Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai comparison

Akamai and Horizon3.ai are both solutions in the Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) category. Akamai is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.8, while Horizon3.ai is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.9. Akamai holds a 1.2% mindshare in BAS, compared to Horizon3.ai’s 12.5% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Akamai users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Horizon3.ai users who would recommend it.

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Read 20 Akamai Guardicore Segmentation reviews

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78 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

The NodeZero Platform by Ho...

Read 11 The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai reviews

3,681 Views
1,325 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

The NodeZero Platform by Ho...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2025

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation and the NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai compete in the cybersecurity software category. The NodeZero Platform seems to have the upper hand due to its automation and penetration testing capabilities, which provide comprehensive vulnerability insights swiftly.

Features: Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is known for its robust micro-segmentation and security policy implementation. It offers clear visibility, efficient threat intelligence, and supports legacy systems. The NodeZero Platform excels in automation and penetration testing, utilizing AI to identify vulnerabilities and provide real-time actionable insights. It also offers comprehensive real-time reporting and autonomous operation, which are beneficial for continuous monitoring.

Room for Improvement: Akamai Guardicore Segmentation could enhance cost management, expand third-party tool integration, and improve policy management automation. Users also desire more flexible dashboards and honeypot customization. The NodeZero Platform could improve by integrating more widely with vulnerability management tools, expanding reporting capabilities, and enhancing its scan speed and OSINT tool offerings for better performance in complex environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Akamai Guardicore Segmentation supports on-premises, private, and public cloud deployments effectively and excels in customer support with rapid response times, particularly from its Israeli support team. The NodeZero Platform supports hybrid cloud environments and is noted for its responsive customer support, though there's room for improvement in ticketing and reporting systems.

Pricing and ROI: Akamai Guardicore is considered expensive but valuable for its comprehensive features. Its flexible pricing model and ROI are attractive for large setups. The NodeZero Platform offers competitive pricing, perceived as more affordable compared to traditional methods, with a significant ROI due to its automated features and broad scanning capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

December 2025

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Helped 881,082 peers since 2012

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 Guardicore Segmentation

Ranking in Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud and Data Center Security (1st), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (11th), Microsegmentation Software (3rd)

The NodeZero Platform by Ho...

Ranking in Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)

2nd

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Vulnerability Management (9th), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (13th), Penetration Testing Services (1st), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) category, the mindshare of Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is 1.2%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai is 12.5%, up from 6.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai	12.5%
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation	1.2%
Other	86.3%

Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)

Featured Reviews

Ken Bauer

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.

Read full review

Shaun Hunt

Chief Information Officer at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Has unified our IT teams by providing clear visibility into network vulnerabilities and accelerated remediation with real-world attack testing

One of the things that we've shared with Horizon is just the reporting. They've made a lot of changes over time, but when examining computers, most average normal people don't look at a computer and identify it as 114.82.117.180. They identify it as 'the printer for accounting.' When many of the reports give the very detailed technical IP address or serial number, that's really not helpful for anyone other than the person, the hands-on person that's trying to remediate it. All the managers, all the leaders, having information in that format isn't helpful. Being able to have information about what those devices are would be very helpful. There's a technical reason they can't just have an easy button because some people have really complicated networks. When examining things for the average company, the average executive, that 114 number, there's only one of those. But if examining an AT&T or a Walmart, it isn't unique. They haven't solved that problem. But for the 90% of companies, being able to have just a human readable name for all devices on your network in all of the reports all of the time would be the most beneficial.

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

"Application Ring-Fencing and Deception Server, which is basically like a honeypot, are pretty useful features."

"This tool greatly helps in understanding the footprint of the attacks."

"The real bonus is the fact that we can secure applications, all the way down to the individual services, on each host. It's actually more granular security than we can get out of a traditional firewall."

"We like the centralized management of the firewalls. Until we installed Guardicore Centra, we managed all our firewalls individually, so making changes was complicated, difficult, and time-consuming."

"The most valuable feature is the visibility of processes and connections."

"I found the solution to be stable."

"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 microsegmentation as distributed services."

"The tool is a complete package that offers many features like visibility. You can get a graph with real-time workflows and visibility into server-to-server communication. We get visibility into many things happening within our environment."

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation pros

"We experienced a threat that could have severely crippled us, but we were able to shut it down before it escalated, thanks to internal vulnerability testing and addressing critical vulnerabilities using their tool."

"Honestly, it's one of the most transformational technologies we've implemented in our company."

"For us, The NodeZero Platform is literally the single best security solution we have because the way that it works is we're able to scan every part of our network, both internally and externally, and then get completely actionable feedback that doesn't matter if it's for an application developer or a network admin."

"The NodeZero Platform's real attack capabilities help in identifying vulnerabilities on our on-prem systems because it provides actual vulnerabilities by attacking our systems."

"Penetration testing and scans are useful features."

"Overall, I'd rate NodeZero at nine to 9.5 out of ten."

"The NodeZero Platform's real attack capabilities help identify vulnerabilities on my on-premise systems by adding an element of validation and offensive security testing on top of known vulnerabilities. The feature that allows security teams to fix and retest vulnerabilities instantly is very useful, even though it may not happen literally 'instantly.' It's a necessary tool for any organization to understand whether vulnerabilities are genuinely exploitable by attackers. With its near-real-time testing capabilities, it's an essential part of any security portfolio."

"I rate the stability of the NodeZero Platform a ten out of ten."

More The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai pros

Cons

"It would be very helpful for beginners if the solution had more windows to help with the terms inside instead of going to the documentation."

"Supports become difficult when it's for a big organization. For a small organization, medium organization, it still makes sense, however, for a big organization, it makes life difficult."

"It doesn't support a PAAC solution (Platforma as a service) in the cloud."

"The dashboard needs improvement. It should be more flexible so that I can easily see what I want or need to see."

"Kubernetes is not installed in the way we need it."

"They can maybe improve their customer service just because they are kind of a small organization, and customer service isn't as big as others such as VMware."

"In our version, when using the terminal server, we cannot exclude user tasks for each session."

"Guardicore Centra should incorporate automation so that we don't require to write custom scripts and APIs. The tool also has limitations on rules where it allows only sixty thousand rules. Our clients have also commented that there are too many manual clicks and effort to do changes. I think that the incorporation of automation can help our clients make changes with confidence and without the possibility of human error."

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation cons

"One of the areas where improvement is needed is in the visibility and reporting for large enterprises."

"The only issue we’ve encountered is that sometimes the scans take a long time to complete."

"The areas for improvement for The NodeZero Platform involve integration and automation. It would be beneficial if it could integrate directly with vulnerability management tools that would allow the platform to automatically import data, identify vulnerable systems, and test targets immediately, potentially even enabling automated feedback loops for rescanning since the process is currently manual."

"I think The NodeZero Platform could improve by leveraging GPUs for password cracking, which would be pretty good."

"They've added a chatbot which isn't particularly useful, but when it can't answer questions, it forwards messages to human support."

"The speed of the scans takes some time, but in my opinion, it is not surprising for what it is doing."

"The reports are quite useless."

"Sometimes even their support doesn't know why we're seeing certain issues."

More The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Guardicore Centra provides better value for money than NSX, was the other solution that we looked at, which was too expensive for what it does."

"Compared to the pricing we were seeing from both Illumio and Edgewise, Guardicore was very competitive."

"The customer would complain about the cost."

"GuardiCore has made some new changes to the license now. We've seen monthly and annual licenses based on a subscription. We have a few clients that pay anywhere from $25,000 a year."

"The solution is reasonably priced and I would rate it a six out of ten. The tool's licensing costs are yearly."

"Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is expensive."

"The price is the same as other products in the market. There's no price argument to choose one or the other product, it will cost the customer approximately the same."

"This is not a cheap solution but you have to consider the bigger picture, which is what it is giving you."

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Horizon3.ai?

Penetration testing and scans are useful features.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Horizon3.ai?

I think The NodeZero Platform could improve by leveraging GPUs for password cracking, which would be pretty good.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Horizon3.ai?

We use The NodeZero Platform for control validation and we are also looking for the likelihood of vulnerabilities.

See all answers

Comparisons

Illumio vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 39% of the time

VMware NSX vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 10% of the time

Cisco Secure Workload vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 9% of the time

Trend Micro Deep Security vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 4% of the time

Zero Networks vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 3% of the time

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation Competitors

Pentera vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Compared 28% of the time

Tenable Security Center vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Compared 7% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Compared 6% of the time

Cymulate vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Compared 5% of the time

Tenable Nessus vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Compared 5% of the time

More The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

January 2026

Download Akamai Guardicore Segmentation product report

Buyer's Guide

The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

January 2026

The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai report

Download The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai product report

Also Known As

Guardicore Centra, GuardiCore

Horizon3.ai

Overview

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is a software-based microsegmentation solution that provides the simplest, fastest, and most intuitive way to enforce Zero Trust principles. It enables you to prevent malicious lateral movement in your network through precise segmentation policies, visuals of activity within your IT environment, and network security alerts. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation works across your data centers, multicloud environments, and endpoints. It is faster to deploy than infrastructure segmentation approaches and provides you with unparalleled visibility and control of your network.

Akamai

NodeZero by Horizon3.ai is an offensive security platform that enables users to adopt an attacker’s perspective, reveal vulnerabilities, and verify defense effectiveness with evidence-backed insights.

NodeZero provides autonomous pentesting, showing how attackers exploit misconfigurations, credentials, and exposures into attack paths. It helps focus on real risks rather than hypothetical ones, integrating seamlessly into existing IT and security workflows to streamline processes. The platform drives risk-based vulnerability management and CTEM by validating vulnerabilities and measuring resilience.

What standout features improve your security?

Autonomous Pentesting at Scale: Executes extensive pentests across broad IT landscapes swiftly.
Hybrid Cloud Coverage: Navigates on-premises and cloud domains to find attack paths.
Proof of Exploitation: Offers evidence for every finding.
Fix Validation: Allows quick retesting to ensure vulnerabilities are resolved.
NodeZero Tripwires: Uses deception tokens for real adversary detection.

What benefits should you expect from reviews?

Reduced Vulnerability Noise: Prioritizes exploitable risks with ServiceNow integration.
Automated Workflows: MCP Server automates processes, reducing bottlenecks and enhancing efficiency.
Immediate Fix Validation: Ensures defenses work during attacks.
Real-Time Resilience Measurement: Helps schedule routine assessments without external help.

NodeZero assists in automated penetration testing and vulnerability management in industries like finance and healthcare. It enhances security processes by complementing or replacing existing solutions, enabling efficient testing, feedback, and control validation.

Horizon3.ai

Sample Customers

Santander, Frontier Airlines, OpenLink, Intermountain Healthcare, Cellcom, BancoBASE

Government agencies, Defense Industrial Base organizations, and enterprises in regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and criticalinfrastructure rely on NodeZero to meet rigorous security and compliance requirements with continuous, scheduled, and on-demand testing.

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

December 2025

Free Report: Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

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