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Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise vs F5 BIG-IP DNS 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 Secure Internet Acc...
Ranking in Domain Name System (DNS) Security
12th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (24th)
F5 BIG-IP DNS
Ranking in Domain Name System (DNS) Security
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Domain Name System (DNS) Security category, the mindshare of Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise is 2.0%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP DNS is 4.4%, down from 5.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Domain Name System (DNS) Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
F5 BIG-IP DNS4.4%
Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise2.0%
Other93.6%
Domain Name System (DNS) Security
 

Featured Reviews

MS
Senior Analyst at Deloitte
Have successfully routed high-volume application traffic through secure channels and maintain compliance across client environments
CDN capability is what I appreciate about Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise. It protects applications that are internet-facing or public-facing. Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise is a product which has very good features and capabilities. I have worked on Radware also, but Radware has some limited capabilities. Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise has positively impacted my organization. We have around 62 applications within our firm which are now routing traffic through Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise. It has fewer false positives, which is something we haven't encountered yet. I assess the impact of Akamai's real-time threat filtering as 10 out of 10, and I am satisfied with this feature.
reviewer2733993 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Ensures reliable web application security and offers comprehensive load balancing solutions
When it comes to denial of service or DNS security, F5 is not the best vendor as dedicated vendors such as Arbor for denial of service and Infoblox for DNS security offer more comprehensive solutions. The main features such as WAF and load balancing do not generate complaints. F5 BIG-IP DNS is not the best for DNS denial of service because they handle it as part of BIG-IP features, mainly used for GSLB, while other vendors provide complete DDI solutions, including DHCP, DNS, and IP address management, along with specialized DNS security, offering much more than just GSLB and basic recursive DNS security. The two main concerns are DNS related and denial of service, areas where F5 BIG-IP DNS could improve, and they could do better as they are not the best vendor, indicating ample room for improvement especially since those are not their main specialties.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The threat intelligence feature is particularly valuable when used with another product of Akamai, as their researchers continuously update this threat feed database, making it an effective tool for defending against and blocking bad actors, public malicious IPs, harmful hashes, and malicious URLs."
"The best feature of Akamai SPS Threat Avert is that it's very user-friendly compared to other technologies."
"Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise is a product which has very good features and capabilities."
"F5 BIG-IP DNS is a stable solution."
"BIG-IP DNS's best feature is the Global Traffic Manager (GTM)."
"The configuration process is straightforward, making it easy to set up wide IPs and distribute traffic across local US sites and data centers via VPN."
"F5 BIG-IP DNS stands out as they are number one when it comes to WAF and load balancing technologies, and they have plenty of add-on features such as APM and AFM to handle DDoS attacks, DNS security, and GSLB."
"The GTM feature is very good, It's very useful, especially if we have multiple data centers. If we want to load balance traffic from multiple data centers, the GTM feature is very useful."
"F5 technical support is quite good and they follow up if there are any issues."
"It is easy to administer."
"One of the most effective feature of F5 BIG-IP DNS is its robustness and integration with our existing F5 infrastructure. It helps us to geographically connect and form an internal topology network with our clients."
 

Cons

"From a financial standpoint, I do not believe Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise is cost-effective when compared to other solutions available in the industry."
"Akamai SPS Threat Avert's pricing could be improved because it's a very expensive enterprise solution."
"Their support response time needs improvement. They take on average one week to respond, which is not satisfactory given how critical applications are to the organization."
"The IP intelligent services are good for mitigating threats, but there are also false positives. So, it's not a standalone solution that can cover everything."
"The support response time could use improvement."
"I would like to see the login facilities improved, as well as more troubleshooting."
"The costs could always be a bit lower."
"The solution can improve by adding cloud integration through plugins or additional configurations so we can use F5 BIG-IP DNS to communicate with the cloud."
"Scalability is a concern, it could be improved."
"I would like to see deeper integration with VMware in the sense that F5 compliments VMware, in the context of application availability."
"The monitoring capabilities of F5 BIG-IP DNS could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Provided the features Akamai SPS Threat Avert provides, it is bound to be expensive."
"Cost is a factor. It is really costly."
"BIG-IP DNS is more expensive than its competitors like Citrix, but it gives good value for money."
"You cannot do much around DDoS protection without an additional license from F5."
"This product is quite pricey but if you compare the feature set and its compatibility with similar products on the market, you would understand why it's that price."
"In some cases, it is expensive."
"I would rate the pricing a three out of ten, with ten being a low price."
"They are competitively priced."
"The on-prem version is only available on a yearly license, but the cloud version can be paid for on a day-by-day basis."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Government
7%
Marketing Services Firm
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Retailer
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Akamai SPS Threat Avert?
Since Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise is not being used in our campus environment, as our users do not route their internet through Akamai, I cannot provide detailed feedback on areas for ...
What is your primary use case for Akamai SPS Threat Avert?
Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise is designed to protect users' access to the internet.
What advice do you have for others considering Akamai SPS Threat Avert?
Our organization does not utilize the internet access feature of Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise because our company routes internet traffic through our public ISPs rather than through Aka...
What do you like most about F5 BIG-IP DNS?
For one of our clients, F5 improved global server load balancing with an active-active site configuration for Disaster Recovery.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 BIG-IP DNS?
In terms of pricing, F5 BIG-IP is not cheaper compared to other solutions like Fortinet or Citrix. The cost can be high due to its comprehensive modules.
What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP DNS?
When it comes to denial of service or DNS security, F5 is not the best vendor as dedicated vendors such as Arbor for denial of service and Infoblox for DNS security offer more comprehensive solutio...
 

Also Known As

Akamai Enterprise Threat Protector, Akamai ETP, Akamai SPS Threat Avert
F5 BIG-IP DNS, F5 DNS Delivery
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

MCNC, Educational Testing Service
Ricacorp Properties, Bangladesh Post Office, Shawbrook Bank, Shinsegae Internet Duty Free
Find out what your peers are saying about Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise vs. F5 BIG-IP DNS and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.