CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Cranium vs Neo

Cranium sells Cranium ONE, one platform for end-to-end AI security and governance, which it describes as infrastructure and LLM-agnostic. Neo sells security for AI and agentic software across every endpoint, SaaS app, and cloud service. CISO Tribune files both under AI governance and 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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  • Cranium
  • Neo
Cranium vs Neo: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
CraniumCranium sells Cranium ONE, one platform for end-to-end AI security and governance, which it describes as infrastructure and LLM-agnostic.cranium.aiNeoNeo sells security for AI and agentic software across every endpoint, SaaS app, and cloud service.neo.ai
What it sells
  • Discover[1][16]Gives visibility into every AI model, agent, dataset and vendor across an enterprise and builds a system of record for them.
  • Govern[1][3][4][5][8][12]Defines, implements and enforces AI policy mapped to frameworks such as the NIST AI RMF and the EU AI Act.
  • Secure[1][6][13]Stress-tests models against adversarial threats and applies runtime defenses and targeted remediation.
  • Prove[1][7]Generates real-time compliance evidence, called Cranium AI Cards, to share with customers, partners and regulators.
  • 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
Short Hills, United States[3]Not stated on its pages
Founded
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Privately held[9][15]Privately held[3]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • May 21, 2026Cranium AI and ISTARI announced a strategic partnership combining Cranium AI's security and governance platform with ISTARI's cyber resilience advisory expertise.[3]
  • May 21, 2026Cranium AI announced it has acquired Aiceberg, an agentic AI security and risk management company, and Aiceberg CEO Alex Schlager becomes Cranium AI's Chief Technology Officer.[15]
  • May 21, 2026Cranium AI and ISTARI, a cyber resilience advisory firm, announced a strategic partnership to offer organizations an AI security and governance solution.[8]
  • February 4, 2026Cranium AI announced it discovered an exploitation technique for hijacking agentic AI coding assistants and released free open-source IDE plugins for developers.[16]
  • 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: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: listed, seen October 24, 2026[9]
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
From its own pages, the company sells mainly to buyers who run AI across many models, since it states that its platform works with any model, any framework. It has pages for industries named Financial Services, Life Sciences and Telecommunications. It also has pages by job function for Compliance & Risk, Governance & Policy, Third-Party & Vendor Risk and Data Science. The pages also say that global carriers and banks are on board.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

  • Cranium and Neo are both filed under AI governance and AI model and agent security.
  • Both are privately held.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Cranium's primary category is AI governance; Neo's is AI model and agent security.
  • Neo is also filed under Workforce AI usage security and Software supply chain security.
  • Cranium lists Discover, Govern, Secure and Prove. Neo lists Neo Node, Neo Console and Neoverse.
  • Cranium is headquartered in Short Hills, United States.

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 Cranium and Neo

What do Cranium and Neo sell?
Cranium sells Discover, Govern, Secure and Prove. Neo sells Neo Node, Neo Console and Neoverse.
Are Cranium and Neo in the same category?
They share AI governance and AI model and agent security. Cranium's primary category is AI governance and Neo's is AI model and agent security.
Where are Cranium and Neo headquartered?
Cranium is headquartered in Short Hills, United States.
Who owns Cranium and Neo?
Cranium is privately held. Neo is privately held.
Who are Cranium and Neo sold to?
From its own pages, the company sells mainly to buyers who run AI across many models, since it states that its platform works with any model, any framework. 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 Cranium and Neo announced recently?
May 21, 2026: Cranium AI and ISTARI announced a strategic partnership combining Cranium AI's security and governance platform with ISTARI's cyber resilience advisory expertise. July 20, 2026: Neo emerged from stealth with $100 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Craft Ventures and Merlin Ventures.

About Cranium

Cranium sells Cranium ONE, one platform for end-to-end AI security and governance, which it describes as infrastructure and LLM-agnostic. Cranium organizes the platform around the AI Trust Loop, five stages that run continuously: Discover, Observe, Govern, Secure and Prove.[1][4][5][6]

Cranium says AI adoption expands what an enterprise has to defend. Its pages name three problem areas: shadow AI, autonomous agents and third-party AI. Cranium says teams adopt models and copilots faster than security can see them, and that agents plan, call tools, read memory and hand off to other agents. Cranium also says an AI supply chain runs through vendors a buyer does not control.[1]

In the Discover stage, Cranium says a buyer gains visibility into every AI model, agent, dataset and vendor across the enterprise and builds one living system of record. Cranium describes automated AI discovery and inventory, and an AI Bill of Materials for each system.[1][10]

In the Observe stage, Cranium says buyers can track, evaluate and understand complex model and agent behaviors, along with token usage and cost efficiency. Cranium describes sessions views, sequence diagrams of agent tool calls and event-level drill-downs. It cites 100+ risk signals and 250+ intent classifications. Cranium says verdicts come from deterministic classifiers, and that Trace shows the samples, labels and relevance scores behind each decision.[1][6][11]

In the Govern stage, Cranium says buyers can define, implement and enforce AI policy, mapped to NIST AI RMF, the EU AI Act and internal standards. Cranium also names ISO 42001 as a mapped framework. Cranium ComplianceAgent automates framework completion with human oversight, and continuous compliance scoring shows where each system stands.[1][12]

In the Secure stage, Cranium says buyers can stress-test models against real-world threats, surface vulnerabilities and apply targeted controls before and after deployment. Cranium Arena is its agent-based red teaming, using MITRE ATLAS, OWASP and Cranium AI threat libraries. Cranium Arena Shield turns findings into auto-generated remediations and guardrails, and re-tests to verify the fix.[1][13]

In the Prove stage, Cranium says buyers can demonstrate compliance posture on demand and share evidence with customers, partners and regulators through real-time Cranium AI Cards and Trust Hubs.[1][14]

Cranium says it fits its controls to finance, life sciences and telecom. Cranium states that it is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and ISO 27001 certified, and an active member of the U.S AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC), established by NIST.[1][2][5][10]

Cranium on the record

Sources

Cranium full record

  1. [1]Cranium – Secure & Govern Enterprise AICranium · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Cranium ai security 2023KPMG · kpmg.com · published April 5, 2023 · Tier A
  3. [3]Cranium AI and ISTARI Forge Global Alliance to Drive Enterprise AI Security and GovernanceCranium · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]AI Security & Governance Platform – CraniumCranium · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]AI Security & Governance Solutions – CraniumCranium · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Enterprise AI Security Solutions – CraniumCranium · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]AI Compliance — EU AI Act, NIST & ISO 42001 – CraniumCranium · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Cranium AI and ISTARI Forge Global Alliance to Drive Enterprise AI Security and GovernanceBusiness Wire · published May 21, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Cranium Reviews, Ratings & Features 2026 | Gartner Peer InsightsGartner Peer Insights · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier C
  10. [10]For Security Teams – Cranium AICranium · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]AI Observability & Runtime Monitoring – Cranium AICranium · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]AI Governance & Policy Enforcement – Cranium AICranium · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]AI Red Teaming & Attack Simulation – Cranium AICranium · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]For Compliance & Risk Leaders – Cranium AICranium · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Cranium AI Acquires Aiceberg to Strengthen its End-to-End AI Security, Governance and Agentic AI PlatformCranium AI · published May 21, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Cranium AI Issues Critical Remediation for Vulnerability to Protect Leading AI Coding AssistantsBusiness Wire · published February 4, 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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