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 0.8% mindshare in CDCS, compared to Broadcom’s 1.6% 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

4,636 Views
185 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Symantec Data Center Security

Read 11 Symantec Data Center Security reviews

782 Views
469 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

Akamai App and API Protector

Symantec Data Center Security

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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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: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Akamai App and API Protector vs. Symantec Data Center Security

July 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) (9th), 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 August 2025, in the Cloud and Data Center Security category, the mindshare of Akamai App and API Protector is 0.8%, down from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Data Center Security is 1.6%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud and Data Center Security

Featured Reviews

Bharat Chandra

Head of DevOpps at Indian express

Exceptional support, protects our sites, and provides visibility into traffic

We did a PoC of Akamai and Cloudflare. One area where Akamai can improve is the captcha part. Cloudflare provides a captcha if there are a certain number of threats. For example, I can assign that if there are 10 requests within a second from a single IP, it should send a captcha to the user. The user should fill in the captcha, and only after that, the user should be able to access our website. This captcha feature should be built into Bot Manager. I love this captcha feature of Cloudflare. Other things are good in Akamai. That is why we are using Akamai. Only the captcha part should be implemented.

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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 product has a good user interface."

"All the solution's features are very good."

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

"The solution can scale extremely well."

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

"Everything will be handled by Akamai's system before it reaches our infrastructure."

"I have contacted the support team of Akamai... I am happy with their responses and answers to my problems."

"Adaptive stream delivery and WAF protection are valuable."

More Akamai App and API Protector pros

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

"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 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."

"We use the product to prevent unauthorized access to data, systems, and servers. It provides essential features for data center security."

"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 granularity of applying the policies is valuable."

"Good file integrity monitoring features."

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

More Symantec Data Center Security pros

Cons

"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."

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

"The solution could offer even more integrations."

"The pricing could be reduced a bit."

"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."

"Could integrate more features for each security."

"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."

"It would be better if there weren't any issues with latency. We had latency issues, but I think they are all solved now."

More Akamai App and API Protector cons

"Could have better reporting capabilities and better support."

"Adding more compatibility with common products like Microsoft would be a plus."

"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."

"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."

"The support is very bad. They're not fast at all. Trend Micro's support is much better."

"Agent management is a challenging task."

"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

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

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"Akamai Web Application Protector is an expensive product."

"The solution is expensive."

More Akamai App and API Protector pricing and cost advice

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

"The product is a bit costly."

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

Manufacturing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

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 10% of the time

AWS WAF vs Akamai App and API Protector

Compared 9% of the time

Cloudflare vs Akamai App and API Protector

Compared 8% of the time

Prolexic vs Akamai App and API Protector

Compared 8% of the time

Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs Akamai App and API Protector

Compared 6% of the time

More Akamai App and API Protector Competitors

Trend Micro Deep Security vs Symantec Data Center Security

Compared 65% of the time

Symantec Endpoint Security vs Symantec Data Center Security

Compared 24% of the time

VMware NSX vs Symantec Data Center Security

Compared 11% of the time

More Symantec Data Center Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Akamai App and API Protector

August 2025

Download Akamai App and API Protector product report

Buyer's Guide

Symantec Data Center Security

July 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

July 2025

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