Falco vs Tetragon
Falco
falco.org
Tetragon
tetragon.ioSide by side
| Figure | Falco | Tetragon |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Cloud Workload Protection Platforms | 7.7 (#9) | 7.9 (#6) |
| Spec score · Kubernetes Security Software | 7.9 (#11) | 7.9 (#13) |
| Spec score · Container Security Software | 7.8 (#13) | 7.9 (#11) |
| Integrations | Falco's plugins include sources for GitHub webhooks, Kubernetes audit events, AWS EKS audit events, CloudTrail logs, Docker events, Okta audit logs, and Nomad events. | The official site documents Kubernetes installation via Helm and container deployment using an image from the Tetragon Quay repository. |
| Purpose | Falco provides runtime security across hosts, containers, Kubernetes, and cloud environments, detecting abnormal behavior, potential threats, and compliance violations in real time. | Tetragon is a Kubernetes-aware security observability and runtime enforcement tool that applies policy and filtering with eBPF. |
| Support | Community support is available through Kubernetes Slack and the project's mailing list; the project also lists partner-provided enterprise offerings. | The site links users to documentation, GitHub, and the Cilium Slack community. |
Plans
In their own words
Falco
Falco is a free, open source runtime security project for Linux and self-hosted environments. It monitors hosts, containers, Kubernetes, and cloud environments for abnormal behavior, potential threats, and compliance violations in real time. Events are compared with built-in detection rules, and users can create rules for their own environments. Sources include Linux kernel system calls, Kubernetes audit logs, cloud events such as AWS CloudTrail, and events from GitHub and Okta. For kernel event monitoring, Falco uses an eBPF driver by default and offers a kernel module for wider compatibility. Installation options cover Linux hosts, Docker containers, and Kubernetes, including official Helm charts; supported architectures include x86_64 and ARM64. Falcosidekick can forward events to more than 50 systems, including email, chat, message queues, serverless functions, and databases. Falco is hosted by the CNCF as a graduated project. Detection depends on having appropriate rules in place, while resource use varies with server load and workload. The project recommends testing performance in the target environment.
Tetragon
Tetragon is a Kubernetes-aware security observability and runtime enforcement tool for Linux, container, and Kubernetes workloads. It uses eBPF to monitor activity, filter events, and enforce policies in the kernel in real time. Process reports can include executed binaries, command-line arguments, user IDs, parent processes, and start times. Tetragon also monitors file access and changes, and can block unauthorized file operations at the kernel level. Kubernetes policies can filter activity by namespace, pod labels, and container fields, with support for containerd and CRI-O. Network visibility ties events to processes and workloads and tracks connections, socket lifecycle, and bytes sent or received. The tool also monitors credential changes, kernel module activity, and eBPF program loads and interactions. Findings are available as JSON logs or through gRPC. Installation options include Helm on Kubernetes, released Linux packages, and a container image. Tetragon is a Cilium sub-project and a CNCF project, and is available as an open-source project with no paid plans listed.