Guardian360 vs Palo Alto Networks (Cortex Cloud)
Works alongside Palo Alto Networks (Cortex Cloud)
Guardian360 works alongside Palo Alto Networks (Cortex Cloud), covering the ground that vendor leaves open. A US vendor whose cloud product, formerly Prisma Cloud, is now Cortex Cloud, a CNAPP built into its Cortex security operations platform, with about 145 built-in standards.
What Palo Alto Networks (Cortex Cloud) is good at
US network security vendor whose cloud product, sold for years as Prisma Cloud, is now Cortex Cloud, a CNAPP built into its Cortex security operations platform. Cortex Cloud 2.2 shipped with defences aimed at AI-accelerated attacks. Exclusive Networks and Westcon-Comstor distribute Palo Alto in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Side by side
How they compare
| Guardian360 | Palo Alto Networks (Cortex Cloud) | |
|---|---|---|
| Company origin & data residency | Netherlands, EU-only | United States (Santa Clara, California), listed on Nasdaq; tenants can be hosted in the Netherlands, Germany and eleven other EMEA regions |
| Partner model | Partner-only | NextWave partner programme with an MSSP track; demos booked with Palo Alto directly |
| Deployment approach | Agentless SaaS | Agentless for posture, data and workload scanning; a Cortex agent is needed for runtime protection |
| Compliance coverage | 25+ frameworks, continuously mapped | About 145 built-in standards and benchmark versions, including DORA, GDPR, ISO 27001 and the EU AI Act; no NIS2, CRA or Dutch norm in the catalogue |
| Intrusion detection | Built-in honeypots | Cloud detection and response with a runtime agent, feeding its SOC products; no honeypots |
| Microsoft 365 insight | Included | Partly; data discovery in Microsoft 365 and Teams; tenant posture is the separate SaaS Security product |
| Container & cloud scanning | Planned for 2026 | Yes, and it is their core: CSPM, CIEM, DSPM, Kubernetes posture, agentless workload scanning, runtime, IaC and CI/CD security |
| Mobile app | Yes (Android & iOS) | Not published |
| Automation & ease of use | High | High once deployed; AI agents group and rank findings, though its own demo page quotes a customer on the initial learning curve |
| Pricing / MSP model | MSP pricing per employee / IP | Annual subscription per protected workload (one VM, ten containers or ten buckets each count as one); no public price; MSP discounts for NextWave MSSPs |
| Auto-remediation | Partner-guided | Yes; AI agents and automated playbooks fix misconfigurations and contain runtime threats |
| Free trial / quick scan | Yes, incl. free WordPress plugin | No self-service trial; the old Prisma Cloud trial link now books a Cortex Cloud demo |
| Smallest client size | From 10 employees / IPs | No published minimum; annual workload licence after a demo, with enterprise reference customers |
| Data sovereignty (EU-only) | Yes | Partly; a Netherlands tenant keeps logs and data in the Netherlands, but Palo Alto is a US company |
| Supply-chain compliance | Yes, NIS2/Cbw + CRA questionnaires | Software supply chain only (CI/CD, open-source components, secrets); no supplier questionnaires |
Based on publicly available information at the time of writing. Vendors evolve quickly, always verify the latest details with each provider.
When Palo Alto Networks (Cortex Cloud) may fit better
An enterprise standardising on Palo Alto that wants a complete CNAPP, posture, runtime and pipeline security, inside its Cortex security operations platform.
When Guardian360 fits better
An organisation that needs board-level NIS2 and Dutch-norm evidence for the business behind the cloud: Guardian360 Lighthouse maps findings to 25+ frameworks including NIS2, the Cbw, BIO and NEN 7510, reads the external perimeter and Microsoft 365, EU-hosted and partner-delivered from ten employees up.
Common questions
Guardian360 vs Palo Alto Networks (Cortex Cloud), answered
Is Guardian360 an alternative to Palo Alto Cortex Cloud?
No, they are complementary. Cortex Cloud is a leading CNAPP for production clouds; Guardian360 Lighthouse covers the organisation those accounts belong to and maps findings to frameworks including the Dutch norms. Sell them alongside each other.
What is the main difference?
Cortex Cloud protects what runs in the cloud accounts. Lighthouse reads every finding at two altitudes for the Risk Owner and the auditor, and maps to 25+ frameworks including NEN 7510 and BIO, hosted entirely in the EU.
See it on your own environment
Run a free Quickscan, start a trial, or talk to a partner. Guardian360 is delivered exclusively through our partners.