In depth: Speakeasy vs Runlayer

Speakeasy and Runlayer are AI governance platforms designed to secure and manage AI usage within organizations, but they differ significantly in their approach and scope. Speakeasy serves as a comprehensive AI control plane that governs the entire path between AI systems and organizational infrastructure, including model calls, MCP tool calls, agents, and assistants, while providing features like observability, cost-tracking, and policy enforcement. It excels in generating governed connectors from internal API contracts and offers deployment flexibility without the need for MDM. In contrast, Runlayer focuses on MCP enablement, securing and managing tool usage through a comprehensive policy engine, real-time tool scanning, and endpoint reach for shadow AI detection using MDM-deployed agents. While both platforms offer robust security and governance features, Speakeasy is better suited for organizations seeking governance across all AI surfaces with ISO 27001 certification, whereas Runlayer is ideal for MCP-centric programs prioritizing device-level control and existing MDM infrastructure.