12 Best AWS Security Tools Compared (2026): Features & Pricing

If you’re securing AWS in 2026, Wiz is the best overall third-party platform for most mid-size and enterprise estates, thanks to agentless attack-path correlation that turns thousands of findings into a short, fixable list.

Budget-conscious teams should start with AWS-native security tools plus open-source Prowler a genuinely credible free layer.

This guide compares 12 of the best AWS security tools on capability and pricing structure so you can match the right tool to your estate and team.

Quick Verdict: Best AWS Security Tools at a Glance

• Best overall: Wiz agentless attack-path prioritization across the whole estate

• Best free/native start: AWS GuardDuty + Security Hub (+ free IAM Access Analyzer)

• Best value (open source): Prowler CIS/NIST-mapped checks at $0

• Best for enterprises consolidating: Palo Alto Prisma Cloud

• Best for containers/EKS: Sysdig Falco-lineage runtime depth

• Best for engineering-led teams: Datadog security beside observability

Product	Best for	Standout feature	Pricing structure	Editor’s rating*
Wiz	Overall / triage sanity	Security Graph attack paths	Per workload (quote)	4.8/5
AWS Native	Every account, day one	Native GuardDuty detection	Usage-based; Access Analyzer free	4.6/5
Prowler	Free posture/compliance	500+ open-source checks	Free (SaaS optional)	4.5/5
Prisma Cloud	Enterprise breadth	Widest module set	Credits	4.5/5
CrowdStrike	Runtime + SOC continuity	IOA detection + hunting	Per workload/module	4.5/5
Orca	Agentless speed	SideScanning coverage	Per workload (quote)	4.4/5
Sysdig	EKS/container runtime	In-use vulnerability filter	Per workload	4.4/5
Datadog	Observability-led teams	eBPF + published pricing	Published per host	4.3/5
Fortinet (Lacework)	Anomaly-led detection	Polygraph behavior engine	Quote	4.1/5
Trend Micro	Hybrid/legacy EC2	Virtual patching	Published per workload	4.1/5
Check Point	Check Point estates	GSL policy-as-code	Per asset	4.0/5
Steampipe	Cloud inventory, querying & custom compliance	SQL-based cloud API querying with 1,000+ plugins	Free & open source (commercial options available)	4.4/5

*Editorial scores from structured research-based evaluation not lab benchmarks or paid placements.

How We Evaluated

We used structured, research-based evaluation vendor documentation, public capability data, pricing structures, and practitioner feedback not hands-on lab testing, and no vendor paid for inclusion or position.

Five criteria drove scoring: coverage across the AWS estate (accounts, workloads, identities), prioritization quality (attack paths vs raw findings), pricing transparency and structure, operational fit by team size, and free-layer leverage (does it build on what AWS includes, or re-sell it?).

Where a current fact couldn’t be verified, we flag it inline rather than guess.

The 12 Best AWS Security Tools in 2026

1. Wiz — Best Overall for AWS Security

Best for: Mid-size to enterprise estates that need signal, not more findings.

Wiz connects to your AWS org agentlessly and correlates misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, identities, secrets, and exposure in its Security Graph surfacing the “toxic combinations” that form real attack paths.

Deployment takes days, which reset buyer expectations for the whole cloud security platform category.

Key features: – Agentless full-estate scanning (no per-host rollout) – Security Graph attack-path and toxic-combination analysis – CSPM + CIEM + vulnerability + secrets + data security in one Optional lightweight runtime sensor for blocking CI/CD and IaC scanning integration

Pros: Best-in-class prioritization; days-to-value; strong UX engineering teams accept.

Cons: Premium, quote-based pricing; deepest runtime blocking needs the sensor; Google-acquisition roadmap questions warrant written commitments.

Pricing: Per-workload subscription, quote-based; workload definitions vary normalize before comparing.

Standout differentiator: The graph no rival turns AWS sprawl into a shorter to-do list as convincingly.

2. AWS Native (GuardDuty / Security Hub) — Best Free/Native Start

Best for: Every AWS account, from the first day.

Amazon’s own layer is the floor everything else builds on: GuardDuty applies threat detection to CloudTrail, VPC flow, and DNS logs; Security Hub aggregates posture findings; IAM Access Analyzer (free) flags unintended resource exposure.

Key features: – Managed threat detection with AWS-native context – Posture aggregation and standards checks (Security Hub) – Free IAM external-access analysis – Org-wide enablement via delegated administrator – EventBridge automation hooks

Pros: Zero deployment friction; usage-based cost; no third party sees your data.

Cons: AWS-only; cross-account triage gets noisy at scale without a correlation layer.

Pricing: Usage-based per service (published AWS rates); Access Analyzer free.

Standout differentiator: It’s already there the only “vendor” with a native view of every API call.

3. Prowler — Best Open-Source Value

Best for: Startups and any team wanting free, framework-mapped posture evidence.

Prowler runs hundreds of open-source checks mapped to CIS, NIST, PCI, and HIPAA across AWS (and other clouds), from CLI or CI.

A commercial SaaS adds management when you outgrow self-run, delivering strong cloud security posture management capabilities.

Key features: – 500+ checks with CIS/NIST/PCI/HIPAA mapping – CLI/CI automation friendly – Multi-account scanning – JSON/CSV outputs for your own tracking – Optional Prowler SaaS for continuous monitoring

Pros: Free; credible with auditors; extensible.

Cons: Point-in-time cadence self-run; no workflow; engineering owns it.

Pricing: Open source, free; SaaS edition subscription.

Standout differentiator: The strongest free compliance floor in AWS security.

4. Palo Alto Prisma Cloud — Best for Enterprise Breadth

Best for: Large enterprises consolidating cloud security onto one platform.

Prisma Cloud spans CSPM, workload protection (agent and agentless), CIEM, IaC, and web/API security with the market’s deepest compliance library one contract covering nearly everything.

Key features: – Full CNAPP module suite – Hundreds of compliance-framework mappings – Agent + agentless workload coverage – Code-to-cloud pipeline scanning – Automated remediation options

Pros: Unmatched breadth; enterprise-scale RBAC and reporting.

Cons: Credit-based pricing needs careful modeling; administration weight suits programs, not small teams.

Pricing: Credit-based licensing; module burn rates vary.

Standout differentiator: The one-platform answer when your RFP has forty rows.

5. CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security — Best for Runtime + SOC Continuity

Best for: Teams already running Falcon who want cloud in the same console.

CrowdStrike Falcon extends its adversary-focused detection to EC2 and containers, pairing agentless posture with runtime protection and OverWatch threat hunting cloud alerts land where your SOC already works.

Key features: – Behavioral (IOA) runtime protection for workloads – Agentless posture scanning – Managed hunting (OverWatch) option – Identity-attack context – Single agent/console with endpoint

Pros: Detection pedigree; console consolidation economics.

Cons: Modules stack up in cost; cloud-native posture depth still trails graph-first leaders.

Pricing: Per-workload modules on Falcon subscriptions.

Standout differentiator: Hands-on-keyboard attackers in your cloud meet the team that hunts them on endpoints.

6. Orca Security — Best Agentless Alternative

Best for: Full-estate visibility in days without agent politics.

Orca Security SideScanning reads workload block storage out-of-band, finding vulnerabilities, malware, misconfigurations, and exposed data across every AWS account with zero agents then prioritizes by attack path.

Key features: – Patented SideScanning (agentless) coverage – Attack-path prioritization – PII and secrets detection in workloads – CSPM + CIEM combined – Fast onboarding (hours to first results)

Pros: Deployment speed; unified data-aware risk view.

Cons: Real-time blocking limited without agents; premium quotes.

Pricing: Per-workload subscription, quote-based.

Standout differentiator: The original proof that agentless coverage could be complete.

7. Sysdig — Best for EKS and Container Runtime

Best for: Container-heavy estates where runtime truth matters.

Built by Falco’s creators, Sysdig detects threats at syscall level in ECS/EKS and filters vulnerability backlogs to what’s actually loaded and exposed routinely collapsing patch queues by large margins while protecting cloud workloads.

Key features: – Falco-based runtime detection – In-use vulnerability prioritization – EKS/Fargate depth – Cloud detection and response (CDR) – Posture checks integrated

Pros: Runtime evidence quality; backlog relief; open-source lineage.

Cons: Agent estate to operate; container-first worldview.

Pricing: Per-workload tiers; Falco itself is free open source.

Standout differentiator: In-use filtering the honest answer to CVE-list despair.

8. Datadog Cloud Security — Best for Engineering-Led Teams

Best for: Teams that already live in Datadog dashboards.

Datadog layers posture management, eBPF workload detection, and log-based threat detection onto its observability platform security signals beside the traces engineers watch, with published pricing.

Key features: – eBPF runtime detection – CSPM posture checks – Cloud SIEM on existing log pipelines – Unified service tagging for owner routing – Published per-host/per-service pricing

Pros: Zero new consoles; transparent rates; developer adoption.

Cons: SOC-grade workflow depth trails EDR-lineage rivals; costs track host/log growth.

Pricing: Published per-host and usage tiers on datadoghq.com.

Standout differentiator: Security as a toggle on tooling engineers already trust.

9. Fortinet (Lacework) — Best Anomaly-Led Detection

Best for: Teams that want detection without writing rules.

Ownership note: Lacework is now Fortinet’s FortiCNAPP. The Fortinet Lacework platform uses its Polygraph engine to baseline normal AWS behavior and flag anomalies composite alerts that catch unknown-unknowns rule-based tools miss.

Key features: – Polygraph behavioral anomaly detection – Composite alerts (fewer, richer) – CSPM + workload coverage – Fortinet Security Fabric integration – Multicloud parity

Pros: Rule-free detection model; alert quality.

Cons: Post-acquisition roadmap diligence advised; behavioral baselines need patience.

Pricing: Quote; Fabric bundle options for Fortinet estates.

Standout differentiator: Learns your estate instead of asking you to describe it.

10. Trend Micro — Best for Hybrid and Legacy EC2

Best for: Estates where “AWS” includes lifted-and-shifted servers nobody dares patch.

Trend Micro’s workload security brings virtual patching (host IPS shielding known CVEs before patching), anti-malware, and integrity monitoring with published workload pricing via AWS Marketplace.

Key features: – Virtual patching for unpatched instances – Anti-malware and behavioral protection – File-integrity monitoring and log inspection – Container protection modules – Marketplace billing (burns committed spend)

Pros: Legacy shelter no rival matches; pricing transparency.

Cons: Graph-style correlation isn’t the point; console breadth adds admin.

Pricing: Published per-workload rates via marketplace.

Standout differentiator: Buys unpatchable servers time measured in saved change windows.

11. Check Point CloudGuard — Best for Check Point Estates

Best for: Organizations whose perimeter already speaks Check Point.

Check Point CloudGuard (Dome9 lineage) delivers CSPM with effective-permission analysis and GSL policy-as-code, integrated with ThreatCloud intelligence and Check Point’s network stack.

Key features: – CSPM with GSL policy language – CIEM/effective permissions – Threat-intel enrichment – Network-security pairing – Infinity ELA bundling options

Pros: Write-once policy portability; suite economics.

Cons: Ecosystem-first appeal; correlation UX trails graph leaders.

Pricing: Per asset; often absorbed into Infinity ELAs.

Standout differentiator: Cloud policy in the same grammar as your firewalls.

12. Steampipe — Best SQL-Based Cloud Querying

Best for: Engineering and security teams that want to query and assess cloud infrastructure using SQL.

Steampipe is an open-source tool that lets teams query cloud APIs and infrastructure as SQL tables, making it useful for cloud inventory, security analysis, compliance checks, and configuration auditing.

When combined with tools like Prowler, it provides a powerful foundation for overall cloud security posture management.

Key features: – SQL-based cloud infrastructure queries – 1,000+ plugins for cloud and SaaS services – AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, GitHub, and more – Custom compliance and security checks – Dashboards and reporting – PostgreSQL-compatible interface

Pros: Free; open-source; highly extensible; SQL-native; supports multiple cloud and SaaS platforms.

Cons: Requires SQL knowledge; custom checks and dashboards can require engineering effort; less turnkey than commercial cloud security platforms.

Pricing: Free and open source.

Standout differentiator: Turns cloud APIs into queryable SQL tables, giving engineering and security teams a flexible way to investigate infrastructure and build custom compliance checks.

Full Comparison Table

Tool	Deployment	Key integrations	Free trial/tier	Ideal company size
Wiz	Agentless SaaS	AWS org, CI/CD, ticketing	Trial	200+ employees
AWS Native	Native services	EventBridge, SIEMs	Usage-based / free items	Any
Prowler	CLI/CI or SaaS	CI, S3 outputs	Free OSS	Any
Prisma Cloud	SaaS + agents	Broadest ecosystem	Trial	1,000+
CrowdStrike	Agent + agentless	Falcon platform, SIEMs	Trial	500+
Orca	Agentless SaaS	AWS org, ticketing	Trial	200+
Sysdig	Agents + SaaS	EKS, registries, CI	Falco OSS	200+ (container-heavy)
Datadog	Agent (existing)	Full Datadog platform	Trial	50+ (Datadog shops)
Fortinet (Lacework)	Agentless + agents	Fortinet Fabric	Trial	500+
Trend Micro	Agents	Marketplace, XDR	Trial	200+ (hybrid)
Check Point	SaaS	Infinity, gateways	Trial	500+ (CP estates)
Steampipe	Self-hosted CLI / container	AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, GitHub, SaaS APIs	Free OSS	Any (engineering-led)

How to Choose the Right AWS Security Tool

Start with the sequence, not the shortlist. Enable the native layer (GuardDuty, Security Hub, free Access Analyzer) and free OSS (Prowler for evidence, Cloud Custodian for guardrails) before any purchase vendors should be judged on what they add above that floor.

Match the buying trigger. Finding overload → correlation (Wiz, Orca). Container estate → runtime depth (Sysdig). Existing Falcon SOC → CrowdStrike. Legacy EC2 → Trend’s virtual patching. Engineering-led culture → Datadog toggles. Enterprise consolidation → Prisma.

Common mistakes: buying a platform while GuardDuty sits disabled; comparing per-workload quotes without normalizing workload definitions; paying for posture your free layer already reports; ignoring the identity dimension (over-privileged IAM roles remain AWS’s most exploited weakness).

Questions to ask vendors: How do you define a billable workload exactly? What does your tool add above GuardDuty/Prowler on my estate? Can I see attack-path output on my own accounts in the POC? What happens to my pricing at renewal?

FAQ: Best AWS Security Tools

What is the best AWS security tool in 2026?

Wiz leads for most organizations needing prioritization across a sprawling estate, with agentless deployment and attack-path correlation. The best first tools, however, are AWS-native GuardDuty and Security Hub plus free Prowler the floor every third-party purchase should be measured against.

Are AWS-native security tools enough on their own?

For small, single-account estates, often yes: GuardDuty, Security Hub, and free IAM Access Analyzer cover the fundamentals. Third-party platforms earn their price on cross-account correlation, attack-path prioritization, and multicloud parity pain that grows with scale.

What free AWS security tools actually work?

Three credible ones: IAM Access Analyzer (free, finds unintended exposure), Prowler (open-source CIS/NIST-mapped checks), and Cloud Custodian (policy-as-code auto-remediation). Together with usage-priced GuardDuty, they form a real security floor at near-zero license cost.

How are AWS security tools priced?

Most third-party platforms price per workload per month via quotes (Wiz, Orca, Sysdig); Prisma uses credits; Datadog and Trend Micro publish rates; AWS-native services bill usage-based. Workload definitions vary enough to swing quotes significantly normalize before comparing.

Should I choose agentless or agent-based AWS security?

Agentless (Wiz, Orca) delivers full-estate visibility in days and wins for posture and prioritization; agents (CrowdStrike, Sysdig, Trend) win for real-time blocking and forensics. Mature stacks blend both agentless wide, agents on crown-jewel workloads.

What happened to Lacework?

Fortinet acquired Lacework; its Polygraph anomaly-detection engine continues as FortiCNAPP within the Fortinet Security Fabric. The behavioral approach remains distinctive with post-acquisition roadmap diligence advised in procurement.

Conclusion

For most teams comparing the best AWS security tools, Wiz is the top overall pick its attack-path correlation converts estate sprawl into a finishable queue faster than anything else.

The strongest runner-up depends on your context: Sysdig for container-heavy estates that need runtime truth, or the AWS-native + Prowler free stack if you’re earlier in the journey.

Next step: enable the free floor this week, then run a two-week POC on your own accounts with your top two candidates attack-path output on real infrastructure beats any comparison table, including this one.

Trust Block

About the author: [AUTHOR NAME], [one credential e.g., cloud security architect, 10+ years AWS]. Reviewed by: [REVIEWER NAME]. Last updated: September 2026.

Disclosure: GBHackers editorial is independent; vendors do not pay for inclusion or ranking. [Adjust per site monetization policy.]

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