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NeuralTrust TrustGate and Runlayer are the two most security-serious MCP gateways in this comparison, and they overlap more than any other pair. Both connect AI clients to MCP servers through a governed catalog, both run real-time threat detection on tool calls, both analyze behavior across a session rather than one call at a time, and both tie access to an enterprise identity provider with SSO and SCIM. Runlayer has built a genuine security product around the MCP tool layer, and it deserves to be evaluated as a serious option, not dismissed.
The difference is scope. Runlayer secures the MCP tool layer, and it stops there: it explicitly positions against LLM guardrails, it has no LLM gateway or model catalog, and it is a proprietary product. TrustGate secures the same MCP tool layer and extends past it. It protects the LLM prompt and response path as well as the tool call, it governs model traffic through an LLM gateway on the same platform, and it is open source. For a platform team choosing the one gateway to standardize the agent estate on, Runlayer covers half the path very well. TrustGate covers the whole path, and the enterprise owns it.
TL;DR
- Both run real-time threat detection and session-level analysis on tool calls. This is a genuine tie: Runlayer's tool-layer detection and trajectory analysis are real, and TrustGate matches them. The decision is not whether the MCP tool call is secured, it is what else is.
- NeuralTrust protects the LLM prompt/response layer; Runlayer secures only the MCP tool layer. Runlayer explicitly positions against LLM guardrails and anchors to the tool layer. TrustGate inspects the model interaction and the tool call, so the whole path is covered, not half of it.
- NeuralTrust governs model traffic through an LLM gateway; Runlayer has none. TrustGate routes and governs LLM providers on the same platform. Runlayer has no LLM gateway or model catalog, so the model side lives elsewhere.
- NeuralTrust is open source; Runlayer is proprietary. Both support self-hosting, so the difference is ownership: TrustGate can be run and inspected as open source, Runlayer is a proprietary product.
Comparison at a Glance
| Capability | NeuralTrust | Runlayer |
|---|---|---|
| Runtime threat detection on tool calls | ✅ | ✅ |
| Session / trajectory-level analysis | ✅ | ✅ |
| Identity provider / SSO & SCIM | ✅ | ✅ |
| Open-source gateway | ✅ | ❌ |
| LLM gateway with model provider routing & catalog | ✅ | ❌ |
| Protection spans the LLM prompt/response layer, not only MCP tool calls | ✅ | ❌ |
Platform Overview
What is NeuralTrust TrustGate?
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TrustGate is NeuralTrust's gateway. As an MCP gateway it sits between agents and the MCP servers they call and becomes the single place where tool discovery, identity, policy, security, and observability attach. Teams connect MCP servers from an integrated catalog of more than 200, expose a curated set of tools behind one endpoint, and govern every one of them through the gateway. It is the control layer a platform or architecture team can standardize the whole agent estate on, running in their own infrastructure rather than a vendor's.
Because NeuralTrust is a security company, that control layer inspects the full path an agent travels. A Security Engine attaches to every route, runs real-time detection on each tool call, and reasons across a whole session, and it applies the same inspection to the LLM prompt and response, not only to the tool call. TrustGate also governs model traffic through an LLM gateway on the same platform, is open source, and deploys anywhere from SaaS to fully air-gapped, exporting its events natively to the SIEMs a security team already runs.
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What is Runlayer?
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Runlayer is a security-focused MCP gateway built to make approved MCP access the default. Teams publish approved capabilities from built-in connectors, registered MCP servers, or custom MCP servers deployed onto managed infrastructure, and employees discover and request access from a catalog across 300+ AI clients. Its access model is granular, scoping by user, group, role, agent account, client, connector, tool, resource, and runtime condition, and it is SOC 2 certified with HIPAA and GDPR compliance.
Its security is real and worth acknowledging. Runlayer runs real-time threat detection tuned for MCP-specific attacks such as tool poisoning and prompt injection, and it analyzes behavior at the session level, not only per call. But Runlayer is deliberately scoped to the MCP tool layer. It positions itself against generic LLM guardrails and does not inspect the LLM prompt and response path, it has no LLM gateway or model catalog to govern model traffic, and it is a proprietary product rather than an open-source gateway. It is a strong MCP tool-layer security tool, not a platform that governs the whole agent path end to end.
Protection Across the LLM Layer, Not Only the Tool Layer
This is the sharpest difference between two otherwise closely matched products. An agent's activity has two halves: the model interaction (the prompts going to the LLM and the responses coming back) and the tool calls the agent makes over MCP. An attack can enter through either. A prompt injection can arrive in a model response before any tool is called, and a poisoned tool result can steer the next model turn.
Runlayer secures the tool half. Its detection is explicitly tuned for MCP-specific and tool-specific attack vectors, and it positions itself in contrast to LLM guardrails rather than providing them. That means the model interaction itself, the prompt and the response, sits outside what Runlayer inspects. TrustGate secures both halves with the same engine: it inspects the LLM prompt and response for injection, jailbreak, and unsafe content, and it inspects the tool call, so a threat is caught wherever it enters. Securing only the tool layer leaves the model layer as an open flank; TrustGate closes both.
LLM Gateway and Model Governance
Agents do not only call tools; they call models, and in an enterprise those model calls need routing, provider abstraction, and governance of their own. TrustGate provides an LLM gateway on the same platform as its MCP gateway: it routes across model providers, applies policy to model traffic, and lets a platform team govern which models are used from one control layer that already secures the tool calls.
Runlayer has no LLM gateway and no model catalog. It governs the MCP tools an agent reaches, but the model traffic itself, which providers are used, how calls are routed, how model usage is governed, is not part of what Runlayer does; that lives in a separate system entirely. With Runlayer, a platform team standardizes the tool layer on Runlayer and then sources model governance elsewhere. With TrustGate, the model layer and the tool layer are governed and secured together, on one platform.
Open Source vs Proprietary
Both products can be self-hosted, so the deployment question is not whether the gateway can run in the customer's environment; it is what the customer is running. TrustGate is open source. The enterprise can run it, inspect it, and build on it without depending on a vendor's closed implementation, which matters for teams that want to audit their security-critical infrastructure and avoid lock-in at the gateway layer.
Runlayer is a proprietary product. It offers self-hosting behind a customer's VPC with zero data egress, which is a real strength for data control, but the gateway itself remains closed: the enterprise runs Runlayer's software as a black box rather than an open, inspectable codebase. For a security-critical control point, the ability to see and own the implementation is itself a security property, and it is one TrustGate offers that Runlayer does not.
Final Verdict
Runlayer is the strongest MCP-only security gateway in this comparison. Its real-time threat detection and session-level analysis on tool calls are genuine, its access model is granular, and its VPC self-hosting with zero egress is a real answer for data control. For a team whose scope is precisely the MCP tool layer and nothing more, Runlayer does that job seriously and well.
NeuralTrust TrustGate wins the broader decision because it does everything Runlayer does at the tool layer and then covers the rest of the path Runlayer leaves open. It matches Runlayer on real-time detection, session-level analysis, and identity, and then adds what a proprietary, MCP-only tool cannot: protection across the LLM prompt and response layer, not only the tool call; an LLM gateway that governs model traffic on the same platform; and an open-source gateway the enterprise owns and can inspect. Runlayer secures half the agent path very well. TrustGate secures the whole path, governs both the model and the tool layers from one platform, and is open source, which is why it is the one gateway a platform team can standardize the entire agent estate on.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the main difference between NeuralTrust and Runlayer?
Both are security-focused MCP gateways with real-time threat detection and session-level analysis on tool calls, so on the MCP tool layer they are closely matched. The difference is scope: Runlayer secures only the MCP tool layer and is proprietary, while NeuralTrust TrustGate also protects the LLM prompt and response layer, governs model traffic through an LLM gateway on the same platform, and is open source. TrustGate secures the whole agent path; Runlayer secures the tool half of it.
2. Does Runlayer have runtime security like NeuralTrust?
Yes, and it is worth acknowledging. Runlayer runs real-time threat detection tuned for MCP-specific attacks such as tool poisoning and prompt injection, and it analyzes behavior at the session level rather than per call. This is a genuine tie with TrustGate at the MCP tool layer. The distinction is what each secures beyond that layer, where TrustGate also inspects the LLM prompt and response path and governs model traffic.
3. Does Runlayer protect the LLM prompt and response, or only tool calls?
Runlayer secures the MCP tool layer and explicitly positions itself against generic LLM guardrails, so the model interaction itself, the prompts sent to the LLM and the responses returned, sits outside what it inspects. NeuralTrust TrustGate inspects both the LLM prompt and response path and the tool call with the same engine, so an attack is caught whether it enters through the model interaction or through a tool result.
4. Does Runlayer have an LLM gateway like NeuralTrust?
No. Runlayer governs the MCP tools an agent reaches but has no LLM gateway or model catalog, so model provider routing and model governance live in a separate system. NeuralTrust TrustGate provides an LLM gateway on the same platform as its MCP gateway, so model traffic and tool calls are routed, governed, and secured from one control layer.
5. Is Runlayer open source like NeuralTrust?
No. Runlayer is a proprietary product; it offers self-hosting behind a customer's VPC with zero data egress, which is strong for data control, but the gateway itself is closed. NeuralTrust TrustGate is an open-source gateway the enterprise can run, inspect, and build on, which for a security-critical control point is itself a meaningful advantage, on top of the same self-hosting options up to fully air-gapped.
Related MCP Gateway Comparisons:
- The 6 Best MCP Gateways for Enterprise AI Security in 2026
- NeuralTrust vs Arcade: MCP Gateway Comparison 2026
- NeuralTrust vs Composio: MCP Gateway Comparison 2026
- NeuralTrust vs Merge Agent Handler: MCP Gateway Comparison 2026
- NeuralTrust vs TrueFoundry: MCP Gateway Comparison 2026
About the Author
Alessandro Pignati is Lead AI Security Researcher at NeuralTrust, where he leads research on AI and agentic security, advancing techniques to evaluate and secure large language models and autonomous AI systems. He specializes in adversarial machine learning, AI red teaming, LLM security, and AI safety, contributing to the development of secure and trustworthy AI.
NeuralTrust is an AI agent security platform, recognized in the Gartner 2025 Market Guide for AI Gateways and Guardian Agents, and the KuppingerCole 2025 Leadership Compass for Generative AI Defense. Headquartered in Barcelona with ISO 27001 certification.
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