Comparison
Gateco vs Oso
Oso is a general-purpose authorization library and cloud service. Gateco is retrieval-specific security middleware for AI systems. Both handle authorization, but at different layers, for different audiences, with different abstractions.
Bottom line
Oso is a general-purpose authorization library: Apache 2.0 core, the Polar policy language, SDKs for six languages, and mature relationship-based access control. Gateco is a purpose-built permission-aware retrieval layer with 12 native vector database connectors, IDP sync for 4 identity providers, deny-by-default enforcement, grounded answers over policy-filtered chunks, and an MCP server. Reach for Oso when authorization spans your whole application; reach for Gateco when the question is what an AI system may retrieve.
| Capability | Gateco | Oso |
|---|---|---|
| Vector-DB-native deny-by-default | Yes | No |
| 12 vector DB connectors out of the box Oso requires custom adapters per DB | Yes | No |
| Multi-mode search (vector/keyword/hybrid/grep) | Yes | N/A |
| IDP sync (Okta, Entra ID, AWS IAM, GCP) Oso Cloud has some IDP integrations; library requires you to build sync | Yes | partial |
| MCP server | Yes | No |
| ABAC & RBAC policies | Yes | Yes |
| ReBAC (relationship-based access) Oso was built specifically for ReBAC; Gateco added 1-hop ReBAC in May 2026 | Yes | Yes |
| Audit trail per retrieval Oso Cloud has decision logging; library is your responsibility | Yes | partial |
| Fail-closed on evaluation error Oso library behavior on error is caller-defined | Yes | No |
| Grounded answers (policy-filtered LLM synthesis) | Yes | No |
| Multi-language support | Python + TS | Python, Ruby, Go, Java, Node, Rust |
| Open source Oso open-source library is Apache 2.0; Oso Cloud is commercial | On roadmap | Yes |
| Public pricing Oso Cloud is contact sales | Yes | No |
Oso is engine-shaped. Gateco is product-shaped.
Oso solves the general authorization problem: given a principal, a resource, and an action, should access be allowed? You model your resource hierarchy in Polar (Oso's policy language) and call oso.is_allowed() at decision points in your application. Oso is excellent for this. It is widely used, well-documented, and the open-source library is free.
Gateco solves a specific problem: policy-enforced retrieval from vector databases in AI applications. It ships with connectors to 12 vector DBs, IDP sync for 4 identity providers, a grounded answer synthesis path, a fail-closed default, and an MCP server for LLM tool use, none of which you would get from an authorization library without building them yourself.
They can be used together
Some architectures use Oso for application-layer authorization (REST API endpoint decisions) and Gateco for the retrieval layer (vector DB policy enforcement). Oso decides whether a user can call an API endpoint; Gateco decides what that endpoint can retrieve from the vector database. The two operate independently at different layers.
Start with Gateco
Free plan available. Connect a vector database in under 10 minutes.