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Akamai App and API Protector vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 14, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
4.8
Akamai App and API Protector offers superior traffic management, security, and cost savings for large infrastructures, despite higher costs.
Sentiment score
6.4
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation enhances security, provides threat intelligence, reduces personnel needs, and reassures clients with effective management.
I have not seen a return on investment in terms of specific metrics like time saved or reduced risk, but I can say that reduced risk is significant.
Senior Security Analyst at a retailer with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.7
Customer service is excellent, while technical support has mixed reviews with praise for expertise but needs improved availability.
Sentiment score
6.8
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation support is praised for professionalism and promptness, though some note response time and expertise variances.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Akamai App and API Protector excels in scalability, seamlessly handling extensive user demands and large-scale deployments with stability.
Sentiment score
7.3
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is highly scalable, efficiently supporting thousands of agents with minimal performance impact across varied deployments.
It scales very well, and I can keep adding agents and scale as much as needed.
Senior Security Analyst at a retailer with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Akamai App and API Protector is highly stable and reliable, with no reported outages or issues over years of use.
Sentiment score
7.3
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is stable with minor issues; users find stability strong, but micro-segmentation transition can be challenging.
 

Room For Improvement

Akamai App and API Protector needs enhancements in flexibility, UI, customer support, documentation, and advanced protection features.
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation needs improved customization, automation, integration, threat detection, and cost-effective solutions for enhancing user experience.
I think it is really valuable to take a course on Akamai Guardicore Segmentation because many things are not obvious in terms of how to do them correctly.
Senior Security Analyst at a retailer with 5,001-10,000 employees
I believe implementing MFA would be very useful and helpful to us.
Especialista em segurança da informação at a tech consulting company with 11-50 employees
 

Setup Cost

Akamai App and API Protector is expensive yet considered worth the cost by large enterprises for its quality services.
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation pricing is high for some but offers flexible licensing and good value compared to competitors.
The pricing was flexible, and it has worked out well with our budget.
Senior Security Analyst at a retailer with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Akamai App and API Protector delivers scalable security, ease of use, and cost-effective protection with advanced features like DDoS defense.
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation offers robust multi-platform visibility, easy setup, AI-driven insights, and versatile security management across environments.
The area in which Akamai excels compared to other competitors with a WAF is in threat intelligence, as threats continually evolve, requiring ongoing updates to backend algorithms to effectively capture smart bots.
Privacy & Risk Management Vice President, Information Security at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
The best features Akamai Guardicore Segmentation offers make it simple to see all of the connections that are being made to each of the endpoints, and they can be controlled by process and port.
Senior Security Analyst at a retailer with 5,001-10,000 employees
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation offers us large visibility in all our environments and helps us to understand network segmentation and traffic.
Especialista em segurança da informação at a tech consulting company with 11-50 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Akamai App and API Protector
Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security
14th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
Web Application Firewall (WAF) (16th), Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (8th)
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation
Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (11th), Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) (5th), Microsegmentation Software (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Cloud and Data Center Security category, the mindshare of Akamai App and API Protector is 1.3%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is 18.8%, down from 25.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud and Data Center Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation18.8%
Akamai App and API Protector1.3%
Other79.9%
Cloud and Data Center Security
 

Featured Reviews

Gavin Pinho - PeerSpot reviewer
Privacy & Risk Management Vice President, Information Security at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Has provided strong protection against evolving threats but still needs support for configuration fine-tuning
The standout features of Akamai App and API Protector are rooted in it being the Web Application Firewall, where all traffic gets scanned, including the implementation of web firewall rules, and after this phase, traffic proceeds through the BMP, which is Bot Management. Akamai App and API Protector exceeds expectations in terms of AI capabilities, and it genuinely combines a plethora of advanced features. The area in which Akamai excels compared to other competitors with a WAF is in threat intelligence, as threats continually evolve, requiring ongoing updates to backend algorithms to effectively capture smart bots, and Akamai's commitment in that regard is backed by an excellent team, while other providers are still catching up.
Ken Bauer - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Security Analyst at a retailer with 5,001-10,000 employees
Segmentation of legacy systems has protected outdated endpoints and reduces network risk
The best features Akamai Guardicore Segmentation offers make it simple to see all of the connections that are being made to each of the endpoints, and they can be controlled by process and port. The ability to control by process and port helps my team day-to-day because, since there are hundreds of thousands of connections to some of these endpoints, looking at the Reveal Map makes it simple to audit and create rules for what we want to allow. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation has impacted my organization positively because we find it difficult to remove the legacy systems, so it was very important to segment them from the rest of the network to protect them and protect the rest of our network.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Performing Arts
7%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise18
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise10
 

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?
There are no significant areas for improvement on the WAF side or for Akamai App and API Protector solution; they are comprehensive in their current state.
What is your primary use case for Akamai Web Application Protector?
The main use case for Akamai App and API Protector is serving as the WAF, Web Application Firewall.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Guardicore Centra?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that overall everything worked out really well. The pricing was flexible, and it has worked out well with our budget.
What do you like most about Guardicore Infection Monkey?
Initially, I liked the telemetry part. But later, we used the microsegmentation features that we were able to deploy and found that they really stood out from other vendors. It allows us to see mi...
What needs improvement with Guardicore Infection Monkey?
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation can be improved because keeping it up to date is difficult since it is SaaS-based and updates are not on a regular schedule; I have to reach out to my contact to ask ...
 

Also Known As

Akamai Web Application Protector, Akamai Kona Site Defender, Akamai Kona DDoS Defender
Guardicore Centra, GuardiCore
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Douglas Omaha Technology Commission, ZALORA, PrintPlanet
Santander, Frontier Airlines, OpenLink, Intermountain Healthcare, Cellcom, BancoBASE
Find out what your peers are saying about Akamai App and API Protector vs. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.