Cloudflare API Shield vs eXate APIgator: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)

Cloudflare API Shield: API security platform for discovering, validating, and protecting API endpoints. built by Cloudflare, Inc.. Core capabilities include Automatic API endpoint discovery using machine learning and heuristics, Protection against OWASP Top 10 API security risks, Schema validation against OpenAPI specifications..

eXate APIgator: API data-in-motion protection using claims-based access and PoLP enforcement. built by eXate. Core capabilities include Data-in-motion protection for APIs and streaming data (JSON and XML), Claims-based access control to allow or deny access to API data, Proxy-level gating for microservices and APIs..

Both serve the API Security market but differ in approach, feature depth, and target audience.

Cloudflare API Shield differentiates with Automatic API endpoint discovery using machine learning and heuristics, Protection against OWASP Top 10 API security risks, Schema validation against OpenAPI specifications. eXate APIgator differentiates with Data-in-motion protection for APIs and streaming data (JSON and XML), Claims-based access control to allow or deny access to API data, Proxy-level gating for microservices and APIs.

Cloudflare API Shield is developed by Cloudflare, Inc.. eXate APIgator is developed by eXate. Vendor maturity, funding stage, and team size can be important factors when evaluating long-term viability and support quality.

Cloudflare API Shield and eXate APIgator serve similar API Security use cases: both are API Security tools. Review the feature comparison above to determine which fits your requirements.