# Cisco AI Defense Inspection API vs Google Cloud Model Armor

> Google Cloud Model Armor scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Cisco AI Defense Inspection API's 61.3 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do guard injection. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cisco-ai-defense-inspection-vs-google-model-armor
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cisco-ai-defense-inspection-vs-google-model-armor.md (~3,050 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cisco-ai-defense-inspection-vs-google-model-armor.min.md (~830 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cisco-ai-defense-inspection-vs-google-model-armor.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Google Cloud Model Armor scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Cisco AI Defense Inspection API's 61.3 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do guard injection.

- Cisco AI Defense Inspection API: grade C, 61.3/100, rank #429 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cisco-ai-defense-inspection.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cisco-ai-defense-inspection.json
- Google Cloud Model Armor: grade BB, 77.9/100, rank #16 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-model-armor.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-model-armor.json

## Which one, for what

### Cisco AI Defense Inspection API (C)

Good for: A company already buying Cisco security through Security Cloud Control that wants its own application to decide what to do with each verdict.

Watch for: No public price, free tier or trial for the Inspection API. Subscriptions are bought through sales and activated with a claim code

### Google Cloud Model Armor (BB)

Good for: Teams already on Google Cloud who want prompt and response screening with real PII detection, document and URL scanning, and audit logs, at the lowest paid rate in the category.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 90 against 80
- Schema & documentation, 78 against 59
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 67
- Security & auth, 100 against 81
- Payments & pricing, 20 against 0
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 80
- Transparency & trust, 87 against 76

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- No incidents deducted, where Cisco AI Defense Inspection API loses 3 points for them

Watch for: OAuth only, and a template must exist in the same location as the endpoint before the first call


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Cisco AI Defense Inspection API | Google Cloud Model Armor | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 90 | Google Cloud Model Armor +10 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 59 | 78 | Google Cloud Model Armor +19 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 75 | Google Cloud Model Armor +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 81 | 100 | Google Cloud Model Armor +19 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 0 | 20 | Google Cloud Model Armor +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 85 | Google Cloud Model Armor +5 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 76 | 87 | Google Cloud Model Armor +11 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **61.3 · C** | **77.9 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Cisco AI Defense Inspection API | Google Cloud Model Armor |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Cisco Systems, Inc. | Google Cloud |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://us.api.inspect.aidefense.security.cisco.com/api/v1/inspect/chat` | `https://modelarmor.{location}.rep.googleapis.com/v1/projects/{project}/locations/{location}/templates/{template}:sanitizeUserPrompt` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Cisco's General Terms and the AI Defense Offer Description. The Python SDK is Apache-2.0 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-09-23 | 2026-09-28 |
| Terms last updated |  | 2026-09-02 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-10-01 |
| Customer content may train models |  | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 35 stars, 4k PyPI/wk | 210k npm/wk, 471k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (8) |

## Verdicts

**Cisco AI Defense Inspection API.** Per-connection API keys with expiry, revocation and regeneration, published limits of 60,000 calls a minute, weekly dated release notes and a one-year retention statement suit companies already on Cisco Security Cloud Control. Access needs a subscription bought through sales, with no public price or trial for the API, and the developer changelog has one entry from February 2025.

**Google Cloud Model Armor.** 2 million free tokens a month, then $0.10 per million. OAuth only, and a template must exist in the same location as the endpoint before the first call.

## Before you call either

### Cisco AI Defense Inspection API

1. Send the key in `X-Cisco-AI-Defense-API-Key` to `POST /api/v1/inspect/chat` on the regional host where the tenant was created. US, Europe and Asia Pacific hosts differ
2. If the connection has a policy, `enabled_rules` in the request is ignored. Pass `enabled_rules` only for connections with no policy
3. The API never blocks anything itself. Read `is_safe` and `action` in the response and enforce the decision in your own code
4. On 429, wait and retry. The organisation has gone over one million tokens in parallel or 60,000 calls a minute
5. Don't request the Toxicity rule. It was removed on 16 September 2026, and the Safety rules such as Hate Speech, Harassment and Profanity replace it

### Google Cloud Model Armor

1. Create one template per location you call from. A template in us-central1 doesn't answer on the europe-west2 endpoint
2. Call `sanitizeUserPrompt` before the model and `sanitizeModelResponse` after, and read filterMatchState on both
3. Treat EXECUTION_SKIPPED as unchecked, not clean. It means the input went over the filter's 65,536-token cap
4. Pin the template to the Stable alias and move off v1 and v2 before 17 December 2026. In asia-northeast3, v1 stays the Stable version
5. Retry 500, 502, 503 and 504 with truncated exponential backoff, and keep fan-out under the 1,200 queries a minute shared by the project

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Cisco AI Defense Inspection API or Google Cloud Model Armor?

Google Cloud Model Armor scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Cisco AI Defense Inspection API's 61.3 (C), and leads in every scored category.

### Do Cisco AI Defense Inspection API and Google Cloud Model Armor need an API key?

Cisco AI Defense Inspection API needs an API key. Google Cloud Model Armor uses an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Cisco AI Defense Inspection API and Google Cloud Model Armor without installing anything?

Yes. Cisco AI Defense Inspection API has a hosted endpoint at https://us.api.inspect.aidefense.security.cisco.com/api/v1/inspect/chat and Google Cloud Model Armor at https://modelarmor.{location}.rep.googleapis.com/v1/projects/{project}/locations/{location}/templates/{template}:sanitizeUserPrompt.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cisco-ai-defense-inspection-vs-google-model-armor.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cisco-ai-defense-inspection-vs-google-model-armor.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "cisco-ai-defense-inspection", "b": "google-model-armor"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare cisco-ai-defense-inspection google-model-armor`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cisco-ai-defense-inspection.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-model-armor.json

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