CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Cranium vs Onyx Security

Cranium sells Cranium ONE, one platform for end-to-end AI security and governance, which it describes as infrastructure and LLM-agnostic. Onyx Security sells a secure control plane for AI agents and models. 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
  • Onyx Security
Cranium vs Onyx Security: 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.aiOnyx SecurityOnyx Security sells a secure control plane for AI agents and models.onyx.security
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.
  • AI Security[1][7]Onyx provides the runtime and posture layer of the Onyx Secure AI Control Plane.
  • MCP Gateway[8]The MCP Gateway governs the agent-to-tool surface.
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]Not stated on its pages
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 29, 2026Onyx Security announced a $113 million Series B funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.[15]
  • March 12, 2026Onyx Security officially launched operations after securing $40 million in initial funding.[14]
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, Onyx Security sells mainly to security, governance, and AI teams that need control over AI agent adoption across the enterprise. Onyx Security describes a single platform for security, governance, and infrastructure teams. Onyx Security offers cloud, hybrid, or self-hosted options for organisations with sensitive data residency requirements. Onyx Security presents one console for AI agents and models across SaaS, cloud, endpoint, and code environments. Onyx Security names security, finance, and platform teams as the teams that share its usage, cost, and policy ledger.
Last verified
September 27, 2026October 19, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Cranium and Onyx Security are both filed under AI governance and AI model and agent security.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Cranium's primary category is AI governance; Onyx Security's is AI model and agent security.
  • Onyx Security is also filed under Workforce AI usage security and Non-human identity security.
  • Cranium lists Discover, Govern, Secure and Prove. Onyx Security lists AI Security and MCP Gateway.
  • Cranium is headquartered in Short Hills, United States.
  • Cranium is privately held.

What it sells: Onyx Security

What AI Security does[1][7]
Onyx provides the runtime and posture layer of the Onyx Secure AI Control Plane. Onyx inspects every prompt, tool call, and model response inline across browser AI, coding assistants, desktop AI agents, cloud workloads, and MCP servers. Onyx offers five enforcement actions: alert, block, mask, steer, or ask.
What MCP Gateway does[8]
The MCP Gateway governs the agent-to-tool surface. Every tool call an agent makes to an MCP server gets inspected and policy-enforced. MCP Gateway coverage spans the MCP ecosystem, including servers using dynamic client registration and popular servers like GitHub.

Questions about Cranium and Onyx Security

What do Cranium and Onyx Security sell?
Cranium sells Discover, Govern, Secure and Prove. Onyx Security sells AI Security and MCP Gateway.
Are Cranium and Onyx Security in the same category?
They share AI governance and AI model and agent security. Cranium's primary category is AI governance and Onyx Security's is AI model and agent security.
Where are Cranium and Onyx Security headquartered?
Cranium is headquartered in Short Hills, United States.
Who owns Cranium and Onyx Security?
Cranium is privately held.
Who are Cranium and Onyx Security 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, Onyx Security sells mainly to security, governance, and AI teams that need control over AI agent adoption across the enterprise.
What have Cranium and Onyx Security 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 29, 2026: Onyx Security announced a $113 million Series B funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

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

Onyx Security full record

  1. [1]onyx.securityOnyx Security · onyx.security · undated page, accessed October 19, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]The Secure AI Control Plane for the Agentic Era | OnyxOnyx Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]About Onyx | The Team Behind the AI Control PlaneOnyx Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]One Platform to Discover and Control Every AI Agent | OnyxOnyx Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]AI Observability – Discover Every Agent & Session | OnyxOnyx Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]AI Agent Security | Block Prompt Injection in Real TimeOnyx Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]AI Governance Platform Built for the EU AI Act | OnyxOnyx Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]AI Orchestration – Governed Routing & Control | OnyxOnyx Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]AI ROI Platform – Prove Value & Control Costs | OnyxOnyx Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Secure Claude Enterprise with Onyx | Anthropic IntegrationOnyx Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Secure ChatGPT Enterprise with Onyx | OpenAI IntegrationOnyx Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Secure Amazon Bedrock Agents | Onyx IntegrationOnyx Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Copilot Studio Security – Discover, Govern & Control | OnyxOnyx Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Israeli cyber firm Onyx Security launches operations with $40 million funding round | ReutersReuters · published March 12, 2026 · Tier B
  15. [15]Onyx Security Raises $113M Series B to Control Advanced AI, Quadrupling Revenue since Stealth Launch Four Months AgoBusiness Wire · published July 29, 2026 · Tier A

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