Polymer is a cloud DLP solution preventing data exposure in Slack, Teams, and Google. Aona is a full AI governance and agent security platform. Here is how they compare.
See how Aona compares →Polymer stops data leaks in chat tools. Aona governs your AI programme. Different security surfaces.
Polymer provides real-time data loss prevention for Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Workspace. It scans messages and files for sensitive data — PII, credentials, financial information — and can automatically redact or block data before it is shared.
Aona covers the full enterprise AI security surface: governing how employees use AI tools, securing AI agents through Red and Blue Team automated testing, and helping teams build compliant agents. Detection plus automated remediation.
Cloud DLP vs AI governance — side by side.
| Feature | Aona AI | Polymer |
|---|---|---|
| Real-time DLP for Slack / Teams | ||
| Sensitive data redaction in chat | ||
| Data governance for collaboration tools | ||
| PII detection in messages | ||
| Shadow AI discovery (employee-level) | ||
| AI governance policy enforcement | ||
| AI agent security testing (Red Team) | ||
| AI agent security testing (Blue Team) | ||
| Automated AI remediation | ||
| Build compliant AI agents | ||
| EU AI Act / ISO 42001 compliance | ||
| AI usage audit trail | ||
| Cloud deployment | ||
| On-premises deployment |
Polymer is a data governance and data loss prevention (DLP) solution designed specifically for cloud collaboration tools. It integrates with Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Workspace to monitor messages and files in real time, detecting sensitive data — PII, financial information, credentials, health data — before it is shared with the wrong people.
When Polymer detects sensitive data in a message or file, it can automatically redact the content, notify the sender, or block the message entirely depending on the organisation's policy. This real-time remediation is Polymer's core strength — it prevents data exposure as it happens, not after the fact.
Polymer has added some AI-related data protection features, such as detecting when sensitive data is shared with AI bots or integrations in Slack. However, this remains a DLP capability — Polymer cares about data in messages, not about governing AI usage broadly.
What Polymer does not cover: comprehensive Shadow AI discovery at the employee level, AI agent security testing (Red/Blue Team), AI-specific acceptable use policy enforcement, or compliance reporting for AI regulations like the EU AI Act or ISO 42001.
Aona is a full AI security platform built to cover three distinct layers of enterprise AI risk — each of which Polymer does not address.
Aona discovers every AI tool in use across your organisation — sanctioned and unsanctioned — and surfaces Shadow AI risk before it becomes a security incident or compliance failure. It enforces acceptable use policies, blocks sensitive data from being shared with unapproved AI tools, and coaches employees in real time on safe AI usage. See more on the AI governance page.
As enterprises deploy AI agents and agentic workflows, the attack surface extends beyond chat messages. Aona provides automated Red Team testing — simulating adversarial attacks against your agents — and Blue Team monitoring to detect anomalous agent behaviour in production. When issues are found, Aona's automated remediation responds without waiting for a human analyst. Learn more on the AI security page.
Aona helps development teams build AI agents that meet regulatory requirements from the start — with policy guardrails, compliance controls, and audit trails built into the development workflow, not bolted on after deployment.
Polymer is a DLP tool for collaboration platforms — it prevents sensitive data from leaking through Slack messages, Teams chats, and Google Drive shares. Its focus is narrow and specific: protect data in the channels where employees communicate.
Aona is an AI governance platform — it governs the full AI surface including employee AI usage, AI agent security, and AI regulatory compliance. Data leakage to AI tools is one aspect of AI risk; Aona covers the entire AI governance surface that Polymer does not touch.
Polymer may detect when data is shared with AI bots in Slack or Teams. But it cannot tell you which standalone AI tools employees are using outside of chat — ChatGPT in a browser, Claude via API, AI coding assistants, or any of the hundreds of AI-powered tools employees adopt independently.
Aona provides comprehensive employee-level Shadow AI discovery — mapping every AI tool in use, by employee, by department, with full context about usage patterns, data exposure, and policy compliance.
Polymer does not test AI agents. Its focus is on data loss prevention in chat messages — a completely different security domain from AI agent security.
Aona provides dedicated AI agent security testing: Red Team simulation to find vulnerabilities before deployment, and Blue Team monitoring to catch anomalous behaviour in production. This is a capability that collaboration DLP tools are not designed to provide.
Polymer supports data-focused compliance in collaboration tools — helping organisations meet GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI requirements by preventing sensitive data from being shared in chat.
Aona addresses AI-specific regulations — EU AI Act, ISO 42001, and NIST AI RMF. These frameworks require purpose-built AI governance tools that provide AI risk assessments, AI audit trails, and AI compliance reporting — capabilities far beyond collaboration DLP.
What is the difference between Aona and Polymer?
+Does Polymer cover AI governance?
+Can Polymer test AI agents for security vulnerabilities?
+Does Aona replace Polymer for DLP in Slack and Teams?
+Can Aona and Polymer be used together?
+Book a 30-minute demo and see how Aona governs employee AI usage, secures AI agents, and supports your AI compliance programme.
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