CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Akamai vs F5

Akamai sells cloud computing, security and content delivery products. F5 sells the F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP), which F5 describes as keeping applications and APIs fast, available, and secure across complex environments. CISO Tribune files both under WAF and WAAP. 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.

Change the companies

Up to four companies side by side.

  • Akamai
  • F5
Akamai vs F5: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
AkamaiAkamai sells cloud computing, security and content delivery products.akamai.comF5F5 sells the F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP), which F5 describes as keeping applications and APIs fast, available, and secure across complex environments.f5.com
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.
  • F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP)[1]A platform that keeps applications and APIs fast, available, and secure across complex environments.
  • F5 Insight for ADSP[9]Observability and fleet management for ops teams.
  • F5 AI Security Platform[10]A platform that covers AI application security and AI workforce security.
  • F5 Distributed Cloud App Connect[12]Connects applications, clusters, and services across clouds, data centers, and remote sites.
  • BIG-IP Container Ingress Services[14]Lets teams manage BIG-IP from Kubernetes or OpenShift.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesSeattle, United States[3]
Founded
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesPublic (NASDAQ: FFIV)[2][4][5][7][17]
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]
  • June 22, 2026F5 introduced its AI Security Platform and announced the acquisition of SurePath AI as part of the launch.[17]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[15]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: listed, seen November 4, 2026[5]
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, F5 sells mainly to organisations that run applications across multiple clouds, on-premises data centers, and edge sites. F5 addresses DevOps teams and ops teams that want network observability and control over their applications. F5 sells its Diameter products to service providers and mobile operators. F5 names customers such as a medical organization, a European asset manager, and a national public safety technology agency. F5 positions its AI security offerings for organisations that need to govern workforce AI usage across users, agents, and third-party services.
Last verified
November 6, 2026September 27, 2026

Where they overlap

  • WAF and WAAP is the primary category of both Akamai and F5.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Akamai is also filed under DDoS protection, Bot and abuse management and Microsegmentation. F5 is also filed under API security.
  • Akamai lists App & API Protector, Bot Manager, Prolexic, Firewall for AI, Edge DNS and 2 more. F5 lists F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP), F5 Insight for ADSP, F5 AI Security Platform, F5 Distributed Cloud App Connect and BIG-IP Container Ingress Services.
  • F5 is headquartered in Seattle, United States.
  • F5 is a public company listed on NASDAQ as FFIV.

How they differ

CISO Tribune files both Akamai and F5 under WAF and WAAP as the primary category, so their offerings overlap there. Akamai also sells DDoS protection through Prolexic, bot management through Bot Manager, and microsegmentation, and CISO Tribune files it under those categories as well. CISO Tribune files F5 additionally under API security. Akamai sells cloud computing, security and content delivery products. F5 sells the F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP), which it describes as keeping applications and APIs fast, available, and secure across complex environments.

Both companies sell AI security products. Akamai's Firewall for AI protects enterprise AI apps and LLMs from prompt injection, data exfiltration and toxic output. The F5 AI Security Platform covers AI application security and AI workforce security. F5 also sells F5 Distributed Cloud App Connect, which connects applications, clusters, and services across clouds, data centers, and remote sites. Akamai sells Edge DNS and Akamai Functions, an edge native serverless platform. F5 is headquartered in Seattle, United States, and is a public company listed on NASDAQ as FFIV.

Akamai names SMU and Grupo Xcaret as customers, along with Samsung Life Insurance and SBI Holdings. F5 describes a medical organization, a European asset manager, and a national public safety technology agency as customers. On October 27, 2026, Akamai launched Akamai Inference and Akamai Agent Sandbox for its cloud platform. Akamai completed its acquisition of LayerX, a secure enterprise browser provider, on July 2, 2026. On June 22, 2026, F5 introduced its AI Security Platform and announced the acquisition of SurePath AI.

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: F5

What F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP) does[1]
F5 offers ADSP through term subscriptions, the Flex Consumption Plan (FCP), and perpetual licensing. F5 says its security offering covers sensitive data, apps, and APIs on a single platform.
What F5 Insight for ADSP does[9]
F5 Insight for ADSP enables ops teams to find answers more quickly, optimize deployments, and execute updates faster. Guided workflows distribute and install software patches, updates, and upgrades across an entire fleet in parallel. Deployment is possible in AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and others, and in on-prem or fully air-gapped environments.
What F5 AI Security Platform does[10]
The F5 AI Security Platform helps teams operationalize AI governance with customizable policy enforcement and auditability for every model, user, and agent action. A continuous loop of testing and runtime protection secures deployed AI systems. Workforce AI usage is discovered, classified, and governed across users, agents, and third-party services.
What F5 Distributed Cloud App Connect does[12]
F5 Distributed Cloud App Connect securely connects applications, clusters, and services across any cloud provider, on-premises data center, or remote site. DevOps teams get network observability and control.
What BIG-IP Container Ingress Services does[14]
BIG-IP Container Ingress Services (CIS) lets users manage an F5 BIG-IP device from Kubernetes or OpenShift using either environment's native CLI/API. CIS watches the Kubernetes API for specially formatted resources and updates the BIG-IP system configuration accordingly. F5 describes Container Ingress Services as free and open-source.

Questions about Akamai and F5

What do Akamai and F5 sell?
Akamai sells App & API Protector, Bot Manager, Prolexic, Firewall for AI, Edge DNS and 2 more. F5 sells F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP), F5 Insight for ADSP, F5 AI Security Platform, F5 Distributed Cloud App Connect and BIG-IP Container Ingress Services.
Are Akamai and F5 in the same category?
Yes. WAF and WAAP is the primary category of both on CISO Tribune.
Where are Akamai and F5 headquartered?
F5 is headquartered in Seattle, United States.
Who owns Akamai and F5?
F5 is a public company listed on NASDAQ as FFIV.
Who are Akamai and F5 sold to?
From its own pages, Akamai sells security for enterprise AI apps and LLMs through Firewall for AI. From its own pages, F5 sells mainly to organisations that run applications across multiple clouds, on-premises data centers, and edge sites.
What have Akamai and F5 announced recently?
October 27, 2026: Akamai launched Akamai Inference and Akamai Agent Sandbox, two AI stack products for its cloud platform. June 22, 2026: F5 introduced its AI Security Platform and announced the acquisition of SurePath AI as part of the launch.

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

F5 full record

  1. [1]f5.comF5 · f5.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Earnings q3 fy26F5 · f5.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]otcmarkets.comF5, Inc. via SEC EDGAR (Form 10-K) · otcmarkets.com · published November 25, 2025 · Tier A
  4. [4]Enterprise Application Security and Delivery Solutions | F5F5 · undated page, accessed October 25, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]F5 Reviews, Ratings & Features 2026 | Gartner Peer InsightsGartner Peer Insights · undated page, accessed October 25, 2026 · Tier C
  6. [6]Bot and Risk Management | F5F5 · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Hybrid Multicloud App Security & Delivery for the AI Era | F5F5 · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Unified Management and Automation | F5F5 · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Operational Intelligence and Response for F5 ADSP | F5F5 · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]F5 AI Security Platform | F5F5 · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Hybrid Multicloud Network Management Platform | F5F5 · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Distributed application delivery solutions | F5F5 · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]F5 Distributed Cloud Synthetic Monitoring | F5F5 · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]BIG-IP Container Ingress Services | F5F5 · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]BIG-IP Diameter Traffic Manager | F5F5 · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]NFV Packaged Solutions | F5F5 · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]F5 launches AI Security Platform to put security leaders in control of enterprise AI riskF5 · published June 22, 2026 · Tier A

Spot a factual error? Request a correction.