# Presidio vs Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API

> Presidio scores 66 (B) on agent readiness against Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API's 62.8 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API leads on reliability, security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do guard pii. Category scores, facts…

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- Updated: 2026-10-09

Presidio scores 66 (B) on agent readiness against Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API's 62.8 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API leads on reliability, security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do guard pii.

- Presidio: grade B, 66/100, rank #281 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/microsoft-presidio.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/microsoft-presidio.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

### Presidio (B)

Good for: Detecting and masking personal data in prompts, outputs, logs and images on the owner's own machines, with detection tuned by entity, threshold and custom recognisers.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 0
- Maintenance & community, 63 against 31

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Open source

Watch for: The REST containers have no authentication by design. The FAQ says to put a gateway or proxy in front

### 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 78
- Security & auth, 85 against 53
- Transparency & trust, 71 against 65

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

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 | Presidio | Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 78 | 87 | Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API +9 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 68 | Presidio +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 65 | Presidio +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 53 | 85 | Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API +32 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 0 | Presidio +60 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 31 | Presidio +32 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 71 | Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API +6 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66 · B** | **62.8 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Presidio | Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | SDK + MCP | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Data Privacy Stack | Palo Alto Networks, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://service.api.aisecurity.paloaltonetworks.com/v1/scan/sync/request` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | 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 | 2026-07-22 | 2026-05-15 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked |  |
| 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 | 11k stars, 1.2M PyPI/wk | 10 stars, 999 PyPI/wk |

## Verdicts

**Presidio.** MIT-licensed personal data detector with a public OpenAPI document, tests on Python 3.10 to 3.14 and about 1.2 million weekly PyPI downloads. The REST containers have no authentication, the project states no SLA or support, and it covers personal data only, with no prompt injection or content moderation checks.

**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

### Presidio

1. Install from PyPI or pull images from ghcr.io/data-privacy-stack. The mcr.microsoft.com/presidio-* images are no longer updated
2. Download a spaCy model (python -m spacy download en_core_web_lg) before the first `AnalyzerEngine()` call, or use the Docker image
3. Send both text and language to `/analyze`. A request missing either returns HTTP 500 with a JSON error field
4. Pass entities and score_threshold to limit results. Many country-specific recognisers are disabled by default and need enabling in the registry YAML
5. Keep the containers on a private network or behind your own authenticating proxy. They accept any caller

### 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, Presidio or Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API?

Presidio scores 66 (B) on agent readiness against Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API's 62.8 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API leads on reliability, security & auth and transparency & trust.

### Can an agent call Presidio and Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Presidio. Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API has a hosted endpoint at https://service.api.aisecurity.paloaltonetworks.com/v1/scan/sync/request.

### Are Presidio and Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API open source?

Presidio is open source (MIT). No open-source release is listed for Prisma AIRS AI Runtime Security API.


## For agents

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

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