CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

UpGuard vs Vanta

UpGuard sells tools that move third-party risk monitoring from static snapshots to continuous oversight. Vanta offers automation, continuous monitoring and the Vanta Agent so that organizations get and stay compliant. CISO Tribune files both under Third-party risk and security ratings. 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.

  • UpGuard
  • Vanta
UpGuard vs Vanta: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
UpGuardUpGuard sells tools that move third-party risk monitoring from static snapshots to continuous oversight.upguard.comVantaVanta offers automation, continuous monitoring and the Vanta Agent so that organizations get and stay compliant.vanta.com
What it sells
  • User Risk[1][5][10]Human risk management that gives visibility into human risk and enables safe AI adoption.
  • Risk Automations[1][10]Risk automation that connects a risk stack to system APIs to automate discovery, notification and remediation.
  • Questionnaire AI[11]Automatically completes questionnaires using a customer's own security documentation.
  • Vanta Agent[2]The Vanta Agent drafts policies, completes questionnaires and calls out issues.
  • Trust Center[9][13]Trust Center is a centralized hub for security questionnaires, sensitive documents and security improvement updates.
  • Trust Reports[4]Vanta offers Trust Reports, available before an audit is complete.
  • Vanta API[12]The Vanta API automates evidence collection and testing across many system categories.
Categories
Headquarters
Hobart, Australia[2]Not stated on its pages
Founded
2012[2]Not stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Privately held[2][3]Not stated on its pages
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
Not stated on its pages
  • November 9, 2026Vanta announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Pillar Security, an AI security platform covering AI agents across their lifecycle.[14]
  • April 15, 2026Vanta made its remote MCP server available to all customers in Public Preview as of April 15, 2026.[15]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[3]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[16]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
Not written yetVanta's pages address teams without dedicated personnel, where security tasks add to the workload of critical employees. Healthcare providers and their vendors are served through a framework for protecting protected health information. Financial institutions are a named customer type for New York cybersecurity rules. Contractors and subs of the U.S. Department of Defense are a named customer type for federal information controls. B2B SaaS and outsourcing vendors are named for a baseline security checklist.
Last verified
September 27, 2026November 6, 2026

Where they overlap

  • UpGuard and Vanta are both filed under Third-party risk and security ratings.

Where they differ, field by field

  • UpGuard's primary category is Third-party risk and security ratings; Vanta's is Compliance automation.
  • UpGuard is also filed under External attack surface management and Human risk management. Vanta is also filed under GRC and integrated risk platforms and AI governance.
  • UpGuard lists User Risk, Risk Automations and Questionnaire AI. Vanta lists Vanta Agent, Trust Center, Trust Reports and Vanta API.
  • UpGuard is headquartered in Hobart, Australia.
  • UpGuard was founded in 2012.
  • UpGuard is privately held.

What it sells: UpGuard

What User Risk does[1][5][10]
User Risk continuously detects unsanctioned applications running across a workforce and exposes over-privileged permissions and credential leaks. User Risk nudges employees mid-workflow and redirects them to approved corporate alternatives. User Risk sits in the browser and blocks unauthorized file uploads and copy-pastes.
What Risk Automations does[1][10]
UpGuard describes risk automation that connects a risk stack to system APIs to automate discovery, notification and remediation. The offering automates discovery, notification and resolution by integrating a risk stack.
What Questionnaire AI does[11]
Questionnaire AI automatically completes questionnaires using a customer's own security documentation. Customers upload documents such as a SOC 2 report, an information security report and previously completed questionnaires.

What it sells: Vanta

What Vanta Agent does[2]
The Vanta Agent drafts policies, completes questionnaires and calls out issues. Vanta provides an Agent for TPRM that addresses vendor risk.

Questions about UpGuard and Vanta

What do UpGuard and Vanta sell?
UpGuard sells User Risk, Risk Automations and Questionnaire AI. Vanta sells Vanta Agent, Trust Center, Trust Reports and Vanta API.
Are UpGuard and Vanta in the same category?
They share Third-party risk and security ratings. UpGuard's primary category is Third-party risk and security ratings and Vanta's is Compliance automation.
Where are UpGuard and Vanta headquartered?
UpGuard is headquartered in Hobart, Australia.
When were UpGuard and Vanta founded?
UpGuard was founded in 2012.
Who owns UpGuard and Vanta?
UpGuard is privately held.
Who are UpGuard and Vanta sold to?
Vanta's pages address teams without dedicated personnel, where security tasks add to the workload of critical employees.
What have UpGuard and Vanta announced recently?
November 9, 2026: Vanta announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Pillar Security, an AI security platform covering AI agents across their lifecycle.

About UpGuard

UpGuard sells tools that move third-party risk monitoring from static snapshots to continuous oversight. UpGuard offers a TPRM platform that delivers continuous vendor insights, 360-degree assessments and AI-powered workflows. UpGuard describes a platform with a unified view of cyber risk across an organization. UpGuard offers attack surface management and threat intelligence to expose, surface and remediate external risk. UpGuard offers trust management with trust centers and questionnaire imports. UpGuard offers risk automation that automates discovery, notification and resolution by integrating a risk stack.[1][4][5][6]

For vendor monitoring, UpGuard scans attack surfaces and vulnerabilities, tracks security news and incidents, and sends alerts when risk appears. UpGuard runs daily scans and uses threat feeds that surface exposures, misconfigurations, CVEs and security incidents. UpGuard scores each finding for severity and enriches it with impact and context. UpGuard tracks vendor posture changes over time, which lets customers demonstrate continuous oversight and measure improvement or decline. UpGuard sends notifications when something changes, such as a new vulnerability, a breach or a posture shift.[4][8]

UpGuard generates security ratings through the analysis of commercial, open-source and proprietary threat intelligence feeds and non-intrusive data collection methods. Vendor inventory helps customers find, track and monitor the security posture of any organization. Customers can categorize vendors, compare them against industry benchmarks and see how their security posture changes over time. Vendor tiering classifies vendors by the inherent risk they pose to the organization and adjusts the level of assessment for each vendor. UpGuard can assign vendors to labels automatically based on Vendor Relationship Questionnaire responses. The vendor portfolios feature organizes monitored vendors by different use-cases into separate lists. UpGuard compliance reporting maps risk details for a customer or its vendors against security standards and compliance frameworks such as NIST CSF and ISO 27001. UpGuard shows the domains and IPs that belong to an individual vendor and their cyber risks.[7]

On the attack surface side, UpGuard describes continuous visibility into a digital footprint to detect threats and to know the full attack surface. UpGuard continuously monitors externally observable security posture across website security, email, network, DNS, encryption, data leakage, IP and domain reputation and vulnerability management. UpGuard security ratings reflect only what can be verified from outside the organization and are not an audit of internal controls.[1][5][9]

User Risk continuously detects unsanctioned applications running across a workforce and exposes over-privileged permissions and credential leaks. User Risk nudges employees mid-workflow, flags violations instantly and redirects them to approved corporate alternatives. User Risk sits in the browser and blocks unauthorized file uploads and copy-pastes.[10]

Questionnaire AI automatically completes questionnaires using a customer's own security documentation. Customers upload security documents such as a SOC 2 report, an information security report and previously completed questionnaires to Questionnaire AI. UpGuard offers AI-powered questionnaire automation and a Trust Page. UpGuard describes risk automation that connects a risk stack to system APIs to automate discovery, notification and remediation.[1][4][5][7][10][11]

UpGuard on the record

Sources

UpGuard full record

  1. [1]upguard.comUpGuard · upguard.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Upguard raises 75m in series c funding to accelerate market leadership in cyber risk posture managementUpGuard · upguard.com · published February 26, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]UpGuard Vendor Risk Reviews & Product DetailsG2 · undated page, accessed October 29, 2026 · Tier C
  4. [4]Continuous Third-Party Risk Monitoring | UpGuardUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]The #1 Cyber Risk Posture Management Platform | UpGuardUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Pricing For The UpGuard CRPM Platform | UpGuardUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Third-party Risk Assessment Software | UpGuardUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Lucid Security Rating & Data Breaches | UpGuardUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]GiftPay Security Rating & Data Breaches | UpGuardUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]User Risk: A Human Risk Management Platform | UpGuardUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Free AI-Powered Security Questionnaires Done in MinutesUpGuard · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

Vanta full record

  1. [1]vanta.comVanta · vanta.com · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001, PCI, and GDPR ComplianceVanta · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]ISO 27001 compliance automation software | VantaVanta · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Security & Compliance Foundations | VantaVanta · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]All security and compliance frameworks Vanta supports | VantaVanta · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]US state privacy compliance software: CCPA, CPRA, VCDPA, & more | VantaVanta · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Privacy Foundations | VantaVanta · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]CMMC compliance software: Get CMMC-ready faster | VantaVanta · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]CIS v8 compliance software: Automate evidence collection | VantaVanta · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]AWS Foundational Technical Review (FTR) compliance software | VantaVanta · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]ISO 9001 compliance software: Simplify quality management | VantaVanta · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Vanta API | VantaVanta · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Continuous Trust | VantaVanta · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Vanta to Acquire Pillar Security to Turn AI Policy Into PracticeBusiness Wire · published November 9, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]New in Vanta | April 2026Vanta · published April 15, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Vanta Reviews & Product DetailsG2 · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier C

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