CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Akamai vs Imperva

Akamai sells cloud computing, security and content delivery products. Imperva sells an Application Security Platform that protects against application and API attacks without impacting legitimate users. CISO Tribune files both under WAF and WAAP, DDoS protection 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
  • Imperva
Akamai vs Imperva: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
AkamaiAkamai sells cloud computing, security and content delivery products.akamai.comImpervaImperva sells an Application Security Platform that protects against application and API attacks without impacting legitimate users.imperva.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.
  • Web Application Firewall (WAF)[9][12]Imperva WAF protects applications in any environment, cloud or on-premises.
  • Advanced Bot Protection[4][5][9][11][17]Imperva Advanced Bot Protection protects websites, mobile apps and APIs from sophisticated automated attacks.
  • API Security[4][5][9][17]Imperva API Security provides continuous protection of all APIs.
  • DDoS Protection[5][9][12]Imperva’s advanced DDoS protection defends against volumetric, protocol-based and Layer 7 attacks.
  • Client-Side Protection[9][13]Imperva Client-Side Protection safeguards against client-side attacks like formjacking, digital skimming and Magecart.
  • AI Application Security[5][14]Imperva AI Application Security is engineered for the unique architecture of LLMs.
  • Data Security Fabric[15]Imperva Data Security Fabric is purpose-built for hybrid multicloud environments.
  • Content Delivery Network[9]Imperva's Secure Content Delivery Network (CDN) accelerates the delivery of content and applications.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesRedwood Shores, United States[3]
Founded
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesOwned by Thales[1][5][7][8][10]
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]
  • August 24, 2026Thales Imperva introduced the SSL Integration Center, a framework connecting Imperva Cloud WAF with certificate lifecycle management platforms, launching with a DigiCert integration.[19]
  • August 3, 2026Thales launched Imperva for AWS, which provides web application, API and bot protection for AWS environments.[6]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[15]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 6, 2026[7]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: listed, seen November 6, 2026[8]
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, Imperva sells mainly to organizations that need to protect applications and APIs in public or private cloud, hybrid and on-premises environments. Imperva addresses retail organizations that need to protect customers' data and secure applications, APIs, and cloud networks. Imperva addresses businesses aiming to comply with PCI DSS 4.0 standards while defending against client-side attacks. Imperva describes support for compliance in highly regulated industries across hybrid and multicloud environments. Imperva describes a purpose-built solution to secure AI applications for homegrown GenAI.
Last verified
November 6, 2026September 27, 2026

Where they overlap

  • WAF and WAAP is the primary category of both Akamai and Imperva; both are also filed under DDoS protection and Bot and abuse management.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Akamai is also filed under Microsegmentation. Imperva is also filed under API security.
  • Akamai lists App & API Protector, Bot Manager, Prolexic, Firewall for AI, Edge DNS and 2 more. Imperva lists Web Application Firewall (WAF), Advanced Bot Protection, API Security, DDoS Protection, Client-Side Protection and 3 more.
  • Imperva is headquartered in Redwood Shores, United States.
  • Imperva is owned by Thales.

How they differ

CISO Tribune files Akamai under WAF and WAAP, DDoS protection, Bot and abuse management, and Microsegmentation, with WAF and WAAP as its primary category. CISO Tribune files Imperva under WAF and WAAP, API security, Bot and abuse management, and DDoS protection, also with WAF and WAAP as its primary category. Both sell web application firewall, bot management and DDoS protection products. Akamai also sells Account Protector, Edge DNS, Akamai Functions and Firewall for AI, which protects enterprise AI apps and LLMs from prompt injection. Imperva adds Client-Side Protection, Data Security Fabric, a Content Delivery Network and AI Application Security, which operates as a SaaS reverse proxy between applications and LLMs.

Akamai sells cloud computing, security and content delivery products, and its Guardicore Segmentation is used to limit lateral movement. Imperva is headquartered in Redwood Shores, United States, and is owned by Thales. Akamai names SMU, Grupo Xcaret, SBI Holdings and Samsung Life Insurance among its customers. Imperva names BSE as a customer that uses Imperva Application Security and Imperva Data Security.

On October 27, 2026, Akamai launched Akamai Inference and Akamai Agent Sandbox for its cloud platform. On July 2, 2026, Akamai completed its acquisition of LayerX, a secure enterprise browser provider. On August 24, 2026, Thales Imperva introduced the SSL Integration Center, which launched with a DigiCert integration. On August 3, 2026, Thales launched Imperva for AWS, covering web application, API and bot protection for AWS environments.

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: Imperva

What Web Application Firewall (WAF) does[9][12]
Imperva says managed rules written and tested by the Imperva Threat Research team before deployment allow more than 94% of Imperva customers to deploy the Imperva WAF in blocking mode. Imperva’s Attack Analytics automatically correlates thousands of security alerts into narratives. Imperva’s Terraform provider automates Cloud WAF deployments.
What Advanced Bot Protection does[4][5][9][11][17]
Advanced Bot Protection safeguards websites, mobile apps and APIs from bot attacks, including all OWASP 21 Automated Threats. Imperva says its multi-layered approach detects malicious bots by combining direct client interrogation, behavior analysis, machine learning, connection characteristics and threat intelligence feeds.
What DDoS Protection does[5][9][12]
Imperva offers a guaranteed 3-second mitigation SLA for Layers 3 and 4 DDoS attacks. Imperva DDoS Protection for Networks shields entire infrastructures with 13 Tbps of multi-terabit scrubbing capacity. Imperva DDoS Protection for Websites works alongside a cloud web application firewall (WAF) to block attacks and malicious bots.
What Client-Side Protection does[9][13]
Imperva Client-Side Protection enables security teams to manage client-side resources and JavaScript while streamlining compliance with PCI DSS 4.0 requirements 6.4.3 and 11.6.1. Client-Side Protection automatically blocks known malicious domains based on data from the Imperva Threat Research Team.
What Data Security Fabric does[15]
Imperva Data Security Fabric protects all your data assets. Imperva data security reveals critical insight including sensitive data location, users, access, and risk. Imperva offers out-of-the-box support for over 100 data repositories, on-prem or in cloud.

Questions about Akamai and Imperva

What do Akamai and Imperva sell?
Akamai sells App & API Protector, Bot Manager, Prolexic, Firewall for AI, Edge DNS and 2 more. Imperva sells Web Application Firewall (WAF), Advanced Bot Protection, API Security, DDoS Protection, Client-Side Protection and 3 more.
Are Akamai and Imperva in the same category?
Yes. WAF and WAAP is the primary category of both on CISO Tribune.
Where are Akamai and Imperva headquartered?
Imperva is headquartered in Redwood Shores, United States.
Who owns Akamai and Imperva?
Imperva is owned by Thales.
Who are Akamai and Imperva sold to?
From its own pages, Akamai sells security for enterprise AI apps and LLMs through Firewall for AI. From its own pages, Imperva sells mainly to organizations that need to protect applications and APIs in public or private cloud, hybrid and on-premises environments.
What have Akamai and Imperva announced recently?
October 27, 2026: Akamai launched Akamai Inference and Akamai Agent Sandbox, two AI stack products for its cloud platform. August 24, 2026: Thales Imperva introduced the SSL Integration Center, a framework connecting Imperva Cloud WAF with certificate lifecycle management platforms, launching with a DigiCert integration.

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

Imperva full record

  1. [1]Thales completes acquisition imperva creating global leaderThales Group · thalesgroup.com · published December 4, 2023 · Tier A
  2. [2]AboutImperva · imperva.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Greg clark joins imperva board of directorsImperva · imperva.com · published June 4, 2014 · Tier A
  4. [4]Application securityImperva · imperva.com · published August 23, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Cyber Security Leader | Imperva, Inc.Imperva · undated page, accessed October 25, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Thales Launches Imperva for AWS to Help Organizations Protect Applications and APIsBusiness Wire · published August 3, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Imperva Data Security Fabric Reviews & Product Details - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 25, 2026 · Tier C
  8. [8]Thales Group (Imperva) Reviews - Gartner Peer InsightsGartner Peer Insights · undated page, accessed October 25, 2026 · Tier C
  9. [9]Best Application Security | Imperva WAAP ProtectionImperva · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Web Application Firewall (WAF) | Cloud & On-Prem | ImpervaImperva · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Advanced Bot Protection | Stop Advanced Bots | ImpervaImperva · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Advanced DDoS Protection & Mitigation Services | ImpervaImperva · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Client-Side Protection | PCI 4.0 Compliance | ImpervaImperva · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Enterprise AI & LLM Security | Stop Prompt Injection | ImpervaImperva · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Data Security Solutions | Protecting Data Everywhere | ImpervaImperva · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Plans and Services | Imperva Cyber SecurityImperva · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Retail & eCommerce Cyber Security | Secure Online Transactions | ImpervaImperva · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Data Security Fabric | Protect All Data Types | ImpervaImperva · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  19. [19]Bring Your Own CA: Introducing the Thales Imperva SSL Integration Center, Featuring DigiCert Trust Lifecycle ManagerImperva · published August 24, 2026 · Tier A

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