Romana vs Portnox Cloud: 2026 Comparison
Romana is a free network access control tool. Portnox Cloud is a commercial network access control tool by Portnox. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best network access control fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of NIST CSF 2.0 coverage, core features, company size fit, deployment model, here is our conclusion:
Kubernetes platform teams operating on-premises or in OpenStack environments should pick Romana for its topology-aware IPAM that enforces network policy without overlay complexity, eliminating a major source of troubleshooting overhead in multi-tenant clusters. The free pricing and 249 GitHub stars indicate active maintenance, and the native policy approach maps cleanly to NIST Govern functions around access control architecture. Skip this if you're cloud-locked on AWS or GCP; Romana's value evaporates when your infrastructure already handles IP management and you need tight vendor integration with cloud-native IAM.
Mid-market and enterprise security teams managing mixed infrastructure (on-prem, cloud, OT) need Portnox Cloud because it enforces least-privilege access at command level rather than just network segment level, catching lateral movement that traditional NAC misses. Cloud-native deployment with zero maintenance overhead and vendor-agnostic controls across NAC, ZTNA, and RADIUS means you're not locked into a single vendor's infrastructure stack. Skip this if your primary concern is endpoint detection and response; Portnox prioritizes access enforcement over post-breach forensics, and lacks the detection depth needed for organizations treating endpoint compromise as their threat model.
