Head to head
Aqua vs Orca: which reaches your whole cloud estate faster?
Short answer
On our coverage weights Orca scores 9.09 against 7.45 for Aqua. Aqua scores higher on runtime layer when you need it; Orca scores higher on agentless workload depth, path to first findings, risk context from day one, integrations and reach and cost visibility before purchase. They tie on clouds and environments named. Aqua names 7 of 8 environments and Orca names 7.
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 | Orca | Higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clouds and environments named 20% | 10.0 | 10.0 | Tie |
| Agentless workload depth 25% | 6.8 | 9.8 | Orca |
| Path to first findings 15% | 5.5 | 9.0 | Orca |
| Risk context from day one 15% | 7.8 | 9.6 | Orca |
| Runtime layer when you need it 10% | 9.0 | 7.6 | Aqua |
| Integrations and reach 7% | 7.6 | 8.2 | Orca |
| Cost visibility before purchase 8% | 4.0 | 6.5 | Orca |
| Total | 7.45 | 9.09 | Orca |
Aqua
Orca
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
Orca Security
The platform page names AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud. The Orca Sensor page names public cloud, private cloud and on-premises.
Source: Orca Security platform overview · Read 27 Sep 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, Alibaba Cloud and On-premises or private cloud. Only Aqua: Disconnected (air-gapped). Only Orca: Tencent Cloud.
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
- Agentless SideScanning reads each workload's runtime block storage and rebuilds its file system in a read-only view, covering Linux and Windows VMs, containers and images, and serverless.
- Runtime layer
- Orca Sensor, eBPF-based, for Linux, Kubernetes and Windows; can be configured to terminate processes and shows which vulnerable packages actually execute. Optional.
- Path to first findings
- Agentless connection to each cloud account; Orca states SideScanning "deploys in minutes". No agent rollout is needed for the first inventory.
Orca
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
Orca
AWS Marketplace lists four contract tiers by concurrent EC2 workloads: Small (up to 100) $7,000.00, Small-Medium (300) $12,000.00, Medium (500) $17,000.00, Large (1,000) $30,000.00. The listing has 1-month and 12-month tabs; we did not capture which term these figures belong to, so confirm the term on the listing. No price on Orca's own site.
Source: AWS Marketplace: Orca Security CNAPP Cloud Security Platform · Read 11 Oct 2026
What does each claim?
Aqua
Orca
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 Orca if
you value coverage of the most clouds and environments and deep agentless reads of every workload.
Best fit: Teams with workloads across several clouds, including Oracle, Alibaba or Tencent, who need a full agentless inventory before any agent rollout.
Frequently asked questions
Which scores higher for multi-cloud coverage, Aqua or Orca?
Orca scores 9.09 against 7.45 on our default weights. With equal weights the order is Orca first (8.67 against 7.24). The coverage calculator lets you set your own weights.
Which clouds do Aqua and Orca 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. Orca: On the pages we reviewed: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud and On-premises or private cloud. The platform page names AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud. The Orca Sensor page names public cloud, private cloud and on-premises.
Which is cheaper?
Aqua: Not published. Orca: AWS Marketplace lists four contract tiers by concurrent EC2 workloads: Small (up to 100) $7,000.00, Small-Medium (300) $12,000.00, Medium (500) $17,000.00, Large (1,000) $30,000.00. The listing has 1-month and 12-month tabs; we did not capture which term these figures belong to, so confirm the term on the listing. No price on Orca's own site. Neither figure is a quote for your estate.