CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Akamai vs Cequence Security

Akamai sells cloud computing, security and content delivery products. Cequence Security sells a single platform that combines agentic AI governance, API security, bot defense and web app protection. CISO Tribune files both under WAF and WAAP and Bot and abuse management. This page sets the two records side by side: what each sells, where it is based, who owns and funds it, the customers it names and its recent news, each fact numbered to its source.

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  • Akamai
  • Cequence Security
Akamai vs Cequence Security: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
AkamaiAkamai sells cloud computing, security and content delivery products.akamai.comCequence SecurityCequence Security sells a single platform that combines agentic AI governance, API security, bot defense and web app protection.cequence.ai
What it sells
  • App & API Protector[1][4]A web application firewall solution that identifies vulnerabilities and mitigates threats across web and API architectures.
  • Bot Manager[3][5][6]Detects bot traffic and mitigates malicious bots at the edge.
  • Prolexic[9]Akamai's DDoS protection platform.
  • Firewall for AI[8]Protects enterprise AI apps and LLMs from prompt injection, data exfiltration and toxic output.
  • Edge DNS[9]A DNS service built on Akamai's edge network.
  • Account Protector[6]A security solution that protects against account abuse across the lifecycle of an account.
  • Akamai Functions[3]An edge native serverless platform that runs globally.
  • Cequence API Security[7][12]Discovers, monitors and tests APIs.
  • Cequence AI Gateway[8]Contains agents and governs their actions in real time.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesSunnyvale, United States
Founded
Not stated on its pages2015[2]
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesPrivately held[4]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • October 27, 2026Akamai launched Akamai Inference and Akamai Agent Sandbox, two AI stack products for its cloud platform.[13]
  • July 2, 2026Akamai completed its acquisition of LayerX, a secure enterprise browser provider.[14]
  • October 7, 2026Cequence Security launched Agent Trust, a capability in its Application and API Protection that verifies AI agents presenting an identity and detects those that do not.[18]
  • August 6, 2026Cequence Security announced that NTT DOCOMO has deployed its application and API protection platform.[16]
  • June 23, 2026Cequence Security launched two new capabilities, Intent Graph and Biometric Check, for bot defense across web, mobile, API and agentic AI traffic.[17]
  • April 28, 2026Cequence Security announced general availability of Agent Personas in its AI Gateway, giving enterprises control over what AI agents are permitted to do.[15]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[15]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 3, 2026[4]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
From its own pages, Akamai sells security for enterprise AI apps and LLMs through Firewall for AI. App & API Protector Hybrid is sold for on-prem, hybrid cloud and multi-CDN environments. Akamai describes organizations that keep some on-prem DNS nameservers and GSLBs for administrative or compliance requirements. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is applied by an organization in the financial industry working toward Zero Trust. A water utility secured critical infrastructure with Akamai Guardicore Segmentation.From its own pages, Cequence sells mainly to organizations that run applications and APIs and need to protect them against attacks, business logic abuse and fraud. Financial services organizations are a named audience, including those with digital banking, payment systems and open banking initiatives. Organizations that store, process or transmit credit card information are addressed through its PCI DSS content. Modern retailers with AI-powered shopping experiences and agentic checkout flows are another described audience. Enterprises whose teams delegate work to AI agents with access to internal apps, data and systems are a further stated audience.
Last verified
November 6, 2026November 2, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Akamai and Cequence Security are both filed under WAF and WAAP and Bot and abuse management.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Akamai's primary category is WAF and WAAP; Cequence Security's is API security.
  • Akamai is also filed under DDoS protection and Microsegmentation.
  • Akamai lists App & API Protector, Bot Manager, Prolexic, Firewall for AI, Edge DNS and 2 more. Cequence Security lists Cequence API Security and Cequence AI Gateway.
  • Cequence Security is headquartered in Sunnyvale, United States.
  • Cequence Security was founded in 2015.
  • Cequence Security is privately held.

What it sells: Akamai

What App & API Protector does[1][4]
App & API Protector Hybrid extends security off the Akamai platform for on-prem, hybrid cloud and multi-CDN environments. Akamai's all-in-one approach consolidates WAF, API security, bot management and DDoS protection in a single solution. An open API is available for automating App & API Protector configuration changes in a CI/CD pipeline.
What Bot Manager does[3][5][6]
Bot Manager generates a score from 0 (human) to 100 (bot) and looks at all anomalies, starting with the very first request. Bot Manager provides visualization and reporting tools that show the impact various types of bots have on a business and its infrastructure.
What Prolexic does[9]
Prolexic is Akamai's DDoS protection platform. Edge DNS and Shield NS53 can be used with Prolexic to protect digital infrastructure across all layers, ports and protocols.
What Firewall for AI does[8]
Firewall for AI runs at the edge to inspect prompts and responses before they reach AI apps. Akamai Firewall for AI is model-agnostic and works with any LLM-based or AI-driven application. Incoming prompts are analyzed to detect and block threats like prompt injection attacks, jailbreaks and policy violations. Deployment options include the Akamai edge or a REST API.
What Edge DNS does[9]
Akamai Shield NS53 is a reverse proxy solution that protects on-prem and hybrid DNS infrastructure. Edge DNS provides an availability SLA with guaranteed 100% uptime.
What Account Protector does[6]
Account Protector uses a combination of user, device, IP, network, bot and reputation indicators to create a user risk score for each UUID. Block, alert and allow actions are performed based on the user risk score. Account Protector includes all of Akamai Bot Manager's capabilities. User information can be passed to a SIEM using the Akamai SIEM Integration connector.
What Akamai Functions does[3]
Rust, Go, JavaScript, Python and other languages that compile to WebAssembly can be used. Applications are packaged and deployed using open tooling like Spin and SpinKube, locally, in Kubernetes or directly to the edge. Bot Manager can be combined with Akamai Functions so that identified bots are routed to a function that generates bot-specific responses.

What it sells: Cequence Security

What Cequence API Security does[7][12]
Cequence API Security is an AI-first solution that discovers, monitors and tests APIs. Cequence API Security assesses risks that can lead to compliance or governance issues, data loss and business disruption. Cequence API Security discovers internal, external and third-party APIs. Cequence API Security ships more than 200 pre-built risk rules mapped to 25 global frameworks.
What Cequence AI Gateway does[8]
Cequence AI Gateway contains every agent wherever it runs and governs its actions in real time, across any model, MCP server, API or application, at enterprise scale. Agent Personas scope every agent to the tools, APIs, skills and LLMs its job requires. Prompt Guard detects prompt injection, override instructions and safety filter bypass attempts before they reach a model or tool.

Questions about Akamai and Cequence Security

What do Akamai and Cequence Security sell?
Akamai sells App & API Protector, Bot Manager, Prolexic, Firewall for AI, Edge DNS and 2 more. Cequence Security sells Cequence API Security and Cequence AI Gateway.
Are Akamai and Cequence Security in the same category?
They share WAF and WAAP and Bot and abuse management. Akamai's primary category is WAF and WAAP and Cequence Security's is API security.
Where are Akamai and Cequence Security headquartered?
Cequence Security is headquartered in Sunnyvale, United States.
When were Akamai and Cequence Security founded?
Cequence Security was founded in 2015.
Who owns Akamai and Cequence Security?
Cequence Security is privately held.
Who are Akamai and Cequence Security sold to?
From its own pages, Akamai sells security for enterprise AI apps and LLMs through Firewall for AI. From its own pages, Cequence sells mainly to organizations that run applications and APIs and need to protect them against attacks, business logic abuse and fraud.
What have Akamai and Cequence Security announced recently?
October 27, 2026: Akamai launched Akamai Inference and Akamai Agent Sandbox, two AI stack products for its cloud platform. October 7, 2026: Cequence Security launched Agent Trust, a capability in its Application and API Protection that verifies AI agents presenting an identity and detects those that do not.

About Akamai

Akamai sells cloud computing, security and content delivery products. Akamai Cloud has added more GPU capacity, an in-memory database and Kubernetes updates. Akamai Inference and Akamai Agent Sandbox extend Akamai Cloud to serve, run and secure AI applications and agents from core to edge. Akamai Functions is an edge native serverless platform that runs globally.[2][3]

App & API Protector defends at the edge and blocks large-scale attacks, and App & API Protector Hybrid extends WAF defense to multicloud and on-prem environments. Akamai's all-in-one approach consolidates WAF, API security, bot management and DDoS protection in a single solution. Akamai Adaptive Security Engine delivers real-time, automated protection across edge, cloud and hybrid environments. The Behavioral DDoS Engine provides automated defense against volumetric attacks. An open API is available for automating App & API Protector configuration changes in a CI/CD pipeline. SMU turns to Akamai App & API Protector and Dynamic Site Accelerator for online shopping. Grupo Xcaret relies on Akamai for app and API protection, bot mitigation and site delivery.[4]

Akamai Bot Manager detects bot traffic, mitigates malicious bots at the edge and manages good bots. Bot Manager generates a score from 0 (human) to 100 (bot) and looks at all anomalies, starting with the very first request. Bot Manager provides visualization and reporting tools that show the impact various types of bots have on a business and its infrastructure. Account Protector is a security solution designed to protect against account abuse across the lifecycle of an account, using machine learning and a dataset of risk and trust indicators. Account Protector uses a combination of user, device, IP, network, bot and reputation indicators to create a user risk score for each UUID. Account Protector includes all of Akamai Bot Manager's capabilities.[5][6]

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is used to gain visibility across an environment and limit lateral movement. SBI Holdings is working to achieve Zero Trust with Akamai Guardicore Segmentation. A water utility secured critical infrastructure and protected essential services for 1.6 million people with Akamai Guardicore Segmentation. Samsung Life Insurance protects hundreds of applications and thousands of workload servers with Akamai.[2][7]

Akamai Firewall for AI protects enterprise AI apps and LLMs from prompt injection, data exfiltration and toxic output. Firewall for AI runs at the edge to inspect prompts and responses before they reach AI apps. Akamai Firewall for AI is model-agnostic and works with any LLM-based or AI-driven application. Edge DNS is built on Akamai's edge network. Akamai Shield NS53 is a reverse proxy solution that protects on-prem and hybrid DNS infrastructure. Edge DNS provides an availability SLA with guaranteed 100% uptime. Prolexic is Akamai's DDoS protection platform.[4][8][9]

NodeBalancers is a fully managed load balancing solution. NodeBalancers support TCP, HTTP and HTTPS load balancing via HTTP/1.1. CloudTest is a load testing platform. CloudTest is offered as a fully managed or self-service solution and supports websites, apps, APIs and CI/CD processes. Akamai Inference is a fully managed inference service for running AI models in production. Pay-per-token Serverless Inference and Dedicated Inference with reserved GPUs are available, separately or together. AI models are called through an OpenAI-compatible API while Akamai handles GPUs, serving, autoscaling and model lifecycle management.[3][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

Akamai on the record

Sources

Akamai full record

  1. [1]akamai.comAkamai · akamai.com · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Cloud Computing, Security, Content Delivery (CDN) | AkamaiAkamai · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Akamai Functions | Serverless | WebAssembly | AkamaiAkamai · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]App & API Protector — Website Application Protection | AkamaiAkamai · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Bot Manager | Bot Detection, Protection, and Management | AkamaiAkamai · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Account Takeover and Identity Theft Protection | AkamaiAkamai · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Akamai Guardicore Segmentation for Hybrid Cloud | AkamaiAkamai · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Protection and Security for AI and LLM Applications | AkamaiAkamai · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]DNS security | Edge DNS | Shield NS53 | AkamaiAkamai · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]NodeBalancers | AkamaiAkamai · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]CloudTest | Real-Time Load Testing Tool | AkamaiAkamai · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Akamai Inference | AI Inference | AkamaiAkamai · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Akamai Launches AI Inference Service and Agent Execution Environment | AkamaiAkamai · published October 27, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Akamai Completes Acquisition of Secure Enterprise Browser Provider LayerX | AkamaiAkamai · published July 2, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Akamai Cloud Computing Reviews & Product DetailsG2 · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier C

Cequence Security full record

  1. [1]cequence.aiCequence Security · cequence.ai · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Cequence security opens emea headquarters and names key execs to accelerate protection of hyper connected enterprises across emeaCequence Security · cequence.ai · published December 23, 2024 · Tier A
  3. [3]PlatformCequence Security · cequence.ai · published July 22, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Cequence Security Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  5. [5]Application & API SecurityCequence Security · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]The Cequence Platform – Securing Applications, APIs, and AICequence Security · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]API Security Tool | Posture Management, Compliance & TestingCequence Security · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]AI Gateway: The missing agentic AI security and governance layerCequence Security · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]AI Security Tool for Generative and Agentic AI | Cequence SecurityCequence Security · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Business Logic Vulnerabilities | Prevent Logic Abuse | CequenceCequence Security · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]BOLA Vulnerability Protection & Attack Prevention | CequenceCequence Security · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]PCI DSS 4.0 Compliance | Cequence SecurityCequence Security · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]API Security & Fraud Prevention for Financial Services | Cequence AICequence Security · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Agentic AI GovernanceCequence Security · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Cequence Launches AI Gateway With Secure Agent PersonasCequence Security · published April 28, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Cequence Security Deployment Expands to NTT DOCOMOCequence Security · published August 6, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Cequence Launches Intent Graph for AI Agent SecurityCequence Security · published June 23, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Meta's Muse Reached More Than Half of Customers Cequence Studied in Two Weeks Without Identifying Itself as an AI AgentGlobeNewswire · published October 7, 2026 · Tier A

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