6 Best Tracee Alternatives for Runtime Security in 2026

Tracee uses eBPF to monitor low-level system activity in real time, transforming kernel events into high-fidelity security telemetry for runtime protection and forensic investigations. Its security signatures are mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, enabling detection of privilege escalation, container escapes, credential access, and defense evasion with full argument capture for forensic accuracy.

While Tracee is highly effective at runtime threat detection, you may evaluate alternatives based on broader security requirements. You might need coverage beyond runtime threats, including vulnerability management, compliance, integrated platforms, lighter-weight deployments, or specialized capabilities that extend beyond Tracee’s core focus.

Why Look for Tracee Alternatives?

Tracee delivers powerful runtime security through eBPF, but specific requirements reveal different needs:

Runtime detection alone doesn't cover the full security lifecycle. While Tracee excels at detecting threats during execution, comprehensive security needs vulnerability scanning, configuration auditing, network policy enforcement, and compliance checking. Teams wanting unified security platforms require tools that extend beyond runtime.

MITRE ATT&CK signatures focus on known attack patterns. Tracee's signature-based detection identifies documented techniques effectively, but novel attacks or custom exploits may evade signature matching. Some teams prefer behavioral analysis, anomaly detection, or machine learning approaches.

Event volume can overwhelm in large deployments. Tracee captures extensive system events with full argument details. In clusters with hundreds of nodes and thousands of containers, the raw event volume requires significant storage and processing. Some alternatives provide more aggressive filtering or higher-level abstractions.

Forensic detail trades off against real-time performance. Capturing every system call argument enables deep investigation but consumes resources. Teams prioritizing performance over forensic completeness may prefer lighter instrumentation with less overhead.

Security-focused tooling requires specialized expertise. Interpreting Tracee's events, tuning signatures, and investigating alerts demands security knowledge. Some teams prefer platforms with guided workflows, automated triage, or managed security services.

Container runtime specificity limits scope. Tracee focuses heavily on container runtime security. Teams also needing network security, secrets management, admission control, or supply chain security require additional tools or integrated platforms.

The Best Tracee Alternatives in 2026

1. Falco

Falco provides runtime threat detection for containers and Kubernetes using eBPF or kernel modules. Where Tracee emphasizes forensic event capture, Falco focuses on real-time alerting with a mature rule engine and extensive integrations.

Falco monitors kernel events through eBPF or kernel modules for suspicious activity. Detect unexpected process executions, file modifications in sensitive directories, privilege escalations, or abnormal network connections. The flexible rule engine lets you define custom detection logic for your environment.

Extensive integrations connect Falco alerts to existing security workflows. Forward alerts to Slack, PagerDuty, SIEM systems, or cloud-native tools like Prometheus and Grafana. This integration ecosystem enables automated response workflows and centralized security monitoring.

Main Benefits:

CNCF graduated project with strong community
Mature rule engine with extensive default rules
Multiple deployment modes (eBPF, kernel module, userspace)
Rich integration ecosystem for alerting and response
Kubernetes-native with automatic context enrichment
Commercial support available through vendors
Active development and regular updates

2. Tetragon

Tetragon delivers security observability and runtime enforcement using eBPF from the Cilium project. Where Tracee focuses on detection and forensics, Tetragon adds enforcement capabilities to block malicious actions in real-time.

Tetragon combines detection with enforcement through eBPF programs. Not only observe suspicious behavior but also block it immediately—prevent unauthorized binary execution, restrict network connections, or deny file access. This proactive approach stops threats rather than just alerting.

Flexible policy language defines both monitoring and enforcement rules. Write policies that trace specific system calls for visibility while simultaneously enforcing restrictions. The unified approach means detection and prevention use consistent policy definitions.

Main Benefits:

Runtime enforcement, not just detection
CNCF sandbox project from Cilium team
Flexible policy language for custom rules
Lower overhead than full syscall tracing
Process ancestry tracking for context
Works standalone or with Cilium
Active development with strong backing

3. Sysdig OSS

Sysdig OSS provides system-level visibility through kernel instrumentation with powerful filtering and scriptable analysis. Where Tracee focuses on security signatures, Sysdig offers flexible troubleshooting and investigation capabilities for both security and performance.

Sysdig captures comprehensive system activity with minimal overhead. Monitor processes, files, networks, and containers with rich filtering syntax. The command-line interface enables real-time inspection and recording for later analysis.

Chisel scripts extend Sysdig with custom analysis logic. Write Lua scripts to extract specific patterns, aggregate events, or implement custom detection rules. This programmability enables investigation workflows tailored to your environment.

Main Benefits:

Powerful command-line interface for investigation
Flexible filtering and aggregation capabilities
Chisel scripting for custom analysis
Works on any Linux system
Lower resource usage than full tracing
Active open-source project
Commercial Sysdig Secure builds on OSS foundation

4. Kubescape

Kubescape provides Kubernetes security posture management with configuration scanning, vulnerability detection, and compliance checking. Where Tracee focuses on runtime threats, Kubescape prevents issues by identifying misconfigurations before deployment.

Kubescape scans Kubernetes manifests, Helm charts, and live clusters for security issues. Detect exposed secrets, excessive permissions, missing security contexts, or insecure configurations. The scanning approach catches problems during development rather than waiting for runtime detection.

Built-in compliance frameworks map findings to industry standards. Check configurations against NSA/CISA guidelines, CIS benchmarks, or MITRE ATT&CK framework. This compliance mapping helps teams meet regulatory requirements and security best practices.

Main Benefits:

CNCF sandbox project with active development
Configuration scanning catches issues pre-deployment
Multiple compliance frameworks supported
IDE and CI/CD integration for shift-left security
Risk scoring prioritizes findings
Open-source with commercial offerings
Lower runtime overhead than event tracing

5. KubeArmor

KubeArmor delivers runtime security enforcement for Kubernetes using Linux Security Modules (LSM) and eBPF. Where Tracee detects threats, KubeArmor prevents them through mandatory access control and security policies.

KubeArmor enforces security policies using AppArmor, SELinux, or BPF-LSM. Define what processes can execute, which files can be accessed, and what network connections are allowed. Policies enforce least-privilege principles, blocking unauthorized actions automatically.

Policy generation learns from application behavior to create appropriate restrictions. Run applications in discovery mode to observe normal behavior, then generate policies allowing only observed actions. This automated approach reduces policy creation effort while maintaining security.

Main Benefits:

Enforcement-first approach prevents threats
Uses native Linux security modules
Automatic policy generation from behavior
CNCF sandbox project
Kubernetes-native with CRD-based policies
Works with multiple LSM backends
Active development and community

6. Aqua Trivy

Aqua Trivy provides comprehensive vulnerability and misconfiguration scanning for containers, Kubernetes, and infrastructure. Where Tracee detects runtime threats, Trivy prevents them by identifying vulnerabilities before deployment.

Trivy scans container images for known vulnerabilities in OS packages and application dependencies. Detect CVEs across multiple ecosystems—Alpine, Debian, Red Hat, Python, Node.js, Go, and more. Fast scanning with accurate vulnerability detection helps secure the supply chain.

Beyond vulnerabilities, Trivy identifies misconfigurations in Kubernetes manifests, Terraform, and Docker. Check for insecure settings, missing security controls, or compliance violations. This broad scanning coverage addresses multiple attack vectors.

Main Benefits:

Fast and accurate vulnerability scanning
Multiple target types (containers, Kubernetes, IaC)
Built by Aqua Security (same team as Tracee)
Extensive ecosystem support
CI/CD integration for automated scanning
Free and open-source
Active development with frequent updates

Commercial Runtime Security Platforms

While open-source tools provide specific security capabilities, production environments often need unified platforms that combine runtime security with vulnerability management, compliance checking, and incident response workflows.

Better Stack

Better Stack delivers comprehensive Kubernetes observability through eBPF-based automatic instrumentation with security-relevant telemetry. Where Tracee focuses on security-specific events, Better Stack provides broader observability that helps detect security issues through behavioral anomalies and comprehensive logging.

Deploy Better Stack's collector once to capture telemetry across your entire cluster automatically. While not security-specialized like Tracee, the continuous eBPF instrumentation captures network traffic, application behavior, and system activity that reveals security incidents through anomalous patterns.

Network-level instrumentation reveals suspicious communication patterns automatically. Monitor all HTTP requests, database queries, gRPC calls, and network connections. Unexpected traffic patterns, unusual service communication, or abnormal query behavior can indicate security incidents or lateral movement.

Service dependency maps show actual traffic flows continuously. Identify when services start communicating unexpectedly, when new external connections appear, or when traffic patterns deviate from normal. These behavioral changes often signal security incidents before signature-based detection triggers.

Live Tail streams all logs in real-time with powerful search and filtering. Security teams can track authentication failures, permission denials, error patterns, or suspicious activity across the cluster. The log aggregation provides security-relevant context beyond isolated events.

Query historical data using SQL or PromQL for security investigations. When incidents occur, query across weeks of retained data to understand attacker activities, identify initial compromise, or trace lateral movement. The query flexibility enables thorough forensic analysis.

Long-term retention with ClickHouse storage preserves evidence for investigation. Store complete traces, logs, and metrics for extended periods. Security investigations often require analyzing patterns across weeks or months to understand attack progression.

Anomaly detection alerts notify security teams when patterns deviate from normal. Configure alerts for unusual network traffic, unexpected service behavior, error rate spikes, or suspicious log patterns. These behavioral alerts complement signature-based security tools.

AI-powered analysis helps investigate security incidents faster. The AI SRE correlates network traces, service dependencies, and error patterns to identify probable causes. During security incidents, this automated analysis accelerates investigation by quickly identifying affected services and suspicious patterns.

Main Benefits:

eBPF-based continuous telemetry collection
Behavioral anomaly detection complements signatures
Long-term retention for forensic analysis
SQL queries for security investigations
Network traffic visibility reveals lateral movement
Service maps show unexpected communications
AI-powered incident analysis
Integration with Better Stack Uptime
Available in 4 regions with custom deployments
SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR, and ISO 27001 compliant
60-day money-back guarantee

Final thoughts

Tracee stands out for deep runtime visibility using eBPF and MITRE ATT&CK–aligned detection, giving you detailed forensic context when incidents occur. If your priority is high-fidelity runtime telemetry, it remains a strong choice.

However, your decision should start with your broader security model. Falco focuses on mature runtime detection, Tetragon and KubeArmor emphasize enforcement and prevention, while Trivy and Kubescape shift security earlier in the lifecycle.

In practice, container security is rarely solved by a single tool. The right approach depends on whether you value detection depth, proactive blocking, or pre-deployment risk reduction most.

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