Cisco AI Defense (ex Robust Intelligence): Pricing, Tiers and What's Actually Covered
Cisco's AI security platform after the Robust Intelligence acquisition. Runtime guardrails, model validation and red teaming, sold as part of the wider Cisco security stack.
Why we do not invent a number for Cisco AI Defense
Cisco AI Defense publishes no public list price on its pricing page or any sales collateral we have verified. Our methodology forbids inferring a rate from third-party speculation. To get a quote, contact the vendor directly at https://www.cisco.com/site/us/en/products/security/ai-defense/index.html. Robust Intelligence acquired by Cisco August 2024, productised as Cisco AI Defense GA March 2025.
Pricing tiers
Verbatim from the Cisco AI Defense pricing page on 2026-06-19. Quote-only tiers are surfaced as such, never with an inferred price.
| Tier | Price | Free allowance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cisco AI Defense | Quote only | - | Quote only. Bundled inside Cisco Secure Access / Hypershield deals. |
Source: https://www.cisco.com/site/us/en/products/security/ai-defense/index.html | Verified 2026-06-19
OWASP LLM Top 10 coverage
What Cisco AI Defense defends against, as claimed on its product pages and security documentation. Coverage flags are binary: an item is listed only if the vendor names the attack class explicitly.
- LLM01 Prompt injection
- LLM02 Sensitive information disclosure
- LLM03 Supply chain
- LLM04 Data and model poisoning
- LLM05 Improper output handling
- LLM06 Excessive agency
- LLM07 System prompt leakage
- LLM08 Vector and embedding weaknesses
- LLM09 Misinformation
- LLM10 Unbounded consumption
Hidden costs
Beyond the line-item price, every runtime AI guardrail carries operating costs the vendor page does not surface. Plan for these in any board paper.
- Per-call latency overhead. Guardrail check sits in the request path; budget 50 to 300 ms extra per LLM call.
- False-positive remediation. Allocate engineering time to tune policies after every guardrail rule change.
- Logging and retention. Guardrail decisions need to land in your SIEM. See siemcostcalculator.com.
- On-call coverage. Treat AI security alerts like SOC alerts. See securityoperationscost.com.
- Procurement cycle time. Quote-only vendors add weeks of contract negotiation before the first invoice arrives.
What Cisco AI Defense is best for
Cisco's AI security platform after the Robust Intelligence acquisition. Runtime guardrails, model validation and red teaming, sold as part of the wider Cisco security stack.