§ — A different question, not a better tool
They push alerts.
We answer questions.
Graph-based CNAPPs and native tools ingest your cloud, evaluate it against a catalog of rules, and push findings into a queue. We invert that. Authorization questions are answered with your parameters, against your definition of relevance.
Ingest the cloud. Run ~1000 rules. Push findings.
Graph-based CNAPPs. The graph is built once on a cadence. Every rule match becomes a finding. You spend the rest of the week triaging 800 to find the 12.
Compute the answer. On demand. With your parameters.
Ask who-can — you get the authorization answer with the conditions you pin, scoped to what you actually asked about. Zero findings until you ask.
§ — The honest matrix
Category-level capabilities, not feature nitpicks. Read each row as an architectural question the tool can or cannot answer.
What each tool
is built to answer.
§ — Same question, three answers
Each scenario is a real question from a real role. Click through the tabs to see how each tool responds.
Ask the question.
Watch what they return.
“A React app on ECS is compromised. Its task role has secretsmanager:GetSecretValue account-wide. Which principals — including this one — can read our production secrets?”
who-can( action: "secretsmanager:GetSecretValue" resource: secrets )
Every principal that can read every secret, resolved through all 6 layers including the ECS task role's silent account-wide grant. The frontend role appears flagged. Fix one step to break the chain.
- arn:aws:iam::prod:role/ecs-task-frontendunexpected
- arn:aws:iam::prod:role/secret-rotator
- arn:aws:iam::prod:role/platform-admin
- arn:aws:iam::prod:role/lambda-payments-read
- arn:aws:iam::prod:user/break-glass-01
Graph-based platforms surface this as a "toxic combination" — if the rule fires. No single query returns the list. You open the bucket of secrets, traverse the graph per resource, and reconcile across rules scored by severity.
Access Analyzer scans resource policies for external access. It does not enumerate principals that can reach a secret via identity policies, role chains, or conditions. Miss.
§ — One sentence