Akto named pioneer in Gartner's AI security quadrant

Akto has been named a Pioneer in Gartner's 2026 Emerging Market Quadrant for AI Application Security - Startup Vendors, placing it in a newly defined market segment for AI application security tools.

The analyst report describes the market as covering technologies that protect enterprise-developed AI applications and agents through security testing, exposure management, and runtime defence. It identifies three core areas: automated AI discovery and inventory, automated AI security testing, and AI runtime defence.

Akto said the designation reflects a broader approach to securing what it calls agentic AI applications across their life cycle, including discovery, automated AI red teaming, runtime controls and guardrails, and visibility into how AI agents execute tasks.

The San Francisco-based company sells two main products: Atlas, which is aimed at governing employee use of AI applications, agents, MCP servers, skills, and plugins across a workforce, and Argus, which is designed for internally built AI applications and agents.

According to Akto, Atlas helps security teams identify which AI tools are in use and apply runtime controls to those interactions. Argus focuses on testing and monitoring internally developed systems, including AI red teaming, runtime guardrails, an AI security gateway, MCP security controls, and execution visibility across agent activity.

Growing market

The recognition comes as vendors and enterprise customers seek tools to manage the security risks linked to wider use of generative AI and autonomous software agents. Akto argued that Gartner's creation of a dedicated market quadrant reflects growing commercial demand for products that address those risks.

The company cited recent incidents involving OpenAI and Hugging Face, as well as a case in which a Google Gemini agent accessed real-world company environments, as examples of how quickly concerns over AI security and safety have intensified.

Akto framed the challenge for customers as spanning both workforce adoption and product development. In its view, companies must control employee use of AI tools while also securing the AI applications and agents they build for their own users.

One executive said many organisations still have gaps in visibility and policy enforcement.

"We're proud to see Akto recognized as a Pioneer in this very important emerging AI category by Gartner," said Ankita Gupta, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Akto. "Enterprises face security challenges on two fronts: adopting AI safely across their workforce and securely building AI applications and agents for their customers. Most organizations still lack the visibility and controls required to do either with confidence. Akto addresses the full breadth of this challenge through its two flagship products, Atlas and Argus. Fortune 1000 companies trust Akto's AI security control plane to discover, assess, govern, and protect AI across their environments."

Broader coverage

Akto argues that AI security should not be treated as a single checkpoint. Instead, it describes the process as a continuous cycle that starts with identifying what is running, then testing systems, enforcing policy during operation, tracing events, and feeding that information back into governance.

That approach aligns with several of the categories Gartner highlighted in its market definition, including posture management, adversarial testing, and real-time protection. Akto added that the Pioneer classification also reflects supervision of agent actions, session-level behaviour, and tool interactions, alongside more established security functions.

The latest mention adds to other Gartner references Akto has received in AI security-related research. The company said it was also named in 2026 as a Sample Vendor for AI Security Testing in the Gartner Hype Cycle for AI Services, and as a Sample Vendor for AI Runtime Defence in the Gartner Hype Cycle for AI Governance and the Gartner Hype Cycle for Data Security Technologies.

Akto added that it was named a Representative Vendor in Gartner's 2025 guide on securing AI agents. Those mentions suggest Gartner has tracked the company across several strands of the AI security market as vendors work to define tools for testing, governance, and runtime monitoring.

Akto said Fortune 1000 organisations are among its customers, reflecting demand from large enterprises expanding the use of AI systems across internal operations and customer-facing products. Its emphasis on both employee AI use and internally developed applications points to a market in which security teams are being asked to manage a widening range of AI-related risks.

Gartner's market definition says AI application security tools are intended to help cybersecurity and risk teams manage posture, conduct adversarial testing, and enforce real-time protection of AI applications.