MCP Security Tools: A 2026 Buyer’s Guide

MCP adoption has moved faster than most companies’ ability to control it. Developers can connect Claude, Cursor, or internal agents to new MCP servers in minutes, but security teams may have no inventory of those servers, no way to restrict individual tools, and no record of what an agent called. MCP security tools are starting to solve different parts of that problem.

MCP is the protocol agents use to call tools, resources, and prompts. The spec lives at modelcontextprotocol.io. A security product has to inventory those servers or sit in front of the calls. A connector that exposes CrowdStrike or Wiz as an MCP server is the opposite job: it lets an agent query the vendor, it does not gate your agents. Our AI agent integration list covers connector platforms instead. How we picked these six is on How we review tools.

Microsoft Entra Internet Access publishes a Suite price. Docker publishes Desktop prices, which are not the MCP governance product. Prompt Security, Cisco AI Defense, Prisma AIRS AI Gateway, and Solo.io agentgateway need a sales quote on the security line.

Problems and Solutions

The quote goes wrong when the product is a connector, when finance treats a Desktop or Suite price as the MCP line, when the demo only inventories servers, or when last year’s brand no longer sells licenses.

How we evaluated MCP security tools

A tool had to name a current MCP security control (allowlist, gateway, or firewall), gate servers or tools at runtime, make it clear whether a price is public, and still sell new licenses. Connector catalogs and protocol-owner docs did not move a ranking. Neighbor products sit under Other MCP security tools worth considering. Oasis, HiddenLayer, and Lakera publish real MCP language. They are runtime or identity platforms, not the six gateway, firewall, and runtime rows on this page.

TL;DR: The Six Compared

Prompt Security MCP Gateway

Prompt Security MCP Gateway is the MCP-scoped control on the Prompt Security / SentinelOne AI Security Platform. The product page calls it a comprehensive solution for agentic AI security, built to monitor, control, and protect MCP interactions in real time. It discovers MCP usage, detects shadow MCP, allows or blocks by user, server, or action, protects against malicious agents, and keeps an audit log. Risk scoring dynamically assesses over 13,000 MCP servers on GitHub. The AI Gateway sits between your AI applications and any connected MCP server and inspects every request and response. Enforcement is a lightweight agent or a reverse proxy.

There is no public list price. The path is Book a Demo. The homepage brands Prompt Security as “From SentinelOne.” Partner copy says Prompt Security is built into the SentinelOne Singularity Platform. MCP is a feature of that broader AI security platform, not a standalone product with a published rate. The glossary defines an MCP Gateway as a dedicated layer for visibility and control over sanctioned and shadow servers, plus an audit trail.

Best for: Security teams that want a dedicated MCP gateway with server risk scoring and allow/block policy, not a connector catalog.

What you get:

• Inventory, shadow MCP detection, and allow/block by user, server, or action
• Risk scores for 13,000+ GitHub MCP servers
• A SentinelOne platform feature. Contact sales

Why we like it: It inspects MCP traffic and scores servers inside a broader AI security platform, instead of handing you another connector list.

Limits:

• No public price. MCP is not sold as a standalone product with a published rate
• You may be buying the full Prompt Security / Singularity platform, not only the gateway

Price: Contact sales. Start at prompt.security/solutions/agentic-ai-security-and-governance.

Cisco AI Defense

Cisco AI Defense extends protection to agentic AI and MCP. The datasheet updated 21 May 2026 names MCP in three places: scan MCP servers for compromised or malicious assets, enforce runtime protections across MCP requests and responses, and detect memory poisoning, tool misuse, privilege escalation, intent hijacking, and deceptive agent behavior. AI Cloud Visibility detects MCP servers and agent processes and maps MCP-connected workflows. Supply Chain Risk Management scores MCP servers and tools and blocks unsafe ones with allowlists and blocklists. Runtime inspects agent actions and tool calls. The Python SDK’s Agent Runtime Protection patches LLM and MCP clients for tools, prompts, and resources.

There is no public dollar rate. Cisco licenses AI Defense based on the number of AI Applications. Packages are Advantage, Validation Essentials, and Runtime Essentials. AI Defense Runtime assumes 10 million aggregate queries per AI Application per year, with a good-faith true-up if you exceed that. MCP scanning (Supply Chain Risk Management) is on Advantage only, not Validation Essentials or Runtime Essentials. Advantage and Runtime Essentials include Multicloud Defense Premier at 3,504 Gateway Hours per AI Application per year. The AI POD ordering guide names AIDEF-SEC-SUB and license AIDEF-ADV in quantities 5, 10, 15, or 20. Cisco does not publish a per-app dollar. Astrix new licenses ended 30 June 2026. Use this row, not Astrix, as the current Cisco buy.

Best for: Cisco-stack enterprises that need MCP server scanning and runtime tool allowlists inside a quoted AI Application subscription.

What you get:

• MCP visibility, supply-chain scanning, and runtime enforcement
• Licensed by AI Applications. Runtime assumes 10 million queries per AI Application per year
• MCP scanning on Advantage only

Why we like it: Visibility, scanning, and runtime are named on the same datasheet, and it is clear which package includes MCP scanning.

Limits:

• Validation Essentials and Runtime Essentials do not include MCP scanning
• Cisco does not warrant absolute safety or protection against all attacks

Price: Contact sales. Licensed by AI Applications. Cisco AI Defense Offer Description.

Prisma AIRS AI Gateway

Prisma AIRS AI Gateway is Palo Alto’s inline control for models, apps, agents, tools, and data. The product page offers secure access to more than 3,000 LLMs, MCP servers, and tools, with identity-first controls on coding agents, enterprise agents, and copilots. General availability started 16 July 2026. The GA blog describes a unified LLM, MCP, and A2A gateway that inspects prompts and responses and blocks source code, secrets, and customer data. Admin docs cover centralized security and observability for LLM prompts, MCP interactions, and A2A. Custom headers for MCP servers using API keys or static tokens are included with every request, and all users share the same credentials on that path.

Pricing is contact sales. The product is licensed with Software NGFW flex credits. Prisma AIRS meters usage by token consumption: 1 token equals 4 characters. Prompts, MCP interactions, and A2A traffic are metered. You license to maximum expected monthly token consumption. SaaS and Hybrid are priced identically, with no extra charge for multiple gateways. Volume discounts reduce cost per billion tokens at higher tiers. Contact sales for credit math. There is no public dollar-per-token on the product or license pages. Prisma AIRS AI Gateway and Prisma AIRS MCP Server are different products. The MCP Server exposes AI Runtime Security APIs as MCP tools. That is a connector into Palo Alto, not this gateway.

Best for: Enterprises already on Prisma AIRS or Strata Cloud Manager that want one inline gateway for LLM, MCP, and A2A traffic.

What you get:

• One inline gateway for LLM, MCP, and A2A. Generally available since 16 July 2026
• Flex-credit token consumption. 1 token = 4 characters. MCP traffic counts
• Contact sales for credit math

Why we like it: MCP is a first-class traffic type on the same gateway as LLM and A2A, so you are not buying a second inline product for tool calls.

Limits:

• Initially available in the Americas region for SaaS and Hybrid
• PII detection and Moderation are “Not included” in gateway guardrails. Docs send those to AI Runtime
• Marketing numbers such as 8.3B requests/month are aggregate customer traffic, not a buyer entitlement

Price: Contact sales. Flex credits. Prisma AIRS license docs.

Microsoft Entra Internet Access MCP firewall

Global Secure Access MCP firewall is a Preview feature on Microsoft Entra Internet Access. Docs updated 6 August 2026 describe a network-based, identity-centric MCP firewall for traffic between AI agents and remote MCP servers. It inspects, audits, and enforces Allow/Block on tool invocations, resource access, prompt templates, and server metadata without changing MCP clients or servers. You can block all MCP, allow or deny servers by URL pattern, allow or block Tools, Resources, or Prompt templates per server, allow or block methods and protocol versions, and block unencrypted HTTP. The US Entra Internet Access page names “Control and secure model context protocol (MCP) endpoints.” The US Entra pricing feature table includes “Block unsanctioned MCPs” under Microsoft Entra Internet Access.

Microsoft Entra Suite lists $12.00 user/month, paid yearly on the US page (25 August 2026). A subscription to Microsoft Entra ID P1, or a package that includes P1, is required. Special pricing for Entra ID P2 and Microsoft 365 E5 is mentioned, not listed as a dollar. MCP firewall docs require a Microsoft Entra Internet Access license (Suite or standalone IA). The US Entra Internet Access marketing page did not list a standalone IA dollar. Entra ID P1 is $7.00 and P2 is $10.00 user/month paid yearly on the same US pricing page. The feature is Preview. Microsoft Entra preview terms apply. Docs say it might be substantially modified and Microsoft makes no warranties for the preview information. It inspects streamable HTTP and SSE only. stdio and other non-HTTP transports are not supported. Local on-device MCP servers are not visible.

Best for: Microsoft shops that already buy Entra Internet Access or Entra Suite and need tenant-wide allow/block of remote MCP servers and tools.

What you get:

• Preview MCP firewall: server URL lists, per-server tool/resource/prompt rules, TLS inspect
• Needs an Internet Access license. The published Suite rate is not a standalone MCP product
• Conditional Access enforcement through a Global Secure Access security profile

Why we like it: You can allow or block remote MCP by server URL and by tool, resource, or prompt, from the Entra console you may already run.

Limits:

• Preview. Requires TLS inspection to parse MCP in encrypted payloads, except a Copilot Studio path that logs MCP without TLS inspection
• No local/stdio MCP. No JSON-RPC batch inspection. Remote servers only
• Standalone Internet Access does not publish a US dollar on Microsoft's Entra pricing page

Price: Entra Suite $12.00 user/month yearly. That is the suite, not a standalone MCP product. Microsoft Entra pricing.

Docker MCP Toolkit and MCP Gateway

Docker MCP Gateway is a centralized proxy between clients and servers: configuration, credentials, access control, lifecycle, routing, and authentication across profile servers. It runs MCP servers in isolated containers with restricted privileges, network, and resource usage. Built-in logging and call-tracing inject credentials and apply security restrictions before forwarding tool requests. The Toolkit page (Docker Desktop 4.62+) lists signed mcp/ catalog images with SBOMs, runtime 1 CPU and 2 GB per tool container, no host filesystem by default, secret blocking, and OAuth for GitHub, Notion, and Linear with revoke in the OAuth tab. The CLI manages tool allowlists per server.tool. Gateway run flags include --block-network, --block-secrets (default true), --tools allowlist, and --verify-signatures.

Docker Desktop and Hub plans on the US pricing page (25 August 2026): Personal $0; Pro $9/user/month annual or $11 monthly; Team $15/user/month annual or $16 monthly (max 100 users); Business $24/user/month annual, unlimited users, contact sales for invoice. Those are Docker subscription rates, not an MCP-only price. $9, $15, or $24 is not “MCP Gateway Enterprise.” MCP Gateway as part of Docker AI Governance is invite-only. Contact Docker Sales. AI Governance docs say pricing is based on the number of licenses purchased, contact sales to add or remove, and org policies apply to license-holding members. Members without an AI Governance license can still use Docker AI products. On AI Governance, Cedar MCP policies can permit or forbid register, callTool, readResource, and getPrompt.

Best for: Teams that already run Docker Desktop and want container isolation, tool allowlists, secret blocking, and managed OAuth in front of local MCP servers.

What you get:

• Container isolation, tool allowlists, secret blocking, and OAuth revoke
• Desktop Personal, Pro, Team, and Business are Docker subscription rates, not an MCP-only price
• Org-wide MCP policy on Docker AI Governance, invite-only, contact sales

Why we like it: If Docker Desktop is already on the laptop, you get isolation, tool allowlists, and secret blocking without standing up a second gateway.

Limits:

• Desktop prices are not the price of enterprise MCP org policy
• Catalog and Toolkit are also a developer connector catalog (300+ verified servers). Qualify on the gateway controls, not on the catalog alone

Price: Desktop rates on docker.com/pricing. AI Governance contact sales. AI Governance plan docs.

Solo.io agentgateway

Solo.io agentgateway is an open-source Apache 2.0 proxy, with a commercial wrap as Solo Enterprise for agentgateway. The MCP/A2A Gateway use case is “Secure, govern & observe MCP server and agent access.” It sandboxes shadow MCP access, validates elicited backend URLs, and keeps audit trails for every tool call. It includes native MCP OAuth 2.1, tool-level RBAC, secure token exchange, cryptographic audit trails, and one policy for global rate limits, quotas, and access controls across every MCP server. The discover page sits in front of every MCP tool call, authenticates and authorizes every call, and logs which agent called which tool with what arguments.

Open-source agentgateway has no list price. solo.io/pricing does not list a dollar rate for Solo Enterprise for agentgateway. CTAs are contact and demo. Enterprise docs for the agentregistry MCP gateway quickstart require a JWT on all MCP traffic (401 without a token), group-level server restrictions, per-user tool filtering, and rate limits. Without a central proxy, any client that can reach a server URL has full access to all its tools. kgateway (CNCF) can provision agentgateway via GatewayClass. MCP security language and OAuth/RBAC live on agentgateway / Solo Enterprise, not on kgateway as a security product. OpenAPI-to-MCP is a connectivity feature. Qualify on auth, RBAC, and audit, not on that converter.

Best for: Platform teams on Kubernetes that need an MCP-aware proxy with OAuth 2.1 and tool-level RBAC, not a SaaS AI-SPM console.

What you get:

• Open-source agentgateway (Apache 2.0), plus Solo Enterprise as a paid option
• MCP OAuth 2.1, tool-level RBAC, JWT at the proxy, per-user tool filtering
• Audit of tool calls and arguments

Why we like it: You get MCP OAuth 2.1 and tool-level RBAC at the proxy, which is the control most Kubernetes teams actually need.

Limits:

• Open source is self-hosted. Enterprise dollars are unpublished
• The same proxy also sells LLM Gateway and Inference Gateway. MCP is one of three use cases
• Benchmark figures versus other gateways are competitive marketing, not buyer entitlements

Price: Open source is free (Apache 2.0). Solo Enterprise contact sales. solo.io/products/agentgateway.

If the next job is wiring agents to SaaS connectors rather than allowlisting MCP servers, start with AI agent integration platforms. If the next job is SaaS misconfig rather than tool-call policy, use SSPM platforms.

Published price versus a sales quote, and runtime versus inventory

This grid answers two questions. Across is how you pay: a published Suite or Desktop rate on the left, a sales quote on the right. Up is what the product leads with: runtime tool-call control at the top, inventory or scan at the bottom.

Runtime tool-callInventory or scan

Public rateRuntime

Quote-onlyRuntime




Gateway or AI Application quote

Public rateInventory or scanNone on this list

Quote-onlyInventory or scanNone on this list

What the control leads with ↑

Public rateQuote-only

How you pay →

Placement follows what each vendor’s product page leads with: a published Suite or Desktop rate versus contact sales, and runtime tool-call control versus MCP inventory. A public rate here is still a suite or Desktop plan, not an MCP-only price. This is a map of the products, not a ranking.

Prompt Security
Cisco
Prisma AIRS
Entra
Docker
Solo.io

Pricing and licensing, side by side

Other MCP security tools worth considering

These are real products. They sit outside this comparison because it focuses on gateways, firewalls, and runtime control.

• IBM ContextForge is an open-source MCP, A2A, and REST gateway and registry with centralized governance, discovery, and observability. It sits here because it is IBM's federated gateway and registry, not the same product as the six runtime or firewall listings.
• Astrix Security still names MCP Discovery and an Agent Control Plane on product pages. The homepage banner on 25 August 2026 said Astrix ended standalone sales of new licenses effective 30 June 2026. Existing customers keep current agreements. Capabilities are moving into Cisco. Use Cisco AI Defense.
• Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol spec is the protocol owner. Someone implementing a server should read it. MCP does not sell allowlists, inventory, or a gateway product.
• Wiz MCP Server, CrowdStrike Falcon MCP, and the Prisma AIRS MCP Server let agents query those vendors. They are connectors into a security console, not a firewall for your MCP traffic. Arcade, Merge, Pipedream, and Zapier MCP are iPaaS runtimes. They sit on the agent-integration list, not here.

Questions before you sign an MCP security tool

If a quote cannot answer these three, you are still buying the wrong product.

1. Does the vendor’s page allow or block MCP servers and tools, or does it expose the vendor’s own console as an MCP server?
2. Is the published number a Suite, a Desktop plan, flex credits, or an AI Application subscription, and is MCP scanning in that package?
3. Does the control see local/stdio MCP, or only remote HTTP and SSE?

Which MCP security tool should you pick

If you already buy Entra Suite or Docker Desktop and need a published rate to start, open the MCP firewall docs or the MCP Gateway docs before you add a second console. If you need inline LLM plus MCP plus A2A, the quote is Prisma AIRS AI Gateway. Cisco Advantage is the package that includes MCP scanning. Prompt Security and Solo.io are the dedicated gateway paths, one as a SentinelOne platform feature and one as a Kubernetes proxy. Confirm the product name, how you are billed, and whether MCP scanning is in the package.