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Akamai App and API Protector vs Google Cloud Armor comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 Cloud and Data Center Security
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Web Application Firewall (WAF) (9th), Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (4th)
Google Cloud Armor
Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Cloud and Data Center Security category, the mindshare of Akamai App and API Protector is 0.7%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Cloud Armor is 0.9%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud and Data Center Security
 

Featured Reviews

Bharat Chandra - PeerSpot reviewer
Exceptional support, protects our sites, and provides visibility into traffic
We did a PoC of Akamai and Cloudflare. 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. Other things are good in Akamai. That is why we are using Akamai. Only the captcha part should be implemented.
Nishant_Mishra - PeerSpot reviewer
Improved our web application security
I believe Google Cloud Armor can benefit from enhancements of AI and automation. Incorporating more proactive suggestions and predictive capabilities related to attack mitigation would be beneficial. While the current adaptive protection feature offers some suggestions, a more advanced AI-driven approach that can interpret attacks in real-time and provide actionable insights during incidents would be valuable. integrating more monitoring metrics into Cloud Armor for better visibility and analytics could further enhance its effectiveness.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We are getting security for each and every API."
"The product has a good UI."
"It gives us a report of traffic. It gives us a report of the day-to-day URL traffic, and it also gives an individual report. If we reach out to Akamai, they give us the IPs as well."
"All the solution's features are very good."
"The features are powerful and better than F5."
"The solution can scale extremely well."
"The solution easily identifies, delays, or allows business traffic."
"Akamai Web Application Protector is a good solution that provides basic web application protection."
"It helps with DDoS defense and OWASP for SQL injections and cross-site scripting."
"We utilize Google Cloud Armor alongside our Cloud Load Balancer to safeguard against DDoS attacks. This setup acts as a local Layer 7 proxy provided by Google, allowing us to predict and mitigate DDoS threats effectively."
"This solution is a bot management tool that provides extensive capabilities for Cloud Armor."
 

Cons

"Akamai needs to focus on quickly responding to risks, even those that may potentially be of zero threat..Maybe some of the documentation is a little confusing. They have a lot of different places where you can go to get information, and some of the information is quite out of date."
"In terms of precedence of Akamai rules, the last one is implemented. That is the one that is operational. If two rules contradict, the last one is implemented. We had a clash, but it was really tough to find that out. I would like to have a rulebook because, in their architecture documentation, it is not mentioned anywhere that if two rules clash, the last one works, and if it does not work, then what to do. This is something we were debating today with their tech support. With AWS, we get documents for the issues so that they do not occur in the future. Akamai's support and knowledge base needs to be improved."
"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."
"It's fine for a simple tool, but as I recall, if you encounter a lot of bots, scrapers, and other things, you'll need this tool bot and this other thing they offer called Bot Manager."
"The WAF features definitely have a lot of room for improvement. A lot of the WAF is really basic. For some products or some of our solutions, we need to run a second layer of more advanced WAF. If it had better layer seven protection then we would not need a second WAF."
"Could integrate more features for each security."
"The solution could offer even more integrations."
"Akamai App and API Protector is very new to me, so I do not have any insights on improvement areas for the product. However, when we ask for some help, it can take some time. We understand that the job is done by professionals, but if that time can be reduced, it would be great."
"There are some discrepancies within billing, which makes the product average."
"There are some discrepancies within billing, which makes the product average."
"I believe Google Cloud Armor can benefit from enhancements of AI and automation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is no license at all for Akamai. They are going to charge us only for the usage."
"If you want quality, you have to pay the price. Its price is fair. Their account managers are also very helpful. They help you a lot with pricing even though they are working with Akamai."
"Its price is at the medium level. It is not very high. It is also not very low. It serves the purpose."
"Akamai is very expensive."
"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."
"One reason not all people use Akamai is that it is a little bit more expensive than some other providers."
"The solution is not expensive."
"Akamai Web Application Protector is an expensive product."
"I would rate the pricing of Google Cloud Armor around 7 on a scale of 10. As for the licensing costs, I'm not directly involved in billing, so I don't have specific details on that aspect. We have a partner agreement with Google, which gives us a discounted price for using Cloud Armor."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
24%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Retailer
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What do you like most about Google Cloud Armor?
We utilize Google Cloud Armor alongside our Cloud Load Balancer to safeguard against DDoS attacks. This setup acts as a local Layer 7 proxy provided by Google, allowing us to predict and mitigate D...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Armor?
We have to maintain the solution with the least cost. One to two people are fine, one being an SME and one being a senior SME.
What needs improvement with Google Cloud Armor?
There are some discrepancies within billing, which makes the product average. We have not proceeded with the ROI analysis right now, so I cannot comment on it.
 

Also Known As

Akamai Web Application Protector, Akamai Kona Site Defender, Akamai Kona DDoS Defender
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Douglas Omaha Technology Commission, ZALORA, PrintPlanet
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Akamai App and API Protector vs. Google Cloud Armor and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.