# DDoS protection for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "DDoS protection service" and as "DDoS mitigation provider", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/ddos-protection/2026-10/enterprise

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/ddos-protection/enterprise/index.md

**Standing:** Cloudflare leads with 57% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 53 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Cloudflare](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cloudflare/index.md) | 57% | 2% | 64 |
| 2 | [Akamai Prolexic](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/akamai-prolexic/index.md) | 26% | 9% | 68 |
| 3 | [Imperva DDoS Protection](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/imperva-ddos-protection/index.md) | 6% | 5% | 43 |
| 5 | [Radware Cloud DDoS Protection](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/radware-cloud-ddos-protection/index.md) | 2% | 6% | 33 |
| 8 | [AWS Shield](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aws-shield/index.md) | 0% | 14% | 66 |
| 9 | [Azure DDoS Protection](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/azure-ddos-protection/index.md) | 0% | 16% | 38 |
| 10 | [Google Cloud Armor](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/google-cloud-armor/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 16 |
| 11 | [NETSCOUT Arbor](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/netscout-arbor/index.md) | 0% | 18% | 11 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 41 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Akamai Prolexic; alternatives AWS Shield, Cloudflare, Imperva DDoS Protection
- GPT-5.4 mini: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Imperva DDoS Protection
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Azure DDoS Protection, Imperva DDoS Protection
- Perplexity Sonar: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Azure DDoS Protection, Imperva DDoS Protection, NETSCOUT Arbor
- Grok 4.20: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Imperva DDoS Protection
- Mistral Small: Akamai Prolexic, Imperva DDoS Protection; alternatives AWS Shield, NETSCOUT Arbor
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Cloudflare; alternatives Akamai Prolexic, Imperva DDoS Protection
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Azure DDoS Protection, Imperva DDoS Protection
- Kimi K2: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Azure DDoS Protection, Imperva DDoS Protection
- MiniMax M2.5: Akamai Prolexic, Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Google Cloud Armor
- GPT-6 Luna: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Google Cloud Armor
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Akamai Prolexic, Imperva DDoS Protection; alternatives Cloudflare, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection

## Sources the answers cite

78 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- radware.com: 53 answers, 125 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 46 answers, 48 citations
- esecurityplanet.com: 44 answers, 51 citations
- expertinsights.com: 28 answers, 29 citations
- cyberpress.org: 24 answers, 30 citations
- myrasecurity.com: 24 answers, 24 citations
- flowtriq.com: 23 answers, 44 citations
- liquidweb.com: 22 answers, 22 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://cybersecuritynews.com/ddos-protection-tools (46 answers)
- https://esecurityplanet.com/products/distributed-denial-of-service-ddos-protection-vendors (44 answers)
- https://radware.com/cyberpedia/ddospedia/ddos-mitigation-services (31 answers)
- https://radware.com/cyberpedia/ddospedia/ddos-protection-techniques-types-and-7-solutions-to-know-in-2024 (28 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/web-security/top-distributed-denial-of-service-ddos-defense-solutions (27 answers)
- https://myrasecurity.com/en/the-10-best-ddos-protection-services (24 answers)
- https://liquidweb.com/blog/best-ddos-protection (22 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/ddos-protection-software (21 answers)
- https://radware.com/cyberpedia/ddos-attacks/best-anti-ddos-software (21 answers)
- https://radware.com/cyberpedia/ddospedia/ddos-mitigation-providers (21 answers)

## Warned against

- AWS Shield: 9 of 66 labels negative. "Hyperscaler-native tools without "Advanced" tiers (e.g., basic AWS Shield Standard, Azure DDoS Protection Basic)" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Azure DDoS Protection: 6 of 38 labels negative. "basic AWS Shield Standard, Azure DDoS Protection Basic):
  - Why: Free/limited capacity tied to your cloud usage; fails against multi-Tbps" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Akamai Prolexic: 6 of 68 labels negative. "pricing is negotiated and typically much higher (starting around $30,000/year), making it less predictable for budgeting" (Mistral Small, budget prompt)
- Sucuri: 2 of 2 labels negative. "Services/Types to Avoid for Large Enterprises:
- Consumer/SMB-focused CDNs with basic DDoS (e.g., some free tiers of Sucuri, basic Cloudflare plans..." (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Cloudflare at 56%.

- Cloudflare: 80% to 56%, −24. Cleared the floor by 13 points · rank 1 of 41, unchanged.
- Akamai Prolexic: 13% to 27%, +14. Cleared the floor by 3 points · rank 2 of 41, unchanged.
- Imperva DDoS Protection: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 3 → 4 of 41.
- Radware Cloud DDoS Protection: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 5 of 41.
- AWS Shield: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 → 8 of 41.
- Azure DDoS Protection: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 7 → 9 of 41.
- Google Cloud Armor: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 10 of 41, unchanged.
- NETSCOUT Arbor: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 9 → 11 of 41.
- Fastly DDoS Protection: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 12 of 41, unchanged.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, October 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.