Akamai App & API Protector vs. Layer7 API Security vs. F5 Distributed Cloud API Security

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Akamai App & API Protector
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Akamai Akamai App & API Protector offers protection for websites, web applications and APIs. An evolution of Kona Site Defender, a web application security platform designed to protect web and mobile assets from targeted web application attacks and DDoS attacks while improving performance.N/A
Layer7 API Security
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Layer7 API Management enables enterprises to test and monitor real-time in both development and production environments. Now under the brand Layer7 API Security from Broadcom, the service includes Layer7 API Gateway, and the Layer7 API Developer Portal.N/A
F5 Distributed Cloud API Security
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
F5's Distributed Cloud API Security provides discovery and deep insights from use of AI/ML. It can be used to block API attacks in real time and eliminate vulnerabilities at their source. The SaaS-based portal enables users to manage and go deep for threat analytics, forensics, and troubleshooting of modern applications.N/A
Pricing
Akamai App & API ProtectorLayer7 API SecurityF5 Distributed Cloud API Security
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Akamai App & API ProtectorLayer7 API SecurityF5 Distributed Cloud API Security
Free Trial
YesNoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Akamai App & API ProtectorLayer7 API SecurityF5 Distributed Cloud API Security
Features
Akamai App & API ProtectorLayer7 API SecurityF5 Distributed Cloud API Security
API Management
Comparison of API Management features of Product A and Product B
Akamai App & API Protector
-
Ratings
Layer7 API Security
8.6
1 Ratings
2% above category average
F5 Distributed Cloud API Security
-
Ratings
API access control00 Ratings9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Rate limits and usage policies00 Ratings10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
API usage data00 Ratings9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
API user onboarding00 Ratings7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
API versioning00 Ratings8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Usage billing and payments00 Ratings7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
API monitoring and logging00 Ratings10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
API Security
Comparison of API Security features of Product A and Product B
Akamai App & API Protector
-
Ratings
Layer7 API Security
-
Ratings
F5 Distributed Cloud API Security
8.4
30 Ratings
0% above category average
Data Protection00 Ratings00 Ratings8.230 Ratings
Audit Logging00 Ratings00 Ratings8.328 Ratings
Input Validation00 Ratings00 Ratings7.825 Ratings
Content Filtering00 Ratings00 Ratings8.126 Ratings
Denial of Service (DoS) Protection00 Ratings00 Ratings8.829 Ratings
Security Notification and Alerts00 Ratings00 Ratings8.729 Ratings
API Key Management00 Ratings00 Ratings8.327 Ratings
Cross-origin Resource Sharing (CORS) Protection00 Ratings00 Ratings8.824 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Akamai App & API ProtectorLayer7 API SecurityF5 Distributed Cloud API Security
Small Businesses
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Score 9.0 out of 10
NGINX
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
F5 Big-IP Advanced WAF
F5 Big-IP Advanced WAF
Score 9.3 out of 10
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.1 out of 10
F5 Big-IP Advanced WAF
F5 Big-IP Advanced WAF
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
F5 Big-IP Advanced WAF
F5 Big-IP Advanced WAF
Score 9.3 out of 10
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.1 out of 10
F5 Big-IP Advanced WAF
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Score 9.3 out of 10
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User Ratings
Akamai App & API ProtectorLayer7 API SecurityF5 Distributed Cloud API Security
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
8.6
(28 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
8.4
(6 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
8.4
(26 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(2 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(22 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(2 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(2 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Akamai App & API ProtectorLayer7 API SecurityF5 Distributed Cloud API Security
Likelihood to Recommend
Akamai
Akamai Kona Site Defender KSD, works fine for any website or mobile application (Native/JDK), it can be used as a WAF, a rate limiting tool, or a bot management tool all in one, plus you will get all the benefits of the Akamai CDN (Content distribution network) as well
Read full review
Broadcom
Well suited for publishing internal services with very high security, protecting against attacks, and managing on-demand load. Also good for transform messages and SQL to Rest services. Not appropriate for business logic implementation.
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F5
I believe it covers everything related to the applications' security aspects, but there are a lot of improvements that need to be made. For example, better granular controls like bot categories listed on the distributed console and a granular URL-based control for the rate-limiting option are needed.
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Pros
Akamai
  • Web Security
  • Bot managment
  • Rate Control
Read full review
Broadcom
  • SOAP to Rest / Rest to SOAP web services transformation.
  • Secure authorization and authetication (JWT, OpenIP Connect, OAuth, SAML and more). WASP Features as injection protection.
  • Easy rule writing without coding.
Read full review
F5
  • It auto-discovers APIs, even the ones engineers forget to document. Then profiles them without needing changes to our codebase.
  • Shadow API exposure.
  • It's pretty decent at abnormal behavior detection.
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Cons
Akamai
  • Custom rules might be hard to configure
  • For some cases you will need to contact the Akamai team to adjust the backend
  • Interface might feel laggy if used in a non-powerful PC
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Broadcom
  • It would be nice to have an integration with services like Github for managing projects and versions.
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F5
  • More accurate detection of advanced persistent threats (APTs) targeting APIs.
  • A greater emphasis on checking APIs' schema and contract may prevent them from accepting misconfigurations or malicious input.
  • More customized, dynamic, and targeted protection for high-value APIs or high-risk user groups.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Akamai
No answers on this topic
Broadcom
No answers on this topic
F5
F5 Distributed Cloud API Security provides robust API protection with solid threat detection, excellent visibility, and seamless integration into our architecture
Read full review
Usability
Akamai
No answers on this topic
Broadcom
The Layer7 API Management is a great solution, but, sometimes the documentation is not clear or has lack of examples.
Read full review
F5
Great product. Working with F5 for many years, we found the products F5 provided are all cutting edge technology. Although in F5 Distributed Cloud API Security we still have a lot to find out, but we believe this experience will be very good. Especially on the security side. Trust in F5.
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Reliability and Availability
Akamai
No answers on this topic
Broadcom
No answers on this topic
F5
Always available
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Performance
Akamai
No answers on this topic
Broadcom
No answers on this topic
F5
The UI is cloud-native and generally responsive. Report generation is easy Integrates with cloud providers
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Support Rating
Akamai
No answers on this topic
Broadcom
The support team is good and the response time is reasonable, but (there is always a but), when support inquiries are made by someone experienced, and the question is not trivial, it is boring and takes a long time to get the case escalated to the next level of support.
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F5
Lo hacemos mediante un partner We did it through a partner
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Implementation Rating
Akamai
No answers on this topic
Broadcom
No answers on this topic
F5
F5 Distributed Cloud API Security is our company looking forward product. With more and more API is using in both on prem, private cloud, public cloud and multi cloud environment, we as a financial institution, we are keep into the security settings to protect the information. That's the main reason we want to use this product.
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Alternatives Considered
Akamai
No answers on this topic
Broadcom
We evaluated 3 tools and decided on Layer7 API Management because it had the shortest implementation times and fastest learning curve, without losing power of customization and scalability.
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F5
We ran a short POC with Salt. Its data classification and attack replay features were impressive. What held us back was the limited support for hybrid deployments and poor integration into our CI/CD pipelines, as F5 did.
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Scalability
Akamai
No answers on this topic
Broadcom
No answers on this topic
F5
Centralized policy management: You can manage API security policies consistently across locations without duplicating effort, which supports scaling.


API discovery and monitoring at scale: It automatically discovers APIs and monitors them in real time across large and complex environments.
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Return on Investment
Akamai
  • Fair Security investment
  • An attack impact would be higher
  • Support contract is not cheap
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Broadcom
  • Very fast implementation and is easy to learn & use.
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F5
  • F5 Distributed Cloud API Security mitigates many API-related security threats, including bot attacks, DDoS, data breaches, and unauthorized access attempts.
  • F5 Distributed Cloud API Security uses robust threat detection, machine learning, and real-time monitoring for speedier identification.
  • Reductions in security events result in fewer breaches, reduced downtime, and lower attack remediation costs.
Read full review
ScreenShots

F5 Distributed Cloud API Security Screenshots

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