Akto

What Akto does

Akto is a San Francisco-headquartered cybersecurity company founded in 2022 (with an engineering office in Bengaluru, India) that sells an AI Agent Security and API Security platform targeting Fortune 500 security teams. The company was originally positioned as a plug-and-play API security platform and raised a $4.5 million seed round led by Accel India in November 2022; since 2024 it has repositioned around agentic AI and MCP security, with a current product surface that includes Akto Atlas (security and guardrails for LLMs, AI agents, and MCP tools used on employee endpoints), Akto Argus (security and runtime guardrails for homegrown AI applications and cloud-deployed agents across Bedrock, Vertex AI, Azure AI Foundry, Databricks, Snowflake, Salesforce, IBM Watsonx, and Hugging Face), the Akto API Security Platform (API discovery, posture management, threat detection, 1000+ pre-built API security tests), MCP Security (MCP Attack Matrix covering tool poisoning, line jumping, tool shadowing, prompt injection via tool output, broken authorization, and rug pull attacks), and AktoGPT for generative-AI test authoring.

The technical architecture centers on a transparent mitmproxy-based Sidecar Egress Proxy that intercepts outbound AI API calls (OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazon Bedrock) with zero code changes to agent code, an agent-proxy for MCP servers that inspects every request and response inline, an Agent Guard decision engine returning Allow/Modify/Blocked actions, GitOps policy sync from repositories, and an Agent Context Graph that maps agent-tool-resource relationships. Akto maintains 100+ native integrations across AI agent frameworks (LangChain, Portkey, TrueFoundry, Arcade.dev, LiteLLM, Microsoft Copilot Studio), LLM providers, MDM/EDR systems (SentinelOne, Intune, Jamf, Kandji, Automox, NinjaOne), and traditional AppSec tooling (Kong, Istio, Envoy, NGINX, Cloudflare, Apigee, Mulesoft, Burp Suite, Postman), and operates open-source components (akto-api-security/akto, akto-api-security/akto-ai-egress, Akto Burp Extension, Akto CLI).

Revenue is generated via enterprise SaaS subscriptions (Akto Cloud) plus a newly introduced usage-based pricing model, with a freemium entry point via Akto Open Source on GitHub and a free trial landing page. Go-to-market is hybrid: enterprise demo-driven field sales targeting Fortune 500 security teams, product-led growth through 60-second self-hosted deploy, AWS Marketplace availability, a developer/community motion anchored on Aktonomy'26 and OWASP partnerships, and heavy conference presence at RSA, Black Hat USA, DEF CON, OWASP Global AppSec, and Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit. Vertical packages exist for Financial Services, SaaS, Healthcare, Public Sector, and E-Commerce, and Akto holds GDPR, ISO, SOC2, and HIPAA compliance badges and Trust Center disclosures.

Name

Akto

Legal name

Akto

Website

https://akto.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Akto is a San Francisco-based cybersecurity vendor founded in 2022 that provides API security and agentic AI/MCP security platforms for Fortune 500 security teams, featuring Akto Atlas for employee endpoints and Akto Argus for homegrown AI applications.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

API and AI Agent Security

NAICS

Computer Systems Design Services (541512), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

API Security & Governance (Policy, Threat Protection) (HDAEAIAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Model Serving, Inference & Deployment Platforms (APIs, Edge/On-Prem) (HDAEANAC), API Management Platforms (API Gateways, Developer Portals) (HDAEAIAA), Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) (HDADAIAC)

Keywords

• API security testing
• AI agent security
• MCP server protection
• Runtime API guardrails
• API discovery platform

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Subscription (Enterprise SaaS): Enterprise SaaS subscriptions via demo-driven sales motion targeting Fortune 500 security teams. Has pricing tiers indicated by /pricing landing page, self-hosted option, and Akto Cloud (app.akto.io).
2. Usage-based pricing: Blog references "Akto introduces new usage-based flexible pricing model", indicating a usage-based revenue component alongside subscriptions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion5 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Akto provides an enterprise security platform that discovers, tests, and protects APIs, MCP servers, and AI agents against agentic and traditional API threats. The platform combines API discovery, automated red-teaming, runtime guardrails, and posture management, delivered through two flagship products — Akto Atlas for AI usage on employee endpoints and Akto Argus for homegrown AI applications — and made available as Akto Cloud, Akto Self-hosted, or Akto Open Source deployments.

Product overview

Akto offers a unified platform-plus-modules architecture for AI Agent Security and API Security. The core platform centers on two flagship products: Akto Atlas, which secures AI usage across employees and devices, and Akto Argus, which secures homegrown AI applications and cloud-deployed agents. Both products run on top of Akto's API Security Platform (also deployable as Akto Open Source, Akto Cloud, or Akto Self-hosted), which provides foundational API discovery, testing, posture management, and threat detection. Specialized modules extend the platform with MCP Security, AktoGPT (generative AI testing), the Sidecar Egress Proxy for transparent agent guardrails, Agent Context Graph, NHI Governance, Shadow AI Discovery, AgentForce integration for Salesforce, Agent Probe for automated red teaming, and Akto AgentGuard. DAST and developer tools (CLI, Burp Extension, Code for source-code API discovery) round out the offering. Together, these products allow Akto to discover every AI agent and MCP tool, run continuous red teaming, and enforce guardrails at scale for Fortune 500 security teams.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Akto Atlas: Agentic AI Security for Employee Endpoints — secures AI usage across employees and devices, including AI agent activity discovery, guardrails, and skill governance.
• Akto Argus
• AktoGPT

Products and services

• Akto Atlas AI Agent Security product for employee endpoints that delivers visibility and guardrails for LLMs, AI agents, and MCP tools used across employee devices, with personal account detection and skill governance capabilities. Intended for enterprise security teams responsible for safe AI usage at the individual user level.
• Akto Argus Agentic AI Security product for homegrown AI applications and cloud-deployed agents that traces AI agent traffic end-to-end, syncs policies from Git, connects to Bedrock, Vertex AI, Databricks, Azure AI Foundry and other platforms, and enforces runtime guardrails via the Sidecar Egress Proxy. Built for enterprise engineering and security teams building or deploying internal AI agents.
• Akto API Security Platform Foundational API security platform providing API discovery, API security posture, sensitive data exposure detection, API security testing, threat detection, and authentication and authorization testing in a plug-and-play deployment model.
• Agentic AI Security Platform Overarching Agentic AI Security Platform that maps every AI agent and MCP tool, provides visibility, runs continuous red-teaming, and enforces guardrails at scale across enterprise infrastructure. Combines Agentic AI Discovery, Automated Agentic Red Teaming, Agentic Security Posture Management, MCP and AI Agent Guardrails, and Agentic Runtime Protection.
• MCP Security Security solution purpose-built for Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and tool-using agents. Addresses MCP attack matrix threats including tool poisoning, line jumping, tool shadowing, prompt injection via tool output, broken authorization, and rug pull attacks through runtime inspection and policy enforcement.
• AktoGPT Generative AI-powered testing assistant for API security that generates test content, assists with test authoring, and accelerates API vulnerability detection through natural-language interaction. Part of Akto's GenAI Security Testing Solution.
• Akto Open Source Free, open-source version of the Akto platform available on GitHub, providing community-driven API security testing and discovery capabilities for developers and security teams.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100x better Agentic actions visibility Coverage vs. alternatives
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration62 records

AI capability12 records

Feature11 records

Partnerships

17 partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• LangChaincoreTechnology or Integration · 23 April 2026Akto announced a technology partnership and native integration with LangChain to enhance AI agent security. The integration focuses on real-time defense against risks such as prompt injection and data leakage across various stages of AI agent deployment. Akto Argus also lists LangChain as a supported AI Agent Connector.
• PortkeycoreTechnology or Integration · 23 April 2026Akto announced a technology partnership and native integration with Portkey to enhance AI agent security. Akto Argus lists Portkey as a supported AI Agent Connector for securing AI gateways and agent routing implemented using Portkey.
• TrueFoundrycoreTechnology or Integration · 23 April 2026Akto announced a technology partnership and native integration with TrueFoundry to enhance AI agent security. Akto Argus lists TrueFoundry as a supported AI Agent Connector for securing AI agents deployed on the TrueFoundry ML platform.
• Arcade.devcoreTechnology or Integration · 23 April 2026Akto announced a technology partnership and native integration with Arcade.dev to enhance AI agent security and runtime governance. The partnership secures AI agents in production by combining Arcade.dev's runtime infrastructure with permission management and Akto's monitoring and threat detection tools for agent actions and tool interactions. Akto Argus lists Arcade as a supported AI Agent Connector.
• LiteLLMcoreTechnology or Integration · 23 April 2026Akto announced a technology partnership and native integration with LiteLLM to enhance AI agent security. Akto Argus lists LiteLLM as a supported AI Agent Connector for monitoring and securing AI agents using LiteLLM for multi-model routing and management.
• SentinelOnecoreTechnology or IntegrationAkto partnered with SentinelOne to secure AI agents at endpoints (referenced in Akto blog: akto-partners-with-sentinelone-to-secure-ai-agents-at-endpoints). Integration enables Akto's AI agent security at endpoint layer in conjunction with SentinelOne's endpoint security platform.
• Microsoft Copilot StudiocoreTechnology or IntegrationAkto integrates with Microsoft Copilot Studio in three modes: Async Mode (polls Dataverse transcripts for detection), Block Mode (inline request/response guardrails added inside the agent topics), and Proxy MCP Server via Akto's agent-proxy. Three modes can run side-by-side.
• AWS BedrockcoreTechnology or IntegrationAkto Argus supports AWS Bedrock (and AWS Bedrock AgentCore) as AI Agent Connectors to secure and monitor AI agents built using AWS Bedrock managed foundation models. Bedrock is also supported by the Sidecar Egress Proxy for outbound LLM call guardrails.
• Azure AI FoundrycoreTechnology or IntegrationAkto Argus supports Azure AI Foundry as an AI Agent Connector to protect AI agents developed and deployed via Azure AI Foundry.
• Google Vertex AIcoreTechnology or IntegrationAkto Argus supports Google Vertex AI as an AI Agent Connector to protect AI agents deployed using Google Vertex AI.
• IBM WatsonxcoreTechnology or IntegrationAkto Argus supports IBM Watsonx to import and monitor Watsonx AI agents seamlessly.
• DatabrickscoreTechnology or IntegrationAkto Argus supports Databricks as an AI Agent Connector to monitor and secure AI agents running on Databricks platforms.
• SnowflakecoreTechnology or IntegrationAkto Argus supports Snowflake as an AI Agent Connector with both regular and Block Mode options to secure AI agents and data-driven workflows built within Snowflake, including distributed tracing via Snowflake Agent Tracing.
• SalesforcecoreTechnology or IntegrationAkto Argus supports Salesforce as an AI Agent Connector to protect AI agents built on or integrated with Salesforce platforms (referenced in akto-agentforce-secure-salesforce-agents-runtime blog).
• OWASPcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAkto actively partners with OWASP across multiple chapters (Bay Area, Orange County, LA, SF, Singapore). Co-presents hands-on workshops, meetups, and the LLM Security Roundtable at OWASP Global AppSec. Akto is recognized in the OWASP Gen AI Security Landscape.
• Cloud Security AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAkto joined Cloud Security Alliance as an AI Corporate Member (referenced in akto-joins-cloud-security-alliance-ai-corporate-member blog).
• Salesforce (Agentforce)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAkto Agentforce secures Salesforce agents at runtime (referenced in akto-agentforce-secure-salesforce-agents-runtime blog).

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• 42Crunch: API security platform focused on API contract security (OpenAPI validation), testing, and runtime protection. Competes with Akto's API security testing and posture management capabilities for enterprise customers.
• Salt Security: Direct API security competitor offering API discovery, runtime protection, and posture management. Acquired by Palo Alto Networks in 2024, validating the API security category and intensifying platform competition for Akto. Listed alongside Akto in gbhackers Top 10 API Security Providers 2026.
• Traceable AI: API security platform with strong AI/ML-driven threat detection focus. Competes head-to-head with Akto in API discovery, testing, and runtime protection for enterprise AppSec teams. Listed alongside Akto in Top 10 API Security Providers 2026.
• Noname Security: API security platform offering API posture management and runtime protection. Acquired by Akamai in 2023, demonstrating the consolidation pattern in API security that creates both opportunity and competitive pressure for independent players like Akto.
• Cequence Security: API security and bot management platform targeting enterprise customers. Competes with Akto on API discovery, fraud prevention, and runtime protection. Listed alongside Akto in Top 10 API Security Providers 2026.
• Wallarm: API security and WAAP platform with API discovery, testing, and threat protection. Overlaps directly with Akto's core API security platform offering for enterprise DevSecOps teams. Listed alongside Akto in Top 10 API Security Providers 2026.
• APIsec: API security testing platform specializing in automated API vulnerability scanning. Direct competitor in API security testing category, listed alongside Akto in Top 10 API Security Providers 2026.

Emerging players

• Astrix Security: Emerging player focused on non-human identity (NHI) and AI agent security. Directly comparable to Akto's emerging NHI Governance for AI Agents and agentic discovery capabilities, both targeting the agent identity attack surface.

Broad incumbents

• Palo Alto Networks (Prisma Cloud / API Security): Broad cybersecurity incumbent that acquired Salt Security (2024) to add API security to its Prisma Cloud platform. Represents platform competition that could bundle API/agent security at scale, pressuring independent players like Akto.
• Akamai (App & API Protector): Broad incumbent in CDN and edge security that acquired Noname Security (2023) for API protection. Competes with Akto in API security for enterprise customers via bundled platform offerings, listed alongside Akto in Top 10 API Security Providers 2026.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/akto-api-security/akto
• Xx.com/Aktodotio
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/akto-io

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Akto