Why Organizations Look for Tenable Alternatives
Compliance vs Security Orientation
Tenable AI Exposure approaches AI governance from a security lens, focusing on vulnerability and exposure detection. If your primary driver is regulatory compliance and policy enforcement, you may need a different orientation.
Existing Tenable Investment Required
Tenable AI Exposure works best as part of the Tenable One platform. If you don't already have a Tenable investment, the standalone value may be limited compared to purpose-built compliance tools.
Policy Enforcement Approach
Rather than detecting exposures after they happen, some organizations need proactive policy acknowledgment at the point of AI tool use, ensuring employees confirm policies before engaging with AI.
Audit Trail Focus
Compliance teams need audit trails that prove policies were followed, not just logs of security events. The evidence required for regulatory audits differs from security incident reports.
PolicyGuard vs Tenable AI Exposure
| Capability | PolicyGuard | Tenable AI Exposure |
|---|---|---|
| Primary orientation | Compliance-first | Security-first |
| Policy templates | 28+ human-written | |
| Point-of-use enforcement | Policy acknowledgment | Exposure detection |
| Training modules | ||
| Prompt-level analysis | ||
| Audit trail focus | Compliance evidence | Security logs |
| Standalone deployment | Best with Tenable One | |
| One-click compliance reports | Security reporting | |
| Best for | Compliance teams | Security teams |
Understanding the Core Differences
Compliance-First vs Security-First
PolicyGuard Asks
“Can we prove policies are followed?” PolicyGuard starts with compliance requirements and works backward to enforcement, ensuring every employee interaction with AI tools is governed and documented.
Tenable Asks
“What sensitive data is exposed?” Tenable AI Exposure starts with security risks and works to detect and remediate exposures across your AI tool surface area.
Policy Acknowledgment vs Exposure Detection
Proactive
PolicyGuard ensures employees acknowledge policies before they interact with AI tools. The browser extension surfaces the right policy at the point of use, creating a proactive governance layer that prevents issues before they occur.
Reactive
Tenable AI Exposure detects sensitive data exposures and security risks after they happen, providing alerts and remediation workflows. This is powerful for security teams but serves a different purpose than proactive compliance enforcement.
Compliance Reports vs Security Reports
For Compliance Teams
PolicyGuard generates audit-ready compliance reports: who acknowledged which policies, when training was completed, which AI tools were accessed under which governance rules. These are the artifacts regulators and auditors expect.
For Security Teams
Tenable produces security reports: exposure summaries, risk scores, vulnerability assessments, and remediation status. These serve CISOs and security analysts but may not satisfy compliance audit requirements.
Who Should Choose PolicyGuard
Compliance is your primary driver
Your organization needs to prove to regulators, auditors, or leadership that AI policies are being followed across the workforce.
You need policy templates and training
You want human-written policy templates and employee training modules, not just detection of security exposures.
You need compliance reports
Your stakeholders are compliance officers, legal teams, and auditors who need one-click compliance evidence.
You want standalone deployment
You need a solution that works independently without requiring an existing security platform investment.
Who Should Choose Tenable
Security is your primary concern
Your main goal is identifying and remediating security exposures related to AI tool usage across your attack surface.
You already invest in Tenable
You have Tenable One deployed and want to extend your existing security platform with AI exposure capabilities.
You need prompt-level analysis
You want to analyze what sensitive data employees are entering into AI prompts and detect data leakage in real time.
You want unified security visibility
You want AI governance integrated with your broader vulnerability management and exposure management workflows.
Using Both Together
Security and compliance are not mutually exclusive. Many organizations find that the strongest AI governance posture combines both approaches.
PolicyGuard for Compliance
Deploy PolicyGuard for your compliance, legal, and HR teams. Enforce policies at the point of use, track training completion, and generate the audit evidence regulators expect.
Tenable for Security
Deploy Tenable AI Exposure for your security teams. Detect sensitive data in prompts, identify exposure risks, and integrate AI governance into your broader vulnerability management program.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. PolicyGuard is a compliance and governance tool. It focuses on ensuring employees acknowledge and follow AI policies, completing required training, and generating audit trails that prove compliance. It does not scan prompts for sensitive data or detect security vulnerabilities. For security-focused AI governance, solutions like Tenable AI Exposure are a better fit.
No. PolicyGuard does not perform prompt-level analysis or data loss prevention. Our approach is proactive governance: ensuring employees understand and acknowledge policies before using AI tools. If you need to monitor what data is being entered into AI systems, a security-focused tool would complement PolicyGuard.
Many organizations benefit from both approaches. Security tools detect and remediate exposures, while compliance tools prove policies are followed. Think of it like the difference between a firewall (security) and a compliance audit (governance). They serve different stakeholders and answer different questions.
Start with your most pressing need. If regulators or auditors are asking for evidence of AI governance, start with compliance (PolicyGuard). If your security team has identified AI tool usage as an attack surface risk, start with security (Tenable AI Exposure). Many organizations eventually implement both.