Uptycs CNAPP

Uptycs CNAPP is a cloud security platform for teams protecting workloads across hybrid environments. It is best suited to large organizations that need development scanning, runtime controls, and investigation tools in one product. Its broad coverage is useful, but the $12K annual minimum and core-based workload units make it a substantial commitment.

Overview

Uptycs connects security work from build time through runtime across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and hybrid deployments. Its risk scores bring workload findings together with attack paths, runtime threats, and committed-code context, helping security teams prioritize related issues rather than treat each alert in isolation. That breadth makes more sense for a large estate than a small cloud deployment.

Workloads are licensed by unit, with each unit supporting up to 8 processing cores. Historical raw telemetry retention is 7 days by default, so teams that need a longer investigation window should account for that limit. Uptycs says customer data is protected in transit with TLS 1.2 and encrypted at rest with AES 256, and that it maintains active SOC 2 Type II compliance.

Key features

Workload visibility and development scanning

Continuous workload scanning, agentless scans, and eBPF runtime insights help catalog software across assets. At build time, Uptycs scans AMIs, images, and infrastructure as code; it can also scan code repositories for alerts and third-party dependency vulnerabilities. This joined-up view is useful to teams that want development risks considered alongside what is deployed, though smaller teams may not need coverage across every stage.

Risk context and runtime defense

Workload risk scores link attack paths and runtime threats to related context, including committed code. Uptycs says it can stop threats such as cryptominers and reverse shells in real time, and supports customized file integrity monitoring and YARA policies. These controls make the platform relevant to teams seeking both prioritization and prevention, not just an inventory of findings.

Investigations, compliance, and integrations

Investigators can use Attack Path, Ask Uptycs, Unified Threat Hunting, Juno AI Analyst, and historical and real-time queries. Out-of-the-box reporting covers SOC 2, CIS, PCI DSS, HITRUST, NIST, DISA, ISO, and FedRAMP. Integrations include ServiceNow, PagerDuty, Jira, Slack, Splunk, Azure Sentinel, Elastic Security, QRadar, Amazon Security Lake, Okta, Azure AD, Google Workspace, GitHub, and Cloudflare. This range can help teams connect security findings with existing operations and identity tools.

Pricing

Pricing is workload-unit based, with a $12K minimum order per year across the plans. The displayed annual rates are entry prices, not a low-cost way to adopt the platform below that minimum; buyers should weigh the yearly commitment against the size of their deployment and the 8-core unit limit.

Plan	Annual price	Best fit
Discover — Workload	$36 a year ($3.00/month, billed annually)	Teams starting with workload coverage
Discover — Cloud Workload	$60 a year ($5.00/month, billed annually)	Teams focused on cloud workloads
Audit — Workload	$72 a year ($6.00/month, billed annually)	Teams seeking workload audit coverage
Audit — Cloud Workload	$120 a year ($10.00/month, billed annually)	Teams seeking cloud-workload audit coverage
Secure — Workload	Custom pricing	Teams considering the Secure workload tier
Secure — Cloud Workload	Custom pricing	Teams considering the Secure cloud-workload tier

The Discover and Audit prices distinguish workload from cloud-workload licensing, but plan descriptions do not establish feature differences beyond those names. The Secure tiers require a pricing request. There is no free plan, so organizations looking to evaluate at no cost should consider an alternative with a free option.

Platforms

Uptycs supports API, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, web, and Windows. Its multi-cloud pricing supports AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, making it a fit for mixed environments rather than a single-cloud-only deployment.

Who it's for

Uptycs is strongest for security teams in large hybrid-cloud environments that need workload scanning, code-to-cloud context, runtime defense, and investigation capabilities under one platform. It is a weaker fit for smaller teams that cannot justify the minimum annual order, need telemetry retention beyond 7 days by default, or want a free starting tier.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Connects build-time scans, workload visibility, and runtime insights, giving teams a broader view of risk across the deployment lifecycle.
• Risk scores tie attack paths and runtime threats to code context, which can help prioritize related issues.
• Investigation tools, compliance reporting, and integrations span common security and operations workflows.
• Supports AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud alongside hybrid deployments.

Cons

• The $12K minimum order per year is a high barrier for smaller deployments, even when an entry rate is shown per workload unit.
• Each workload unit supports up to 8 processing cores, so buyers need to understand how their estate maps to unit licensing.
• Seven days of default raw telemetry retention can limit investigations requiring a longer history.
• No free plan means there is no free tier for evaluation.

Alternatives

Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms provides a broader category comparison for readers still weighing the field.

• Qualys TotalCloud is worth considering if a free license and free trial matter; its free license has limited API calls for control evaluation.
• Sysdig Secure may suit teams looking for a host-based licensing approach, with CSPM compute instances also part of its licensing basis.
• Tenable One Attack Surface Management is an alternative for teams seeking unified visibility across IT, cloud, web applications, OT, and external attack surfaces.
• CrowdStrike Falcon Surface is another paid option with a free trial.
• FortiCNAPP offers Standard tiers with one- and three-year terms and entitlement per vCPU.
• Palo Alto Networks Cortex Cloud API Security is another paid option.
• Upwind CNAPP is another paid option.
• AccuKnox is worth comparing if a freemium model and pay-as-you-go purchasing are a better match.

Verdict

Choose Uptycs CNAPP if you run a large hybrid-cloud estate and want workload scanning, runtime defense, code context, and investigation tools in one platform. Its lifecycle coverage is the main reason to choose it; the $12K annual minimum, unit limits, and 7-day default telemetry retention are strong reasons for smaller teams or long-lookback investigations to look elsewhere.