[6]Starts from a customer's organization and its teams, taken from the identity provider.
  • Neoverse[1][3][5][6]The intelligence layer for AI apps and tools.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Founded
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Privately held[2][3][5][9]Privately held[3]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • November 3, 2026Chainguard introduced Chainguard Harness, an offering for hunting exploitable vulnerabilities in a running application, and opened its beta waitlist.[21]
  • August 17, 2026Chainguard announced that its Chainguard Containers reached SLSA Build Level 3.[7]
  • July 21, 2026Booz Allen Hamilton signed an enterprise license agreement with Chainguard.[8]
  • June 15, 2026Chainguard and partner organizations announced Athena, an industry coalition for the orchestrated defense of open source software.[22]
  • July 20, 2026Neo emerged from stealth with $100 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Craft Ventures and Merlin Ventures.[7]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 3, 2026[9]
  • 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, Chainguard sells mainly to engineering and security teams whose developers and AI agents pull open source software. Chainguard says its FIPS-validated container variants and OS-level STIG hardening are available for regulated environments. Chainguard addresses vendors handling cardholder data that face PCI DSS vulnerability management requirements. Chainguard says its VMs run across cloud and on-premise environments. Chainguard names compliance frameworks such as FedRAMP and CMMC among those its zero-CVE images help with.From its own pages, the company sells mainly to organisations that need to know which AI agents run on their fleet and what each one can reach. Neo describes examples from a healthcare SaaS company and a fintech. Neo Node deploys through an MDM that the customer already runs. Neo Console takes the organization and its teams from the customer's identity provider. Neo enforces policy on laptops running macOS, Windows, and Linux, and extends the same policy to SaaS apps and cloud deployments.
Last verified
September 27, 2026November 9, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Chainguard and Neo are both filed under Software supply chain security.
  • Both are privately held.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Chainguard's primary category is Software supply chain security; Neo's is AI model and agent security.
  • Neo is also filed under Workforce AI usage security and AI governance.
  • Chainguard lists Chainguard Containers, Chainguard Libraries, Chainguard VMs, Chainguard OS Packages, Chainguard Actions and 2 more. Neo lists Neo Node, Neo Console and Neoverse.

What it sells: Chainguard

What Chainguard Containers does[7][10][14]
Chainguard offers container images for over 3,000 projects, and hundreds of Helm charts, rebuilt continuously in a SLSA Level 3 environment. Custom Assembly configures Chainguard Factory to build images to a customer's specifications. Chainguard offers over 1,200 FIPS-validated container variants and OS-level STIG hardening for regulated environments. Every Chainguard image ships with Sigstore signatures, a signed SBOM and SLSA L2 provenance.
What Chainguard Libraries does[12]
Chainguard Libraries is a malware-free catalog of open source dependencies. Chainguard offers a catalog of Python, Java, JavaScript, Go and .NET packages. Chainguard Libraries works with existing artifact managers and workflows.
What Chainguard VMs does[13]
Chainguard VMs are minimal Linux images based on Chainguard OS and come in three types. Chainguard VMs support AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and on-premise hypervisors including VMware, Nutanix and OpenStack. Chainguard VMs carry a CVE remediation SLA of 7 days for critical and 14 days for high, medium, and low through automated rebuilds.
What Chainguard OS Packages does[14]
Chainguard offers 30,000+ zero-CVE packages, including every package powering Chainguard Containers. Chainguard OS Packages has a FIPS variant built with the latest versions of Chainguard's FIPS-validated cryptographic modules.
What Chainguard Actions does[15]
Chainguard Actions are drop-in replacements for upstream GitHub Actions. Every Chainguard Action ships with a full hardening report.
What Chainguard Guardener does[10]
Chainguard Guardener analyzes and rebuilds Dockerfiles layer by layer, maps packages and tests incrementally. Guardener opens a migration pull request for all actions with a drop-in Chainguard equivalent.
What Chainguard Workspaces does[19]
Chainguard Workspaces isolates untrusted code inside Chainguard-hardened microVMs. Chainguard Workspaces is currently in beta and is a Technology Preview.

What it sells: Neo

What Neo Node does[3][5][6]
Neo Node deploys through the MDM a customer already runs, with no kernel module and no reboot. Neo Node reads the whole session rather than only the command. Inside Claude Code, Neo Node reads the model, MCP servers, skills and plugins that Claude Code loads.
What Neoverse does[1][3][5][6]
Neoverse checks every extension, package, skill, and MCP server before it runs. Neoverse rates an unsigned server loaded by an agent as Unsafe on first sight.

Questions about Chainguard and Neo

What do Chainguard and Neo sell?
Chainguard sells Chainguard Containers, Chainguard Libraries, Chainguard VMs, Chainguard OS Packages, Chainguard Actions and 2 more. Neo sells Neo Node, Neo Console and Neoverse.
Are Chainguard and Neo in the same category?
They share Software supply chain security. Chainguard's primary category is Software supply chain security and Neo's is AI model and agent security.
Who owns Chainguard and Neo?
Chainguard is privately held. Neo is privately held.
Who are Chainguard and Neo sold to?
From its own pages, Chainguard sells mainly to engineering and security teams whose developers and AI agents pull open source software. From its own pages, the company sells mainly to organisations that need to know which AI agents run on their fleet and what each one can reach.
What have Chainguard and Neo announced recently?
November 3, 2026: Chainguard introduced Chainguard Harness, an offering for hunting exploitable vulnerabilities in a running application, and opened its beta waitlist. July 20, 2026: Neo emerged from stealth with $100 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Craft Ventures and Merlin Ventures.

About Chainguard

Chainguard sells hardened open source artifacts that replace vulnerable or malicious versions found publicly. Chainguard says it aims to eliminate malware and vulnerability risk across containers, dependencies, CI/CD actions and AI agent skills. Chainguard hardens open source before developers start writing a single line of code.[1][10]

Chainguard offers container images for over 3,000 projects, and hundreds of Helm charts, rebuilt continuously by AI reconciler agents in a SLSA Level 3 environment. Every Chainguard image ships with Sigstore signatures, a signed SBOM and SLSA L2 provenance. Chainguard Factory tracks upstream changes, triggers clean rebuilds and publishes new images with updated SBOMs and provenance. Custom Assembly configures Chainguard Factory to build images to a customer's specifications, using 30,000+ packages. Chainguard gives direct access to the APKs underpinning entitled Chainguard Containers. Chainguard offers updated EOL images with low-to-zero CVEs for up to 6 months to help teams transition off legacy software. Chainguard extends its secure-by-default standard to commercial ISV software.[1][10]

Chainguard offers over 1,200 FIPS-validated container variants and OS-level STIG hardening for regulated environments. Chainguard says zero-CVE images, signed SBOMs and full provenance simplify compliance across frameworks like FedRAMP, PCI DSS, SOC 2, CMMC and CRA. Chainguard says PCI DSS vulnerability management requirements create significant overhead for vendors handling cardholder data. Chainguard says Shift5 saved 2.5 months of engineering time per person on CVE remediation. Chainguard says Canva dodged hundreds of thousands of malware attacks on npm and PyPI. Chainguard says the Army Software Factory freed up 40% of developer time for mission-enabling innovation.[10][11][13]

Chainguard Libraries is a malware-free catalog of open source dependencies. Chainguard offers a catalog of Python, Java, JavaScript, Go and .NET packages so teams can turn off live access to public registries. Chainguard says customers switch standard registry endpoints to Chainguard to prevent malware and shrink the CVE backlog. Chainguard Libraries works with existing artifact managers and workflows. Chainguard says every Chainguard-built version comes with full provenance and signed SBOMs. Chainguard says every remediated package includes embedded SLSA L3 provenance and SBOMs. Chainguard says every package is scanned for malicious behavior before distribution. Chainguard Repository provides every package needed on day one and lets customers configure cooldowns.[12]

Chainguard VMs are minimal Linux images based on Chainguard OS and come in three types. Chainguard VMs include only the essential components for running containers: a Linux kernel, systemd, glibc, and optional userspace tools like SSH. Chainguard VMs support AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and on-premise hypervisors including VMware, Nutanix and OpenStack. Chainguard VMs carry a CVE remediation SLA of 7 days for critical and 14 days for high, medium, and low through automated rebuilds. Chainguard VMs support kernel-independent FIPS 140-3-validated cryptography. Chainguard VMs offer DISA STIG hardening and CIS Benchmark Level 1 hardening.[13]

Chainguard offers 30,000+ zero-CVE packages, including every package powering Chainguard Containers. Chainguard says secure packages can be swapped in whether a team builds with Bazel, Melange, Dockerfiles or another tool. Chainguard says every artifact ships with build-time generated SBOMs. Chainguard OS Packages has a FIPS variant built with the latest versions of Chainguard's FIPS-validated cryptographic modules. Chainguard offers a catalog of 1,000+ hardened third-party actions. Chainguard Actions are drop-in replacements for upstream GitHub Actions. Chainguard re-verifies and rehardens every action whenever its upstream version changes or a new attack pattern emerges. Every Chainguard Action ships with a full hardening report. Chainguard Guardener analyzes and rebuilds Dockerfiles layer by layer, maps packages and tests incrementally. Guardener opens a migration pull request for all actions with a drop-in Chainguard equivalent. Chainguard offers 1,000+ hardened community skills that are safe from malicious instructions.[10][14][15][16]

Chainguard says reconciler bots and AI agents run continuously across its entire catalog. Chainguard says every package is rebuilt from source in an isolated SLSA L3 environment on its own minimal OS. Chainguard says every build starts with an immutable SHA reference to the upstream source. Chainguard says it signs every artifact it ships. Chainguard says every image is rebuilt with a separate apko toolchain to produce a bitwise-equivalent result.[1][17]

Chainguard Checks runs CI inside Chainguard microVMs that produce cryptographically signed attestations. Chainguard Checks is currently in beta and is a Technology Preview. Chainguard Workspaces isolates untrusted code inside Chainguard-hardened microVMs. Chainguard Workspaces is currently in beta and is a Technology Preview. Chainguard Harness builds an application from source in an isolated environment and lets Mythos 5.1 hunt through a live instance for exploitable vulnerabilities. Chainguard Harness is currently in beta and is a Technology Preview.[1][4][6][18][19][20]

Chainguard on the record

Sources

Chainguard full record

  1. [1]chainguard.devChainguard · chainguard.dev · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Chainguard announces 280 million growth financing from general catalyst to usher in next era of trusted open source software 302592279Chainguard via PR Newswire · prnewswire.com · published October 23, 2025 · Tier A
  3. [3]Chainguard for the Public Sector | Secure OSSChainguard · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Chainguard for Financial Services | Prevent cyber attacksChainguard · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]The trusted source for open source | ChainguardChainguard · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Chainguard for Startups | Scale fast and securelyChainguard · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Proven, not promised: Chainguard Containers achieves SLSA Build Level 3Chainguard · published August 17, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Booz Allen Hamilton signs enterprise license agreement with ChainguardChainguard · published July 21, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Chainguard Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  10. [10]Chainguard Containers | 3,000+ hardened container imagesChainguard · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Simplify PCI-DSS Requirements with ChainguardChainguard · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Chainguard Libraries | Secure Open Source DependenciesChainguard · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Chainguard VMs | Secure your virtual machine imagesChainguard · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Chainguard OS Packages | 30,000+ secure packagesChainguard · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Chainguard Actions | Secure-by-default CI/CD workflowsChainguard · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Chainguard Guardener | Easy, AI-assisted migrationChainguard · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Chainguard Factory | ChainguardChainguard · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Chainguard Checks | Ship through trusted CIChainguard · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  19. [19]Chainguard Workspaces | Code safely with agentsChainguard · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  20. [20]Chainguard Harness | Eliminate CVE and malware exposureChainguard · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  21. [21]Everything we announced at Chainguard Assemble London 2026Chainguard · published November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  22. [22]Chainguard Launches Athena, the Industry Coalition to Fix Open Source Vulnerabilities Before Attackers Can Find ThemPR Newswire · published June 15, 2026 · Tier A

Neo full record

  1. [1]Neo launches with 100m to secure ai software across the enterpriseGlobeNewswire · globenewswire.com · published July 20, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]neo.aiNeo · neo.ai · undated page, accessed November 9, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Neo | Secure AI. From Endpoint to EverywhereNeo · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Platform | NeoNeo · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Why Neo | AI Control Starts at the EndpointNeo · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]How It Works | NeoNeo · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Neo Launches With $100M for AI Software SecurityNeo · published July 20, 2026 · Tier A

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