--- title: "PolicyCortex vs RegScale: evidence compared" description: "RegScale maintains SSPs, POA&Ms and ATO packages as documents. PolicyCortex generates them from a hash-chained record the assessor can recompute." url: https://policycortex.com/compare/policycortex-vs-regscale sealed: 2026-03-17 amended: 2026-09-02 register: compare/policycortex-vs-regscale records: 6 digest: sha3:24c81d12cf18485eaf65b72f81206fcef673f7775b90205e3ac900741c3bcb07 --- # PolicyCortex vs RegScale Register / Compare / RegScale RegScale digitizes federal compliance documentation: SSPs, POA&Ms, ATO packages, inheritance mapping and review workflows, with one-click OSCAL export. PolicyCortex generates those documents from a hash-chained record of what your cloud was, what changed it, and what machines were allowed to do, kept in your tenant, so the assessor recomputes the record rather than rereading the document. [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; RegScale cells restate what RegScale states about itself in public documentation, and say so where it does not. **PolicyCortex and RegScale, eight questions** | Question | PolicyCortex | RegScale | |---|---|---| | 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. | Evidence is ingested from connected sources into digital SSPs and POA&Ms. 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. | None. Gaps are tracked in POA&Ms with workflow tools for human-driven remediation. | | 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. | Digital SSPs with auto-population, POA&M management, ATO package development, inheritance mapping for cloud service provider controls, and one-click OSCAL export. | | 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 RegScale RegScale is a GRC platform built to replace legacy federal compliance tools such as XACTA and eMASS: digital System Security Plans with auto-population, POA&M management and tracking, ATO package development, inheritance mapping for cloud service provider controls, integration with compliance evidence sources, and workflow automation for compliance reviews, with one-click OSCAL export. It integrates with cloud environments primarily for evidence collection and inheritance mapping, and it tracks gaps in POA&Ms with workflow tools for human-driven remediation. ## Where the two differ RegScale and PolicyCortex both produce the documents a federal program office asks for. The difference is what stands underneath the document. In RegScale the SSP is the system of record: evidence is ingested into it, and the document is maintained. In PolicyCortex the SSP is a projection: the system of record is the hash chain of state, change and agency records in your tenant, and the SSP, SAR, POA&M, OSCAL 1.1.2 and eMASS XML are generated from that one implementation record, regenerable to any date. An assessor who doubts the document recomputes the chain instead of rereading the narrative. RegScale documents that you have an encryption policy. The register records, from the provider API, whether the storage account enforced encryption on the date the assessor names, hashes that record, and declares the interval if the collector was down. ## How they can work together Organizations running RegScale for documentation can point it at the register's exports: the evidence indexes and OSCAL 1.1.2 output are generated from the chain, and RegScale integrates with compliance evidence sources. The register keeps the record; the GRC tool keeps the workflow. ## Questions buyers ask about the two. **Q: Do RegScale and PolicyCortex do the same thing?** A: Both produce the documents a program office asks for. RegScale maintains the documents as the system of record. PolicyCortex generates them from a hash-chained record of state, change and agency in your tenant, regenerable to any date. **Q: Does RegScale verify cloud configurations?** A: RegScale integrates with cloud environments primarily for evidence collection and inheritance mapping, and tracks gaps in POA&Ms for human-driven remediation. The register captures configuration from the provider APIs, hashes it, chains it, and declares the interval when a collector is down. **Q: Can they work together?** A: RegScale integrates with compliance evidence sources, and the register's evidence indexes and OSCAL 1.1.2 exports are generated from the chain. Point one at the other and the GRC tool keeps the workflow while the register keeps the record. **Q: Does either one certify us?** A: No. Neither vendor is a C3PAO or an authorizing official. PolicyCortex produces the records those decisions rest on; the assessor and the authorizing official make the determinations. ## What this comparison is not. **Stated limit.** This page compares what RegScale states in public documentation, as read in March 2026, with what the register pages state about PolicyCortex. It is not an assessment of RegScale and it does not certify anything. Where RegScale 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 | 95ae6ce06e7b | 36b8747e0d05 | | REC 0001 | WHAT IS ON RECORD ABOUT REGSCALE | d20c11afb42d | 95ae6ce06e7b | | REC 0002 | WHERE THE TWO DIFFER | d85e91671e17 | d20c11afb42d | | REC 0003 | HOW THEY CAN WORK TOGETHER | ae959612f8e0 | d85e91671e17 | | REC 0004 | QUESTIONS | fc072806c159 | ae959612f8e0 | | REC 0005 | STATED LIMIT | 24c81d12cf18 | fc072806c159 | Head sha3:24c81d12cf18485eaf65b72f81206fcef673f7775b90205e3ac900741c3bcb07. 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.