How much does Alma cost and is there a free plan?

Alma uses a freemium model. The open-core version (AGPL-3.0) is free for up to 3 users. For larger teams, commercial licenses are available. There is no fully managed free tier, but the self-hosted community edition covers small teams at no cost.

Does Alma have a free trial?

Alma does not offer a time-limited free trial. Instead, it provides a free version under AGPL-3.0 that supports up to 3 users with full features. You can self-host it at no cost for evaluation.

What are the best alternatives to Alma?

Alternatives include commercial AI governance platforms like Robust Intelligence, CalypsoAI, and Guardrails AI. Unlike Alma, these are often fully managed or cloud-based. For self-hosted options, Fiddler AI and WhyLabs offer some governance features but lack Alma's Cedar-based policy engine and append-only ledger.

Who is Alma best for?

Alma is ideal for platform and DevOps teams that need to inventory and govern AI agents on their infrastructure. Security teams benefit from audit trails and least-privilege enforcement, and CISOs gain vendor-neutral, self-hosted governance. Organizations with strict data residency or air-gap requirements also find it valuable.

What are the key limitations of Alma?

Alma requires self-hosting and configuration, so it's not a plug-and-play solution. It supports only up to 3 users on the free tier. Managed cloud offering is on the roadmap but not yet available. Some advanced compliance modules may require commercial licensing.

What integrations does Alma support?

Alma integrates with any identity provider via SAML 2.0 / OIDC, supports MCP servers, and works with Claude Code for policy-aware sessions. It is vendor-neutral, so it works with any model provider or cloud. For a full list, see the official documentation.

Is Alma easy to set up and learn?

Alma is designed for teams with DevOps experience. It runs as a single static binary with no phone-home, making deployment straightforward for those familiar with self-hosted tools. The learning curve involves understanding Cedar-based policies and the read-first governance model, but documentation is provided.

Can Alma enforce security policies for AI agents?

Yes, Alma uses a Cedar-based RBAC/ABAC policy engine with a deny-closed default. It enforces least-privilege by building a read/write access map and can revoke agent sessions via an emergency kill switch. This helps security teams enforce policies without blocking innovation.

Is Alma self-hosted or cloud-based?

Alma is primarily self-hosted. It runs on your infrastructure as a single static binary with no calls home, supports air-gapped deployments, and includes offline license verification. A managed cloud option is on the roadmap but not yet available.

Does Alma support FinOps for AI agents?

Yes, Alma includes a FinOps module for per-agent and per-model budget enforcement and spend attribution. This helps platform teams control costs by setting budgets and tracking usage across different agents and models.

Is Alma suitable for air-gapped environments?

Yes, Alma is designed for air-gapped deployments. It has no phone-home requirement, supports offline license verification using Ed25519 cryptographic signatures, and can run entirely disconnected from the internet, making it ideal for strict data residency or classified environments.

Alma

Q: Is Alma good for compliance (SOC 2, ISO 27001)?

Yes, Alma includes a compliance evidence module to help meet SOC 2, ISO 27001, and NIST standards. Its append-only audit ledger with cryptographic chaining provides tamper-proof logs, and identity federation supports scoped delegation for audit requirements.

Freemium

Self-hosted open-core control plane for AI agent governance and security.

By Tanmay Verma, Founder · Last verified 03 Jul 2026

0 views

Added 5d ago

77/100Safe Bet

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In short

Alma — Self-hosted open-core control plane for AI agent governance and security. Best for Platform and DevOps teams needing to inventory and govern AI agents, Security teams requiring audit trails and least-privilege enforcement for AI, CISOs looking for vendor-neutral, self-hosted AI governance. Free to use.

Compared withvs Push Security vs Temporal Ai vs Audioeye

Is Alma actually worth it?

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Editorial Verdict

Best for

Platform and DevOps teams needing to inventory and govern AI agentsSecurity teams requiring audit trails and least-privilege enforcement for AICISOs looking for vendor-neutral, self-hosted AI governanceOrganizations with strict data residency or air-gap requirements

Not ideal for

Users seeking a fully managed cloud solution (cloud option still on roadmap)Teams wanting a plug-and-play no-code AI governance tool (requires self-hosting and configuration)Individuals looking for a free tier beyond 3 users

Olivares AI fills a critical gap for enterprises running AI agents on their own infrastructure. Its open-core model and self-hosted design make it a strong choice for teams that need visibility and control without vendor lock-in. The product is early (v0.1.0-alpha as of June 2026), but the architectural decisions — passive discovery, read-first governance, and cryptographic audit — are solid.

Last verified: July 2026

What's new in Alma

Checked 5 days ago

Across the latest 6 updates: 5 feature updates and 1 launch.

LaunchChangelog·9 days agoNewest

v0.1.0-alpha.1 pre-release

Initial public alpha of Alma with core governance engine, access map, kill switch, FinOps, Claude Code/MCP support, and SLSA Level 3 build attestation.

FeatureBlog·Jun 5

What your AI agents can actually reach: mapping agent access on real infrastructure

Access map shows gap between permitted vs observed agent actions, revealing least-privilege drift.

FeatureBlog·May 28

Auditing Claude Code and MCP servers in self-hosted environments

Auditor-grade trail for Claude Code and MCP servers using per-agent identity, hash-chained ledger, and untrusted MCP signal handling.

FeatureBlog·May 20

Least-privilege drift: catching over-privileged AI agents before an incident

Detect least-privilege drift via permitted-vs-observed diff and policy enforcement at access time.

FeatureBlog·May 13

Self-hosted AI governance and data residency: the strongest GDPR story

Self-hosting the governance platform ensures data never leaves the customer perimeter — edges transmitted, no payloads.

FeatureBlog·May 6

Passive discovery vs proxies: inventorying AI agents without sitting in the data path

Compares inline proxy high-blast-radius approach vs passive discovery from logs, OpenTelemetry, and eBPF backstop.

What independent users actually report about Alma

We ran a structured research pass across product reviews, community discussions, and post-purchase forum threads to surface the patterns vendors won't publish themselves. Below: the recurring strengths, the hidden costs people mention most, and the cohort that consistently regrets adopting this tool.

69 mentions across 4 sources (Hacker News, Product Hunt, App Store, Lemmy).

30% positive70% critical

Recurring strengths

+Deny-closed default with Cedar-based RBAC/ABAC is security-best-practice approach.
+Passive discovery of agents and MCP servers without proxies or agents.
+Tamper-evident audit ledger with cryptographic chaining ensures compliance readiness.
+Emergency kill switch for instant session revocation adds critical safety.
+FinOps module for per-agent budgets enables cost allocation and control.

Recurring frustrations

−No community feedback available to validate actual usability or stability.
−Feature claims are extensive but unverified in real-world deployments.
−AGPL license with 3-user cap may complicate evaluation and adoption.
−Documentation and onboarding experience cannot be assessed from data.
−Self-hosted setup may require significant DevOps effort for non-experts.

Patterns worth knowing

Name ambiguity: All community posts reference other 'Alma' products entirely.

Seen on Hacker News, Product Hunt, App Store, Lemmy

Product Hunt feedback on charitable Alma is positive but irrelevant to this tool.

Seen on Product Hunt

App Store users praise Alma nutrition tracker while criticizing paywall changes.

Seen on App Store

Learning curve

advancedProductive in ~A few hours

Hidden costs people mention

• Self-hosting infrastructure and maintenance costs not included.
• Commercial license pricing undisclosed; may require sales contact.

Viability Score

77/100

Safe Bet

How likely is Alma to still be operational in 12 months? Based on 4 signals — momentum (how recently it shipped), wrapper dependency, revenue model, and web presence.

momentum

funding runway

website health

wrapper dependency

100

Last calculated: July 2026

How we score →

Key Features

Passive discovery of AI agents, sessions, models, and MCP servers
Real-time read/write access map (permitted vs. observed)
Cedar-based RBAC/ABAC policy engine (deny-closed default)
Append-only audit ledger with cryptographic hash chaining
Emergency kill switch for agent or model session revocation
FinOps module with per-agent, per-model budget enforcement
Claude Code integration for policy-aware sessions
MCP server governance – discover, register, enforce policy
Identity federation via SAML 2.0 / OIDC with scoped delegation
Compliance evidence module (SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST)
Evaluation harness for agent behavior vs. policy baselines
Offline license verification (Ed25519) – no phone-home
SLSA Build Level 3 provenance attestation on releases
Cosign keyless signatures via Sigstore (Fulcio + Rekor)
SBOM in CycloneDX and SPDX formats with every release

About Alma

FreemiumIntermediateAPI availableCLI · API

Olivares AI is an open-core, self-hosted platform that gives infrastructure, DevOps, and security teams visibility and control over AI agents running on their own infrastructure. It passively discovers every agent, session, model, and MCP tool, then builds a typed read/write access map showing what each agent can reach versus what it actually touches. The platform is built around a "read-first" philosophy: it observes before it enforces. Governance is deny-closed by default, with Cedar-based RBAC/ABAC policies, risk tiers, dual-control, and an append-only audit ledger with cryptographic chaining. It also includes a FinOps module for per-agent/per-model budgets and spend attribution. Designed for self-hosting, Olivares runs as a single static binary with no calls home, supports air-gapped deployments, and is vendor-neutral — compatible with any identity provider, model provider, or cloud. The project is AGPL-3.0 for up to 3 users, with commercial licenses for larger teams. A managed cloud option is on the roadmap.

Behind the Verdict

Olivares AI is built for platform and security teams who need to govern AI agents that run on their own infrastructure — not somebody else's cloud. Its passive discovery approach is a standout: no proxies, no agents to install, just log telemetry and eBPF. The access map gives a clear read-vs-write view that surfaces least-privilege drift the moment it appears. The Cedar-based policy engine is expressive and deny-closed by default. The append-only audit ledger with hash chaining is auditor-ready. FinOps attribution is a nice bonus for cost-conscious teams. But the platform is still in alpha (v0.1.0-alpha.1 as of June 2026). You'll need comfort with self-hosting and manual configuration. The community edition caps at 3 users. Commercial pricing is not yet published, so larger teams must contact sales for now. Managed cloud is on the roadmap but not yet available. Compared to commercial alternatives like AIShield or Calico AI, Olivares is more transparent and auditable but less turnkey. We'd reach for Olivares when we need to air-gap governance, enforce data residency, or build a compliant AI estate from scratch. Skip it if you lack the ops bandwidth to self-host or need a fully managed solution today.

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Use Cases

Discover all AI agents running on your infrastructure without deploying proxies or agents.
Map every agent's read/write access to databases, object stores, and APIs in real time.
Enforce least-privilege policies with Cedar-based rules that block or alert on violations.
Audit agent behavior with a tamper-evident, hash-chained ledger for compliance evidence.
Manage AI spend with per-agent and per-model budgets and cost attribution.
Govern Claude Code sessions and MCP server tool calls with deny-closed enforcement.

Models Under the Hood

Claude Opus 4Claude Sonnet 4GPT-4oGPT-4o miniLlama 3.1 70B

Limitations

The platform is in early alpha (v0.1.0-alpha.1) and may have limited production readiness.
Self-hosting requires infrastructure management; a managed cloud option is not yet available.
The free Community edition is capped at 3 users, and commercial pricing tiers are not yet finalized.
Some features, like SSO enforcement and air-gap, are only available in paid tiers.

12-month cost

Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.

Plan

Annual total

Free

Over 12 months

Effective monthly

Free

Billed monthly

Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.

Integrations

Claude CodepgAuditeBPFOpenTelemetrySAML 2.0OIDCPostgreSQLSigstoreFulcioRekor

Resources & Guides

Frequently Asked Questions

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