Akamai Edge DNS vs Fastly DDoS Protection: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)

Akamai Edge DNS

Mid-market and enterprise security teams defending against DNS-layer DDoS attacks will get the most from Akamai Edge DNS, particularly those running hybrid infrastructure where on-premises DNS needs the same attack surface hardening as cloud-facing services. The Shield NS53 reverse proxy handles both environments without forcing full migration to cloud DNS, and the 100% uptime SLA backed by IP anycast routing across Akamai's global network means your authoritative DNS stays available when attackers are actively flooding it. Skip this if your DNS traffic is light and you're comfortable with basic rate-limiting from your registrar; Edge DNS is built for organizations absorbing sustained volumetric attacks, not for complexity reduction.

Fastly DDoS Protection

Teams operating high-traffic APIs and web applications will get the most from Fastly DDoS Protection because its pay-for-legitimate-traffic model removes the financial penalty for false positives that tanks ROI on other DDoS services. The 497+ Tbps absorption capacity and adaptive engine handle synchronized multi-vector attacks without manual rule tuning, which matters if your ops team is already underwater. Skip this if you need post-attack forensics and recovery orchestration; Fastly prioritizes real-time mitigation over the investigation side of the incident lifecycle.