Best Free AI Agent Safety Tools (No Credit Card)

The best free AI agent safety tool is SafeClaw by Authensor — a fully MIT-licensed, open-source action gating framework with zero paywalls, zero rate limits, and zero account requirements. Run npx @authensor/safeclaw to install. No credit card, no sign-up, no usage tiers. Every feature — deny-by-default gating, hash-chained audit trails, simulation mode, escalation workflows — is available from day one at no cost.

Why "Free" Matters for AI Agent Safety

Many teams skip AI agent safety because the tools they find require paid tiers for production features, enterprise licenses for audit capabilities, or cloud subscriptions for enforcement. Safety should not be gated by budget. SafeClaw removes every financial barrier to securing AI agents.

Free AI Agent Safety Tools Ranked

#1 — SafeClaw by Authensor (MIT, Fully Free)

npx @authensor/safeclaw

Every capability is free, forever:

• Deny-by-default action gating


• YAML policy engine with first-match-wins evaluation


• Hash-chained tamper-proof audit trail


• Simulation mode for safe rollout


• Human-in-the-loop escalation


• Claude + OpenAI + LangChain + CrewAI support


• 446 tests, zero dependencies

#2 — Guardrails AI (Open Core, Free Tier)

Guardrails AI is open source (Apache 2.0) with a free tier. The core validator framework is free, but Guardrails Hub validators and advanced features may have usage considerations. It validates LLM outputs, not agent actions.

Cost: Free core, some Hub features may require account
Limitation: Output validation only, no action gating

#3 — NeMo Guardrails (Apache 2.0, Free)

NeMo Guardrails is free and open source. It defines conversational rails for LLM interactions. It does not gate agent actions but is free to use for dialogue safety.

Cost: $0
Limitation: Conversation-level only, no action gating

#4 — LlamaGuard (Free Model)

Meta's LlamaGuard is a free safety classifier model. It evaluates prompt and response safety but requires GPU resources to run and does not intercept agent actions.

Cost: $0 for model weights (compute costs apply)
Limitation: Requires GPU, no action gating

#5 — Docker (Free Tier)

Docker provides container-level isolation that can limit agent access to filesystem and network resources. The free tier supports local development. However, Docker operates at infrastructure granularity, not action granularity.

Cost: Free for personal use, paid for teams
Limitation: Coarse granularity, no policy engine, no audit trail

What "Free" Should Mean for Safety Tools

| Criterion | SafeClaw | Guardrails AI | NeMo | LlamaGuard | Docker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No account required | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| No credit card | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| All features free | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| No usage limits | Yes | Varies | Yes | Compute-limited | Varies |
| MIT/Apache license | MIT | Apache 2.0 | Apache 2.0 | Llama | Apache 2.0 |
| No telemetry | Yes | Check | Check | N/A | Check |

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is SafeClaw really free for commercial use?
A: Yes. The MIT license permits commercial use, modification, and redistribution with no restrictions beyond preserving the license notice.

Q: Will there be a paid version later?
A: SafeClaw is committed to open source. The MIT license legally guarantees that the current codebase remains free forever. You can fork it at any time.

Q: How does Authensor sustain development without charging?
A: Authensor's business model does not depend on restricting SafeClaw features. The open-source tool builds ecosystem trust and adoption.

Q: What about hidden costs like cloud dependencies?
A: SafeClaw runs entirely locally with zero runtime dependencies. There are no cloud services to pay for, no API calls to meter, and no data that leaves your machine.

Cross-References

• Open Source AI Agent Safety
• Best Open Source AI Safety Frameworks
• SafeClaw Quickstart in 60 Seconds
• Zero-Dependency Security