Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise vs IBM NS1 Connect comparison

Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise vs. IBM NS1 Connect

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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 Secure Internet Acc...

Ranking in Domain Name System (DNS) Security

11th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

5.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (21st)

IBM NS1 Connect

Ranking in Domain Name System (DNS) Security

8th

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Managed DNS (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Domain Name System (DNS) Security category, the mindshare of Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise is 2.3%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM NS1 Connect is 2.1%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Domain Name System (DNS) Security Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
IBM NS1 Connect	2.1%
Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise	2.3%
Other	95.6%

Domain Name System (DNS) Security

Featured Reviews

MeshwaShah

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.

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Sanchit Makkar

Dns architect at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Intelligent global traffic steering has improved reliability and reduced latency for users

IBM NS1 Connect has a very steep learning curve in terms of learning the custom filter chains and the complex multi-region setup, which requires a specialized DNS expert and can be difficult for beginners. One has to get trained on IBM NS1 before starting to use it. The documentation and the interface could be improved, as a step-by-step video configuration guide would be helpful in new implementations. Daily change audit features and easier rollback options should also be provided in the GUI itself. The dashboard and the GUI have gray areas for advanced tasks, which require API interaction and can be overwhelming for beginners.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."

"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."

"IBM NS1 Connect has a positive impact on my organization, as I believe it improves security, availability, and DDoS attack mitigation because it detects failures and automatically redirects users to healthy resources."

"For starters, it integrates with Terraform and a lot of our infrastructure is effectively built out using Terraform. That makes all this stuff extremely easy... when we deploy, all the entries are created and configuration is done."

"The Filter Chain is one of the most valuable features, for geo-load balancing and geo-fencing. The Filter Chain is the most useful because it allows us to do several things. With geo-fencing we can redirect a particular user to a particular answer. That's very valuable for us. Filter Chains with monitoring is our strategy to provide redundancy."

"IBM NS1 Connect has positively impacted my organization by providing controlled downtime, reduced downtime, and time saving through automation, as approximately forty to fifty percent of our time is saved through automation and enhanced visibility."

"Monitoring is really important for us. We really care about reliability, and we want to make sure that we can remove some points of presence in our sector and in our edge network really fast when we experience any problems. So, monitoring that NS1 provides for DNS is really important for us."

"It massively speeds things up. Today, we allow developers to deploy services and have externally facing DNS scrapers that are created automatically without the addition of human intervention."

"NS1 gives us a nice flat line, because it's always performant and fast and that's what we want to see."

"If you need an external DNS provider, NS1 has been a really good provider for us, giving us exactly what we were looking for and with more functionality than we need for the moment, functionality that we can buy additionally."

More IBM NS1 Connect pros

Cons

"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."

"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."

"When we first deployed, we flipped the switch, and it didn't work as well as we expected."

"There could maybe be additional ways to manage traffic. There are no major improvements we're looking for. It's a very complete solution."

"I would like to see the UI updated to allow me to do finer searches. I would also like to have the ability to get reports that can sort based on various metrics. For example, I would like to be able to say, "Show me the top 10 records by total queries" in an easy-to-digest format."

"Pricing can be more transparent, especially when dealing with tight budgets."

"The Filter Chain setup is a bit hard to grasp at first."

"When we first deployed, we flipped the switch, and it didn't work as well as we expected. It wasn't a complete outage, but we had issues in some places with some customers. The NS1 team went out of their way to resolve it on Thanksgiving. We have a post about it on our blog. We called it "Black Thursday.""

"I would like to see the UI updated to allow me to do finer searches."

"I would love to see improvement in the testing capabilities they provide."

More IBM NS1 Connect cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Provided the features Akamai SPS Threat Avert provides, it is bound to be expensive."

"NS1's pricing is much more aggressive than its competitors in the market and you get more value out of what you pay for it."

"Everything can always be cheaper, but as it is today the pricing is fair."

"The cost of this product is one of the reasons that we chose it."

"From a cost standpoint, it's certainly not the most expensive out there, and it's also not the cheapest, but it does well to balance the cost and the functionality/reliability."

"We pay about $30,000 a month. We used to pay about $20,000 with Dyn every month, for lower volume than we're doing right now, but it had none of the features that we have available with NS1, so it was worth it for us. It seems competitive for us, given that we're doing 4.5 billion requests."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Outsourcing Company

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

13%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	14

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 needs improvement with NS1 Managed DNS?

I believe IBM NS1 Connect can be improved in several ways. The main concern I identified is the cost, which is higher than other solutions despite its uses. Additionally, they could improve their h...

What is your primary use case for NS1 Managed DNS?

My main use case for IBM NS1 Connect is handling DNS traffic and routing traffic. A specific example of how I use IBM NS1 Connect to route traffic is routing the API, the websites' API, and the app...

What advice do you have for others considering NS1 Managed DNS?

Regarding IBM NS1 Connect's AI capabilities, the accuracy and reliability of output involve least privileged API keys, API key rotation, secret management, and monitoring and alerting, with alerts ...

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Akamai Edge DNS vs IBM NS1 Connect

Compared 10% of the time

Managed DNS Services vs IBM NS1 Connect

Compared 9% of the time

Constellix DNS vs IBM NS1 Connect

Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

Download Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise product report

Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise report

IBM NS1 Connect

Download IBM NS1 Connect product report

Also Known As

Akamai Enterprise Threat Protector, Akamai ETP, Akamai SPS Threat Avert

NS1 Managed DNS, NS1

Overview

Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise offers robust cybersecurity to protect organizations from threats and provides seamless cloud-based connectivity to safeguard remote work operations.

Designed with a focus on high-performance security, Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise efficiently manages web and internet traffic, transforming traditional network defenses into sophisticated security architectures. Its intelligent threat detection capabilities ensure that malicious attacks are identified and neutralized before they can cause harm, providing peace of mind for IT teams.

What are the key features?

Threat Intelligence: Continuously updated threat intelligence to stay ahead of emerging threats.
Secure Web Gateway: Comprehensive security for web access to block malicious content.
Centralized Management: Simplified management through a unified interface for easy control.
Cloud-Based Architecture: Scalability and flexibility to accommodate changing organizational demands.

What benefits should users expect?

Increased Security: Enhanced protection for sensitive data and business operations.
Cost Efficiency: Reduced infrastructure costs with cloud-based solutions.
Enhanced Productivity: Seamless and secure access for remote and office workers.
Compliance Support: Helps maintain compliance with industry regulations.

In the financial sector, for example, Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise is employed to balance stringent compliance needs with agile internet access. Healthcare industries utilize it to protect patient data without compromising connectivity, demonstrating its versatility across fields.

Akamai

IBM NS1 Connect delivers comprehensive DNS management with features like DNSSEC, low latency, and intelligent traffic routing. It integrates seamlessly with automation tools, making it ideal for improving infrastructure management.

IBM NS1 Connect offers a robust DNS management platform combining security, speed, and reliability. Its API-driven functionality allows for seamless integration with Terraform and other tools, enhancing geolocation-aware capabilities and real-time performance monitoring. Smart Domains ensure optimal routing, while Pulsar boosts user experience. Real-time telemetry and intelligent traffic routing minimize load times, contributing to efficient service delivery and application uptime. Recommendations for improvement include enhancing DNS timeout resolutions and providing educational resources for networking novices.

What are IBM NS1 Connect's key features?

DNSSEC: Enhances security by protecting DNS information.
Low Latency: Ensures faster DNS query responses.
API-driven Functionality: Facilitates easy integration with tools like Terraform.
Real-time Telemetry: Provides up-to-date performance insights.
Intelligent Traffic Routing: Directs traffic for optimized user experience.
Pulsar: Enhances performance with smart routing algorithms.
Filter Chains: Offers customizable rules for traffic handling.
Secondary DNS: Ensures redundancy and disaster recovery.

What benefits should users look for?

Cost-effectiveness: Reduces infrastructure costs by leveraging cloud hosting.
Improved Application Uptime: Minimizes downtime with reliable DNS management.
Faster Provisioning: Speeds up infrastructure setup and updates.
Reliable Metrics: Provides accurate performance data for informed decision-making.
Enhanced User Interface: Offers a straightforward navigation experience.

In healthcare, IBM NS1 Connect enhances CDN routing and facilitates efficient DNS management. Financial institutions leverage its geo-load balancing capabilities for secure transaction processing. E-commerce brands use its low latency and automation features to improve website responsiveness and reduce error rates. Telecom companies benefit from its API integration, allowing for seamless upgrades and network optimizations.

IBM

Sample Customers

MCNC, Educational Testing Service

Avast Software, Bloomberg L.P., BBC, Carfax, CNBC LLC, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Disney Streaming, Dropbox, EBAY Inc, Gannett Media Corp, Salesforce, Wayfair, Workday

Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise vs. IBM NS1 Connect