Comparison · Authorization service
Permit.io decides. Nomos decides and acts.
Permit.io tells your app yes or no. Nomos tells your agent yes or no, then proxies the SaaS or cloud call with a short-lived credential — so the answer is also the action.
Permit.io is policy-as-a-service. Nomos is policy + credential + audit + execution, fused.
the receipts
Feature by feature.
No hedging.
Every row is a thing your agent will actually do. If we marked a cell wrong, tell us in Discussions — we’ll fix it the same week.
| feature | Permit.io | Nomos |
|---|---|---|
| Capability tokens (UCAN) | ||
| Per-call policy decision | ||
| Cryptographic audit chain | ||
| MCP-native server | ||
| Self-hostable | soon | |
| Open source | OPAL | soon |
| Step-up passkey approval | ||
| Schema-validated tool calls | ||
| Multi-agent UCAN delegation | ||
| Multi-tenant org RBAC |
honest questions
What people actually ask.
- Permit.io also uses Cedar / OPA. What's different?
- Policy is one piece. Nomos also mints the credential, executes the call, schema-validates the payload, signs the audit, and chains it. Permit.io stops at the decision.
- Can Nomos replace my existing authorization layer?
- For agents, yes. For your human-facing app, keep Permit.io or Cerbos — they're great at it. Nomos is purpose-built for the agent's side of the boundary.
Try Nomos. It’s free.
Open beta. No credit card. Plug an agent in, see your first audited decision in minutes. Self-host on the waitlist when you’re ready.
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