Akamai App and API Protector vs Symantec Data Center Security comparison

Akamai and Broadcom are both solutions in the Cloud and Data Center Security category. Akamai is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.7, while Broadcom is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0. Akamai holds a 0.7% mindshare in CDCS, compared to Broadcom’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Akamai users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 81% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

Akamai App and API Protector

Read 28 Akamai App and API Protector reviews

200 Views
101 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Symantec Data Center Security

Read 11 Symantec Data Center Security reviews

477 Views
40 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

Akamai App and API Protector

Symantec Data Center Security

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 14, 2024

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Symantec Data Center Security and Akamai App and API Protector are in the security solutions market, focusing on data protection and application security. Symantec has an edge in data protection and cost-effectiveness, while Akamai is preferred for its robust features and performance.

Features: Symantec Data Center Security offers comprehensive data protection with endpoint security, policy compliance, and file integrity monitoring. Akamai App and API Protector provides application and API security with advanced threat defenses, DDoS protection, and scalable cloud deployment.

Room for Improvement: Symantec could enhance its application security, improve threat detection for cloud environments, and update its scalability for contemporary needs. Akamai might improve its pricing model, refine endpoint protection, and enhance policy compliance capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Symantec offers straightforward deployment and solid support services. Akamai features flexible cloud-based deployment, backed by reliable customer support aiding seamless transitions.

Pricing and ROI: Symantec is typically more cost-effective with lower initial costs, providing stable ROI. Akamai, despite a higher upfront investment, offers excellent ROI through continuous security advancements, making it a worthwhile investment for application and API security.

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

Buyer's Guide

Akamai App and API Protector vs. Symantec Data Center Security

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 Cloud and Data Center Security

10th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Web Application Firewall (WAF) (8th), Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (4th)

Symantec Data Center Security

Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security

11th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 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 Symantec Data Center Security is 1.5%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud and Data Center Security

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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Shahram Dehghani

Security Technical Manager at Modaberan Fanavari Pasargad

A robust solution that provides comprehensive protection for data centers, offering agentless security, powerful intrusion prevention, and a wide range of security features

The primary focus of data center security often revolves around serving customers who offer services to other clients within the data center. For example, if I operate a data center and provide security services, third-party customers might purchase virtual machine products within my data center. These products are automatically deployed, and we safeguard these virtual machines using intrusion prevention system features. This aspect is considered the most valuable part because when we set up these security policies, it's as if we're fortifying the entire infrastructure. It's not just about having good technical support; it's about having a robust IPS and comprehensive DOS prevention system on those operating systems. The advantage of Data Center Security is its ease of use and that it serves as a single unified platform, where I can apply all my security policies to protect that server.

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 UI."

"The support that we got from their technical team has been fantastic. I have never experienced this level of support from other CDN providers."

"The features are powerful and better than F5."

"The most valuable feature is the custom rules feature. This is because many of our customers require a lot of custom rules. Because it's a very customized project for our customers, I think they have the best of everything already."

"The product is user-friendly."

"The solution easily identifies, delays, or allows business traffic."

"They have a fantastic tool for analyzing and viewing your traffic."

More Akamai App and API Protector pros

"The real strength lies in its straightforward approach, offering just two key policies: prevention and detection."

"The monitoring in the management console allows us to find out what is going wrong, and it gets reports even before the user reports it."

"The tool will then detect any anomalies, such as an intruder who has breached the network, which can trigger the system lockdown feature if it's enabled and meets the defined threshold."

"The advantage of Data Center Security is its ease of use and that it serves as a single unified platform, where I can apply all my security policies to protect that server."

"The granularity of applying the policies is valuable."

"The console and tools are very user-friendly."

"The most valuable feature is the centralized console, which can handle different products that we have."

"The most valuable feature is the endpoint protection system."

More Symantec Data Center Security pros

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."

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

"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."

"I do not see any area for improvement. Akamai is already maintaining its own databases for the security concerns, vulnerabilities, and attacks that are there. If anything, they should have a solution in the infrastructure security area as well. They should not be only in cloud cybersecurity; they should also be in infrastructure security."

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

"The custom rules must be improved."

"Customer support has room for improvement."

"The pricing could be reduced a bit."

More Akamai App and API Protector cons

"It would be advantageous if Symantec or Broadcom, given the rebranding, could simplify the process, enabling users to leverage the antivirus functionality more easily."

"Agent management is a challenging task."

"The product blocks certain processes, even after allowlisting them."

"They need to develop a more flexible product that can be scaled such that it fits well into a small business or a bigger, enterprise-level solution."

"Could have better reporting capabilities and better support."

"There is plenty of room for improvement with this product, and it could start with platform metrics."

"A user or administrator making the policy in the DCS should have a very thorough knowledge of the operating system or policy making. You have to be very specific about the data structure."

"There is room for improvement in enhancing its graphical user interface for a more user-friendly experience."

More Symantec Data Center Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"The product’s price is high."

"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."

More Akamai App and API Protector pricing and cost advice

"The product is a bit costly."

"Compared to some other solutions, such as CrowdStrike, Symantec is more expensive."

"It is notably more expensive when compared to other solutions."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

23%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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 do you like most about Symantec Data Center Security?

The granularity of applying the policies is valuable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Symantec Data Center Security?

Agent management is a challenging task. We cannot do it from the console. We will have to use other tools.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Symantec Data Center Security?

One key use case for data center security is protecting files within the data center. This is especially important for Linux systems, where locking down specific files is essential to prevent unaut...

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 10% 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 8% of the time

More Akamai App and API Protector Competitors

Trend Micro Deep Security vs Symantec Data Center Security

Compared 58% of the time

Symantec Endpoint Security vs Symantec Data Center Security

Compared 30% of the time

VMware NSX vs Symantec Data Center Security

Compared 12% of the time

More Symantec Data Center Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Akamai App and API Protector

June 2025

Download Akamai App and API Protector product report

Buyer's Guide

Symantec Data Center Security

May 2025

Download Symantec Data Center Security product report

Also Known As

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

No data available

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

Docker containers make it easy to develop, deploy, and deliver applications where containers can be deployed and brought down in a matter of seconds. This flexibility makes it very useful for DevOps to automate deployment of containers. Symantec Data Center Security: Server Advanced provides agentless Docker container protection that allows you to achieve the performance benefits of Docker without sacrificing security. Full application control enables administrator privilege de-escalation, patch mitigation, and protection against zero day threats in today's heterogeneous data centers.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Douglas Omaha Technology Commission, ZALORA, PrintPlanet

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Akamai App and API Protector vs. Symantec Data Center Security

June 2025

Free Report: Akamai App and API Protector vs. Symantec Data Center Security

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