CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Ketch vs Pillar Security

Ketch sells privacy management software that keeps data clean, permissioned, and AI-ready. Pillar Security sells one platform to discover, test, secure and govern every AI agent across an organization. CISO Tribune files both under AI governance. 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.

Change the companies

Up to four companies side by side.

  • Ketch
  • Pillar Security
Ketch vs Pillar Security: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
KetchKetch sells privacy management software that keeps data clean, permissioned, and AI-ready.ketch.comPillar SecurityPillar Security sells one platform to discover, test, secure and govern every AI agent across an organization.pillar.security
What it sells
  • AI Sentry[4][8]Intercepts prompts, detects PII, enforces consent in AI workflows, and blocks data leakage in real time.
  • Data Sentry[6][9]A privacy pentest for a website that reveals privacy vulnerabilities.
  • Ketch Data Mapping[13]Turns a tech stack into a data map that is the ROPA.
  • Ketch Agent Network[7][11][14]The orchestration layer that powers every product in the Ketch platform.
  • Ketch Identity Sync[7]Stitches identifiers across browsers, devices, and platforms into a unified identity graph.
  • Agentic Endpoint[7][10]Protects the AI agents that run on employee machines.
Categories
Headquarters
San Francisco, United States[2]Not stated on its pages
Founded
2020[2]Not stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Privately held[12]Owned by Vanta
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • March 11, 2026Ketch announced enhanced capabilities for its Marketing Preference Management product, aimed at helping enterprise brands collect and activate permissioned zero-party data.[18]
  • November 9, 2026Vanta signed a definitive agreement to acquire Pillar Security, an AI security platform that protects AI agents across their lifecycle.[11]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 3, 2026[12]
  • 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, Ketch sells mainly to legal, marketing, and security teams. Ketch says retailers use its software to create privacy-focused experiences that mobilize responsibly gathered data. Ketch says educational institutions rely on it to responsibly activate student data. Ketch describes its software as easy for legal and marketing teams to use, and says it helps security teams observe Shadow AI and detect risky data flows. Ketch says its customers range from global retailers to media networks, fintechs, and AI-native companies.Not written yet
Last verified
September 27, 2026November 10, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Ketch and Pillar Security are both filed under AI governance.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Ketch's primary category is Privacy management; Pillar Security's is AI model and agent security.
  • Ketch is also filed under Data security posture management. Pillar Security is also filed under AI firewalls and guardrails and Workforce AI usage security.
  • Ketch lists AI Sentry, Data Sentry, Ketch Data Mapping, Ketch Agent Network and Ketch Identity Sync. Pillar Security lists Agentic Endpoint.
  • Ketch is headquartered in San Francisco, United States.
  • Ketch was founded in 2020.
  • Ketch is privately held. Pillar Security is owned by Vanta.

What it sells: Ketch

What AI Sentry does[4][8]
Ketch AI Governance is anchored by AI Sentry. AI Sentry sits directly inside AI applications, intercepting prompts before they reach the LLM, detecting personal data leakage, and blocking or redacting PII at the point of use.
What Data Sentry does[6][9]
Data Sentry is a privacy pentest for a website, revealing privacy vulnerabilities before regulators or plaintiffs' attorneys find them. Data Sentry works alongside any CMP.
What Ketch Data Mapping does[13]
Ketch Data Mapping turns a sprawling tech stack into a defensible data map without months of interview cycles. AI agents continuously detect systems, read contracts, and classify data, and that map is the record of processing activities (ROPA).
What Ketch Agent Network does[7][11][14]
The Ketch Agent Network does the actual work, turning insights to actions in real time. The Ketch Agent Network drafts answers based on prior evidence, so reviewers focus on the decisions that actually need a human.
What Ketch Identity Sync does[7]
Ketch Identity Sync stitches together the many identifiers representing a person across browsers, devices, and platforms to build a unified identity graph. Ketch links cookies, device IDs, hashed emails, and account IDs using deterministic connections only.

What it sells: Pillar Security

What Agentic Endpoint does[7][10]
Pillar deploys through an MDM and inventories the AI coding agents across a fleet: which agents run where, their versions, sandbox state and risk. Runtime Guardian sits in the agent's own pre-tool hook for Claude Code, Codex CLI and Cursor, and decides on every action before it runs. Pillar inventories local and remote servers across a fleet and scores each against a catalog of 23,000+ pre-analyzed servers.

Questions about Ketch and Pillar Security

What do Ketch and Pillar Security sell?
Ketch sells AI Sentry, Data Sentry, Ketch Data Mapping, Ketch Agent Network and Ketch Identity Sync. Pillar Security sells Agentic Endpoint.
Are Ketch and Pillar Security in the same category?
They share AI governance. Ketch's primary category is Privacy management and Pillar Security's is AI model and agent security.
Where are Ketch and Pillar Security headquartered?
Ketch is headquartered in San Francisco, United States.
When were Ketch and Pillar Security founded?
Ketch was founded in 2020.
Who owns Ketch and Pillar Security?
Ketch is privately held. Pillar Security is owned by Vanta.
Who are Ketch and Pillar Security sold to?
From its own pages, Ketch sells mainly to legal, marketing, and security teams.
What have Ketch and Pillar Security announced recently?
March 11, 2026: Ketch announced enhanced capabilities for its Marketing Preference Management product, aimed at helping enterprise brands collect and activate permissioned zero-party data. November 9, 2026: Vanta signed a definitive agreement to acquire Pillar Security, an AI security platform that protects AI agents across their lifecycle.

About Ketch

Ketch sells privacy management software that keeps data clean, permissioned, and AI-ready. Ketch says its software lets customers power growth without regulatory or reputational risk. Ketch runs the consent, preference, and data-rights signals behind 3,500+ consumer brands, from global retailers to media networks, fintechs, and AI-native companies.[3]

Ketch describes Discovery, Permissioning, and Growth as one value chain, not three products: find every data flow, enforce every permission, and activate the data you can trust. Permission Vault, Identity Sync, and Transponder are the foundations that keep the three layers connected. The Ketch Agent Network is the orchestration layer that powers every product in the Ketch platform, continuously gathering the context privacy teams need instead of chasing by hand: regulations, policies, contracts, data repositories, collection points, access controls, and Ketch configuration. The Ketch Agent Network does the actual work, turning insights to actions in real time.[1][3][7][11]

Ketch AI Governance is anchored by AI Sentry, which intercepts prompts, detects PII, enforces consent in AI workflows, and blocks data leakage in real time. AI Sentry sits directly inside AI applications, intercepting prompts before they reach the LLM, detecting personal data leakage, and blocking or redacting PII at the point of use. AI Sentry helps surface and document model activity for emerging obligations such as the EU AI Act.[4][8]

Data Sentry is a privacy pentest for a website, revealing privacy vulnerabilities before regulators or plaintiffs' attorneys find them. Data Sentry analyzes real-time network traffic, the actual data packets leaving a site. Data Sentry works alongside any CMP. Ketch research across 134 major websites found that 40% of trackers ignore consumer opt-outs. Iris is the patent-pending scanning algorithm from Ketch.[6][9]

Ketch Data Mapping turns a sprawling tech stack into a defensible data map without months of interview cycles. Ketch connectors and detection agents reach directly into SaaS apps and internal data systems, with automated discovery across 400+ platforms. In data mapping, AI agents continuously detect systems, read contracts, and classify data, and that map is the record of processing activities (ROPA). Ketch ships templates for DPIAs, PIAs, TIAs, AI impact assessments, vendor reviews, and ROPA. The Ketch Agent Network drafts answers based on prior evidence, so reviewers focus on the decisions that actually need a human. Ketch data subject rights fulfillment can automate data subject requests (DSRs) from intake to fulfillment.[1][6][13][14]

Ketch Identity Sync stitches together the many identifiers representing a person across browsers, devices, and platforms to build a unified identity graph. Ketch collects and links cookies, device IDs, hashed emails, and account IDs into a unified profile using deterministic connections only. Ketch Orchestration connects data collection to data use. Permission Vault enforces consent, jurisdiction, and policy on every downstream call. Ketch describes its Privacy 360 Analytics Suite as a defensible audit log for opt-out and compliance workflows. Ketch Marketing Preference Management links cookies, device IDs, hashed emails, and account logins into a single preference record, then syncs it to Salesforce, Segment, and Braze. Ketch Progressive Consent collects permissions contextually over time, placing consent requests at relevant moments in the shopping journey, such as loyalty sign-up, checkout, or content downloads.[4][6][7][10][15]

Ketch helps security teams observe Shadow AI, detect risky data flows, and keep AI systems aligned to consent, policy, and audit evidence. Ketch data privacy software streamlines the mundane, repetitive aspects of a privacy program. Ketch says its software is easy for legal and marketing teams to use with a WYSIWYG, drag-and-drop interface. Ketch integrates with CRMs, CDPs, and marketing automation platforms. Educational institutions rely on Ketch to responsibly activate student data for personalized learning, institutional efficiency, and improved student engagement, without compromising privacy. Ketch Profile Management consolidates consent status, communication preferences, and declared information into a permission-aware profile for each student, applicant, or alum.[4][5][6][16][17]

Max Anderson is Co-Founder and Head of Product at Ketch. Vivek Vaidya is Co-founder and CTO at Ketch.[1][3][4][5][6][7][8][10][11][16]

Ketch on the record

Sources

Ketch full record

  1. [1]ketch.comKetch · ketch.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]AboutKetch · ketch.com · published May 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Ketch: Data Privacy Software for Compliance & AI-Ready DataKetch · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]AI data security governance | Ketch for IT & Security teamsKetch · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Data privacy software made for marketers | KetchKetch · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Data privacy software for retail and consumer goods companiesKetch · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Ketch Platform | AI Privacy, Data Permissioning & ConsentKetch · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]AI Governance with Real-Time Enforcement | Ketch AI SentryKetch · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Website privacy compliance scan | Ketch Data SentryKetch · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Consent Management Platform (CMP) for the AI Era | GDPR & CCPAKetch · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Ketch Agent Network: Privacy Operations, Finally at AI SpeedKetch · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Ketch Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier C
  13. [13]Privacy data mapping software and ROPA | KetchKetch · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Privacy risk assessments (DPIA / PIA) | KetchKetch · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Identity-based consent and cross-device consent | KetchKetch · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Data privacy software made for legal teams | KetchKetch · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Simplified Privacy Compliance for Education & Higher Ed | KetchKetch · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Ketch Announces Enterprise Marketing Preference Management to Power Permissioned, AI-Ready DataBusiness Wire · published March 11, 2026 · Tier A

Pillar Security full record

  1. [1]pillar.securityPillar Security · pillar.security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Pillar Security | Securing the Agentic WorkforcePillar Security · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Pillar Security Platform | Securing the Entire AI Software LifecyclePillar Security · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]AI Discovery & Posture | Pillar SecurityPillar Security · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]AI Red Teaming & Risk Detection | Pillar SecurityPillar Security · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]AI Runtime Guardrails | Pillar SecurityPillar Security · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Agentic Endpoint: Secure AI Coding Agents | Pillar SecurityPillar Security · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]AI Security Solutions | Pillar SecurityPillar Security · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]AI Governance & Compliance | Pillar SecurityPillar Security · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Deployment Options: Cloud, Self-Hosted, Hybrid · PillarPillar Security · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Vanta to Acquire Pillar Security to Turn AI Policy Into PracticeBusiness Wire · published November 9, 2026 · Tier A

Spot a factual error? Request a correction.