Akamai App and API Protector vs Uplynk comparison

Akamai and Uplynk are both solutions in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category. Akamai is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.8, while Uplynk is ranked #30 with an average rating of 8.0. Akamai holds a 3.7% mindshare in WAF, compared to Uplynk’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Akamai users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Uplynk users who would recommend it.

Akamai App and API Protector

Read 28 Akamai App and API Protector reviews

2,899 Views
1,304 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Uplynk

Read 6 Uplynk reviews

584 Views
147 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Akamai App and API Protector

Uplynk

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 5, 2025

In the video streaming and security domain, Uplynk and Akamai App and API Protector are competitive products. Uplynk holds an edge in streaming with its ease of use, while Akamai stands out for its comprehensive security features, making it more appealing for businesses needing specialized protection.

Features: Uplynk is known for seamless integration, efficient streaming, and support for various adaptive formats, which cater to media-focused businesses. Akamai offers advanced security features, real-time threat detection, and extensive API security measures, crucial for enterprises requiring enhanced protection.

Room for Improvement: Uplynk could benefit from enhanced security features to match more security-oriented enterprises' needs. Additionally, expanding support for advanced analytics and real-time threat intelligence could broaden its appeal. Akamai might improve by simplifying its deployment process, reducing initial costs, and enhancing user-friendliness for non-technical users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Uplynk provides straightforward deployment with responsive support, facilitating quick video streaming setup. Akamai focuses on thorough protection tailored for IT teams with security expertise, offering robust support for complex implementations.

Pricing and ROI: Uplynk offers a cost-effective solution, presenting good ROI through efficient video delivery services. Akamai's initial costs are higher, justified by its extensive security features, offering long-term value for businesses prioritizing security. Uplynk is attractive for budget-friendly solutions, while Akamai appeals to those investing in comprehensive security.

To learn more, read our detailed Akamai App and API Protector vs. Uplynk Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Akamai App and API Protector vs. Uplynk

June 2025

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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 Web Application Firewall (WAF)

8th

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

4th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud and Data Center Security (10th)

Uplynk

Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)

30th

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

19th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Replication (9th), CDN (8th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category, the mindshare of Akamai App and API Protector is 3.7%, up from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Uplynk is 1.3%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

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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Eduardo Oviedo-Blanco

CTO and Game Developer at Solospace

A CDN solution to enhance loading times and streamline navigation

When one of the primary nodes spanning from North to South America, from the northern US to the southern US, became operational, it had a big impact. It can be challenging to explain its advantages to clients. The technical nature of the marketing material is too technical for stakeholders. Integrating the solution was straightforward, requiring no extra effort. Edgio Global CDN operates, resembling familiar cloud services but offering elevated functionality. Unlike platforms such as Google Cloud Platform or RIN geared towards development teams, Edgio emphasizes client-facing services that are integral to our operations. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the DDoS protection, which is the main reason we got it."

"The product has a good user interface."

"Akamai Web Application Protector is a good solution that provides basic web application protection."

"Features like scalability and uptime are most effective."

"The dashboard is the most interesting feature of the Akamai portal where you can have a detailed analysis of all the attacks that are happening. You can drill down an issue and see exactly what is happening, who are the bad guys attacking your website, and how Akamai is protecting the website. That is the most valuable feature."

"I can attest to its benefits in terms of understanding and mitigating threats...The solution's technical support team seems to be pretty responsive."

"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."

"The product has a good UI."

More Akamai App and API Protector pros

"The customer support and service responsiveness were excellent."

"The tool's most valuable feature is the Uplynk platform for streaming purposes."

"The Rules Engine V4 is the most valuable feature."

"It's super easy to use and integrate with."

"The product is easy to use and easy to implement."

Cons

"The pricing could be reduced a bit."

"Customer support has room for improvement."

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

"They are already very flexible, but room for improvement is there. Reports generation could be better and should be improved."

"We are experimenting with EdgeWorkers to write our own code at the Edge level. It could grow to be much better."

"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."

"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."

More Akamai App and API Protector cons

"The web interface of the Verizon Edgecast portal is very old. It's not user-friendly, slow, and it is missing some valuable features like the ability to make bulk changes."

"The tool needs to resolve its lack of innovation."

"In the next release, I would like to see more global endpoints for their CDN and a lower price."

"We could not create more than 15 custom rules."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's more expensive than others, but the ROI is good for large-scale infrastructure."

"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."

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

"Price-wise, I would say Akamai's pricing is competitive."

"Cost depends on the volume of traffic."

"Its price is at the medium level. It is not very high. It is also not very low. It serves the purpose."

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

More Akamai App and API Protector pricing and cost advice

"When I modeled it out, we are spending somewhere between $600 to $800 a month with Verizon EdgeCast."

"The product is cheaper compared to other solutions."

"Be careful about the options because to have all the features can be very expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

23%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Akamai Web Application Protector?

The product is user-friendly.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Akamai Web Application Protector?

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

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Edgio Global CDN?

The pricing was initially very expensive. However, after improving and restructuring the application, it became more affordable and now offers reasonable pricing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Edgio Global CDN?

Regarding improvements, I focused on testing and compatibility to ensure reliability across various mobile devices. By writing comprehensive tests and leveraging Expo's capabilities, I ensured cons...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Edgio Global CDN?

I usually use the product for mobile development. At my last company, OmniTier, I worked as a senior principal software engineer, and one of my responsibilities was leading mobile app development. ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs Akamai App and API Protector

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

Azure Front Door vs Uplynk

Compared 20% of the time

Cloudflare vs Uplynk

Compared 15% of the time

Akamai vs Uplynk

Compared 15% of the time

Windows Azure CDN vs Uplynk

Compared 14% of the time

Fastly vs Uplynk

Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Akamai App and API Protector

June 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Data Replication

June 2025

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Also Known As

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

Edgio, Limelight Content Delivery, Limelight Orchestrate Delivery, Limelight Origin Storage, Global CDN, Verizon EdgeCast

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

Uplynk is a robust platform providing CDN integration and optimized streaming services, improving user experience and application performance. It offers control over CDN caching, redirects, and asset transformations, supporting seamless asset management and mobile security.

Uplynk enhances application performance through efficient API calls, optimized web server loads, and robust CDN configurations. It ensures high availability and performance by leveraging Verizon EdgeCast CDN, crucial for managing high-volume traffic on e-commerce platforms. Though Uplynk excels in asset caching and mobile security with JWT tokens and AES encryption, some users note its global reach needs improvement, and its interface lacks modern user-friendliness. Deployment of new rules can be slower compared to competitors, while documentation and rate limiting features require enhancement. Despite this, Uplynk remains a preferred choice for organizations seeking streamlined web server load optimization and enhanced application performance.

What are Uplynk's key features?

Rules Engine V4: Manages CDN caching, redirects, and asset transformations.
Seamless Integration: Easily integrates with Verizon's existing offerings.
Efficient API Calls: Enhances streaming and application performance.
Staging Support: Testing in staging environments without impacting production.
Mobile Security: Includes JWT tokens and AES encryption.

What benefits should users expect in reviews?

Improved Load Times: Efficient CDN configurations enhance site speed.
Enhanced User Navigation: Optimized performance for high-volume traffic.
DDoS Protection: Layer 3, 4, and 7 protection for comprehensive security.
Performance Optimization: Mobile development and streamlined caching.

Organizations deploy Uplynk to optimize web server load, enhance streaming service performance and support high-traffic volume management, especially in e-commerce. Its security measures, combined with Verizon EdgeCast CDN, ensure high availability and reliable performance, enhancing mobile engagement through specialized frameworks.

Uplynk

Sample Customers

Douglas Omaha Technology Commission, ZALORA, PrintPlanet

TD Ameritrade, Plus500, Solvay Bank, Yahoo, Deckers Brands, and Coach

Buyer's Guide

Akamai App and API Protector vs. Uplynk

June 2025

Free Report: Akamai App and API Protector vs. Uplynk

Find out what your peers are saying about Akamai App and API Protector vs. Uplynk and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

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See our list of best Web Application Firewall (WAF) vendors and best Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection vendors.

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