Ethicore Engine™ - Guardian SDK pricing guide details
Pricing Overview
Ethicore Engine - Guardian SDK uses an open-core pricing model that makes real AI security accessible at every scale. The Community edition is free and open-source, available via PyPI with a simple pip install. It includes 18 regex patterns and a 5-category threat library, delivering pattern matching, offline ONNX semantic embeddings, and ML behavioral inference at zero cost. This makes it a practical starting point for solo developers and small projects that need prompt injection protection without budget commitment. The Pro tier unlocks the full 50-category threat library with 444 semantic fingerprints, a license key, and asset package for unlimited AI applications. The Enterprise tier is designed for team and organizational deployments, adding priority email support, multiple deployment options, and a customizable threat library. Pricing for the Pro and Enterprise tiers is not publicly listed; teams must contact Oracles Technologies directly for a quote. This contact-for-pricing approach is standard for enterprise AI security tools where deployment scope and compliance requirements drive cost.
Plan Comparison
Guardian SDK offers three distinct tiers, each aligned with a specific deployment scope and compliance requirement. The progression from Community to Enterprise follows a clear pattern: extensive threat coverage, additional deployment flexibility, and dedicated support.
| Feature | Community (Free) | Pro | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Threat Library Categories | 5 | 50 | 50 (customizable) |
| Semantic Fingerprints | None | 444 | 444 |
| Regex Patterns | 18 | Included | Included |
| ONNX Semantic Embeddings | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ML Behavioral Inference | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Provider Agnostic (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sub-100ms Latency | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| License Key & Asset Package | No | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple Deployments | No | No | Yes |
| Customizable Threat Library | No | No | Yes |
| Priority Email Support | No | No | Yes |
| Cloud Dependency | None | None | None |
The Community tier delivers real protection with three defense layers: pattern matching via regex, offline ONNX semantic embeddings, and ML behavioral inference. All three layers operate locally with sub-100ms latency and no cloud dependency. The Pro tier expands threat coverage tenfold, jumping from 5 to 50 categories and adding 444 semantic fingerprints that detect sophisticated prompt injection, jailbreaks, and role hijacking attempts. Enterprise builds on Pro with multi-deployment support, allowing organizations to roll out Guardian SDK across multiple teams and services simultaneously. The customizable threat library in the Enterprise tier lets security teams add organization-specific threat patterns tailored to their AI applications and risk profiles. All tiers share the same core architecture: requests are analyzed locally before reaching the AI provider, blocking malicious inputs at the edge.
Hidden Costs and Considerations
Guardian SDK runs entirely offline with no cloud dependency, which eliminates ongoing API usage fees and per-request charges that accumulate with cloud-based alternatives. However, teams should factor in integration engineering time for wrapping existing AI clients across multiple providers and services. The Pro and Enterprise tiers require a license key, and pricing is only available through direct contact, which can slow procurement timelines for teams with strict vendor evaluation processes. Organizations running multiple AI providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Azure benefit from a single Guardian SDK deployment covering all of them, but scaling across large engineering teams requires the Enterprise tier and its multi-deployment licensing. Additionally, Guardian SDK blocks malicious requests before they reach expensive AI APIs, which generates measurable cost savings by preventing wasted API calls on prompt injection attempts.
How Ethicore Engine - Guardian SDK Pricing Compares
Guardian SDK's open-core model stands apart from competitors in the AI security space. Most alternatives use subscription-based pricing with fixed monthly fees and cloud-dependent detection, while Guardian SDK offers a genuinely free tier with real functionality and full offline operation.
| Tool | Starting Price | Model | Key Differentiator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethicore Engine - Guardian SDK | Free (Community) | Open-Core | Offline, provider-agnostic, 3-layer defense |
| CodeWatchdog | $9/mo | Freemium | Free tier for 1 user, Pro at $9/mo |
| PromptBrake | $499/mo | Paid | Enterprise at $499/mo |
| Vibio | $29/mo | Free/Paid | Free plan available, paid plans from $29/mo |
Guardian SDK is the only tool in this comparison with zero cloud dependency and no per-request pricing. CodeWatchdog at $9/mo offers an affordable entry point for individual developers but limits its free tier to a single user. PromptBrake at $499/mo targets larger teams with a higher feature set but carries significantly higher baseline costs, and its $499/mo entry point adds friction for evaluation. Vibio provides a free plan with paid tiers starting at $29/mo, positioning it as a mid-range option for teams that accept cloud-dependent detection.
For organizations prioritizing data sovereignty, offline operation, and provider-agnostic coverage, Guardian SDK's architecture eliminates the recurring per-API-call costs that accumulate with cloud-dependent alternatives. The Community edition alone provides three defense layers that competing paid tiers struggle to match on technical depth. Teams evaluating AI security tools should weigh the total cost of ownership: Guardian SDK's upfront integration effort versus the ongoing subscription and usage fees of cloud-based competitors.