Falco and Scalekit sit in adjacent but distinct layers of modern cloud/AI infrastructure security — Falco is a free, open-source, CNCF-graduated runtime…
Best for Falco: Falco fits platform and security teams running Kubernetes or containerized workloads who want free, open-source, low-overhead runtime threat detection with 50+ integrations to existing SIEM/data lake tooling.
Best for Scalekit: Scalekit fits engineering teams building AI agents that need delegated OAuth, an encrypted token vault, and per-tool-call permission scoping across 500+ pre-built connectors, with native integrations for Claude, OpenAI, and LangChain.
At a Glance
Falco
Scalekit
Primary category
Security
Security
Rating
Not documented
Not documented
Pricing model
Open Source
Freemium, usage-based (tool calls/API usage) plus custom Enterprise pricing
Starting price
Free
Free plan available; Growth plan starts at $99 per month
Free plan
Yes
Yes
Free trial
Not documented
Not documented
Platforms
Not documented
Not documented
Team collaboration
Not documented
Not documented
AI features
Not documented
Yes
Public API
Yes
Yes
Key Differences
Security Layer Addressed
Falco: Runtime behavioral detection of abnormal process/file/network activity via eBPF.
Scalekit: Authentication/authorization for AI agents acting on behalf of users, including delegated OAuth and scoped tool-call permissions.
These solve fundamentally different problems: detecting bad behavior vs. controlling what's authorized to happen in the first place.
Pricing
Falco: Fully free and open source with no licensing fees.
Scalekit: Freemium: free tier includes 5,000 tool calls/month, Growth plan is $99/month for 100,000 tool calls with $0.50/1,000 overage.
Budget planning differs completely — Falco has zero licensing cost but requires self-hosting effort, while Scalekit has a metered commercial model.
Deployment Model
Falco: Self-hosted via an official Helm chart on Kubernetes distributions (GKE, EKS, AKS); no official managed offering from the project itself.
Scalekit: Managed SaaS platform with a free tier, paid Growth tier, and Enterprise VPC/on-premises option.
Teams wanting a fully managed service vs. those comfortable operating their own infrastructure need different options.
AI Framework Integration
Falco: Not documented as integrating with AI agent frameworks; general-purpose runtime security.
Scalekit: Native integrations with Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, LangChain, Google ADK, Vercel AI, and Mastra.
Teams building specifically on AI agent frameworks need Scalekit's native connectors, which Falco doesn't offer.
Compliance & Governance
Falco: CNCF-graduated project governance under The Linux Foundation; no formal compliance certifications documented.
Scalekit: SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certified, with multi-region (US/EU) deployment and an EU data residency add-on.
Enterprise buyers with compliance checklists need documented certifications, which Scalekit provides and Falco does not, being a self-hosted open-source project.
Feature-by-Feature
Security Focus
Feature
Falco
Scalekit
Runtime behavior/anomaly detection
Available
Unavailable
eBPF-based monitoring
Available
Unavailable
Delegated OAuth for AI agents
Unavailable
Available
Token vaulting (encrypted)
Unavailable
Available
Per-tool-call permission scoping
Unavailable
Available
Deployment & Access
Feature
Falco
Scalekit
Kubernetes-native deployment (Helm)
Available
Not documented
Managed/hosted SaaS offering
Unavailable
Available
Pre-built connectors to SaaS tools
Unavailable
Available
Multi-architecture support (x64/ARM)
Available
Not documented
Commercial & Compliance
Feature
Falco
Scalekit
Free to use
Available
Available
Published paid pricing
Unavailable
Available
SOC 2 / ISO 27001 certification
Not documented
Available
AI agent framework integrations
Not documented
Available
Pricing Compared
Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.
Falco
Open Source — Free N/A
Scalekit
Free — $0 monthly
Growth — $99/month monthly
Enterprise — Custom custom
Pros & Cons
Falco
Pros
Completely free and open source under Apache 2.0, with no vendor lock-in or usage limits
CNCF graduated status backed by an independent security audit and multi-vendor governance
Large, active community with an extensive default rule library and plugin ecosystem
Low runtime overhead with driver options that support a wide range of kernel versions and node configurations
Cons
Linux-only kernel-level monitoring, so it cannot directly protect Windows or macOS workloads
Default rules require tuning to reduce false positives in most production environments
Detection-only by design; blocking or in-kernel enforcement requires pairing it with a separate tool like Falco Talon or Tetragon
Self-hosting the full pipeline, including alert routing and dashboards, takes real operational effort unless paired with a managed commercial platform
Scalekit
Pros
Combines traditional B2B SSO/SCIM infrastructure with newer AI agent authentication in one platform
Free plan offers a meaningful 5,000 monthly tool calls with unlimited connected accounts
Broad identity provider support (Okta, Entra ID, OneLogin, JumpCloud) with automatic certificate rotation
Backed by credible investors (Together Fund, Z47) suggesting continued product investment
Cons
Seed-stage startup with an undisclosed small team, which may raise longevity questions for enterprise buyers
Company location is somewhat ambiguous (Delaware registration with India-based engineering office)
Overage charges on the Growth plan can add unpredictable costs for high-usage AI agent applications
EU data residency is a paid add-on rather than included by default
Use Cases
Choose Falco: Falco fits platform and security teams running Kubernetes or containerized workloads who want free, open-source, low-overhead runtime threat detection with 50+ integrations to existing SIEM/data lake tooling.
Choose Scalekit: Scalekit fits engineering teams building AI agents that need delegated OAuth, an encrypted token vault, and per-tool-call permission scoping across 500+ pre-built connectors, with native integrations for Claude, OpenAI, and LangChain.
Need both: A company building and deploying autonomous AI agents on Kubernetes infrastructure could use Scalekit to handle delegated OAuth and scoped permissions for what the agents are authorized to do, while running Falco alongside it to detect abnormal runtime behavior in the underlying containers and hosts that serve those agents — one secures the agent's authorization, the other secures the infrastructure it runs on.
Falco
Kubernetes runtime threat detection — Monitors syscalls and Kubernetes audit events across clusters to catch container escapes, unexpected shell access, and privilege escalation as they happen.
Compliance and audit logging — Produces a continuous, queryable record of privileged and anomalous system activity that supports PCI-DSS, SOC 2, and GDPR audit requirements.
Cloud account anomaly detection — Uses source plugins to ingest AWS CloudTrail, Okta, and GitHub audit logs into the same rules engine used for host and container detection.
Scalekit
Adding enterprise SSO to a SaaS product — B2B SaaS engineering teams integrate Scalekit to quickly offer SAML/OIDC SSO required by enterprise customers during sales deals.
SCIM-based user provisioning — Companies automate onboarding and offboarding of enterprise users through SCIM integration with customer identity providers.
AI agent authentication and tool access — AI-native application teams use Scalekit's AgentKit to authenticate agents and connect them securely to external tools on a user's behalf.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Falco and Scalekit compete with each other?
No — Falco does runtime security/behavior detection, while Scalekit handles authentication and authorization for AI agents; they address different problems.
Is Falco really free?
Yes, Falco is fully open source with no licensing fees, though it requires self-hosting and operational setup.
Does Scalekit have a free tier?
Yes, the Free plan includes 5,000 tool calls per month with unlimited connected accounts; it auto-upgrades to the paid $99/month Growth plan beyond that.
Which integrates with AI frameworks like Claude or LangChain?
Scalekit offers native integrations with Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, LangChain, Google ADK, Vercel AI, and Mastra; this isn't documented for Falco.
Which is Kubernetes-native?
Falco deploys via an official Helm chart across GKE, EKS, AKS, and other distributions; Scalekit's Kubernetes deployment isn't documented, though it offers VPC/on-premises deployment on its Enterprise tier.
Which has formal security certifications?
Scalekit is SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certified; Falco doesn't document formal certifications, being a self-hosted open-source project.