CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Neo vs Operant AI

Neo sells security for AI and agentic software across every endpoint, SaaS app, and cloud service. Operant AI sells one platform covering Endpoints, Agents, MCPs, and AI applications. 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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Up to four companies side by side.

  • Neo
  • Operant AI
Neo vs Operant AI: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
NeoNeo sells security for AI and agentic software across every endpoint, SaaS app, and cloud service.neo.aiOperant AIOperant AI sells one platform covering Endpoints, Agents, MCPs, and AI applications.operant.ai
What it sells
  • 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.
  • Operant Semantic Firewall[1][7]Understands the intent behind every agent action and enforces an allow, block, or redact decision inline, in real time.
  • Agent Protector[1][5][6]Inventories all AI agents operating within an organization's infrastructure.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesSan Francisco, United States[2]
Founded
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Privately held[3]Privately held[1][3]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • July 20, 2026Neo emerged from stealth with $100 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Craft Ventures and Merlin Ventures.[7]
  • May 4, 2026Operant AI launched Operant Endpoint Protector, a new addition to its AI Defense Platform for discovering and defending against threats across AI tools and coding agents.[4]
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
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.It describes plans for teams putting their first production AI into customers' hands and for companies running AI across teams and products with critical data and compliance requirements. Its pages say regulated and government deployments mostly use the VPC, on-premise, or air-gapped options on the Enterprise plan. Workloads it covers range from coding agents on employee laptops to cloud agents across any infra.
Last verified
November 9, 2026September 27, 2026

Where they overlap

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

Where they differ, field by field

  • Neo's primary category is AI model and agent security; Operant AI's is AI firewalls and guardrails.
  • Neo is also filed under Workforce AI usage security, AI governance and Software supply chain security.
  • Neo lists Neo Node, Neo Console and Neoverse. Operant AI lists Operant Semantic Firewall and Agent Protector.
  • Operant AI is headquartered in San Francisco, 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.

What it sells: Operant AI

What Operant Semantic Firewall does[1][7]
Operant Semantic Firewall holds an agent to its assigned purpose across the whole session, catching drift from manipulation or its own initiative. Operant can redact the sensitive part of an action and let the agent keep working within scope, instead of killing the workflow.
What Agent Protector does[1][5][6]
Agent Protector covers managed agents deployed through official channels and unmanaged agents running in cloud environments, SaaS platforms, and development tools. Agent Protector analyzes agent behavior patterns to identify and prevent security threats before they execute.

Questions about Neo and Operant AI

What do Neo and Operant AI sell?
Neo sells Neo Node, Neo Console and Neoverse. Operant AI sells Operant Semantic Firewall and Agent Protector.
Are Neo and Operant AI in the same category?
They share AI model and agent security. Neo's primary category is AI model and agent security and Operant AI's is AI firewalls and guardrails.
Where are Neo and Operant AI headquartered?
Operant AI is headquartered in San Francisco, United States.
Who owns Neo and Operant AI?
Neo is privately held. Operant AI is privately held.
Who are Neo and Operant AI sold to?
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. It describes plans for teams putting their first production AI into customers' hands and for companies running AI across teams and products with critical data and compliance requirements.
What have Neo and Operant AI announced recently?
July 20, 2026: Neo emerged from stealth with $100 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Craft Ventures and Merlin Ventures. May 4, 2026: Operant AI launched Operant Endpoint Protector, a new addition to its AI Defense Platform for discovering and defending against threats across AI tools and coding agents.

About Neo

Neo sells security for AI and agentic software across every endpoint, SaaS app, and cloud service. Neo sees every AI agent, app, extension, skill, and MCP server on devices, in browsers, and across SaaS apps and cloud, checks its configuration, and enforces policy before any action runs. Neo maps an organization's teams, people, endpoints, agents, MCP servers, skills, and everything they reach.[2][4][5]

Neo addresses a situation in which few teams can say which agents run on their fleet, what each one can reach, or what it did yesterday. Neo describes agents as acting with the employee's own access, so that most tools see the employee. Neo describes code, keys, and customer data reaching AI through prompts, pastes, uploads, and agent reads, with some tools training on what they receive. Neo describes MCP servers, skills, subagents, plugins, and extensions as arriving faster than anyone can review them, with already approved apps shipping new AI features without a review.[5]

Neo Node enforces policy on the laptop, on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Neo Node deploys through the MDM a customer already runs, with no kernel module and no reboot, and decides each agent action with allow, ask, or block. Neo works as a layer inside the tool, in user land with no kernel component, where Neo sees the agent's actions and decides before they run. Inside Claude Code, Neo Node reads the model, MCP servers, skills and plugins that Claude Code loads. Neo Node reads the whole session rather than only the command. On managed endpoints, the hooks of Neo keep running if switched off and come back if deleted. Neo enforces before the action runs, at the tool call in tools with a Neo connector and at launch for the rest.[5][6]

Neo Console starts from a customer's organization and its teams, taken from the identity provider. Neo Console finds settings that give an agent more reach than its work needs. Neo inventories every AI app, agent, and MCP server on each device, scopes what each can touch, and decides each action before it runs. Neo inventories every AI tool and model on devices, browsers, and SaaS, sanctioned or not, with owner, version, and publisher. Neo checks each tool's setup and version and flags drift from a customer's baseline. Neo decides every prompt, tool call, file access, and network request on the device before it runs.[4][5][6]

Neoverse is the intelligence layer for AI apps and tools, and Neoverse is publicly available. Neoverse checks every extension, package, skill, and MCP server before it runs, and Neo blocks a hijacked or malicious release fleet-wide. Neoverse rates an unsigned server loaded by an agent as Unsafe on first sight. Neoverse rates as Malicious an MCP server that copies session memory to an outside store its listing never names, and Neo blocks it by policy when the agent loads it. Neo inspects data on the device before it reaches an AI tool, stops it or points the person to the approved tool, and flags tools set to train on a customer's data.[5][6]

Neo covers ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Salesforce, and every other AI app that teams sign into, with work and personal accounts kept separate. Amazon Bedrock, Cursor Cloud, GitHub Actions, and n8n sit under the same policy as the laptop. A single killswitch in Neo ends every active AI agent session in the estate, and no new session can start until the switch is lifted. Neo can end every session, running or new, the moment several agents break from normal behavior at once. Neo follows the agent inside each tool on the endpoint and into the SaaS apps and cloud deployments it acts through, with one product and one policy for all AI security and control.[1][4][5][6]

Neo on the record

Sources

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

Operant AI full record

  1. [1]Operant AI - Secure Your AIOperant AI · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Operant ai launches agent protector the first real time agentic security solution enabling safe ai agent innovation at scaleOperant AI via GlobeNewswire · globenewswire.com · published February 5, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Operant ai secures 10m series a to protect the modern cloud across apis applications and aiOperant AI via GlobeNewswire · globenewswire.com · published September 12, 2024 · Tier A
  4. [4]Operant AI Endpoint Protector secures AI agents and MCP toolsHelp Net Security · published May 4, 2026 · Tier B
  5. [5]Pricing - AI & Agent Security Platform | Operant AIOperant AI · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Agent Protector: Real-Time AI Agent Security | OperantOperant AI · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Operant Semantic Firewall | Govern AI Agents in Real TimeOperant AI · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Operant MCP GatewayOperant AI · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]AI GatekeeperOperant AI · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]AI Application SecurityOperant AI · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]API & Cloud Protector | Real-Time API Security | Operant AIOperant AI · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Woodpecker: Open Source Red Teaming for AI, APIs & K8sOperant AI · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]FAQsOperant AI · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Start Your Free 7-Day Trial | Operant AI Security PlatformOperant AI · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

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