Aqua Security Runtime Protection vs Palo Alto Networks Cortex Cloud Runtime Security: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)

Aqua Security Runtime Protection: Runtime protection for containers, K8s, serverless, and VMs in cloud environments. built by Aqua Security Software Ltd.. Core capabilities include eBPF-based kernel-level threat detection, Container drift prevention and immutability enforcement, Real-time malware detection and blocking..

Palo Alto Networks Cortex Cloud Runtime Security: Real-time cloud workload protection for VMs, containers, K8s & serverless. built by Palo Alto Networks. Core capabilities include Runtime threat protection with lightweight agent, Behavioral threat protection and malware analysis, Exploit prevention for cloud workloads..

Both serve the Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform market but differ in approach, feature depth, and target audience.

Aqua Security Runtime Protection differentiates with eBPF-based kernel-level threat detection, Container drift prevention and immutability enforcement, Real-time malware detection and blocking. Palo Alto Networks Cortex Cloud Runtime Security differentiates with Runtime threat protection with lightweight agent, Behavioral threat protection and malware analysis, Exploit prevention for cloud workloads.

Aqua Security Runtime Protection is developed by Aqua Security Software Ltd.. Palo Alto Networks Cortex Cloud Runtime Security is developed by Palo Alto Networks. Vendor maturity, funding stage, and team size can be important factors when evaluating long-term viability and support quality.

Aqua Security Runtime Protection and Palo Alto Networks Cortex Cloud Runtime Security serve similar Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform use cases: both are Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform tools, both cover Runtime Security, Kubernetes. Review the feature comparison above to determine which fits your requirements.