Cerbos is a clean, stateless authorization service (a policy decision point) for application access control. Kynara targets the AI-agent problem specifically — adding the identity, delegation, approval, enforcement, and audit pieces agents require.
| Capability | Kynara | Cerbos |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | AI-agent permission & governance control plane | Stateless authorization service (PDP) for apps |
| Purpose-built for AI agents | ✓ Yes | ~ App authz; not agent-specific |
| Manages agent & user identities | ✓ Yes | ✗ Bring your own identities |
| RBAC + ABAC policy engine | ✓ Yes | ✓ RBAC + ABAC |
| Non-escalation (agent ≤ dispatching user) | ✓ Yes | ✗ No agent-on-behalf model |
| Human-in-the-loop approvals | ✓ Yes | ✗ Not built-in |
| MCP tool-call authorization | ✓ Yes | ✗ Not built-in |
| Tamper-evident (hash-chained) audit log | ✓ Yes | ~ Decision logs; not hash-chained by default |
| Policy replay / simulation | ✓ Yes | ~ Policy testing; no historical replay |
| Deployment | Cloud or self-host (source-available) | Self-host / cloud |
Comparison reflects our reading of publicly documented capabilities and is provided in good faith; verify current specifics with each vendor.
You want a fast, language-light, stateless PDP for application authorization with policy-as-code and good testing. Cerbos is a strong choice for service/app access control.
Your subjects are AI agents and you need an integrated, agent-native control plane: identities, non-escalation, approvals, MCP enforcement, policy replay, and tamper-evident audit — without stitching multiple tools together.
You can run Cerbos for application authorization and Kynara as the dedicated control plane for AI-agent actions; both follow a policy-as-code philosophy.
Cerbos is a general application authorization service. It can authorize many subjects, but it isn't purpose-built for the AI-agent trust model (delegation, approvals, MCP, agent identities) the way Kynara is.
Yes — Kynara evaluates RBAC + ABAC against runtime context, and adds agent-specific guarantees on top.
Concepts map closely (roles, attributes, conditions). Kynara additionally models agent/user delegation and approval outcomes; reach out and we can help map an existing policy set.
RBAC + ABAC, human-in-the-loop approvals, MCP tool-call enforcement, and a tamper-evident audit log.