Akamai Edge DNS vs BlueCat Edge comparison

Akamai and BlueCat are both solutions in the Domain Name System (DNS) Security category. Akamai is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.7, while BlueCat is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.8. Akamai holds a 2.1% mindshare in DS, compared to BlueCat’s 3.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Akamai users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of BlueCat users who would recommend it.

Akamai Edge DNS

Read 4 Akamai Edge DNS reviews

249 Views
200 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

BlueCat Edge

Read 7 BlueCat Edge reviews

915 Views
377 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Akamai Edge DNS

BlueCat Edge

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 2024

Akamai Edge DNS and BlueCat Edge both offer DNS solutions. Akamai Edge DNS is known for its well-rounded service provision, whereas BlueCat Edge is favored for its advanced features and robust analytics capabilities.

What features are offered by Akamai Edge DNS in comparison to BlueCat Edge?

Akamai Edge DNS is recognized for reliability and performance in domain name resolution, strong security features, and ease of integration. BlueCat Edge provides advanced analytics, robust DNS management capabilities, and a comprehensive feature set suited to specialized needs.

What areas of improvement can be found in Akamai Edge DNS in comparison to BlueCat Edge?

Akamai Edge DNS users suggest enhancing reporting functionalities, improving customer support response times, and expanding feature depth. BlueCat Edge users recommend developing a more intuitive learning curve, simplifying setup complexities, and refining certain advanced features for ease of use.

How is the ease of deployment and customer service of Akamai Edge DNS in comparison to BlueCat Edge?

Akamai Edge DNS offers a straightforward deployment process with moderate customer support that could benefit from quicker response times. BlueCat Edge, while having a steeper learning curve, receives positive feedback for thorough deployment documentation and a responsive support team.

What setup costs and ROI can be seen with Akamai Edge DNS in comparison to BlueCat Edge?

Akamai Edge DNS is known for competitive pricing with good value and lower initial setup costs. BlueCat Edge, though potentially more expensive, is valued for delivering strong ROI due to its extensive feature set and long-term benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed Akamai Edge DNS vs. BlueCat Edge Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Edge DNS vs. BlueCat Edge

April 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 Edge DNS

Ranking in Domain Name System (DNS) Security

8th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Managed DNS (9th)

BlueCat Edge

Ranking in Domain Name System (DNS) Security

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Domain Name System (DNS) Security category, the mindshare of Akamai Edge DNS is 2.1%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of BlueCat Edge is 3.3%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Domain Name System (DNS) Security

Featured Reviews

Yaser Alakeel

Head of Service Delivery at onme

Ensures global distribution and DDoS protection while offering seamless integration and low latency DNS responses

For user experience, Akamai Edge DNS should allow notes to be added for each record, as this is something Infoblox supports. Without notes, managing changes in DNS records can be difficult, especially for large companies with over 1,000 records, as they may not know who requested changes without proper documentation. I requested this feature two years ago, but it has not been added yet. Akamai Edge DNS could also improve its AI capabilities.

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David Muscat

Principal Architect, System Design /Enterprise-Hybrid Cloud DNS Lead at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Provides good visibility and control, and we can quickly put it in place and integrate it

About Nine months ago, we were still using their Edge endpoint version 3. We recently moved to version 4 of their Edge endpoint. In Edge endpoint version 3, we did not have the ability to clean up our dashboards properly. As we decommissioned sites and commissioned new sites, we were left with a mess of data still sitting there because of the way they had originally designed version 3. Now the old data is gone, and the function of the new version 4 has really helped with that. It was a nuisance for the past few years. One pain point concerning DNS Edge is the inability to see per Edge endpoint, what devices are querying against it. They do have the capability for you to look at that data, but the data is roughly 24 to 48 hours old. I am looking for real-time data, and I cannot get that per Edge endpoint. I would call it a work in progress. I am still finding things that bug me in terms of how something functions. I might find out how to do something when it is not documented. That is great, but documentation becomes an issue with me on that.

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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

"The high availability of Akamai Edge DNS is impressive due to their numerous POPs, which help in supporting all attacks, including DDoS counterattacks."

"It is a very stable solution since it has a security feature that allows you to recover zone files if you accidentally delete them."

"I recommend Akamai Edge DNS because it is distributed globally and prevents DDoS attacks."

"I haven't had any problems with the stability of Akamai Edge DNS in the past five years."

"We can maintain control of the configuration, and it seems to be covering the use case that we need."

"BlueCat has increased security efficiency tremendously within the first month of deployment."

"We implemented BlueCat Edge to solve the visibility and security issues we were having."

"What I found most valuable is the ability to put it in place and integrate it very quickly. It allows us to create routing rule sets to route DNS traffic where it needs to go most efficiently in our environment."

"Edge has reduced the complexity and has been more reliable."

"The unparalleled visibility offered by BlueCat Edge is arguably the most critical benefit we receive."

"IP Address Management (IPAM) is the most valuable."

"It allows us to easily monitor our subnets and routers."

"The namespace and access control features are notable."

Cons

"CNAME flattening is a feature that Akamai does not support."

"The only area that needs improvement is the pricing for DNS zones. The price is higher than competitors, and Akamai should offer a better pricing model."

"The only area that needs improvement is the pricing for DNS zones."

"Akamai Edge DNS is expensive, and the pricing is higher compared to Infoblox."

"The solution has a fairly complex setup with our cloud vendors, including Microsoft, Salesforce, and Oracle."

"I would like to see improvements in threat detection and the ability to add categorization for blocking queries, such as those related to adult entertainment."

"One pain point concerning DNS Edge is the inability to see per Edge endpoint, what devices are querying against it. They do have the capability for you to look at that data, but the data is roughly 24 to 48 hours old. I am looking for real-time data, and I cannot get that per Edge endpoint."

"The main improvement for BlueCat Edge's security configuration would be more granular control."

"I have concerns about several aspects of BlueCat's site management."

"BlueCat should consider deploying feature enhancement requests faster, especially if they are simple to implement."

"Its price is on the higher side."

"BlueCat should consider deploying feature enhancement requests faster, especially if they are simple to implement."

"A more graphical user interface would be a benefit."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Since Akamai is the industry leader, I imagine the solution would be a little more expensive than some other vendors."

"We find the current pricing model more reasonable compared to the previous per-IP pricing."

"The licensing model for BlueCat Edge seems very good, although I can't confirm if it's specific to our contract."

"I'm doing a costing and licensing comparison between the BlueCat DNS Integrity and Micetro by Men&Mice. BlueCat has given me a range instead of a specific price. They gave me a range of ten thousand to two hundred thousand USD. That was a bit too wide for the cost comparison. Based on what I'm seeing, they are definitely on the higher side and very expensive."

"One of the nice benefits of getting DNS Edge is that you buy the subscription, and you are allowed to deploy as many Edge endpoints as you need. You do not need a separate license for each one. If you deploy 20 of them, you will not be billed for that many. It is one subscription. You can deploy as many as you need and consume as much as you need. The cost comes in based on the number of IPs that you are consuming and running through DNS Edge. We have that pretty much locked in for what we need for internal purposes. Being able to save money on deploying Edge endpoints has saved us drastically from deploying other BlueCat products in lieu of that."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Akamai Edge DNS?

It is a very stable solution since it has a security feature that allows you to recover zone files if you accidentally delete them.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Akamai Edge DNS?

The only area that needs improvement is the pricing for DNS zones. The price is higher than competitors, and Akamai should offer a better pricing model.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Akamai Edge DNS?

I have experience with all Akamai products because I use all of them, including Edge DNS, API Security, and App and API Protector. I use Akamai Edge DNS to protect against DDoS attacks and to enhan...

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What do you like most about BlueCat Edge?

We implemented BlueCat Edge to solve the visibility and security issues we were having.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BlueCat Edge?

I'm not aware of the exact pricing and licensing as I was not part of the procurement process. However, there was a significant cost reduction thanks to BlueCat Cloud DNS managing external solutions.

See all answers

What needs improvement with BlueCat Edge?

BlueCat should consider deploying feature enhancement requests faster, especially if they are simple to implement. They need to focus and deploy such features in the next version itself, which woul...

See all answers

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Compared 14% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Edge DNS

May 2025

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Buyer's Guide

BlueCat Edge

May 2025

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Also Known As

Akamai Fast DNS

BlueCat DNS Edge

Overview

Discover Akamai DNS and its benefits of high availability and performance, and resilience against DDoS attacks backed by a fully guaranteed uptime SLA.

Akamai

BlueCat Edge is an intelligent DNS resolver and caching layer that leverages existing DNS infrastructure to provide unprecedented visibility and control over DNS traffic. As a first hop DNS resolver, BlueCat Edge intelligently manages DNS forwarding rules and logs all queries to offer intuitive analytics and data governance. By monitoring all queries and IP addresses with BlueCat Edge, enterprises can also leverage BlueCat’s advanced Threat Protection and policy-based network/security features to protect the enterprise against cyber threats, such as domain name generation algorithms and tunneling that lead to data exfiltration or network downtime.

BlueCat

Sample Customers

Otto Group

Swisslos, Cologne Bonn Airport, TYROLIT

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Edge DNS vs. BlueCat Edge

April 2025

Free Report: Akamai Edge DNS vs. BlueCat Edge

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