Is Arnica or Cilium better?

Neither clearly leads. Arnica starts at Free and Cilium at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Arnica or Cilium?

Arnica starts at Free and Cilium at Free.

Does Arnica or Cilium run on more platforms?

Arnica runs on Web, GitHub, IDE. Cilium runs on Kubernetes, Linux.

Can I use Arnica for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Arnica best used for?

Arnica is most often used for detecting ai-generated vulnerabilities in copilot and cursor suggestions, finding hardcoded secrets before they reach production, mapping container vulnerabilities back to source code, generating sbom for supply chain compliance requirements. Of those, detecting ai-generated vulnerabilities in copilot and cursor suggestions and finding hardcoded secrets before they reach production are not what Cilium is typically brought in for.

What can Arnica do that Cilium cannot?

Arnica covers AI SAST, Software Composition Analysis, Secrets detection, IaC scanning. Cilium covers eBPF datapath, Identity-based policy, Hubble observability, Sidecar-free mesh.

Cybersecurity · head to head

Arnica vs Cilium

Arnica

Cybersecurity

AI-native application security platform detecting and fixing vulnerabilities across the SDLC

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Cilium

Cloud

eBPF-based networking, observability and security for Kubernetes

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Arnica per-identity pricing ($25-$50/person/year) requires tracking active developers; Cilium requires a recent Linux kernel, which rules out older distributions and some managed environments
They diverge on capability: Arnica covers AI SAST, Cilium covers eBPF datapath.
Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Arnica and Cilium actually diverge.

Attributes where Arnica and Cilium differ
Attribute	Arnica	Cilium
Pricing model	Per-identity subscription with annual discount	Open source, no licence fee
Platforms	Web, GitHub, IDE	Kubernetes, Linux
Category	Cybersecurity	Cloud

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Arnica

AI SAST
Software Composition Analysis
Secrets detection
IaC scanning
Container scanning
SBOM generation
Agentic rules
Pipelineless integration

Only in Cilium

eBPF datapath
Identity-based policy
Hubble observability
Sidecar-free mesh

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Arnica

Detecting AI-generated vulnerabilities in Copilot and Cursor suggestionsnot Cilium
Finding hardcoded secrets before they reach productionnot Cilium
Mapping container vulnerabilities back to source codenot Cilium
Generating SBOM for supply chain compliance requirementsnot Cilium
Scanning infrastructure-as-code for misconfiguration risksnot Cilium

Cilium

Kubernetes networking at a scale where iptables-based CNI performance degradesnot Arnica
Network policy expressed on workload identity rather than fragile IP rulesnot Arnica
Seeing which services actually talk to each other, and what policy is droppingnot Arnica

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Arnica

Per-identity pricing ($25-$50/person/year) requires tracking active developers
Overage identity tracking via 90-day PR activity can be unpredictable
Free plan limited to weekly updates, requiring upgrade for real-time scanning
Advanced add-ons (Image Scanning, AI SAST, Agentic Rules Enforcer) pricing not published
On-premises deployment limited to Enterprise tier

Cilium

Requires a recent Linux kernel, which rules out older distributions and some managed environments
eBPF is genuinely hard to debug when it misbehaves, and the skill is rare on most teams
Broad scope — CNI, policy, mesh, observability — means the learning curve covers several domains at once

Pricing, plan by plan

Arnica

Free

FreeFree
- No credit card required
- 14-day trial available
- Weekly risk identification updates
Core Business$360/year
- Monthly billing option at $30/identity/month
- Annual billing at $25/identity/month (17% discount)
- Real-time risk scanning and notifications
Core Enterprise$720/year
- Monthly billing option at $60/identity/month
- Annual billing at $50/identity/month (17% discount)
- All Core Business features

Cilium

Free

CiliumFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support

Which should you pick?

Choose Arnica if

You need ai sast.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, GitHub, IDE.
You also want software composition analysis.

Arnica review

Choose Cilium if

You need ebpf datapath.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Kubernetes, Linux.
You also want identity-based policy.

Cilium review

Questions people ask

Is Arnica or Cilium better?: Neither clearly leads. Arnica starts at Free and Cilium at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Arnica or Cilium?: Arnica starts at Free and Cilium at Free.
Does Arnica or Cilium run on more platforms?: Arnica runs on Web, GitHub, IDE. Cilium runs on Kubernetes, Linux.
Can I use Arnica for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Arnica best used for?: Arnica is most often used for detecting ai-generated vulnerabilities in copilot and cursor suggestions, finding hardcoded secrets before they reach production, mapping container vulnerabilities back to source code, generating sbom for supply chain compliance requirements. Of those, detecting ai-generated vulnerabilities in copilot and cursor suggestions and finding hardcoded secrets before they reach production are not what Cilium is typically brought in for.
What can Arnica do that Cilium cannot?: Arnica covers AI SAST, Software Composition Analysis, Secrets detection, IaC scanning. Cilium covers eBPF datapath, Identity-based policy, Hubble observability, Sidecar-free mesh.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Arnica: How are identities defined in Arnica pricing?

Identities are any users and other contributing entities that contributed code and/or had PR activity during the last 90 days. This ensures billing matches active developers.

Source

Cilium: Is Cilium free?

Yes, open source and CNCF-graduated. Isovalent sells an enterprise distribution and support.

Arnica: What is the annual discount?

Annual prepayment offers approximately 17% savings versus monthly billing. Core Business annual is $300/identity versus $360 for monthly.

Source

Cilium: What does eBPF change?

It lets Cilium run packet-processing programs inside the kernel instead of relying on iptables rule chains, which behave poorly as the number of services grows.

Arnica: Can I cancel or downgrade Arnica anytime?

Yes. Subscriptions can be cancelled or downgraded at any time. Overage identities receive automatic protection with true-up invoicing.

Source

Cilium: Does Cilium replace a service mesh?

It can cover much of what a mesh does without sidecars, though full mesh feature sets still favour Istio or Linkerd.

Arnica vs Cilium

Arnica

Cilium

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Arnica

Only in Cilium

What people use each for

Arnica

Cilium

Where each one falls short

Arnica

Cilium

Pricing, plan by plan

Arnica

Cilium

Which should you pick?

Choose Arnica if

Choose Cilium if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Arnica

More on Cilium

Keep looking

Other head to heads