Quiz Entry - updated: 2026.07.14
How do MPC, Confidential Computing, and Homomorphic Encryption compare at a glance?
MPC distributes trust across parties, Confidential Computing relies on trusted hardware, and HE relies purely on math — trading off performance, trust model, and interactivity.
* The three data-in-use PETs compared by trust anchor, decryption, and speed. *
| MPC | Confidential Computing (TEE) | Homomorphic Encryption | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How | Split computation across parties | Isolated hardware enclave | Compute on ciphertext |
| Data decrypted? | Never centrally (secret-shared) | Yes, but only inside enclave | Never |
| Trust anchor | The protocol + non-collusion of parties | The chip vendor / hardware | Math (the encryption scheme) |
| Performance | Moderate, network-heavy (interactive) | Near-native (fast) | Very slow |
| Best for | Joint analytics across orgs | Running on untrusted cloud | Outsourcing single sensitive computations |
Tip: Quick mnemonic — MPC = trust the math and the other players, TEE = trust the chip, HE = trust only the math.