# Cisco AI Defense Inspection API vs Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API

> Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API scores 62.8 (B) on agent readiness against Cisco AI Defense Inspection API's 61.3 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Cisco AI Defense Inspection API leads on maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do guard injection.…

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- Updated: 2026-10-09

Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API scores 62.8 (B) on agent readiness against Cisco AI Defense Inspection API's 61.3 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Cisco AI Defense Inspection API leads on maintenance & community and transparency & trust. 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
- Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API: grade B, 62.8/100, rank #379 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prisma-airs.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/prisma-airs.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.

Ahead on:
- Maintenance & community, 80 against 31
- Transparency & trust, 76 against 71

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

### Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API (B)

Good for: A company already buying Palo Alto Networks through Strata Cloud Manager that wants prompt, response and MCP tool scanning with DLP and URL filtering from the same vendor.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 87 against 80
- Schema & documentation, 68 against 59

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Cisco AI Defense Inspection API loses 3 points for them

Watch for: No public price, free tier or trial. Capacity is bought as Software NGFW credits, in steps of 1 billion tokens a month, through sales


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Cisco AI Defense Inspection API | Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 87 | Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API +7 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 59 | 68 | Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API +9 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 65 | Cisco AI Defense Inspection API +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 81 | 85 | Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API +4 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 0 | 0 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 31 | Cisco AI Defense Inspection API +49 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 76 | 71 | Cisco AI Defense Inspection API +5 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **61.3 · C** | **62.8 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Cisco AI Defense Inspection API | Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Cisco Systems, Inc. | Palo Alto Networks, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://us.api.inspect.aidefense.security.cisco.com/api/v1/inspect/chat` | `https://service.api.aisecurity.paloaltonetworks.com/v1/scan/sync/request` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Cisco's General Terms and the AI Defense Offer Description. The Python SDK is Apache-2.0 | Proprietary service under the Palo Alto Networks end user licence agreement. The Python SDK is under the PolyForm Internal Use licence 1.0.0, which is not an OSI licence |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-09-23 | 2026-05-15 |
| Terms last updated |  |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked |  |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | 35 stars, 4k PyPI/wk | 10 stars, 999 PyPI/wk |

## 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.

**Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API.** A public OpenAPI document, ten detection types in one call, tool-call scanning, a remote MCP server, rotating API keys and OAuth roles suit teams already on Strata Cloud Manager. Access needs Software NGFW credits bought through sales, with no public price, trial or self-serve signup, and payloads flagged malicious are kept for up to 10 years.

## 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

### Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API

1. Send `x-pan-token` and an `ai_profile` with `profile_name` or `profile_id` on every scan. Both come from Strata Cloud Manager, and a key works only in its own region
2. Put earlier turns first in `contents`. Only the last element is scanned, and the rest is context
3. Read `action` (allow or block) and `category`, then check `timeout` and `error`, because a detector that failed is reported in `errors` with a 200
4. Keep synchronous requests under 2 MB and asynchronous ones under 5 MB and 25 items, and fetch at most 5 scan or report IDs a call, 10 calls a minute
5. For MCP, connect to `/mcp` on the regional host with `x-pan-token` and `x-pan-profile` headers, and call `pan_inline_scan` yourself before and after generation

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Cisco AI Defense Inspection API or Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API?

Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API scores 62.8 (B) on agent readiness against Cisco AI Defense Inspection API's 61.3 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Cisco AI Defense Inspection API leads on maintenance & community and transparency & trust.

### Do Cisco AI Defense Inspection API and Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API need an API key?

Cisco AI Defense Inspection API needs an API key. Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Cisco AI Defense Inspection API and Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API 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 Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API at https://service.api.aisecurity.paloaltonetworks.com/v1/scan/sync/request.


## For agents

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

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