Aikido CSPM

Aikido CSPM gives teams a unified view of cloud misconfigurations, exposures, identity risks, and compliance gaps across cloud environments. It connects to accounts through read-only APIs without requiring agents, and lists AWS, Azure, GCP, and select other providers such as DigitalOcean. Checks can flag public storage buckets, unencrypted databases, open SSH ports, and overly permissive IAM policies. Context-aware scoring helps distinguish higher-impact production issues from lower-impact staging issues. Teams can search cloud resources in plain language and turn searches into real-time alerts for matching assets. Aikido offers guided fixes and auto-generated pull requests for some issues, but does not automatically change infrastructure. Its scanning also covers container images, AWS EC2 vulnerabilities, Infrastructure as Code, and outdated runtimes. Checks map to SOC 2 and ISO 27001, and reporting can sync with Vanta and Drata. The free Developer plan includes one cloud account; Basic costs $300 a month, while Pro and Advanced each cost $600 a month.

Aikido CSPM combines cloud checks, risk prioritization, and compliance reporting in one offering. Its free plan is limited to one cloud account, and remediation remains guided rather than automatic.

It suits teams that need cloud asset visibility, risk analysis, and compliance reporting across multiple providers. The free Developer plan may fit teams with one cloud account.

Overview

Aikido CSPM is a cloud security posture management offering for teams that need to track configuration risks and compliance gaps across cloud environments. It is best suited to teams that want cloud posture checks alongside broader security scanning in one platform. Its breadth and free entry tier are appealing, but the free plan covers just one cloud account and fixes still require a person to apply them.

Key features

• Cloud posture and inventory: Aikido brings cloud misconfigurations, exposures, identity permissions, and compliance gaps into one view, with inventory across AWS, Azure, GCP, and selected other providers such as DigitalOcean. Checks flag risks including public storage, unencrypted databases, open SSH ports, and overly permissive IAM. That range is useful for teams managing multiple environments, though the free tier's single-account cap limits its reach.
• Agentless access and prioritization: Connections use read-only APIs and require no agents, reducing deployment work and limiting access to observation. Context-aware scoring ranks higher-impact production issues above lower-impact staging findings, which helps teams direct remediation effort toward more consequential risks.
• Search, alerts, and fixes: Cloud Search accepts plain-language queries across resources, and searches can be turned into real-time alerts for matching assets. Aikido offers guided fixes and auto-generated pull requests for some cloud issues, but does not change infrastructure automatically; teams retain control, at the cost of having to carry out fixes themselves.
• Broader security coverage: The offering also includes container image scanning, AWS EC2 vulnerability scanning, Infrastructure as Code checks, outdated runtime detection, SBOM management, identity risk analysis, and attack path analysis. This breadth makes it more compelling for teams consolidating related security work than for buyers seeking only a narrow CSPM tool.
• Compliance: Checks map to SOC 2 and ISO 27001, and reporting can sync with Vanta and Drata. The broader framework coverage includes OWASP Top 10, CIS, NIS2, and PCI. Aikido's Trust Center lists GDPR, ISO 27001:2022, ISO/IEC 42001:2023, SOC 2, CSA STAR Level 1, TX-RAMP Level 2, and AWS Security Competency.

Pricing

Aikido uses a freemium model. The Developer plan is free, billed free forever, and includes 2 users, 10 repositories, 2 container images, 1 domain, 1 cloud account, 10 AI AutoFixes per month, and 250,000 protected requests per month. It is a practical way for an individual or small team to start, but the single cloud account and modest quotas make it a limited fit for broader estates.

Basic costs $300 a month, billed as a total fee including 10 users. It raises the limits to 100 repositories, 50 container images, 3 domains, 3 cloud accounts, unlimited AI AutoFixes per month, and 10 million protected requests per month. That makes it the first paid step for a team outgrowing the free account cap, though its cloud coverage remains limited to three accounts.

Pro costs $600 a month, billed as a total fee including 10 users. It includes 200 repositories, 100 container images, 10 domains, 10 cloud accounts, 30 VM scaling groups, unlimited AI AutoFixes per month, and 20 million protected requests per month. Same-day support is included, which better suits teams needing a faster support response.

Advanced also costs $600 a month, billed as a total fee including 10 users. It increases the limits to 500 repositories, 200 container images, 20 domains, 20 cloud accounts, 100 VM scaling groups, unlimited AI AutoFixes per month, and 50 million protected requests per month, with priority support in Slack or MS Teams. At the same stated price as Pro, its higher quotas and stronger support make it the more capable option for teams that need that additional scale.

Enterprise has custom pricing and tailored pricing with enterprise-grade modules. It is the tier for buyers whose requirements call for a tailored package rather than the published quotas above.

Platforms

Aikido lists API, Linux, macOS, web, and Windows platforms. Its deployment model is hybrid, and cloud posture access is through read-only APIs.

Who it's for

Aikido CSPM suits teams that need multi-cloud inventory, configuration checks, risk prioritization, and compliance reporting, particularly when they also want IaC, container, and related scanning in the same offering. The Developer plan gives a small team a no-cost way to begin. It is less suitable for organizations expecting the free tier to cover several cloud accounts or wanting infrastructure fixes applied automatically.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Read-only, agentless cloud connections avoid installing agents and keep access focused on inspection.
• Pro: Context-aware prioritization and resource alerts help teams focus on higher-impact issues rather than treating every finding equally.
• Pro: CSPM is paired with IaC, container, EC2, identity, and compliance capabilities, which can reduce the need to assemble separate tools for those areas.
• Con: The free Developer plan is capped at one cloud account, so multi-account teams must move to a paid tier.
• Con: Remediation is guided rather than automatic; teams must apply infrastructure changes themselves.

Alternatives

For teams focused on infrastructure-as-code checks, Infrastructure as Code Security Software is a more targeted category. Buyers comparing broader development security suites can browse DevSecOps Platforms, while those focused on application testing can consider Interactive Application Security Testing Software. For a wider comparison of posture tools, see Cloud Security Posture Management Software.

audytx is another freemium option, with a Plus plan at $20 a month that includes unlimited repositories and users and 200 scans per month. Conftest is a free Apache License 2.0 option for buyers who prefer an open-source tool. Gomboc AI Code Security Platform offers a free Community Edition with unlimited scans and security fixes, GitHub pull-request remediations, default policy-as-code, basic GitHub reporting, and community support.

Snyk Open Source has a free plan capped at 5 projects and provides access to Snyk Open Source (SCA), making it a distinct option for buyers centered on open-source dependency analysis. Trivy is a free Apache-2.0 licensed open-source scanner. cfn-nag is free MIT-licensed software requiring Ruby 2.5 or later, while Checkov is a free open-source CLI under Apache-2.0. KloudSec IaC Security offers a free tier with one AWS account, one scheduled scan per day, and one on-demand scan per day.

Verdict

Aikido CSPM is a strong fit for teams that want multi-cloud posture checks, prioritization, and compliance reporting as part of a broader security platform. Its agentless read-only access and related scanning capabilities are the clearest reasons to choose it. Look elsewhere if a one-account free tier is too restrictive or if you need infrastructure changes applied automatically.