Head to head
Aqua vs Cortex Cloud: which reaches your whole cloud estate faster?
Short answer
On our coverage weights Cortex Cloud scores 7.75 against 7.45 for Aqua. Aqua scores higher on clouds and environments named and cost visibility before purchase; Cortex Cloud scores higher on agentless workload depth, path to first findings, risk context from day one, runtime layer when you need it and integrations and reach. Aqua names 7 of 8 environments and Cortex Cloud names 5.
Cortex Cloud is the product formerly sold as Prisma Cloud. Palo Alto Networks announced the merger with Cortex CDR on 13 February 2025.
Desk research from public vendor pages read in September 2026, updated 2026-10-11. Editorial assessment; we did not run the products.
How do the scores compare?
| Criterion | Aqua | Cortex Cloud | Higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clouds and environments named 20% | 10.0 | 9.2 | Aqua |
| Agentless workload depth 25% | 6.8 | 7.6 | Cortex Cloud |
| Path to first findings 15% | 5.5 | 6.0 | Cortex Cloud |
| Risk context from day one 15% | 7.8 | 8.8 | Cortex Cloud |
| Runtime layer when you need it 10% | 9.0 | 9.2 | Cortex Cloud |
| Integrations and reach 7% | 7.6 | 9.0 | Cortex Cloud |
| Cost visibility before purchase 8% | 4.0 | 3.0 | Aqua |
| Total | 7.45 | 7.75 | Cortex Cloud |
Aqua
Cortex Cloud
Which environments does each name?
Aqua Security
Aqua's pricing page lists "Support of AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle and Alibaba Cloud environments"; its platform page names public, private and disconnected environments and states FedRAMP High authorization.
Source: Aqua pricing · Read 11 Oct 2026
Palo Alto Networks Cortex Cloud (formerly Prisma Cloud)
The Cortex Cloud posture page offers "agentless, full-coverage visibility across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, OCI, and Alibaba Cloud".
Source: Cortex Cloud posture management · Read 11 Oct 2026
- Named on the vendor's pages we reviewed
- Not named on the pages we reviewed (this does not mean unsupported)
Named by both: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud and Alibaba Cloud. Only Aqua: On-premises or private cloud and Disconnected (air-gapped). Only Cortex Cloud: none.
How does each see workloads?
- Coverage model
- Agentless posture visibility; the platform's depth comes from kernel-layer runtime enforcement.
- Runtime layer
- Kernel-layer enforcement that blocks attacks without killing the container and preserves memory evidence.
- Path to first findings
- Agentless posture first; workload depth needs the enforcement layer.
Aqua
- Coverage model
- Posture, vulnerability and attack-surface modules work from cloud APIs; the pages reviewed lead with a runtime agent and do not name agentless workload scanning.
- Runtime layer
- Cortex Cloud Runtime Security, a performance-optimized agent, plus CDR from the Cortex CDR merger.
- Path to first findings
- API-based posture first; workload depth comes from the runtime agent.
Cortex Cloud
What does each cost?
Aqua
Not published No list prices. Aqua says Dev Security pricing "is based on the number of code repositories" and Cloud Security is priced by workloads (EC2 instances, Fargate containers, Lambda functions); trial and demo on request.
Source: Aqua pricing · Read 11 Oct 2026
Cortex Cloud
Not published No public price; the Cortex Cloud page offers only Request a Demo. CNAPP is included at no additional cost for Cortex Cloud Runtime Security customers.
Source: Cortex Cloud posture management · Read 11 Oct 2026
What does each claim?
Aqua
Cortex Cloud
No speed, count or customer figure from Cortex Cloud is quoted on this site.
Which should you choose?
Choose Aqua if
you value coverage of the most clouds and environments and a deep runtime sensor for detection and blocking.
Best fit: Teams with private or disconnected environments and container pipelines.
Choose Cortex Cloud if
you value coverage of the most clouds and environments and a deep runtime sensor for detection and blocking.
Best fit: Palo Alto Networks estates and Prisma Cloud customers moving onto Cortex Cloud.
Frequently asked questions
Which scores higher for multi-cloud coverage, Aqua or Cortex Cloud?
Cortex Cloud scores 7.75 against 7.45 on our default weights. With equal weights the order is Cortex Cloud first (7.54 against 7.24). The coverage calculator lets you set your own weights.
Which clouds do Aqua and Cortex Cloud name?
Aqua: On the pages we reviewed: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, On-premises or private cloud and Disconnected (air-gapped). Aqua's pricing page lists "Support of AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle and Alibaba Cloud environments"; its platform page names public, private and disconnected environments and states FedRAMP High authorization. Cortex Cloud: On the pages we reviewed: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud and Alibaba Cloud. The Cortex Cloud posture page offers "agentless, full-coverage visibility across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, OCI, and Alibaba Cloud".
Which is cheaper?
Aqua: Not published. Cortex Cloud: Not published. Neither figure is a quote for your estate.