# AWS Shield: how AI models rank it, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Named in 64 judge labels across 2 categories by 14 of 14 models. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aws-shield

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [DDoS protection](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/ddos-protection/index.md) | 2% | 3 | 11% | 63 |
| [Bot management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/bot-management/index.md) | 0% | 50 | 0% | 1 |

## What the models said for it

- "a managed, cloud-based DDoS protection service (like Cloudflare, Akamai, or AWS Shield) is likely the best fit" (MiniMax M2.5, DDoS)
- "Choose AWS Shield Advanced, Azure DDoS Protection, or Google Cloud Armor when most workloads already reside in the corresponding cloud" (Perplexity Sonar, DDoS)
- "Best for AWS Users: AWS Shield Standard ... Caveat: It does *not* protect against sophisticated application-layer (Layer 7) attacks." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, DDoS)
- "Start with established players like Cloudflare (cost-effective for mid-size), Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, or AWS Shield." (Grok 4.20, DDoS)

## And against it

- "Avoid *AWS Shield Advanced*, as it costs a minimum of $3,000/month." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, DDoS)
- "These free, basic tiers are often criticized for limited capacity and failing to handle large-scale or sophisticated attacks." (Mistral Small, DDoS)
- "mentioned as being potentially problematic include Akamai Prolexic, AWS Shield, DDoS-Guard, and Azure DDoS Protection" (Llama 4 Maverick, DDoS)
- "Note: AWS Shield Advanced costs $3,000/month + 1-year commitment" (Kimi K2, DDoS)

## By model

| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Grok 4.20 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |

## Sources returned with these answers

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named AWS Shield, from 154 of the 182 answers that named it (only the models that return a source list).

### Domains cited

- cloudflare.com: 61
- myrasecurity.com: 57
- radware.com: 55
- geekflare.com: 43
- esecurityplanet.com: 42
- fastly.com: 42
- softwareadvice.com: 41
- developers.cloudflare.com: 40
- g2.com: 38
- ioriver.io: 38

### Pages cited

- https://myrasecurity.com/en/the-10-best-ddos-protection-services: 57
- https://geekflare.com/cybersecurity/ddos-protection-service: 43
- https://esecurityplanet.com/products/distributed-denial-of-service-ddos-protection-vendors: 42
- https://expertinsights.com/web-security/top-distributed-denial-of-service-ddos-defense-solutions: 35
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/ddos-protection-tools: 34
- https://radware.com/cyberpedia/ddos-attacks/reliable-ddos-protection-providers-for-online-businesses: 34
- https://developers.cloudflare.com/ddos-protection: 33
- https://fastly.com/blog/best-ddos-mitigation-providers-2025-2026: 31

## In its own words

What AWS Shield's own pages state, read 2026-09-28. Stated by the vendor, not checked by the index.

- Positioning: Protects networks and applications by analyzing network security configurations and providing managed DDoS protection (https://aws.amazon.com/shield)
- For: your subscription to AWS Shield Advanced (https://aws.amazon.com/shield/sla)
- Price stated: AWS Shield Standard is built into the AWS services that you already use for your web applications. There are no additional costs for AWS Shield Standard. With AWS Shield Advanced, you pay a monthly fee of $3,000 per month per organization. In addition, you also pay for AWS Shield Advanced Data Transfer usage fees for AWS resources enabled for advanced protection. During the preview period, AWS Shield network security director will be available at no additional cost. (https://aws.amazon.com/shield/faqs)
- Starting price: 3000 (https://aws.amazon.com/shield/faqs)
- Free plan or trial: AWS Shield Standard has no additional costs; AWS Shield network security director will be available at no additional cost during the preview period (https://aws.amazon.com/shield/faqs)
- Hosting: US East (N. Virginia), Europe (Stockholm), Northern Virginia, Ohio, Oregon, Northern California, Montreal, São Paulo

## 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.