AI Defense Stack

LLM firewalls & guardrails

Lakera Guard: hosted guardrail API for prompt and data risks

Lakera Guard is a hosted guardrail API for prompt and data risks from Check Point. It is a commercial product offered as: SaaS, Self-hosted, API. Pricing model: not published. The vendor's page now calls it Check Point AI Guardrails.

  • Last reviewed
Visit Lakera Guard (opens in a new tab) Documentation (opens in a new tab)
Commercial Now Check Point AI Guardrails Layer 6: Runtime guardrails

Best for

Teams that want a hosted API to screen prompts and responses, with a self-hosted option for stricter environments

Ownership

Check Point completed its acquisition of Lakera in the fourth quarter of 2025. Source, checked October 21, 2026: checkpoint.com (opens in a new tab)

Consider instead if

  • You want an open-source library you can modify and run entirely yourself. See NeMo Guardrails.
  • You want to probe a model for weaknesses before release instead of filtering live traffic. See garak.

What Lakera Guard does

Lakera Guard is a commercial guardrail service that screens what goes into and comes out of an LLM. Applications call a Guard API for each user interaction or agent step. The documentation lists defenses for prompt attacks, content moderation, data leakage, malicious links and agent behavior, plus custom guardrails in beta. It is offered as a cloud service or as a self-hosted product. Check Point completed its acquisition of Lakera in the fourth quarter of 2025, and the product documentation now opens with Check Point AI Agent Security and names the guardrail layer Check Point AI Guardrails. The vendor docs name Community and Enterprise tiers but state no prices in the pages we checked, so confirm pricing and current product naming with the vendor.

This summary is our own wording of the sourced facts on this page.

Key facts

Each value links to the page that states it, with the date we checked it.

Vendor
Check Point (Lakera) Source, checked October 21, 2026: checkpoint.com (opens in a new tab)
Status
Renamed Source, checked October 21, 2026: docs.lakera.ai (opens in a new tab)
Current name
Check Point AI Guardrails Source, checked October 21, 2026: docs.lakera.ai (opens in a new tab)
Ownership
Check Point completed its acquisition of Lakera in the fourth quarter of 2025. Source, checked October 21, 2026: checkpoint.com (opens in a new tab)
Open source
No: closed source (proprietary) Source, checked October 21, 2026: docs.lakera.ai (opens in a new tab)
Latest release
Not documented in the sources we checked
Deployment
SaaS, Self-hosted, API Source, checked October 21, 2026: docs.lakera.ai (opens in a new tab)
Pricing model
Not published in the sources we checked Source, checked October 21, 2026: docs.lakera.ai (opens in a new tab)
Website
lakera.ai Source, checked October 21, 2026: lakera.ai (opens in a new tab)
Documentation
docs.lakera.ai Source, checked October 21, 2026: docs.lakera.ai (opens in a new tab)
API reference
docs.lakera.ai Source, checked October 21, 2026: docs.lakera.ai (opens in a new tab)
Quickstart
docs.lakera.ai Source, checked October 21, 2026: docs.lakera.ai (opens in a new tab)
Security page
Not documented in the sources we checked
Attestations or disclosure
SOC 2 Type II certified Source, checked October 21, 2026: docs.lakera.ai (opens in a new tab)

Capabilities

As documented by the vendor or project. The tag is our label from a controlled vocabulary.

Integrations

Where Lakera Guard fits in our AI security layers

Our analysis

Our editorial model, not a standard. The primary layer follows the category, except for tools whose main documented job is detection and response; other layers rest on a capability the sources document. How the model works.

AI security layers that Lakera Guard covers, with the role, how each applies and what it rests on
LayerRoleHow it appliesBased on
L6 Runtime Runtime guardrails Primary Screen what goes into and comes out of a model in live traffic, and limit abuse of the model endpoint. Follows its category, LLM firewalls & guardrails
L7 Agent access Agent and tool access Also covers Controls which tools an agent can call at runtime with an allow and deny list. Controls which tools an agent can call at runtime with a tool allow and deny list
L5 Data Data protection Also covers Documents protection of personal and other sensitive data from leaking. Protects personally identifiable information and other sensitive data from leaking

OWASP LLM Top 10 mapping

Our analysis

The risk list is OWASP's (Top 10 for LLM Applications, 2025). The mapping is our analysis, and each row rests on a capability the sources document.

OWASP LLM risks mapped to Lakera Guard, with the capabilities each mapping rests on
RiskHow it appliesBased on
LLM01 Prompt Injection Screens direct and indirect prompt attacks, including jailbreaks and prompt injections. Detects direct and indirect prompt injection; Detects jailbreak attempts
LLM02 Sensitive Information Disclosure Data leakage defenses protect personal and other sensitive data. Protects personally identifiable information and other sensitive data from leaking
LLM06 Excessive Agency A tool allow and deny list limits which tools an agent can call. Controls which tools an agent can call at runtime with a tool allow and deny list
LLM07 System Prompt Leakage Data leakage defenses include system prompt leakage. Prevents system prompt leakage

Not mapped in our analysis: LLM05, LLM09, LLM10. These are risks we expect tools in this category to cover; the sources we checked do not document a matching capability.

Alternatives and related tools

More in LLM firewalls & guardrails, ranked within the category by Coverage Score.

NVIDIA NeMo Guardrails

NVIDIA

Open sourceApache-2.0
  • Library
  • Self-hosted
  • API

Adds programmable input, dialog, retrieval, execution and output rails to LLM applications.

Best for: Teams that want to script rules for one LLM application in Python and run them in their own infrastructure

Coverage Score 76 out of 100
  • LLM01 Prompt Injection
  • LLM02 Sensitive Information Disclosure
  • LLM05 Improper Output Handling
  • LLM06 Excessive Agency

Reviewed

Portkey AI Gateway

Palo Alto Networks (Portkey)

Open sourceMIT Freemium Now Prisma AIRS AI Gateway
  • SaaS
  • Self-hosted
  • API

Routes LLM traffic through one gateway API and runs input and output guardrail checks on each request.

Best for: Teams that want a single gateway for several LLM providers with guardrail checks, available as open source or as a hosted service

Coverage Score 69 out of 100
  • LLM01 Prompt Injection
  • LLM02 Sensitive Information Disclosure
  • LLM05 Improper Output Handling
  • LLM09 Misinformation

Reviewed

Kong AI Gateway

Kong

Open sourceApache-2.0
  • Self-hosted
  • SaaS
  • API

Routes LLM traffic through Kong with prompt guards, PII sanitization, spend limits and observability.

Best for: Teams that already run Kong as an API gateway and want LLM routing and prompt controls on the same data plane

Coverage Score 65 out of 100
  • LLM01 Prompt Injection
  • LLM02 Sensitive Information Disclosure
  • LLM10 Unbounded Consumption

Reviewed

Head-to-head comparisons

Lakera Guard FAQ

Is Lakera Guard open source?

No. We found no public source repository for the product, which is offered as a SaaS or self-hosted service.

Who owns Lakera?

Check Point completed its acquisition of Lakera in the fourth quarter of 2025, and the product documentation is now branded Check Point AI Guardrails.

Can Lakera Guard be self-hosted?

Yes. The documentation says the product is offered as a cloud-hosted SaaS or as a self-hosted product.

Key facts you can cite

We have no commercial relationship with Check Point (Lakera).

Sources & last reviewed

Last reviewed . We compile from the vendors' own public pages and repositories and we do not run the products. Source links open in a new tab. Found a mistake? Report a correction.