Microsoft Purview alternatives.Start with Aona.

Aona secures employee AI use with prompt and file protection. Compare its controls, coverage and deployment with the other products on your shortlist.

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A buyer’s starting point

Secure employee AI use without losing the practical detail.

Compare the control point, evaluation path and practical fit for the employee AI problem in front of you.

Aona protects employee use of third-party AI tools on managed devices, including the prompt and upload path.

Aona AI

For employee AI security

Workforce AI Security for third-party AI tools, licensed on its own: a browser plugin for Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari plus a native endpoint app that covers ChatGPT, Copilot and Claude desktop on the device without an E5-class licence or a network data security path, hard block with no user override, layout-preserving DOCX, XLSX and PDF redaction on upload, and real-time coaching at the prompt. SOC 2 Type II, self-serve 30-day trial, deployed with IT's existing tooling, first signal within hours.

Best for: Any organisation whose employees use ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude or Gemini and that needs one control point for third-party AI tools on the device, outside the Microsoft 365 licensing tiers.

The complete list

A closer look at your shortlist.

See who each option is best for. Expand a row for the full product overview.

Aona AIBuilt for employee AI securityAny organisation whose employees use ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude or Gemini and that needs one control point for third-party AI tools on the device, outside the Microsoft 365 licensing tiers.
Workforce AI Security for third-party AI tools, licensed on its own: a browser plugin for Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari plus a native endpoint app that covers ChatGPT, Copilot and Claude desktop on the device without an E5-class licence or a network data security path, hard block with no user override, layout-preserving DOCX, XLSX and PDF redaction on upload, and real-time coaching at the prompt. SOC 2 Type II, self-serve 30-day trial, deployed with IT's existing tooling, first signal within hours.
Microsoft PurviewMicrosoft 365 estates that want Copilot and Microsoft 365 data governed inside the Purview licensing model, with sensitivity labels already in place.
Microsoft's data security and compliance suite. Its AI controls run in the browser (the Purview extension is required for Chrome endpoint DLP on Windows), retention and eDiscovery of prompts are restricted to the Edge browser, prompt and response visibility for third-party AI sites requires E5-class licensing plus pay-as-you-go billing, and locally installed AI apps are reached through a network data security path (Entra Global Secure Access or a SASE partner, partly in preview).
Nightfall AIOrganisations whose first need is DLP across SaaS data at rest, with AI uploads governed by the same detectors.
DLP platform with SaaS API connectors (Slack, Microsoft 365, Google Drive, Salesforce), a browser extension (Chrome, Edge, Arc, Brave, Vivaldi, Comet), macOS and Windows endpoint agents installed via MDM, and an MCP Gateway in early access (September 2026). Data is stored in the United States, and evaluation runs as a proof of value rather than a self-serve trial.
Harmonic SecurityOrganisations that want prompt-text redaction and nudges across browsers and desktop AI clients, bought by demo or through AWS Marketplace.
Browser extension plus a desktop client (Claude Desktop, ChatGPT Desktop, Cursor, Codex, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Ollama) with real-time prompt redaction and an MCP gateway. Packaged as three tiers (Explore, Guide, Command), demo-led, with no self-serve trial as of September 2026.
ZscalerOrganisations already steering traffic through Zscaler that want AI app access controlled in the same proxy.
Security service edge with GenAI controls in the proxy: allow, block or coach access by user or group, prompt extraction across 250+ GenAI apps with AI Protect (June 2026), and a browser-extension form factor through Zero Trust Browser. Enforcement requires traffic steering with TLS inspection, and GenAI Security is a Data Security add-on with no self-serve trial, as of September 2026.
Prompt SecurityOrganisations that want employee and application AI security bought together through the SentinelOne Singularity platform.
GenAI security platform from SentinelOne, built into the Singularity platform: employee AI controls with anonymisation and coaching, an LLM firewall for applications, and an AI endpoint agent for local LLMs and MCP servers (February 2026). Sold by demo, with no self-serve trial as of September 2026.

Deployment context

How Aona fits your security stack.

Aona secures employee AI use alongside your existing security tools. See how its device-level controls fit with the other products in your stack.

Read the full Aona vs Microsoft Purview comparison →

Aona inspects what reaches an AI tool. It does not discover or classify data at rest in SaaS, cloud or on-premises stores.
Coverage needs the Aona plugin or endpoint app on the device. There is no agentless or network-only mode, so personal and unmanaged devices are out of scope.
No iOS or Android coverage: AI use on phones is out of scope.
Aona has a SOC 2 Type II examination report. No FedRAMP, IRAP or ISO 27001 today.

Your questions

Microsoft Purview alternatives, answered.

Answers to help you build your shortlist.

What are the best Microsoft Purview alternatives in 2026?

Alternatives to Microsoft Purview for securing employee AI use include Aona AI, Nightfall AI, Harmonic Security, Zscaler and Prompt Security. Aona AI is built for securing employee AI use: it inspects the prompt and the upload on the device, in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari and in ChatGPT, Copilot and Claude desktop apps, with hard block, layout-preserving file redaction and real-time coaching, licensed on its own, with a self-serve 30-day trial. Purview's third-party AI controls run in the browser and need E5-class licensing plus pay-as-you-go billing for prompt visibility, which is where its reach on the device stops.

Why is Aona AI a strong alternative to Microsoft Purview?

Purview governs Microsoft 365 data and Copilot inside the Microsoft licensing model; Aona governs third-party AI tools on the device. Aona's browser plugin and native endpoint app inspect the prompt at submit in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari and in ChatGPT, Copilot and Claude desktop apps, block hard with no user override, redact DOCX, XLSX and PDF uploads with the layout intact, and coach the employee in real time. It ships EU AI Act, ISO 42001 and GDPR policy templates, a choice of seven Aona-managed hosting regions and Microsoft Sentinel export via OCSF, with a 30-day self-serve trial and no E5-class licence.

Where does Aona stop, compared with Microsoft Purview?

Scope, stated plainly: Aona inspects what reaches an AI tool. It does not discover or classify data at rest in SaaS, cloud or on-premises stores. Coverage needs the Aona plugin or endpoint app on the device. There is no agentless or network-only mode, so personal and unmanaged devices are out of scope. No iOS or Android coverage: AI use on phones is out of scope. Aona has a SOC 2 Type II examination report. No FedRAMP, IRAP or ISO 27001 today. These lines are carried from our own Aona vs Microsoft Purview comparison, so you can evaluate with eyes open.

Is there a free trial to evaluate these alternatives?

Aona offers a 30-day self-serve free trial covering AI adoption analytics, shadow AI discovery, security and compliance monitoring and real-time employee coaching; it deploys with IT's existing tooling and shows a first signal within hours. Purview is licensed through Microsoft 365 tiers: E3 DSPM for AI gives app information, activity export and auditing, E5 adds the prompt and response view, third-party AI sites need pay-as-you-go billing, and Microsoft 365 E7 (generally available May 2026) bundles E5 with Copilot, Entra Suite and Agent 365, as of September 2026.

How do I choose between these AI security vendors?

Start with Aona for employee AI use: it governs the prompt and the upload on the device, in the browser and in native desktop AI apps, with hard block, file redaction and coaching, and it is live within hours. Keep Purview for what it already does in your tenant, sensitivity labels, retention and eDiscovery over Microsoft 365 data and Copilot, and add Aona for the third-party AI tools on the device. Purview stops at the browser and the licence: retention and eDiscovery of prompts are restricted to the Edge browser, prompt and response view for third-party AI needs E5-class licensing with pay-as-you-go billing, macOS paste-to-browser DLP is in preview, and locally installed AI apps are reached only through a network data security path (Entra Global Secure Access or a SASE partner, partly preview, with extra licences).

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