--- title: "PolicyCortex vs Prisma Cloud: compared" description: "Prisma Cloud is a broad enterprise security platform. PolicyCortex records hash-chained evidence in your tenant that an assessor can recompute." url: https://policycortex.com/compare/policycortex-vs-prisma-cloud sealed: 2026-03-17 amended: 2026-09-05 register: compare/policycortex-vs-prisma-cloud records: 6 digest: sha3:8ac5cea1ed00fc59c6ec051f1147f409433e8963389b70cfa9349776a735b8cf --- # PolicyCortex vs Prisma Cloud Register / Compare / Prisma Cloud Prisma Cloud is a broad enterprise security platform: posture, workload, entitlement and data security modules, with runbooks and SOAR integrations for remediation. PolicyCortex is an evidence locker with one job: record what your cloud was, what changed it, and what machines were allowed to do, hash chained in your tenant, verifiable by an assessor who does not trust us. [Request Access](https://app.policycortex.com/auth?mode=request-access) ยท [All comparisons](https://policycortex.com/compare) ## Where the evidence lives, and who can check it. Both products, asked the same eight questions. PolicyCortex cells restate the register; Prisma Cloud cells restate what Prisma Cloud states about itself in public documentation, and say so where it does not. **PolicyCortex and Prisma Cloud, eight questions** | Question | PolicyCortex | Prisma Cloud | |---|---|---| | Where the evidence lives | The customer's tenant. Collectors, policy engine, evidence store, decision layer and export surface all run there. No telemetry pipeline to PolicyCortex servers and no egress of evidence. | Not stated by vendor | | Verifiable by a second party | By recomputation. Export the stream, recompute SHA3-256 over each record plus the digest of the record before it, compare: INTACT, or the first sequence number where integrity fails. No PolicyCortex account or API in the loop. | Posture is shown across the CSPM, CWPP, CIEM and DSPM modules. Recomputation by a second party is not stated. | | Tamper evidence | Hash chained and append-only. There is no update or delete verb in the store; an edit breaks the edited record and every digest after it. | Not stated by vendor | | Gaps declared | Declared. When a collector is down or a scope is unobserved, the chain carries a gap record: stream, interval, reason, declared_at. | Not stated by vendor | | Remediation model | Approval-gated proposals. The reasoning layer proposes and cannot execute. SHADOW executes nothing; GATED, the default, puts a named human on each action; AUTONOMOUS is limited to narrow, well-tested action classes with all three policy gates still run. | Pre-built runbooks and SOAR integrations. | | AI agent coverage | Proof of agency: the envelope that permitted each autonomous action, the chained record of what it did, and the counterfactual that would have blocked it. Models and agents in scope are inventoried and mapped against 64 MITRE ATLAS techniques, with unbounded techniques recorded as declared gaps. | Not stated by vendor | | Federal packaging | OSCAL 1.1.2 export with SSP, SAR, POA&M, eMASS XML and evidence indexes generated from one implementation record. AWS and Azure boundaries for ATO packaging. | Broad framework coverage. CMMC coverage typically requires custom policy development; an authorization package is not stated. | | Evaluation | Request Access. Our team reviews your requirements and agrees on scope and commercial terms before onboarding in your tenant. | Not stated by vendor | PolicyCortex cells restate the register pages. Competitor cells restate the vendor's public product documentation as read in March 2026; where it does not state a fact, the cell says so. Corrections to hello@policycortex.com. The register facts are stated on the [architecture](https://policycortex.com/architecture), the three proof records, and the [federal record](https://policycortex.com/federal). ## What is on record about Prisma Cloud Prisma Cloud is a broad enterprise cloud security platform: cloud security posture management, cloud workload protection, cloud infrastructure entitlement management, data security posture management, code security in CI/CD pipelines, and network microsegmentation and flow analysis, across AWS, Azure, GCP and other providers. Its remediation is pre-built runbooks and SOAR integrations. It is priced for large enterprises. ## Where the two differ Prisma Cloud's breadth is the point: many security modules, each configured and operated by a team with the capacity to run it. The register has one job and does it in a way a skeptic can check. It records what your cloud was, what changed it, and what your machines were allowed to do, inside your tenant, on an append-only SHA3-256 chain with declared gaps, and it exports OSCAL 1.1.2, SSP, SAR, POA&M and eMASS XML from that one record. Where Prisma Cloud shows posture across modules, the register hands an assessor rows they can recompute without either vendor. On federal frameworks, Prisma Cloud's coverage is broad, CMMC coverage typically requires custom policy development, and its remediation is runbooks and integrations. PolicyCortex's supported frameworks are listed on the compliance monitoring page (CMMC Levels 1 to 3, NIST SP 800-171 and 800-53, DFARS, FedRAMP, FISMA, ITAR/EAR, HIPAA, SOX, PCI DSS, CIS Benchmarks, SOC 2 Type II, NIST AI RMF, MITRE ATT&CK and ATLAS), and its remediation model is approval-gated proposals with a rollback identifier on every executed action. ## When to choose which Choose Prisma Cloud if you are a large enterprise with a dedicated cloud security team, broad security needs beyond compliance evidence, and runtime workload protection as a primary use case. Choose PolicyCortex if what you owe is a verifiable record for an authorization, an assessment or an AI inventory, and you would rather hand an assessor a chain they can recompute than a console they can look at. ## Questions buyers ask about the two. **Q: Does Prisma Cloud cover CMMC?** A: Prisma Cloud's framework coverage is broad; CMMC coverage typically requires custom policy development, and an authorization package is not stated. The register maps the 110 requirements of NIST 800-171 on the record itself and generates SSP, SAR and POA&M from it. **Q: How does remediation differ?** A: Prisma Cloud remediates through pre-built runbooks and SOAR integrations. PolicyCortex records a proposal that cannot execute on its own, evaluates it against the autonomy envelope with 3/3 policy gates, and if it runs, writes the approving identity, the state hashes and a rollback identifier on the chain. **Q: Is PolicyCortex a CSPM?** A: No. It is an evidence system. It observes connected clouds and records what it finds as hash-chained evidence in your tenant. The register does not claim workload protection, entitlement management or data security posture modules; what it claims is stated on the architecture and proof pages. **Q: Which fits a small team?** A: Prisma Cloud is built for large enterprise security teams operating several modules. PolicyCortex is licensed software with optional fixed-scope delivery engagements. Request Access so our team can review your environment and agree on scope and commercial terms before onboarding. ## What this comparison is not. **Stated limit.** This page compares what Prisma Cloud states in public documentation, as read in March 2026, with what the register pages state about PolicyCortex. It is not an assessment of Prisma Cloud and it does not certify anything. Where Prisma Cloud does not state a fact, the cell says so rather than guessing. Ask us the same eight questions, in your own tenant. [Request Access](https://app.policycortex.com/auth?mode=request-access) ## Register colophon | Seq | Label | SHA3-256 | Prev | |---|---|---|---| | REC 0000 | THE EVIDENCE TABLE | f85d24c2f5a4 | c418d92601d3 | | REC 0001 | WHAT IS ON RECORD ABOUT PRISMA CLOUD | c76451ecfe80 | f85d24c2f5a4 | | REC 0002 | WHERE THE TWO DIFFER | 67c1a27b97e8 | c76451ecfe80 | | REC 0003 | WHEN TO CHOOSE WHICH | 3264cfbca856 | 67c1a27b97e8 | | REC 0004 | QUESTIONS | 00616c4f85f8 | 3264cfbca856 | | REC 0005 | STATED LIMIT | 8ac5cea1ed00 | 00616c4f85f8 | Head sha3:8ac5cea1ed00fc59c6ec051f1147f409433e8963389b70cfa9349776a735b8cf. Each digest is SHA3-256 over the previous digest, the register key, the record label, and the record copy; a second party can recompute it from this document.