Head-to-head · updated 13 September 2026
DataShield vs Natoma: who governs the MCP pipe, and who can prove the agent was allowed?
Natoma solves a problem most teams have right now. Your engineers wired up MCP servers fast. Nobody wrote it down. Natoma's scans find about 225 of them per company. They give you a registry. They give you a proxy. Role-based toolsets, too. They also give you Cedar-powered authorization. They give you a free tier. You can try it before lunch. Snowflake agreed to buy them in May 2026. That tells you the category is real.
DataShield sits one layer down. We tokenize datasets at ingest. Agents query tokenized data over MCP. Detokenization is a privileged, audited step. DataShield checks every tool call again. It checks it against the agent's current access. Every decision lands in a hash chain. You can check that chain yourself. You don't have to trust us. Below is where the two really differ. Sources are included. Yes, some rows go to Natoma.
The short version
Pick DataShield when
- An examiner may ask a question. So may an auditor. So may the EU AI Act's Article 12. They may ask you to prove the agent log wasn't edited. A SIEM export can't answer that. A hash chain can. Run the verifier.
- You need to pull an agent's access mid-session. You need the very next tool call to fail. It should not wait for a token to time out.
- You want the policy plane inside your own infrastructure. You want the credentials there too. You want the evidence there too. You want it on your keys. You don't want to pay the top price tier for it.
- Your data warehouse vendor could own your agent control plane. You'd rather it didn't. How we deploy.
Pick Natoma when
- Your first problem is finding the shadow agents. We don't scan for unmanaged MCP servers. Natoma does. They're good at it.
- You want one-click enterprise MCP. That means a registry of ready-made servers. It means a proxy too. It means role-based toolsets. A platform team can stand these up fast.
- You need a free tier to prove the idea first. Nobody has to sign anything yet. It gives five servers, five users. It gives 5,000 tool calls a month.
- Snowflake is already your data platform. A control plane that ships inside it helps you. It's a feature, not a worry.
Bottom line: Natoma checks the pipe your agents reach through. DataShield checks the data at the far end. DataShield keeps proof of every decision. Plenty of teams will run both. Does the audit worry you more than the inventory? Start here.
Feature by feature
Competitor cells describe what Natoma's public site and docs say. That's as of the date above. Did we get something wrong? Email support@myorg.ai. We'll fix it, and credit you.
| What matters | DataShield | Natoma | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audit evidence | A SHA-256 hash chain, with Ed25519-signed checkpoints. The checkpoints chain too. The check names the failure: tampering, insertion, deletion, or truncation. Try the verifier. | Audit logs, plus SIEM and OTel export. This sits at the Enterprise tier. We found no claim of cryptographic tamper evidence. | ◆ |
| Agent authorization | Every checked tool call passes a scope ceiling. It passes a declared access tier too. It passes a revocation re-check too. This happens before dispatch. Cedar handles admin, setup, and token decisions. policy_explain gives readable reasoning. | Cedar-powered authorization. They say it checks every tool call. It checks identity and context. It also weighs device posture. That means CrowdStrike, EDR, and MDM signals. Genuinely strong. | ◈ |
| Mid-session revocation | Revoke or suspend an agent. The next checked call fails closed. The running job stops right there. It doesn't wait for the token to expire. | Not described in their public docs. Worth asking how long a revoked agent keeps working. | ◆ |
| Break-glass | Scoped, time-boxed emergency access for agents. It auto-revokes on its own. Nobody can quietly delete it from the log. | We couldn't find a break-glass feature. It's not in their public docs. | ◆ |
| GDPR erasure | We crypto-shred per-subject key material. We add ISO 27560 consent receipts. The audit chain still checks out. That's true even after we erase the subject. | GDPR and CCPA compliant, as a company. How erasure affects retained tool-call logs isn't clear. It isn't documented. | ◆ |
| Tokenization and data handling | We tokenize datasets at ingest. Agents query tokenized data over MCP. Detokenization is a privileged, audited step. Tokens are deterministic and join-preserving. We also generalize quasi-identifiers. Dates become a year, decade, or age band. ZIPs become 3 or 4 digits. Phones, SSNs, and emails get partial masks. Each column gets a measured cardinality-reduction score. | DLP filters sit on the proxy path. So does risky-action blocking. Both sit at the Enterprise tier. Data stays in the source system. | ◆ |
| Shadow agent discovery | None. We check the servers you've registered with us. Not a discovery tool. We won't pretend to be one. | Agentless discovery of agents, MCP servers, and tool calls. Their scans average 225 MCP servers per company. | ◇ |
| MCP server catalog | Native MCP endpoints live on Auth, Ontology, and Lighthouse. MCP tool tokens cover anything else you connect. Each token gets a scope ceiling. There's no marketplace of pre-built servers. | An enterprise MCP registry, runtime, and proxy. A server builder and inspector too. It supports Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and custom clients. | ◇ |
| Credentials | Connection Vault holds encrypted per-subject credentials. It covers eight strategies. Snowflake keypair JWT is one of them. | Bring your own vault at the Enterprise tier. Add a 1Password integration too. It pulls credentials at runtime. They never sit in agent setup. | ◈ |
| Deployment | Self-hosted, or dedicated single-tenant. Always on your keys. That's true in every plan. | SaaS by default. Self-hosted MCP servers arrive at Pro. Full on-prem deployment waits for Enterprise. | ◆ |
| Maturity signals | Auth, Guardian, and Lighthouse run live in production. Guardian and Lighthouse joined in April 2026. We're not SOC 2 certified yet. We say so ourselves. | Launched March 2025. SOC2 certified. Backed by Index Ventures. HPE is a named reference. They handle 1.8m tool calls a day. They signed an agreement to be bought by Snowflake. | ◇ |
| Pricing | A public model. A scoped instant quote. No sales wall. | A free tier, with real limits. Then Pro and Enterprise, both contact-sales. Audit logs and on-prem sit in Enterprise. | ◈ |
◆ DataShield leads◇ Natoma leads◈ comparable
We draw Natoma claims from natoma.ai. We also use Natoma's own blog posts. Last checked 13 September 2026. We link them below. We don't paraphrase from memory.
Three things you get here that you won't get from an MCP gateway
Proof, not just logs
A log you can quietly edit proves nothing. Ours is a hash chain. It has signed checkpoints. The verifier tells you what broke. It doesn't just say something did. That's the property EU AI Act Article 12 cares about. HIPAA §164.312(b) reviewers care about it too. Try it in your browser, no signup.
Authority that changes mid-flight
An analyst resigns on a Tuesday. Their agent is 20 minutes into a 40-minute job. DataShield checks the next tool call again. It checks it against current access. It fails closed. Through a gateway, the session usually rides on. It waits until the token expires. How Auth does it.
An erasure you can defend
GDPR says delete the person. Your auditor says keep the record. Crypto-shred settles it. We destroy the subject's key material. The data goes unreadable. The chain still checks out. See the diagram.
Where Natoma is genuinely stronger
We'd rather you hear this from us. Natoma shipped in March 2025. It's SOC2 certified. It has HPE's networking CIO on the record. It reports 1.8m tool calls a day across its customers. Their discovery work is the best hook in this market. They scan your setup. They find roughly 225 MCP servers per company. Most security teams had no idea. They also use Cedar for tool-call authorization. They even published a comparison of OPA and Cedar. This is a deliberate design, not a checkbox. Is your first job inventory? Do you need a fast on-ramp for a hundred MCP servers? Then they beat us on day one. A free tier means you can check this yourself.
The push-back is about what happens after you have the inventory. Gartner expects most unauthorized agent transactions through 2028 to be internal policy violations. They won't be attacks. That means the real question isn't whether you spotted the server. It's whether the call it served was allowed. Can you still show that a year later? Audit logs land in Natoma's Enterprise tier. They export to SIEM. SIEM records are mutable by design. There's also a strategy question. It has nothing to do with features. Once the Snowflake deal closes, a data platform vendor owns your agent control plane. For some buyers that's convenient. For a bank running Databricks, it's a buying talk nobody wanted.
Questions worth asking both of us
These are the questions we'd want answered if we were buying. Ask them on every vendor call, including ours.
Can you cryptographically prove an audit log entry wasn't deleted?
DataShield: yes. Each record commits to the one before it. We sign and chain checkpoints. The check tells deletion from truncation. It tells tampering too. Run it against a sample chain at /verify. Natoma: their Enterprise tier includes audit logs. It adds SIEM and OTel export. We found no published tamper-evidence feature. Ask them to show one.
What happens to a revoked agent mid-session?
DataShield checks access again on every tool call. Revocation bites on the next call. Natoma routes tool calls through a central endpoint. Cedar policy evaluation happens there. That's the right place to enforce it. But their public docs don't describe revocation timing. Ask how long a compromised agent keeps working. Ask what happens after you pull its access.
Does DataShield do shadow AI discovery like Natoma?
No. We don't scan endpoints for unmanaged MCP servers. A vendor who says otherwise is selling you a roadmap. Natoma does agentless discovery. They report an average of 225 MCP servers per company. Hunting shadow agents? Buy that from them. Or buy it from an endpoint tool. Then bring the ones that touch regulated data in. Put them under a control plane. It should prove what they did.
You both use Cedar. What's the difference?
Natoma says Cedar checks every tool call. It checks identity and context. In DataShield, Cedar covers admin, setup, and token decisions. policy_explain gives readable reasoning. The per-call dispatch path enforces a token scope ceiling. It enforces a declared access tier too. It enforces a live revocation re-check too. That happens before the handler runs. Different placement, similar intent. Ask us both to trace one denied call. Do it end to end, on a screen share.
What does the Snowflake acquisition mean for a Natoma buyer?
Snowflake signed a deal to acquire Natoma. It was announced 27 May 2026. Snowflake plans to fold the Enterprise MCP platform into its control plane. Are you a Snowflake shop? That's probably good news. You get fewer vendors and tighter integration. Are you not a Snowflake shop? Ask about the roadmap for non-Snowflake data sources. Ask what the contract looks like after close. We're independent. We self-host. That's the whole reason some buyers call us.
How does GDPR erasure interact with the audit trail?
DataShield crypto-shreds per-subject key material. It issues an ISO 27560 consent receipt too. We HMAC-commit actor identities in the chain. So the proof stays checkable after the subject is gone. Natoma states GDPR and CCPA compliance. It offers custom data retention at Enterprise. But it doesn't say what erasing a subject does to retained tool-call logs. Ask whether erasure breaks the log.
Does DataShield have SOC 2?
Not yet. We won't imply otherwise. Natoma is SOC2 certified. They win that row outright. Here's what we offer instead. Auth is live. It has a public threat model. It has a verifier anyone can run. Guardian and Lighthouse have run in production since April 2026. Details sit on the security page.
- Natoma's positioning: "Let your AI know everything your company knows." They call it the "Context Fabric for Enterprise AI." It handles 1.8m tool calls a day. HPE is a named reference. - natoma.ai, 13 Sep 2026
- Snowflake signed a deal to acquire Natoma. Its Enterprise MCP platform folds into Snowflake's control plane. - Natoma blog, 27 May 2026
- Natoma describes "Cedar-powered authorization." It evaluates every AI tool call with identity and context. It adds device posture signals too. - natoma.ai/use-cases/authorization, 13 Sep 2026
- Discovery scans find an average of 225 MCP servers per company. Most are unknown to security teams. - Natoma blog, 31 Mar 2026
- Free tier: 5 MCP servers, 5 users, 5,000 tool calls a month. Audit logs are Enterprise-tier features. On-prem deployment is too. - natoma.ai/pricing, 13 Sep 2026
- Natoma launched its hosted MCP platform. It shipped with a non-human identity security system. That system handles policy enforcement. - Natoma blog, 26 Mar 2025
Other head-to-heads
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Workload access brokering. Versus **per-call** access and signed evidence.
DirectDataShield vs MintMCP
Two takes on controlling MCP. The gateway, and the data behind it.
AllEvery comparison
One honest scorecard per vendor. Including the rows we lose.
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