# Google Cloud Model Armor vs Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API

> Google Cloud Model Armor scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API's 62.8 (B), 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/google-model-armor-vs-prisma-airs
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- 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 Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API's 62.8 (B), and leads in every scored category. Both do guard injection.

- 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
- 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

### 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:
- Schema & documentation, 78 against 68
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 65
- Security & auth, 100 against 85
- Payments & pricing, 20 against 0
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 31
- Transparency & trust, 87 against 71

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

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

### 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.

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 | Google Cloud Model Armor | Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 90 | 87 | Google Cloud Model Armor +3 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 68 | Google Cloud Model Armor +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 65 | Google Cloud Model Armor +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 100 | 85 | Google Cloud Model Armor +15 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 0 | Google Cloud Model Armor +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 31 | Google Cloud Model Armor +54 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 71 | Google Cloud Model Armor +16 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **77.9 · BB** | **62.8 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Google Cloud Model Armor | Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Google Cloud | Palo Alto Networks, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://modelarmor.{location}.rep.googleapis.com/v1/projects/{project}/locations/{location}/templates/{template}:sanitizeUserPrompt` | `https://service.api.aisecurity.paloaltonetworks.com/v1/scan/sync/request` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | 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 | 2026-09-28 | 2026-05-15 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-02 |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | 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 | 210k npm/wk, 471k PyPI/wk | 10 stars, 999 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (8) | none |

## Verdicts

**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.

**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

### 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

### 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, Google Cloud Model Armor or Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API?

Google Cloud Model Armor scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API's 62.8 (B), and leads in every scored category.

### Do Google Cloud Model Armor and Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API need an API key?

Google Cloud Model Armor uses an OAuth sign-in. Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Google Cloud Model Armor and Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API without installing anything?

Yes. Google Cloud Model Armor has a hosted endpoint at https://modelarmor.{location}.rep.googleapis.com/v1/projects/{project}/locations/{location}/templates/{template}:sanitizeUserPrompt 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/google-model-armor-vs-prisma-airs.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-model-armor-vs-prisma-airs.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "google-model-armor", "b": "prisma-airs"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare google-model-armor prisma-airs`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-model-armor.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/prisma-airs.json

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