CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Exaforce vs Knostic

Exaforce sells a platform built on a unified data layer and real-time knowledge graph, with agents that help security teams detect, triage, investigate, and respond to threats. Knostic discovers and secures agents, coding assistants, and their supply chain, from MCP to skills and Code to Cowork. CISO Tribune files both under 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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  • Exaforce
  • Knostic
Exaforce vs Knostic: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
ExaforceExaforce sells a platform built on a unified data layer and real-time knowledge graph, with agents that help security teams detect, triage, investigate, and respond to threats.exaforce.comKnosticKnostic discovers and secures agents, coding assistants, and their supply chain, from MCP to skills and Code to Cowork.knostic.ai
What it sells
  • Exabot Triage[1][4]Investigates security alerts and classifies them.
  • Exabot Investigate[1][6]Supports natural language search and visual exploration for investigations.
  • Exabot Respond[1][7]Executes response across endpoint, identity, IaaS, SaaS, and email.
  • Kirin[4][5][6][7][11]Runs on the endpoint inside supported agents. Denies or blocks unsafe agent actions.
  • AgentMesh[4][5][6][7][11]Rates every skill, server, and extension.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesReston, United States[3]
Founded
Not stated on its pages2023[2][7]
Ownership and funding
Privately heldPrivately held[5]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
Not stated on its pages
  • June 12, 2026Knostic was recognized in the Cloud Security Alliance's first Agentic AI Security Innovator Market Map.[10]
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, the company sells mainly to developers and teams that use AI coding agents and IDEs, with plans written for individual developers, growing teams, and engineering managers. Its pages describe developers and business users who install agents, extensions, MCP servers, and skills from open ecosystems. It lists an inventory export described as a register of AI systems for compliance and risk reporting. Its stated support covers macOS and Windows.
Last verified
November 6, 2026September 27, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Exaforce and Knostic are both filed under AI model and agent security.
  • Both are privately held.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Exaforce's primary category is AI SOC analysts; Knostic's is AI model and agent security.
  • Exaforce is also filed under MDR and managed SOC and SIEM. Knostic is also filed under AI governance.
  • Exaforce lists Exabot Triage, Exabot Investigate and Exabot Respond. Knostic lists Kirin and AgentMesh.
  • Knostic is headquartered in Reston, United States.
  • Knostic was founded in 2023.

What it sells: Exaforce

What Exabot Triage does[1][4]
Exabot Triage investigates security alerts across SIEM, EDR, phishing tools, and Exaforce detections. Exabot Triage classifies alerts as False Positive, Benign, or Needs Investigation.
What Exabot Investigate does[1][6]
Exabot Investigate supports natural language search, visual exploration, and simplified queries across data sources. Exabot Investigate operates independently of any SIEM. Query Builder in Exabot Investigate combines behavioral events and configuration context into a single query.
What Exabot Respond does[1][7]
Exabot Respond executes response across endpoint, identity, IaaS, SaaS, and email, with out-of-the-box playbooks for common scenarios. Customers can build custom workflows in a visual drag-and-drop builder using nodes for conditions, actions, approvals, AI reasoning, loops, and branching. Automation Agents can run workflows autonomously or with human approvals.

What it sells: Knostic

What Kirin does[4][5][6][7][11]
Kirin runs on the endpoint inside supported agents and sees the tools, extensions, servers, and skills actually installed and used. Kirin denies a destructive command before it executes, tells the developer why, and logs a Prevented alert for the SOC. Kirin blocks the connection to an MCP server before it is established, after AgentMesh scans and rates the server. Kirin deploys as an extension for Cursor and VS Code.
What AgentMesh does[4][5][6][7][11]
AgentMesh rates every skill, server, and extension. AgentMesh scans MCP servers for prompt injection, malicious behaviour, and supply-chain risk. AgentMesh detects prompt injection in skills, MCP servers, and extensions before install. Every paid AgentMesh plan includes Kirin IDE security.

Questions about Exaforce and Knostic

What do Exaforce and Knostic sell?
Exaforce sells Exabot Triage, Exabot Investigate and Exabot Respond. Knostic sells Kirin and AgentMesh.
Are Exaforce and Knostic in the same category?
They share AI model and agent security. Exaforce's primary category is AI SOC analysts and Knostic's is AI model and agent security.
Where are Exaforce and Knostic headquartered?
Knostic is headquartered in Reston, United States.
When were Exaforce and Knostic founded?
Knostic was founded in 2023.
Who owns Exaforce and Knostic?
Exaforce is privately held. Knostic is privately held.
Who are Exaforce and Knostic sold to?
From its own pages, the company sells mainly to developers and teams that use AI coding agents and IDEs, with plans written for individual developers, growing teams, and engineering managers.
What have Exaforce and Knostic announced recently?
June 12, 2026: Knostic was recognized in the Cloud Security Alliance's first Agentic AI Security Innovator Market Map.

About Exaforce

Exaforce sells a platform built on a unified data layer and real-time knowledge graph, with agents that help security teams detect, triage, investigate, and respond to threats. Four Exabots cover detection, triage, investigation, and response on a unified, real-time view of the customer environment. Exaforce lets customers run the platform with an in-house team, or have Exaforce run it with its analysts and Exabots working as an extended SOC.[1][3][4][5]

Exaforce pairs its agentic AI with a global team of experts to deliver MDR. The global Exaforce SOC pairs responders with agentic AI to deliver hands-on monitoring, investigation, and containment around the clock.[5]

Exaforce builds on a dedicated data layer that ingests logs and configuration across identity, cloud, endpoint, code, and SaaS. Exaforce ingests logs, alerts, and telemetry from over 100 sources, including GitHub and Google Workspace, and normalizes them into a single security data layer. Exaforce stores all raw data in real time, then normalizes and enriches telemetry. Exaforce's data platform uses storage tiering to keep hot data accessible while retaining full history for audits. Exaforce connects through agentless, API-based connectors that pull telemetry from cloud, identity, SaaS, endpoint, and code platforms. Exaforce has prebuilt integrations for AWS, Google Cloud, Okta, GitHub, Microsoft 365, CrowdStrike, Wiz, and more, each mapped to a common schema. Exaforce reads from where customer data lives, so customers can start without re-routing pipelines.[3][4]

At the core of Exaforce is a Multi-Model AI engine that combines data semantics, behavioral baselining, machine learning, and large language models. Exaforce's Multi-Model AI separates data relationships, anomaly detection, and expert reasoning into dedicated models. In the Exaforce platform, the Semantic Model transforms raw data into actionable intelligence, and the Behavioral Model separates real threats from normal activity.[3][4]

Exabot Detect monitors IaaS and SaaS environments with the Multi-Model AI engine to identify breaches that evade traditional rules and UEBA. Exabot Detect correlates behavioral baselines and contextual intelligence to surface attacks across environments like AWS, Okta, OpenAI, and GitHub. Exabot Triage investigates security alerts across SIEM, EDR, phishing tools, and Exaforce detections. Exabot Triage classifies alerts as False Positive, Benign, or Needs Investigation. Exabot Investigate supports natural language search, visual exploration, and simplified queries across data sources. Exabot Investigate operates independently of any SIEM. Exabot Respond executes response across endpoint, identity, IaaS, SaaS, and email, with out-of-the-box playbooks for common scenarios. Exabot Respond can isolate cloud instances, quarantine or delete malicious emails, block IPs, disable endpoints, reset MFA or passwords, suspend users, and revoke sessions.[1][4][5][6][7]

Exaforce provides an inventory of human, non-human, AI agent, and third-party identities, with their effective permissions, credentials, and actions. Exaforce monitors collaboration, version control systems, and other apps with ML-based detections. Exaforce detects threats in Google Workspace without manual rule creation. For insider threats, Exaforce combines cloud logs, permissions, and HR data into one insider threat narrative. For phishing, Exaforce supports triage and investigation of phishing incidents across the email ecosystem.[8][9][10][11]

Exaforce can either be a customer's primary SOC tech stack or augment an existing SOC investment. Many teams deploy Exabots alongside their current SIEM, EDR, and security stack to handle high-volume tier-1 triage and tier-2 investigation. Exaforce ingests alerts from existing tools, enriches them with unified context, and delivers investigated findings with recommendations. Exaforce is audited and certified by third party standards.[1][2][4][6][7][12][13]

Exaforce on the record

Sources

Exaforce full record

  1. [1]exaforce.comExaforce · exaforce.com · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Exaforce unveils 75 million in series a funding to revolutionize security and operations with agentic aiExaforce · exaforce.com · published April 17, 2025 · Tier A
  3. [3]Exaforce — Agentic SOC and MDRExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Agentic AI SOC Platform Overview | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Find an MDR Partner | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Exabot Investigate | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Exabot Respond | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Identity Attack Surface | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]SaaS Attack Surface | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Insider Attack Surface | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Agentic AI SOC Platform & MDR Solutions | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Exaforce MCP Connector for ClaudeExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]AI for SOC | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

Knostic full record

  1. [1]Knostic - The control plane for agentic AI on the endpointKnostic · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Ending llm oversharing we raised 11 million to secure enterprise aiKnostic · knostic.ai · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Rsac 2025 innovation sandbox knostic reshaping the access control paradigm for enterprise ai securitySecurity Boulevard · securityboulevard.com · published April 25, 2025 · Tier B
  4. [4]Shadow AI Discovery & Governance - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Pricing - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]AI Agent Security - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]MCP Security Posture Management - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Terms of Service - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Knostic Knostic Trust Center | Powered by SafeBaseKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Knostic Featured Across Three Categories in CSA's Agentic AI Security Innovator Market MapKnostic · published June 12, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Prompt Injection Defense - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

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