DDoS protection · November 2026 Edition
Akamai Prolexic vs AWS Shield
Zero of fourteen models named Akamai Prolexic first on the direct prompt; zero named AWS Shield. Both were named by all fourteen models and Akamai Prolexic carries 48 labels and AWS Shield 63, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in one category this edition.
Named in two categories this edition.
First-choice share4%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate23%11%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#3A position in a field of 9; printed, not drawn.
Labels4863A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Akamai Prolexic reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Cloudflare was named alongside these two in fourteen of the fourteen direct answers. Cloudflare vs Akamai Prolexic · Cloudflare vs AWS Shield
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the ddos protection page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Akamai ProlexicFirst choices, of fourteen modelsAWS Shield
Direct002 against Akamai Prolexic · 1 against AWS Shield
Paraphrase003 against Akamai Prolexic · 1 against AWS Shield
Comparative00
Budget-constrained003 against Akamai Prolexic · 3 against AWS Shield
Scale-constrained21
Negative003 against Akamai Prolexic · 2 against AWS Shield
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Akamai Prolexic and AWS Shield were named in the same answer 137 times, of the 156 answers naming Akamai Prolexic and the 182 naming AWS Shield. In those answers AWS Shield took the first choice one time and Akamai Prolexic eleven.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Akamai Prolexic and AWS Shield stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | ||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | | ||
| Grok 4.20 | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | | ||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | |||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | ||
| Kimi K2 | | | | | ||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | |||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | | ||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | | ||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | |
Akamai Prolexic AWS Shield first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Akamai Prolexic on the left and AWS Shield on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Akamai Prolexic and AWS Shield stood in it.
Neither was the first choice, one was named
10 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.GPT-5.4 miniCloudflare alternatives: AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Azure DDoS Protection, Cloudflare Magic Transit
Gemini 3.5 FlashCloudflare alternatives: AWS Shield, Azure DDoS Protection, Imperva DDoS Protection
Perplexity SonarCloudflare alternatives: AWS Shield, Azure DDoS Protection, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection
Grok 4.20Cloudflare alternatives: AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Gcore DDoS Protection, Imperva DDoS Protection, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection
Mistral SmallCloudflare alternatives: Akamai Prolexic, Imperva DDoS Protection
Qwen 3.7 FlashCloudflare alternatives: AWS Shield, Imperva DDoS Protection
Kimi K2Cloudflare alternatives: AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Azure DDoS Protection, IO River, Imperva DDoS Protection
MiniMax M2.5Cloudflare alternatives: Akamai Prolexic, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection
GPT-6 LunaCloudflare alternatives: AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Cloudflare Magic Transit
Muse Glimmer 30BCloudflare alternatives: AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Imperva DDoS Protection
Neither was named
4 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Claude Haiku 4.5Cloudflare alternatives: Imperva DDoS Protection, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection, Vercara
DeepSeek V4 FlashCloudflare alternatives: Imperva DDoS Protection
Llama 4 MaverickCloudflare
GLM 4.7 FlashXCloudflare alternatives: Imperva DDoS Protection, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Level: the same share of first choices.
Akamai Prolexic0%#9 of 9AWS Shield0%#2 of 9Mid-marketThe figures above
Akamai Prolexic leads by two points.
Akamai Prolexic4%#2 of 9AWS Shield2%#3 of 9Enterprise
Akamai Prolexic leads by twenty-one points.
Akamai Prolexic23%#2 of 9AWS Shield2%#3 of 9What the models said about Akamai Prolexic
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“avoid enterprise services such as Akamai Prolexic, Imperva, or dedicated Radware deployments” Perplexity Sonar · budget prompt · hard negative
“its pricing is often described as unpredictable and very high (starting around $30,000/year), making it less suitable for organizations with budget constraints” Mistral Small · negative prompt · soft negative
“Some of the services that are mentioned as being potentially problematic include Akamai Prolexic, AWS Shield, DDoS-Guard, and Azure DDoS Protection.” Llama 4 Maverick · negative prompt · soft negative
“a managed, cloud-based DDoS protection service (like Cloudflare, Akamai, or AWS Shield) is likely the best fit” MiniMax M2.5 · scale prompt · first choice
“Cloudflare (ease + unmetered) or Akamai Prolexic (enterprise managed rigor) are common starting points” DeepSeek V4 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
“If you are a massive Global Fortune 500: Akamai remains the gold standard for sheer capacity and bespoke support.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · comparative prompt · alternative
What the models said about AWS Shield
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Avoid *AWS Shield Advanced*, as it costs a minimum of $3,000/month.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · hard negative
“These free, basic tiers are often criticized for limited capacity and failing to handle large-scale or sophisticated attacks.” Mistral Small · negative prompt · soft negative
“mentioned as being potentially problematic include Akamai Prolexic, AWS Shield, DDoS-Guard, and Azure DDoS Protection” Llama 4 Maverick · negative prompt · soft negative
“a managed, cloud-based DDoS protection service (like Cloudflare, Akamai, or AWS Shield) is likely the best fit” MiniMax M2.5 · scale prompt · first choice
“Choose AWS Shield Advanced, Azure DDoS Protection, or Google Cloud Armor when most workloads already reside in the corresponding cloud” Perplexity Sonar · comparative prompt · alternative
“Best for AWS Users: AWS Shield Standard ... Caveat: It does *not* protect against sophisticated application-layer (Layer 7) attacks.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · budget prompt · alternative
Also compared
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.