CHEQ Defend vs @fastify/helmet: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
CHEQ Defend is a commercial api security tool by CHEQ. @fastify/helmet is a free api security tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best api security fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of NIST CSF 2.0 coverage, core features, company size fit, deployment model, here is our conclusion:
Mid-market and enterprise teams protecting APIs and web applications from account abuse will find CHEQ Defend's strength in real-time behavioral blocking rather than post-incident forensics; it stops credit card stuffing, SMS toll fraud, and fake account creation before they land. The platform's emphasis on continuous monitoring and network indicator analysis (NIST DE.CM) reflects a detect-and-block-first architecture that requires minimal tuning compared to signature-based competitors. Skip this if your priority is forensic depth or if you need deep integration with identity platforms; CHEQ optimizes for velocity over investigation.
Fastify teams building APIs that need HTTP header security without operational overhead should start with @fastify/helmet; it's a thin wrapper around the battle-tested helmet library, meaning you get OWASP Top 10 mitigations (CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options) with minimal configuration beyond `fastify.register()`. The 453 GitHub stars and zero-friction npm install make adoption frictionless for small-to-mid teams. Skip this if you need dynamic policy management, request-level header mutation, or centralized policy enforcement across multiple services; @fastify/helmet is intentionally static and Fastify-bound, not a gateway or orchestration tool.
