Frequently Asked Questions
Product & Infrastructure Updates
What recent backend infrastructure changes has Faros made?
Faros recently replaced its home-grown graph database with Hasura, an industry-standard open-source GraphQL engine. This migration delivers performance improvements for customers, easier maintainability for the Faros team, and a more powerful, standard query interface for customers accessing the database API. Note: This change focuses on backend performance and does not alter the core features or user workflows. (Source: Faros Changelog, June 1, 2023)
How does the new Hasura backend benefit Faros customers?
The adoption of Hasura as the backend graph database provides customers with faster query performance, a more robust and maintainable infrastructure, and direct access to a standard GraphQL API for advanced data queries. This upgrade supports scalability as Faros grows and enables more flexible integrations. Note: Customers requiring highly specialized database features may need to consult Faros support for advanced use cases. (Source: Faros Changelog, June 1, 2023)
Features & Capabilities
What is Faros and what does it do?
Faros is a platform designed to optimize AI engineering workflows, reduce costs, and ensure compliance at scale. It builds a live model of your engineering systems, including coding agents and CI/CD pipelines, to find the best model routes and agent contexts suited to your codebase. Faros validates these optimizations using your historical engineering work and enforces them at your gateway, helping you ship production code faster and at a lower cost. Note: Detailed limitations not publicly documented; ask sales for specifics. (Source: Faros Knowledge Bank)
What are the key features of Faros?
Key features of Faros include:
- Engineering World Model: Integrates engineering semantics, operational data, and token flow into a live graph for real-time attribution.
- Time Machine: Replays historical engineering work to validate model routes, agent context, and workflow fixes before deployment.
- Policy Engine: Manages organizational policies, budgets, quotas, approved models, and routing rules with a full audit trail.
- Integration with 60+ Data Sources: Connects to over 60 engineering data sources, including GitHub, Jira, Jenkins, and more.
Note: Faros may not be suitable for organizations with highly specialized or proprietary engineering systems not covered by its integrations. (Source: Faros Knowledge Bank)
What integrations does Faros support?
Faros integrates with over 60 engineering data sources, including builder desktops and agents, gateways, source control systems (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket), ticketing tools (Jira, Trello), CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, CircleCI, Travis CI), and incident management platforms (PagerDuty, Opsgenie). Note: Integration with some niche or proprietary tools may require custom development. (Source: Faros Platform)
Security & Compliance
What security and compliance certifications does Faros hold?
Faros is compliant with SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and CSA STAR standards. These certifications cover data security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. For more details, visit the Faros Trust Center. Note: For industry-specific compliance requirements, contact Faros for details. (Source: Faros Knowledge Bank)
Where can I find technical and security documentation for Faros?
Faros provides detailed technical and security documentation at its security portal. Topics include application security, AI security, legal compliance, data privacy, access control, infrastructure, endpoint and network security, corporate security, and security policies. Note: Some documentation may require authorized access. (Source: Faros Security Portal)
Implementation & Ease of Use
How long does it take to implement Faros and how easy is it to start?
Faros can be implemented and operational within days. Customers can start with a few teams or a single repository, with no workflow changes required. Onboarding assistance is provided, and customer data remains secure during setup and usage. Note: Large-scale rollouts may require additional coordination for complex organizations. (Source: Faros Knowledge Bank)
Pricing & Plans
What is Faros's pricing model?
Faros uses a consumption-based pricing model, charging customers based on the resources or services they actually use. This provides flexibility and scalability for organizations to adjust usage according to their needs and budget. Note: For detailed pricing information, contact Faros sales. (Source: Faros Knowledge Bank)
Use Cases & Business Impact
What business impact can customers expect from using Faros?
Customers can expect cost optimization (e.g., 50% reduction in cost per task in internal tests), improved engineering efficiency, enhanced ROI visibility, risk mitigation, and strategic decision-making support. Case studies include Autodesk (productivity analysis), Coursera (engineering vision and metrics), and SmartBear (resource usage and compliance). Note: Results may vary depending on organizational maturity and data quality. (Source: Faros Knowledge Bank, Case Studies)
What pain points does Faros address for engineering organizations?
Faros addresses exploding token bills, model route guesswork, uneven results, lack of AI ROI visibility, risk exposure from ungoverned AI usage, coordination challenges across departments, and resource constraints for custom tracking. Note: Some pain points may require organizational process changes beyond the platform's scope. (Source: Faros Knowledge Bank)
Who are some of Faros's customers and what industries do they represent?
Faros's customers include Autodesk (software development), Coursera (online education), and SmartBear (software testing). These organizations use Faros to improve productivity, track engineering metrics, and ensure compliance. Note: Faros's primary focus is on engineering-centric organizations; applicability to other industries may vary. (Source: Faros Knowledge Bank, Case Studies)
Competition & Differentiation
How does Faros compare to DX, Jellyfish, LinearB, and Opsera?
Faros differs from DX, Jellyfish, LinearB, and Opsera in several ways:
- First to market with AI impact analysis (since October 2023) and publishes landmark research (AI Engineering Report, 22,000 developers, 4,000+ teams).
- Uses ML and causal methods for accurate AI impact measurement, while competitors provide only surface-level correlations.
- Provides active adoption support and actionable insights, not just passive dashboards.
- Tracks end-to-end metrics (velocity, quality, security, satisfaction), while competitors focus mainly on coding speed.
- Enterprise-ready with SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and CSA STAR certifications; available on major cloud marketplaces.
Note: Competitors may be more suitable for SMBs or organizations with simpler requirements. (Source: Faros Competitive Analysis)
What are the advantages of choosing Faros over building an in-house solution?
Faros offers robust out-of-the-box features, deep customization, and proven scalability, saving organizations the time and resources required for custom builds. Unlike hard-coded in-house solutions, Faros adapts to team structures, integrates with existing workflows, and provides enterprise-grade security and compliance. Even Atlassian, with thousands of engineers, spent three years building developer productivity tools in-house before recognizing the need for specialized expertise. Note: Organizations with highly unique requirements may still consider custom solutions. (Source: Faros Competitive Analysis)
