--- title: "Compare Aona Products: Browser Plugin, Desktop Apps & APIs" description: "Choose Aona for browser AI, Windows and macOS applications, or API-integrated workflows. Compare platform coverage, benefits and trade-offs before your demo." dateModified: "2026-09-15" canonical: "https://aona.ai/product/compare/" --- # Compare Aona Products: Browser Plugin, Desktop Apps & APIs Choose Aona for browser AI, Windows and macOS applications, or API-integrated workflows. Compare platform coverage, benefits and trade-offs before your demo. ## Browser plugin Apply policy checks inside supported AI websites, with a clear response right where employees work. Best fit: Employees using AI websites. Platforms: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot / Bing web experiences. Prompt and file actions depend on the supported site and input path. ### Advantages - Policy feedback inside the AI page - Prompt checks and supported file redaction - Focused rollout for browser-based AI use ### Trade-offs - Does not cover native apps or local agent inspection - Requires the plugin in the browser being used - Firefox release is not confirmed; validate each browser and input path Setup: Deploy the extension for Chrome, Edge or Safari. Confirm the rollout method for your selected browser. Browser coverage, not protection for every app on the device. ## Windows / macOS apps Extend coverage to supported desktop traffic and review local agent context on managed devices. Best fit: Managed computers using native AI. Platforms: Windows x64, macOS ยท Apple Silicon. Supported browser and native AI traffic. Validate the provider, prompt or file action, operating system and installed release together. ### Advantages - Coverage beyond browser-only interactions - A device-level path for supported AI traffic - Local agent and MCP visibility in limited rollout ### Trade-offs - Requires device installation, proxy and certificate setup - Protection depth differs by app, OS and release - Agent inspection is not automatic control of every action Setup: Windows: Intune or direct install. Mac: assess the manual package rollout. Confirm your installed release. A provider handler is not blanket support. ## APIs Evaluate text against an Aona framework or guardrail, or check supported files against a framework, at the checkpoint your application controls. Best fit: Teams building an AI integration. Platforms: Your applications, Scripts & agents, Backend workflows. Calls explicitly integrated with Aona evaluation APIs. Your application receives the verdict and applies the resulting decision. ### Advantages - Choose the checkpoint in your own workflow - Evaluate text and supported files - Use returned verdicts and redactions in your application ### Trade-offs - Engineering must apply the verdict and handle failures - Unintegrated model or tool calls are outside this path - Stateless evaluations do not create an analytics event Setup: Connect the evaluation call and implement the response handling. The API evaluates. Your integration enforces the decision. ## Buyer questions ### Which Aona product should we start with? Start with the workflow you need to protect. Choose the browser plugin for supported AI websites in Chrome, Edge or Safari, the Windows/macOS app for supported desktop traffic, or APIs when your team owns the application checkpoint. A mixed environment may need more than one product. Validate a representative prompt or file before expanding the rollout. ### Can the browser plugin and desktop app run together? Yes. They are separate endpoint products designed to run together. Supported coordinated paths mark requests already processed by the plugin so the native app can avoid processing them again. Confirm this behavior with the client versions and specific request path in your rollout. ### Which AI platforms can the desktop app secure? Coverage is provider-, action-, operating-system- and release-specific. ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, M365 Copilot, Gemini, Cursor and Codex appear in the audited native provider matrix, but that source/staging matrix is not proof of uniform production support. Cursor and Codex have narrower paths; do not assume file, response or agent tool-action coverage. Ask us to verify the installed release against your exact workflow. ### Does an API integration automatically block unsafe AI calls? No. Framework and guardrail APIs evaluate submitted text; framework APIs also check supported files. Your application must apply the verdict, use any returned redaction, and decide how to handle timeouts or errors before continuing. Calls that bypass your integration are not covered. These stateless evaluation endpoints do not automatically record an analytics event. ### Are policy evaluation APIs the same as the event API and webhooks? No. Evaluation APIs check supplied text against a framework or guardrail, or supported files against a framework. The event API and outbound webhooks deliver existing security-event evidence to your systems. Reading events or receiving a webhook does not, by itself, intercept or block an AI request. ### Are Safari, Firefox, mobile devices and Intel Macs supported? The browser plugin supports Chrome, Edge and Safari. Prompt and file coverage depends on the AI site and input path; confirm your chosen browser and rollout method. Firefox requires release verification before being treated as shipped. The native targets covered here are Windows x64 and Apple Silicon Macs. Do not assume Intel Mac, Linux, iOS or Android endpoint coverage. APIs can be integrated into an application workflow, but that does not create device-wide protection. ### Can Aona run in our cloud or on-premises? Yes. Aona backend hosting can use your cloud, your on-premises environment or Aona-managed servers. Separately, prompt processing can run on the user device (edge), in your cloud or on-premises, or on Aona-managed servers. Confirm the supported feature and integration configuration; the options do not imply identical capabilities everywhere. A third-party AI provider's processing remains a separate consideration. Book a product-fit demo: https://aona.ai/book-demo/ Canonical source: https://aona.ai/product/compare/