Akamai App and API Protector vs Fortinet FortiDDoS comparison

Akamai App and API Protector vs. Fortinet FortiDDoS

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Akamai App and API Protector

Ranking in Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection

4th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Web Application Firewall (WAF) (8th), Cloud and Data Center Security (10th)

Fortinet FortiDDoS

Ranking in Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection

11th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection category, the mindshare of Akamai App and API Protector is 4.3%, up from 4.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiDDoS is 2.9%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection

Featured Reviews

Deepesh Singh

Senior Engineering Manager Cybersecurity at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Bot Manager and different features to manage threats

As a product, it has good capabilities, including professional support. However, it's risky for us to rely on AI for real-time traffic management. We use in-house analytics but avoid automatic actions due to their high impact. For example, I live in a developing country. Everyone has different types of phones, apps, and everything else. So, if someone is using a legacy phone, that is still a use case here. If AI decides that this is an end-of-life phone or end-of-life Android operating system, it starts blocking that traffic. We may potentially lose millions or probably thousands and hundreds of thousands of hits per second. Everything is all about how well we serve payments because we're into payments. So, AI is used for analytics but not for real-time decisions. We can't afford to block traffic based on AI models due to the variety of devices and operating systems our users have.

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Yazan Omar

Systems Engineer at aic²

An easy-to-use tool with great GUI

The product's initial setup phase was really easy. There is a lot of time involved in the testing phase and other processes related to the area of deployment, so it may take up to two weeks to deploy the solution. The solution is deployed on an on-premises model. One person is enough to take care of the deployment phase of the product. The person involved in the deployment phase needs to better understand topologies when dealing with Fortinet.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"All the solution's features are very good."

"We are getting security for each and every API."

"It enables us to move faster with new products because we have this layer of protection set up in our infrastructure."

"Everything will be handled by Akamai's system before it reaches our infrastructure."

"The support that we got from their technical team has been fantastic. I have never experienced this level of support from other CDN providers."

"The solution easily identifies, delays, or allows business traffic."

"Adaptive stream delivery and WAF protection are valuable."

"Traffic filtering and WAF are valuable."

More Akamai App and API Protector pros

"The solution already has security profiles and it can protect from DDoS attacks and other kinds of attacks."

"It allows me to see all the traffic on my network."

"We have researched them all, and it's a good solution all around."

"The product's initial setup phase was really easy."

"Among its key features: Detects and mitigates DDoS attacks at L3 to L7; negligible to zero false-positives; Generates and sends reports without the need for an expensive third-party solution."

"The equipment works very well, and I have not encountered any issues with it. It is a good solution for my company."

"I find the interface easy to use."

"The solution is very user-friendly and very easy to use."

More Fortinet FortiDDoS pros

Cons

"It could have better analytics and reporting visibility in the OEM console."

"A lot of piracy happens in India and other countries. If there is a product for protection from piracy, it would be great. For example, there are multiple hackers that hack your event, and there are some channels that pirate and publish the event on some other website. We protect our streaming through DRM and different technologies. We are also protecting the website, but hacking is still happening. If they can work on protecting from piracy, it would be great."

"One thing I asked them is to integrate the API discovery product that they have and push that data into Akamai App and API Protector so that we do not have two types of reviews to identify the type of traffic. We already know the APIs that are frequently getting used, so analysis becomes easier. We can integrate both products and use them."

"The interface is a little bit clunky and can be improved."

"The pricing could be reduced a bit."

"One area where Akamai can improve is the captcha part. Cloudflare provides a captcha if there are a certain number of threats. For example, I can assign that if there are 10 requests within a second from a single IP, it should send a captcha to the user. The user should fill in the captcha, and only after that, the user should be able to access our website. This captcha feature should be built into Bot Manager. I love this captcha feature of Cloudflare."

"If we talk about application layer attacks, including WAF, CloudFlare is leading. Akamai can focus a bit more on the application layer attacks and how to protect them."

"The product should provide a secure NTP."

More Akamai App and API Protector cons

"The solution can be a little more user-friendly and it can be more affordable."

"The only thing they need to do is to automate it. Today, you must create tools that do not require the use of an expert or anyone with special skills."

"The product’s pricing needs improvement."

"The tool needs to focus more on the area of application traffic management, where it currently has some shortcomings."

"The web interface could be much better."

"All the thresholds that need to be configured should be included in the default so that user will not forget or misconfigure."

"The primary area for improvement is the on-premises capacity limit, currently fixed at 10 GB."

"I would like to see analytics, big data."

More Fortinet FortiDDoS cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its price is slightly high. Every company has a justification for the high price. Overall, it feels worth the money based on how the service has been structured, but we do negotiate it."

"Based on the billing discussions in the DevOps team, Akamai's cost does not seem to be a major thing. However, LOE is an issue. When it comes to support, we know that even all the competitors do this. For a 30-minute issue, they give us a LOE of one or two hours. That is a basic practice, but that is something we worry about."

"One reason not all people use Akamai is that it is a little bit more expensive than some other providers."

"Akamai Web Application Protector is an expensive product."

"The price they are offering is quite reasonable for premium customers, but it's very expensive if you're a small and medium-sized enterprises."

"The solution is not expensive."

"Akamai is very expensive."

"There is no license at all for Akamai. They are going to charge us only for the usage."

More Akamai App and API Protector pricing and cost advice

"The solution is reasonably priced."

"It's quite pricey."

"The product’s pricing needs improvement."

See which vendors are best for you

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860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

23%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Akamai Web Application Protector?

The product is user-friendly.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Akamai Web Application Protector?

The price is higher than others. It could be about 80% to 70% more expensive than other tools. So, it’s not just a slight difference.

What needs improvement with Akamai Web Application Protector?

It could have better analytics and reporting visibility in the OEM console.

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?

Arbor would be the best bid, apart from Arbor, Palo Alto and Fortinet have good solutions. As this is an ISP, I would prefer Arbor.

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiDDoS?

The product's initial setup phase was really easy.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiDDoS?

Fortinet FortiDDoS offers lower costs compared to other solutions. The licensing costs are annually renewed.

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs Akamai App and API Protector

Comparisons

Compared 11% of the time

AWS WAF vs Akamai App and API Protector

Compared 11% of the time

Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs Akamai App and API Protector

Compared 9% of the time

Cloudflare vs Akamai App and API Protector

Compared 8% of the time

Arbor DDoS vs Akamai App and API Protector

Compared 7% of the time

More Akamai App and API Protector Competitors

Arbor DDoS vs Fortinet FortiDDoS

Compared 24% of the time

Cloudflare vs Fortinet FortiDDoS

Compared 13% of the time

Radware DDoS vs Fortinet FortiDDoS

Compared 11% of the time

Fortinet FortiWeb vs Fortinet FortiDDoS

Compared 10% of the time

Azure DDoS Protection vs Fortinet FortiDDoS

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiDDoS Competitors

Product Reports

Akamai App and API Protector

Download Akamai App and API Protector product report

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection

Download Fortinet FortiDDoS product report

Also Known As

Akamai Web Application Protector, Akamai Kona Site Defender, Akamai Kona DDoS Defender

Fortinet DDoS, FortiDDos

Overview

Akamai App and API Protector provides website security by preventing DDoS attacks, acting as an application firewall, managing content delivery, and monitoring APIs. It adapts to threat profiles and is used for fast media delivery and identifying malicious activities.

Akamai App and API Protector offers strong protection, adaptable security features, and efficient traffic management. Its WAF blocks IP addresses and country-specific threats while preventing SQL injections. Companies utilize it for scalable CDN services and comprehensive traffic analysis. Known for its cost-effectiveness and user-friendly dashboard, this protector stands out for its customizable rules and technical support. Users also highlight the ease of integration and detailed attack insights available through its advanced dashboard.

What are the key features of Akamai App and API Protector?

DDoS Protection: Strong defense against Distributed Denial of Service attacks.
Scalable CDN: Manages content delivery efficiently under high traffic loads.
WAF Capabilities: Blocks specific IPs and countries, prevents SQL injections.
Traffic Filtering: Analyzes and controls incoming requests to maintain security.
Adaptive Stream Delivery: Adjusts content delivery to meet bandwidth needs.

What benefits should users expect?

Cost-Effectiveness: Provides robust security tools at a competitive price.
Enhanced Security: Comprehensive protection against cyber threats.
Scalability: Easily handles increasing traffic and data loads.
Ease of Integration: Simple integration with existing systems.
Insightful Analytics: Offers data-driven insights into traffic and attack patterns.

In media, Akamai App and API Protector ensures smooth streaming by handling high bandwidth demands. E-commerce companies use it to guard against fraud and data breaches. Financial sectors rely on its ability to protect sensitive transactions. Implementations in healthcare focus on safeguarding patient data while maintaining compliance with regulations.

Akamai

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are ever-evolving and use a variety of technologies. To successfully combat these attacks, you need a dynamic, multi-layered security solution. FortiDDoS protects from both known and zero day attacks with very low latency. It’s easy to deploy and manage, and includes comprehensive reporting and analysis tools.

Fortinet

Sample Customers

Douglas Omaha Technology Commission, ZALORA, PrintPlanet

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data

Akamai App and API Protector vs. Fortinet FortiDDoS