Read this first. Compiled from public vendor websites on the dates shown. Vendors change products often; confirm with each vendor. Corrections: info@sovereignaisecurity.com.
We record only what each vendor states on its public pages. Where a page does not state a fact, the table says “Not stated”. “Not stated” does not mean the vendor lacks the capability. SovereignAI Security Labs publishes this guide and makes SentraGuard, which is in the table.
Five patterns across the 22 vendors
- The browser extension is table stakes. 19 of the 22 vendors ship one.
- Endpoint agents are the 2026 differentiator. They cover desktop AI apps and CLI coding agents, which a browser extension does not see.
- Agents and MCP are now on every page. Vendor pages now discuss AI agents and MCP servers alongside human AI use.
- Three acquisitions in 14 months. Akamai bought LayerX. SentinelOne bought Prompt Security. CrowdStrike announced the acquisition of Seraphic.
- Few vendors publish prices. Five of the 22 publish a price or a free tier. In this set, no vendor except SentraGuard states air-gapped discovery or a mapping to GCC regulators.
22 shadow AI platforms, side by side
Form factor filters match a vendor if it offers any of the selected form factors. “Proxy or SSE” includes AI, LLM and MCP gateways and local proxies. “Public price or free tier” counts a published price or a free product tier; trials and free assessment tools are not counted.
| Vendor | Status 2026 | Form factor | Positioning | Entry offer | On-prem stated | GCC regulator mapping stated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LayerX | Acquired by Akamai ($205M, closed 2 Jul 2026). Renamed Akamai Workforce Protector. | Browser extension | “Expose and eliminate shadow AI tools”. Personal vs corporate accounts. AI extension permissions. | Demo only | Not stated | No |
| Harmonic Security | Independent. $17.5M Series A (2024). | Browser extension, endpoint agent, MCP gateway, on-device small language models | Classifies AI tasks. 1,000+ apps. | Three named tiers. AWS Marketplace listing at $163 per user per year (200-user minimum). | Not stated | No |
| Cyberhaven | $1B valuation, Series D (Apr 2025). | Endpoint sensor with data lineage, browser extension | AI Risk IQ app scoring. | Demo only. Free AI App Risk Checker (700+ tools). | Not stated | No |
| Quilr AI | Seed (Apr 2025). Austin. | Endpoint agent, browser extension, LLM and MCP gateways. Cloud, VPC or on-prem. | Governs third-party AI. Finds local models. | Demo only | Yes | No |
| Nightfall AI | Independent. | Browser plugin, endpoint agents, SaaS API connectors, MCP and IDE hooks | Redaction of the sensitive part. | Public plans page without amounts. 7-day proof of value. | Not stated | No |
| Prompt Security | Acquired by SentinelOne (Aug 2025). | Browser extension, endpoint, AI gateway, MCP gateway in Singularity | AI Usage Control module. 15,000+ AI tools and services. | Demo only | Not stated | No |
| Push Security | $30M Series B (Apr 2025). | Browser extension only | Monitor, Acknowledge and Block modes. | $5 per user per month up to 500 users. Self-serve trial. | Not stated | No |
| Obsidian Security | $85M Series D at $1.1B (Aug 2026). | Browser extension plus agentless SaaS connectors | ISO 42001 certified. | Free tier to 1,000 users for discovery. | Not stated | No |
| Cyera | $600M Series G at $12B (Jun 2026). | Browser Shield extension on agentless DSPM | Visibility in 24 to 48 hours. | Demo only | Not stated | No |
| Island | $4.8B valuation (Mar 2025). | Enterprise browser plus extension, MCP gateway, LLM gateway, SASE | Audit trail for human and agent. | Demo only. AWS Marketplace. | Not stated | No |
| Seraphic Security | Acquisition by CrowdStrike announced 13 Jan 2026 (reported about $400M). | In-browser runtime on any browser, inside Falcon | Managed and unmanaged devices. | 15-day free trial | Not stated | No |
| Aegis Preflight (Zotniq) | Moving to the Zotniq brand. | Browser extension, native app coverage, SDK, endpoint agent | On-device prompt gate. | Free exposure audit | Not stated | No |
| Akto | API security vendor. CSA member (May 2026). | Endpoint agent (Atlas) deployed by MDM. OpenAI and Anthropic compliance API connectors. | Self-hosted option. | Usage-based pricing. Contact sales. | Yes (self-hosted) | No |
| Keep Aware | Seed (2023). HERE browser partnership (Jul 2026). | Browser extension for existing browsers | Gen-AI monitoring. Blocks sensitive paste and upload. | Demo only | Not stated | No |
| KonaSense | Angel funded. Tampa. | Browser extension, IDE plugin, local proxy for CLI agents, OpenTelemetry ingest. Cloud, customer AWS or on-prem. | Signed audit evidence. | Contact sales. Three free tools. | Yes | No (maps Brazil LGPD, BACEN) |
| MagicMirror | About $2M raised. Irvine. | Browser extension with on-device model, agent daemon | “See your AI risk in 2 days”. | Free 30-day assessment | Not stated | No |
| Red Access | $17M Series A (Sep 2025). | Agentless, firewall-native SSE | GenAI and vibe-coding control. | Demo only | Not stated | No |
| PrivacyScrubber | Bootstrapped. Austin. | Chrome extension, PII MCP server, SDK. Fully client-side. | Not stated | Free tier. Pro $15 per month. Teams $99 per month. | Yes (enterprise on-prem offered) | No |
| Repacket | YC W23. Vancouver. | Local security proxy on the endpoint | Guardrails including CUI, ITAR and EAR. | 14-day trial. Pro $60 per user per year. | Not stated | No |
| Weagle | Early-stage VC (2023). Milan. | Browser extension plus Windows desktop agent, MSP console | GenAI DLP on prompts and PDFs. | Demo only | Not stated | No |
| LangProtect | Founded Aug 2025. | Browser extension (Guardia) with cloud or on-prem backend | Shadow AI detection and governance. 5,200+ AI tools claimed. | Demo only | Yes | No |
| SentraGuard (SovereignAI Security Labs)Publisher | Independent. Bengaluru. GCC distribution by Forcespot. | Browser plugin, IDE extensions, SDK and API gateway, endpoint agent (Windows, macOS, Linux) | Discover, classify, govern, prove, with four actions. | One-week pilot: inventory on day 0, full governance on day 7. Quote only. | Yes (including air gapped) | Yes (CBUAE, UAE IAR, UAE PDPL, DIFC, ADGM, SAMA CSF, NCA ECC, PDPL, SDAIA) |
| No vendor matches these filters. Clear a filter to see more. | ||||||
Source: each vendor's public web page listed under Sources, read 19 to 20 September 2026. Scroll the table sideways on small screens.
GCC evaluation checklist: 12 questions to ask every vendor
Ask each vendor the same questions. Get the answers in writing. Test the answers in a pilot on your own traffic.
Where is our data processed and stored?
Why it matters in the GCC UAE PDPL, the Saudi PDPL, DIFC and ADGM rules restrict cross-border transfers. Ask where prompts, logs and metadata go, and in which country.
Can the backend run on premise, in our own cloud tenancy or air gapped?
Why it matters in the GCC Banks and government entities often cannot send inspection data to an outside SaaS. Ask for a named deployment option in writing.
In an on-premise deployment, does any data leave our network?
Why it matters in the GCC A local deployment may still send updates, telemetry or analytics to the vendor. Ask what is sent, how often and whether it can be switched off.
Does detection work on Gulf data classes and on Arabic text?
Why it matters in the GCC Emirates ID, Saudi National ID, Iqama and IBAN formats differ from US and EU patterns. Ask for detection of each class in a test, with Arabic prompts included.
Can it tell a corporate AI account from a personal one?
Why it matters in the GCC Personal accounts on corporate devices sit outside your contracts with the AI provider. Ask how the split is detected and reported.
Which surfaces does it cover beyond the browser?
Why it matters in the GCC Desktop AI apps, IDEs and CLI coding agents do not pass through a browser. Ask which of these surfaces the product sees, and on which operating systems.
Does it discover AI agents and MCP servers, and what they can reach?
Why it matters in the GCC Agents act with the rights of the user or service account. Ask whether agent tool calls get the same policy actions as human prompts.
What actions can a policy take, and at what level of detail?
Why it matters in the GCC A block-only product pushes staff to personal devices. Ask for actions such as coach and redact, set per app, per user group and per data class.
What evidence can we hand to a regulator or auditor?
Why it matters in the GCC CBUAE, SAMA, NCA and the UAE IAR expect monitoring, logging and third-party control. Ask for a sample export and whether it maps to the frameworks you report against.
Which SIEM platforms does it integrate with?
Why it matters in the GCC Most GCC security teams run Splunk, IBM QRadar, Microsoft Sentinel or ArcSight. Ask for a native connector, not only a generic webhook.
Can we run a short pilot on our own traffic before we buy?
Why it matters in the GCC Your app mix differs from vendor benchmarks. Ask for a time-boxed pilot on your own traffic, with a written readout at the end.
How is it licensed, and who supports it in the region?
Why it matters in the GCC Per-user, usage-based and tiered models give different totals at scale. Ask for the licence unit, the tier contents and the name of the local partner.
Sources
Vendor web pages, read 19 to 20 September 2026.
- LayerX: https://layerxsecurity.com/use-cases/shadow-ai-discovery/
- Harmonic Security: https://www.harmonic.security/solutions/shadow-ai-detection
- Cyberhaven: https://www.cyberhaven.com/product/ai-security
- Quilr AI: https://quilr.ai/solutions/employee-ai
- Nightfall AI: https://www.nightfall.ai/solutions/prevent-data-leakage-to-shadow-ai
- Prompt Security: https://www.sentinelone.com/platform/securing-ai-prompt/
- Push Security: https://pushsecurity.com/uc/shadow-ai
- Obsidian Security: https://www.obsidiansecurity.com/shadow-ai-security
- Cyera: https://www.cyera.com/platform/browser-shield
- Island: https://www.island.io/ai
- Seraphic Security: https://www.crowdstrike.com/en-us/platform/falcon-seraphic-enterprise-browser/ai-security/
- Aegis Preflight (Zotniq): https://aegispreflight.com/
- Akto: https://www.akto.io/akto-for-employees
- Keep Aware: https://keepaware.com/solutions/use-cases/ai-monitoring
- KonaSense: https://www.konasense.com/product
- MagicMirror: https://www.magicmirrorsecurity.com/shadow-ai-audit
- Red Access: https://redaccess.io/use-case-genai/
- PrivacyScrubber: https://privacyscrubber.com/solutions/security/
- Repacket: https://www.repacket.com/stops/unauthorized-ai-usage
- Weagle: https://weagle.ai/use-cases/
- LangProtect: https://www.langprotect.com/shadow-ai-detection
- SentraGuard (SovereignAI Security Labs): SentraGuard Shadow AI for the GCC