CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Descope vs Permiso

Descope sells the Descope customer and agentic IAM platform, which uses visual workflows, SDKs, and APIs to create and customize identity journeys for customers, partners, AI agents, and MCP servers. Permiso's Universal Identity Graph connects every identity to the credentials it owns, the machines it creates, the agents it runs and every action it takes in real time. CISO Tribune files both under Non-human identity 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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  • Descope
  • Permiso
Descope vs Permiso: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
DescopeDescope sells the Descope customer and agentic IAM platform, which uses visual workflows, SDKs, and APIs to create and customize identity journeys for customers, partners, AI agents, and MCP servers.descope.comPermisoPermiso's Universal Identity Graph connects every identity to the credentials it owns, the machines it creates, the agents it runs and every action it takes in real time.permiso.io
What it sells
  • Descope Flows[1][13]A visual, workflow-based identity journey builder.
  • Agentic Identity Hub[2][5][13]Identity infrastructure for AI agents and MCP servers.
  • SSO Setup Suite[13]A self-service wizard to configure SSO and SCIM.
  • Permiso Discover[3]Provides an inventory of human, non-human and AI identities wherever they live.
  • Permiso Protect[3]Evaluates the risk posture of identities based on usage patterns, exposure and entitlements.
  • Universal Identity Graph[3][11]Connects every identity to the credentials it owns, the machines it creates and the agents it runs.
  • Identity Threat Detection and Response[7]Detects threats to human and non-human identities across environments.
  • Identity Runtime Attribution[3]Ties agent runs, events and tool calls to the identity behind them.
  • SandyClaw[11]Runs agent skills in a controlled sandbox.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Founded
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesOwned by Okta since 2026[2][5]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • October 28, 2026Descope announced it was named to the 2026-27 Fortune Cyber 60 list in the early growth category, its fourth consecutive year on the list.[22]
  • September 30, 2026Descope announced Family Accounts, the first release in its relational identity framework for consumer companies.[23]
  • July 30, 2026Okta said it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Permiso Security, a startup whose software detects attackers abusing identities across cloud, SaaS and AI agent environments.[14]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 3, 2026[11]
  • 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, Descope sells mainly to organizations that need identity for external users such as customers and partners. Descope says its platform helps meet B2B enterprise requirements across authentication, SSO, delegated admin, fine-grained access, and auditability. Descope addresses teams that build AI agents and MCP servers. Descope says its FedRAMP High environment serves US government and regulated customers.Its platform is described for identities across cloud, SaaS and on-prem environments. Permiso presents its tools to security teams. Its watchlist capability is aimed at threats from employees, contractors and other trusted individuals.
Last verified
October 7, 2026November 2, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Descope and Permiso are both filed under Non-human identity security.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Descope's primary category is Customer identity and access management; Permiso's is Identity threat detection and response.
  • Descope is also filed under Passwordless authentication and authenticators and Workforce IAM and SSO. Permiso is also filed under Cloud detection and response.
  • Descope lists Descope Flows, Agentic Identity Hub and SSO Setup Suite. Permiso lists Permiso Discover, Permiso Protect, Universal Identity Graph, Identity Threat Detection and Response, Identity Runtime Attribution and 1 more.
  • Permiso is owned by Okta, since 2026.

What it sells: Descope

What Descope Flows does[1][13]
Descope Flows is a visual, workflow-based identity journey builder that keeps login flows out of application code. Descope says signup, login, MFA, SSO, and step-up can be added through a workflow interface. Authentication flows can be changed without touching the codebase.
What Agentic Identity Hub does[2][5][13]
The Agentic Identity Hub publishes the discovery metadata MCP clients use to locate the authorization server, hosts the token and authorization endpoints, and handles user authentication and consent. The Agentic Identity Hub supports Dynamic Client Registration (DCR) and Client ID Metadata Documents (CIMD). The Agentic Identity Hub provides a centralized view of every connected agent, the delegating user, and the tools and scopes they hold.

What it sells: Permiso

What Permiso Discover does[3]
Permiso Discover gives enterprises an inventory of human, non-human and AI identities wherever they live. Permiso inventories identities and assesses exposure risk in identity providers, cloud service providers and SaaS applications.
What Permiso Protect does[3]
Permiso Protect continuously evaluates the risk posture of identities based on usage patterns, exposure and entitlements. Permiso Protect surfaces and quantifies high-risk identities, stale access and toxic combinations across human, vendor, AI and non-human accounts.
What Universal Identity Graph does[3][11]
The Universal Identity Graph connects every identity to the credentials it owns, the machines it creates, the agents it runs and every action it takes in real time. Permiso states that the chain stays unbroken from a human SSO login to a Lambda function to an MCP tool call. Permiso's Universal Identity Graph inventories identities in all cloud environments and assesses exposure risk.
What Identity Threat Detection and Response does[7]
Permiso provides identity threat detection and response for human and non-human identities across environments. The detection engine has 1500+ detection rules engineered by the P0 Labs team. Permiso detects access and behavioral anomalies in environments such as AWS, Azure, GCP, GitHub, Slack and Salesforce.
What Identity Runtime Attribution does[3]
Permiso launched AI agent runtime security, bringing Identity Runtime Attribution to every agent in production. Permiso ties every run, event and tool call to the identity behind it in real time. Every agent action is tied to a specific human, non-human or AI identity in real time and is preserved as a complete audit trail.
What SandyClaw does[11]
SandyClaw runs every skill in a controlled sandbox before it touches the environment. SandyClaw records every action, every tool call and every downstream request.

Questions about Descope and Permiso

What do Descope and Permiso sell?
Descope sells Descope Flows, Agentic Identity Hub and SSO Setup Suite. Permiso sells Permiso Discover, Permiso Protect, Universal Identity Graph, Identity Threat Detection and Response, Identity Runtime Attribution and 1 more.
Are Descope and Permiso in the same category?
They share Non-human identity security. Descope's primary category is Customer identity and access management and Permiso's is Identity threat detection and response.
Who owns Descope and Permiso?
Permiso is owned by Okta, since 2026.
Who are Descope and Permiso sold to?
From its own pages, Descope sells mainly to organizations that need identity for external users such as customers and partners. Its platform is described for identities across cloud, SaaS and on-prem environments.
What have Descope and Permiso announced recently?
October 28, 2026: Descope announced it was named to the 2026-27 Fortune Cyber 60 list in the early growth category, its fourth consecutive year on the list. July 30, 2026: Okta said it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Permiso Security, a startup whose software detects attackers abusing identities across cloud, SaaS and AI agent environments.

About Descope

Descope sells the Descope customer and agentic IAM platform, which uses visual workflows, SDKs, and APIs to create and customize identity journeys for customers, partners, AI agents, and MCP servers. Descope says the platform is meant to reduce user friction, prevent account takeover, and give a 360 degree view of customer and agentic identities. Descope says it is powering auth for 1000s of organizations from startups to the Fortune 500. Descope describes itself as a flexible drag & drop customer and agentic identity platform that helps organizations add authentication, authorization, and identity management to their apps, AI agents, and MCP servers. Descope says customers use it for passwordless authentication, SSO, identity federation, strong MFA, fraud prevention, and agentic identity.[1][2][3][12]

Descope says signup, login, MFA, SSO, and step-up can be added with a flexible and easy to use workflow interface. Descope says the frontend experience and backend logic are governed from one workflow. Descope says changes can be made to authentication flows without touching the codebase. Descope Flows is a visual, workflow-based identity journey builder that keeps login flows out of application code. Descope says journeys can be changed without redeploying an app or tinkering with its codebase. Descope lets developers choose no-code workflows, SDKs / APIs, and everything in between.[1][3][13]

Descope says identities can be managed, merged, and synced across the user journey. Descope says granular access control capabilities (RBAC, ReBAC, ABAC) can be added to an app. Descope says end users can manage profiles, users, roles, access keys, audits, and SSO configuration on their own. On security, Descope says strong passwordless authentication reduces the likelihood of phishing and credential stuffing attacks. Descope says MFA can be enforced only for risky logins using native and third-party risk signals. Descope says step-up authentication can be added before sensitive in-app actions. Descope says strong MFA and native and third-party risk signals are used to stop fraud, bots, stuffing, and hijacking attacks.[3][4]

Descope says passwordless auth, A/B testing, and anonymous user tracking can improve onboarding and boost conversions. Descope says its platform helps meet B2B enterprise requirements across authentication, SSO, delegated admin, fine-grained access, and auditability. Descope says tenant-aware IAM can span web, mobile, partner, and third-party apps while connecting with any number of identity providers. Descope describes orchestration across 50+ third-party tools, with just-in-time provisioning and data syncs. Descope says identities across multiple apps and identity providers can be unified in real-time to achieve a 360 customer view. Descope says teams can go passwordless without changing their primary IdP by using OIDC federated authentication.[3][5]

Descope says MCP servers and AI agents can be built with standards-based identity infrastructure: auth, consent, credential management, and more. The Agentic Identity Hub publishes the discovery metadata MCP clients use to locate the authorization server, hosts the token and authorization endpoints, and handles user authentication and consent. The Agentic Identity Hub supports Dynamic Client Registration (DCR) and Client ID Metadata Documents (CIMD). The Agentic Identity Hub provides a centralized view of every connected agent, the delegating user, and the tools and scopes they hold. The SSO Setup Suite is a self-service wizard that enterprise teams can use to configure SSO and SCIM for their own identity providers.[2][3][6][13]

Descope is a FedRAMP High Authorized customer and agentic identity platform that lets organizations serve US government and regulated customers. Descope says customer and agentic identity are covered under a single FedRAMP High authorization. Descope says a typical FedRAMP environment goes live in about 6 to 8 weeks. Descope says data can be kept in a US Gov region, encrypted in transit and at rest.[9]

Descope customer stories show how the platform is used. Navan went live with magic links in four days with Descope. Reco chose Descope to manage enterprise-grade authentication without direct developer intervention. Collectors rolled out Descope across three use cases: admin SSO, consumer brand authentication, and partner federation. WisdomAI joined Descope's startup program in 2023 and now uses the platform for all customer and agentic identity management. Descope acts as the OAuth 2.1 authorization server for the Token Security MCP server. Linktree uses Descope's Outbound Apps to manage the token lifecycle for connections to third-party applications.[12][13][15][16][17][18]

Descope documentation describes security and configuration features. In Descope, refresh token rotation is automatically handled as part of the OAuth 2.0 flow. Descope has automatic reuse detection built in to invalidate refresh tokens if an older refresh token is used to refresh the session token. A Descope project snapshot is a portable export of the Descope project configuration. Descope project snapshots can back up settings, promote changes across environments, or track configuration in source control.[1][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][15][19][20][21]

Descope on the record

Sources

Descope full record

  1. [1]descope.comDescope · descope.com · undated page, accessed October 7, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Crn stellar startups 2025Descope · descope.com · published November 10, 2025 · Tier A
  3. [3]Descope | Customer and Agentic Identity PlatformDescope · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Sign up for Descope | Product HuntDescope · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Descope | No / low code CIAM platformDescope · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Pricing | DescopeDescope · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Our company | DescopeDescope · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Security and Privacy with DescopeDescope · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Security and Compliance | DescopeDescope · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]GradRight Customer Story | DescopeDescope · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Descope Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier C
  12. [12]WisdomAI Customer Story | DescopeDescope · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Token Security Customer Story | DescopeDescope · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]FedRAMP High Authorized Identity Platform | DescopeDescope · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Navan Customer Story | DescopeDescope · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Reco Customer Story | DescopeDescope · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Collectors Customer Story | DescopeDescope · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Linktree Customer Story | DescopeDescope · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  19. [19]Refresh Token Rotation | Descope DocumentationDescope · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  20. [20]Project Snapshot | Descope DocumentationDescope · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  21. [21]Owens & Minor Customer Story | DescopeDescope · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  22. [22]Descope Named to Fortune Cyber 60 List for Fourth Consecutive YearDescope · published October 28, 2026 · Tier A
  23. [23]Descope Launches Family Accounts to Model Relational IdentityDescope · published September 30, 2026 · Tier A

Permiso full record

  1. [1]permiso.ioPermiso · permiso.io · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Okta signs definitive agreement to acquire permiso securityOkta · okta.com · published August 26, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Detect and protect against human and non-human identity threats in real-timePermiso · undated page, accessed October 27, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Identity Security Posture Management + Identity Threat Detection & ResponsePermiso · undated page, accessed October 27, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Coverage across cloud environments to better secure the attack surfacePermiso · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Human and Non-Human Identity Inventory, Risk Posture and GovernancePermiso · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) for Human and Non-Human IdentitiesPermiso · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]How Permiso Detects Compromised Credentials In Your EnvironmentPermiso · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]What Are Non-Human Identities? Complete Guide to NHI Security for 2025Permiso · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Non-Human Identity (NHI) Threat Detection and ResponsePermiso · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Secure Every AI Agent, Skill, and Action | PermisoPermiso · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Security - At Permiso, we don't take security lightlyPermiso · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Learn about how we make cloud zeros into cloud heroes | PermisoPermiso · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Okta to acquire Permiso Security in reported $200M identity security deal - SiliconANGLESiliconANGLE · published July 30, 2026 · Tier B

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