SubImage differentiates through its open-core foundation, which is built on Cartography, the graph engine its founders created at Lyft and later donated to the Linux Foundation. Because the core technology is open source, security teams can inspect the data model, extend collectors, and avoid proprietary lock-in while still receiving a hosted service.
The founding team's direct experience operating Cartography at scale gives SubImage specialized credibility in graph-based cloud security.
SubImage sells through direct partnerships and a hosted SaaS model, packaging the managed graph platform alongside support and enterprise features. The open-core Cartography project remains freely available, creating a top-of-funnel entry point that converts to paid managed tiers.
Enterprise pricing aligns with account scale and data volume rather than a flat per-seat model.
SubImage is a fully managed, open-core cloud-native application protection platform that maps cloud and on-prem infrastructure into a living graph. The graph ingests identity, network, and configuration relationships so security teams can query and visualize how resources connect across their environments.
Customers run the open-core Cartography engine under a permissive license, while SubImage hosts the managed control plane and premium features.
