Mintive vs Runlayer
Last updated: October 19, 2026.
Choose Mintive when you want MCP, LLM and coding-agent governance in one managed service: Virtual MCPs per role on your directory groups, Mint Guard screening on every tool call, real-time SIEM export over OTLP or Splunk HEC (or batched files to S3), and Agent Monitor for Claude Code, Claude Cowork, Cursor, Codex and GitHub Copilot. Choose Runlayer when you want an AI control plane with ML-based runtime threat detection and the option to run it single-tenant or in your own AWS account or Kubernetes cluster. Both are governance gateways, so the differences are in how each handles identity, audit and guardrails.
Mintive and Runlayer side by side
| Mintive | Runlayer | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Dedicated MCP gateway, plus LLM gateway and Agent Monitor | AI control plane with MCP gateway, runtime security and catalog |
| Deployment | Managed cloud service in the US or EU; Private Networks reach internal services through a Helm or Docker agent (Enterprise); on-premise or self-hosted by arrangement | Runlayer-hosted single tenant, or self-hosted in your AWS account or Kubernetes |
| License | Paid plans (mintive.com/pricing) | Commercial terms (MSA and DPA published) |
| Client authentication | OAuth 2.0 with PKCE and dynamic client registration on every Virtual MCP; API keys, M2M tokens or workload identity federation (on request) for agents | OAuth through Runlayer's authorization server, with dynamic client registration |
| SSO and SCIM | SSO and SCIM with Okta, Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra ID, OneLogin, JumpCloud, Auth0, PingFederate and other SAML/OIDC providers | SSO with Okta, Entra and other IdPs; SCIM |
| Per-user credentials to tools | Per-user OAuth with automatic refresh, shared service credentials, or cross app access; user identity forwarding to MCP servers | Each user authorizes connectors with the upstream provider; OAuth broker; credentials can stay in your AWS Secrets Manager |
| Access is granted to | A Virtual MCP per role with curated tools, for users, directory groups and agent identities (RBAC); per-tool enable and disable and approval | Whole servers or specific tools and resources, by user, group, role, agent account or attribute, with runtime conditions |
| Audit and export | Tool calls, prompts and access changes over OTLP, Splunk HEC or batched files to S3 (SIEM export); usage through the Admin API and Admin MCP | Audit logs with JSON and CSV export; continuous SIEM export to S3 |
| Prompt injection and sensitive data | Mint Guard (enabled on request), Mintive's managed guardrail, screens tool arguments and results out of the box; plus rules and middleware that block or mask, with PII and DLP templates | ToolGuard models for prompt injection, tool poisoning and data exfiltration; AgentGuard session monitoring; PII rules |
| LLM routing and budgets | LLM gateway (early access): budgets per group and per user, allowed models per group | Model routing for some client integrations; budgets not documented |
| Connectors and registry | Pre-vetted catalog, hosted connectors from container images, the hosted CLI or private npm packages, remote MCPs, custom registry; tool change alerts | Connector catalog, custom MCP server hosting, Runlayer Catalog for connectors, skills and plugins |
| Compliance stated | SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA, with a BAA available (details) | SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR |
| Pricing | Plans on mintive.com/pricing; Mint Guard and ZDR are on the Enterprise plan | Contact sales |
Identity and per-user auth
Both gateways put an OAuth authorization server in front of AI clients and connect to your IdP for SSO and SCIM. In Mintive, SSO also covers the OAuth flow a client runs when it connects to a Virtual MCP, so your IdP's MFA and conditional access apply to agent connections. Connectors use each user's own OAuth tokens, a shared service credential, or cross app access, and Mintive can forward the user's identity to MCP servers. See SSO and SCIM. Runlayer has each user authorize connectors with the upstream provider, offers an OAuth broker, and can keep connector credentials in your AWS Secrets Manager.
Audit depth
Mintive logs every MCP tool call with the IdP identity of the user behind it, the MCP server, connector and tool, and adds Agent Monitor events (file reads, commands, MCP tool calls and prompts from coding agents) plus access grants and connector credential events. Exports stream in real time over OTLP or Splunk HEC, and with zero data retention on they contain metadata only. See SIEM export. Runlayer keeps audit logs of MCP activity with JSON and CSV export and continuously exports them to S3 for your SIEM.
Guardrails on tool calls
Mint Guard (enabled on request) screens the arguments and results of every MCP tool call with a detection policy Mintive maintains: prompt injection blocks at high confidence, and credentials and secrets, PII and harmful content are logged. Add rules for pattern matches and middleware for your own classifiers or DLP service. See Mint Guard. Runlayer's ToolGuard models screen for prompt injection, tool poisoning and data exfiltration, with AgentGuard for session monitoring and PII rules.
FAQ
Are Mintive and Runlayer both MCP gateways?
Yes. Both govern MCP traffic between AI clients and MCP servers with SSO, per-user auth, access rules and audit logs. Mintive adds an LLM gateway and Agent Monitor for coding agents, and Runlayer describes itself as an AI control plane with runtime security.
Can Mintive be self-hosted like Runlayer?
Mintive runs as a managed cloud service, with on-premise or self-hosted deployment by arrangement. Contact Mintive for self-hosted requirements. Runlayer offers a Runlayer-hosted single-tenant deployment or self-hosting in your AWS account or Kubernetes.
How does Mintive export audit logs?
Mintive exports tool calls, prompt submissions, gateway requests and access changes in real time over OpenTelemetry (OTLP/HTTP) or Splunk HEC, or as batched files to S3. See SIEM export.
Does Mintive monitor coding agents?
Yes. Agent Monitor uses hooks in Claude Code, Claude Cowork, Cursor, Codex and GitHub Copilot to capture file reads, commands, MCP tool calls and prompts before they run, with rules that can block risky actions.
How is pricing different?
Mintive plans are listed on mintive.com/pricing, with Mint Guard and zero data retention on the Enterprise plan. Runlayer pricing is through its sales team.
Related
- MCP gateway comparison: 13 gateways side by side
- Mintive vs Runlayer on the blog
- Audit and observability: what to log for MCP and agent activity
Sources
Runlayer facts on this page come from Runlayer's public documentation and pricing pages, checked on October 19, 2026.