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

Gane Index, November 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/enterprise

**Standing:** Cloudflare leads with 68% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 47 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) | 68% | 6% | 71 |
| 2 | [Akamai Prolexic](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/akamai-prolexic/index.md) | 23% | 10% | 67 |
| 3 | [AWS Shield](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aws-shield/index.md) | 2% | 14% | 66 |
| 4 | [Azure DDoS Protection](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/azure-ddos-protection/index.md) | 2% | 20% | 35 |
| 7 | [Radware Cloud DDoS Protection](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/radware-cloud-ddos-protection/index.md) | 0% | 3% | 38 |
| 8 | [Imperva DDoS Protection](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/imperva-ddos-protection/index.md) | 0% | 8% | 39 |
| 9 | [Google Cloud Armor](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/google-cloud-armor/index.md) | 0% | 6% | 17 |
| 10 | [NETSCOUT Arbor](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/netscout-arbor/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 12 |
| 11 | [Fastly DDoS Protection](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fastly-ddos-protection/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 11 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 53 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, Azure DDoS Protection, Cloudflare, Imperva DDoS Protection
- GPT-5.4 mini: Akamai Prolexic; alternatives AWS Shield, Cloudflare, Fastly Network Protect, Imperva DDoS Protection
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Imperva DDoS Protection, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection
- Perplexity Sonar: Cloudflare One; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Azure DDoS Protection, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection
- Grok 4.20: Akamai Prolexic; alternatives Cloudflare, Imperva DDoS Protection, Radware DefensePro
- Mistral Small: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection
- Llama 4 Maverick: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Azure DDoS Protection, F5 Distributed Cloud
- Kimi K2: Cloudflare; alternatives Akamai Prolexic, Imperva DDoS Protection
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, IO River, Imperva DDoS Protection
- MiniMax M2.5: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic
- GPT-6 Luna: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Magic Transit
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Cloudflare; alternatives AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic

## Sources the answers cite

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

- cloudflare.com: 38 answers, 74 citations
- ioriver.io: 35 answers, 42 citations
- radware.com: 34 answers, 66 citations
- myrasecurity.com: 28 answers, 28 citations
- akamai.com: 26 answers, 38 citations
- esecurityplanet.com: 21 answers, 21 citations
- expertinsights.com: 20 answers, 25 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 20 answers, 20 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://myrasecurity.com/en/the-10-best-ddos-protection-services (28 answers)
- https://cloudflare.com/products/ddos (22 answers)
- https://radware.com/cyberpedia/ddospedia/ddos-protection-techniques-types-and-7-solutions-to-know-in-2024 (22 answers)
- https://esecurityplanet.com/products/distributed-denial-of-service-ddos-protection-vendors (21 answers)
- http://ioriver.io/blog/best-ddos-protection-services (20 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/ddos-protection-tools (20 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/web-security/top-distributed-denial-of-service-ddos-defense-solutions (19 answers)
- https://ioriver.io/blog/best-ddos-protection-services (19 answers)
- https://edgeone.ai/blog/details/best-ddos-mitigation-services (18 answers)
- https://akamai.com/products/prolexic-solutions (16 answers)

## Warned against

- AWS Shield: 9 of 66 labels negative. "The enterprise guidance is to avoid relying solely on: Basic / free DDoS tiers from AWS, Azure and Google Cloud" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Azure DDoS Protection: 7 of 35 labels negative. "often flagged as insufficient for large enterprises due to limited capacity" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Akamai Prolexic: 7 of 67 labels negative. "entry-level Prolexic contracts are consistently placed at $10,000 to $15,000 per month, with large enterprise deployments running $30,000 to $100,000+ per month" (Claude Haiku 4.5, budget prompt)
- Cloudflare: 4 of 71 labels negative. "Standard self-service or lower-tier plans from major CDN/DDoS providers (e.g., Cloudflare Free/Pro/Business tiers...) Avoid for mission-critical infrastructure." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Cloudflare at 68%.

- Cloudflare: 57% to 68%, +11. Cleared the floor by 0 points · rank 1 of 53, unchanged.
- Imperva DDoS Protection: 6% to 0%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 3 → 8 of 53.
- Akamai Prolexic: 26% to 23%, −3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 2 of 53, unchanged.
- AWS Shield: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 3 of 53.
- Azure DDoS Protection: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 9 → 4 of 53.
- Radware Cloud DDoS Protection: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 5 → 7 of 53.
- Google Cloud Armor: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 10 → 9 of 53.
- NETSCOUT Arbor: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 11 → 10 of 53.
- Fastly DDoS Protection: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 13 → 11 of 53.

## Record

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