# Best API Security Solutions for Business (2026)

Compare 7 API security solutions, including Akamai, Salt Security, Cloudflare API Shield and Imperva, on API discovery, abuse detection and inline blocking.

We pick every solution on this list [on merit](https://cybersectools.com/methodology#shortlist-order). Featured vendors that made the list are shown first.

Source: https://cybersectools.com/shortlists/best-api-security-solutions
Updated: 2026-11-01
Edition: Fall 2026.
Reviewed by Nika (Nikoloz) Kokhreidze, CybersecTools.

## Executive summary

As of November 2026, CybersecTools tracks 303 companies that sell application security solutions as their main business. API Security is part of that family. The largest groups are based in the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom. In the last 12 months they raised $1.3B across 53 funding rounds, 14 companies were acquired and 40 new companies started in the last two years.

From that field we chose seven solutions that find your APIs, flag the risky ones and block attacks against them. Akamai API Security leads for teams that need a full inventory of their APIs, including forgotten ones, with clear risk scores. Salt Security fits teams that want to learn API behavior from live traffic and spot abuse that schema checks miss. Cloudflare API Shield suits teams already on Cloudflare that want discovery and schema checks at the edge.

The decision in this category is where you inspect API traffic. Edge and WAF platforms protect APIs that face the internet with little setup. Dedicated API platforms read traffic deeper inside your network and catch business logic abuse, such as one user reading another user's data. Many teams start at the edge and add a dedicated platform when internal and partner APIs grow.

## How we evaluated

We looked at 62 API security solutions from 41 companies, and the 7 on this page made the cut. We combined our judgment from years of leading enterprise security programs with market data from [Mandos](https://mandos.io/data/companies?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist), our market intelligence platform, and with the vendor and review pages listed under Sources at the end of this page. For customer feedback, we left out paid reviews, reviews by vendor staff or partners, review campaigns and anything older than two years, so you get an accurate view of what customers say.

Four traits mattered most: discovering every API from real traffic, flagging risky APIs and exposed data, detecting abuse of business logic such as broken object level authorization, and blocking attacks inline or through your existing gateway or WAF. We left out API gateways with no security focus and testing-only products. The order follows how widely each product is used by teams like yours. Company momentum shows how the vendor itself is growing, so a market leader can rank first with a lower score.

Read the full method: https://cybersectools.com/methodology#why

## What is API Security

API security finds the APIs your company runs, checks them for weaknesses and protects them from attack. It builds an inventory, including shadow APIs nobody documented and zombie APIs nobody switched off. It flags APIs that expose sensitive data, and it blocks attacks such as broken authorization and account takeover.

For you, this matters because APIs now carry most of the data your apps exchange, and attackers know many are poorly watched. It sits between application security and web protection. It depends on access to API traffic, and your data protection and compliance work depend on its inventory.

### Compare API Security solutions

This analysis focuses on seven API security solutions. The table compares them on vendor, who each one is best for, deployment model and the NIST CSF functions they cover.

| # | Solution | Best for | Starting price | Deployment | Company size | NIST CSF functions |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [Akamai API Security](https://cybersectools.com/tools/akamai-api-security) | Teams needing a full API inventory with risk scores | Contact sales | Cloud | SMB to Enterprise | Identify, Protect, Detect |
| 2 | [Salt Security Salt Collect](https://cybersectools.com/tools/salt-security-salt-collect) | Teams learning API behavior from live traffic | Contact sales | Hybrid | SMB to Enterprise | Protect, Detect |
| 3 | [Cloudflare API Shield](https://cybersectools.com/tools/cloudflare-api-shield) | Cloudflare customers protecting public APIs at the edge | Contact sales | Cloud | SMB to Enterprise | Identify, Protect, Detect |
| 4 | [Traceable API Security](https://cybersectools.com/tools/traceable-appsec) | AppSec teams covering APIs from code to runtime | Contact sales | Cloud | SMB to Enterprise | Identify, Protect, Detect |
| 5 | [Imperva API Security](https://cybersectools.com/tools/imperva-api-security) | Imperva WAF customers adding API discovery | Contact sales | Hybrid | SMB to Enterprise | Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond |
| 6 | [Fastly API Security](https://cybersectools.com/tools/fastly-api-security) | Fastly customers protecting APIs on the edge | Contact sales | Cloud | SMB to Enterprise | Identify, Protect, Detect |
| 7 | [Wallarm API Security](https://cybersectools.com/tools/wallarm-api-security) | Teams wanting inline API blocking without specifications | Free plan | Hybrid | SMB to Enterprise | Identify, Protect, Detect |

Vendors change prices, so check before you buy.

**See every API Security solution we list**

The full API Security market, filtered by company size, deployment and NIST coverage.

[Browse API Security solutions →](https://cybersectools.com/categories/api-security)

### 1. Akamai API Security

**[Akamai](https://mandos.io/data/companies/akamai?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist-md&utm_campaign=explore-in-mandos)**. API security platform for discovery, testing, and protection of APIs

Cambridge, United States · Founded 1998 · Public company · Momentum 55/100 (Mandos)

Certifications: SOC 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP, PCI DSS, HIPAA

**Best for:** Teams needing a full API inventory with risk scores

Product page: https://cybersectools.com/tools/akamai-api-security

#### At a glance

- Vendor: Akamai
- Headquarters: Cambridge, United States
- Founded: 1998
- Ownership: Public company (AKAM)
- Deployment: Cloud
- Company size: SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise
- NIST CSF: Identify, Protect, Detect
- Pricing: Contact sales

#### Our take

Akamai API Security discovers and inventories APIs, including shadow and zombie APIs and APIs connected to GenAI models, LLMs and MCP servers. It checks them against the OWASP Top 10 API risks, maps business logic and traffic flows, and watches for abnormal use, data leaks and tampering. It also adds security testing to CI/CD pipelines.

It earns its place because it reaches the APIs you may not know you run, including the ones wired to AI services, and then hands blocks and fixes to your WAF, SIEM and ITSM. It fits best if your traffic already passes through Akamai's CDN, since it connects there natively. If you are not on Akamai, ask how it will see your traffic before you plan the rollout.

#### Akamai API Security main features

- Automated API discovery and inventory including shadow and zombie APIs
- AI-related API discovery for GenAI models, LLMs, and MCP servers
- OWASP Top 10 API Security Risks vulnerability analysis
- API traffic visualization and business logic mapping
- Anomalous usage and API attack detection
- CI/CD pipeline integration with automated security testing
- Data leakage and tampering detection
- Compliance monitoring for regulatory requirements

#### Akamai API Security main integrations

Akamai CDN, WAF, SIEM, ITSM tools, Jira

#### What customers say

Sentiment: 91% positive · 9% mixed · 0% negative (from first-hand public reviews and comments, 2026).
Most praised: Account discovery.

Customers buy it mainly to find out which APIs they actually run, because it builds and keeps an API inventory on its own. From there it watches API traffic and scores risk, which shows teams where their weak spots are and what to fix first. Reviewers see it as built for complex API estates at mid-size and large companies.

#### Before you buy

Where it is strong:

- Finds APIs connected to GenAI models, LLMs and MCP servers
- Native connection to the Akamai CDN for collecting traffic
- Security testing in CI/CD before release

Ask in the demo:

- Ask how traffic is collected if your APIs do not run behind Akamai's CDN
- Walk through the risk views in the demo, since a customer found parts of them confusing
- Confirm how findings reach Jira or your ticketing system

### 2. Salt Security Salt Collect

**[Salt Security](https://mandos.io/data/companies/salt-security?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist-md&utm_campaign=explore-in-mandos)**. Analyzes API traffic to detect vulnerabilities, misconfigurations & data exposure

Palo Alto, United States · Founded 2016 · $271M raised · Momentum 56/100 (Mandos)

Certifications: SOC 2

**Best for:** Teams learning API behavior from live traffic

Product page: https://cybersectools.com/tools/salt-security-salt-collect

#### At a glance

- Vendor: Salt Security
- Headquarters: Palo Alto, United States
- Founded: 2016
- Deployment: Hybrid
- Company size: SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise
- NIST CSF: Protect, Detect
- Pricing: Contact sales

#### Our take

Salt Collect is the part of Salt Security's API protection platform that gathers live API traffic through downloadable collectors. Salt then analyzes calls, users and sessions to learn how each API normally behaves, finds misconfigurations and drift, traces sensitive data as it moves, and detects OWASP API Top 10 risks from real use rather than from static specifications.

Salt is here because it judges APIs by how they behave, not by what a specification says, which matters when your APIs change faster than their documentation. It runs as a hybrid deployment and sits next to gateways and edges such as Kong, Apigee, AWS API Gateway, F5, Cloudflare and Akamai. A behavior baseline needs real traffic to learn from, so plan where you place the collectors.

#### Salt Security Salt Collect main features

- Runtime analysis of API calls, users, and sessions
- Detection of API misconfigurations and drift
- Sensitive data tracing in motion
- Real-time behavioral anomaly detection
- OWASP API Top 10 risk detection
- Data classification and compliance mapping
- Behavioral baselining
- Continuous API traffic ingestion via downloadable collectors

#### Salt Security Salt Collect main integrations

Kong, Apigee, Cloudflare, Akamai, F5, AWS API Gateway

#### What customers say

Salt is bought mostly for visibility, because it finds APIs that teams didn't know they had, including old and forgotten ones that still take traffic. Reviewers also credit it with spotting attack patterns against those APIs early, and those who rolled it out found the agentless setup straightforward.

#### Before you buy

Where it is strong:

- Learns normal behavior for each API from live calls, users and sessions
- Traces sensitive data as it moves through APIs
- Finds risks from real use, not only from API specifications

Ask in the demo:

- Ask how pricing grows as you add APIs, since a customer found expansion expensive
- Map which traffic sources the collectors support in your environment
- Ask which parts of Salt's platform you need beyond Salt Collect

### 3. Cloudflare API Shield

**[Cloudflare, Inc.](https://mandos.io/data/companies/cloudflare-inc?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist-md&utm_campaign=explore-in-mandos)**. API security platform for discovering, validating, and protecting API endpoints

San Francisco, United States · Founded 2009 · Public company · Momentum 65/100 (Mandos)

Certifications: SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, FedRAMP, PCI DSS

**Best for:** Cloudflare customers protecting public APIs at the edge

Product page: https://cybersectools.com/tools/cloudflare-api-shield

#### At a glance

- Vendor: Cloudflare, Inc.
- Headquarters: San Francisco, United States
- Founded: 2009
- Ownership: Public company (NET)
- Deployment: Cloud
- Company size: SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise
- NIST CSF: Identify, Protect, Detect
- Starting price: Contact sales

#### Our take

Cloudflare API Shield protects APIs on Cloudflare's network. It discovers public API endpoints and their schemas with machine learning, including shadow APIs, and validates requests against OpenAPI specifications to block malformed or unexpected calls. It also scans responses to stop data leaks and adds DDoS protection and authentication checks for APIs.

It makes the list because it adds discovery, schema checks and leak scanning on a network you may already use, so there is little new to deploy. Its positive security model only lets through requests that match your schema, which works well if your OpenAPI specs are current. If they are not, or your APIs sit outside Cloudflare, weigh the schema upkeep and rerouting it would take.

#### Cloudflare API Shield main features

- Automatic API endpoint discovery using machine learning and heuristics
- Protection against OWASP Top 10 API security risks
- Schema validation against OpenAPI specifications
- Shadow API discovery and documentation
- Data exfiltration prevention through payload scanning
- Positive security model enforcement
- DDoS protection for APIs
- Authentication and authorization validation

#### Cloudflare API Shield main integrations

OpenAPI, Terraform

#### Before you buy

Where it is strong:

- Blocks requests that do not match your OpenAPI schema
- Scans API responses to stop data leaks
- Little new setup for APIs already behind Cloudflare

Ask in the demo:

- Check how it covers internal and partner APIs that do not pass through Cloudflare
- Ask which Cloudflare plan includes API Shield and its discovery features
- Ask how it handles business logic abuse that matches the schema

### 4. Harness Traceable API Security

**[Harness](https://mandos.io/data/companies/harness?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist-md&utm_campaign=explore-in-mandos)**. Platform for API & app security with discovery, testing, and protection

San Francisco, United States · Founded 2017 · $775M raised · Momentum 70/100 (Mandos)

Certifications: SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018

**Best for:** AppSec teams covering APIs from code to runtime

Product page: https://cybersectools.com/tools/traceable-appsec

#### At a glance

- Vendor: Harness
- Headquarters: San Francisco, United States
- Founded: 2017
- Deployment: Cloud
- Company size: SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise
- NIST CSF: Identify, Protect, Detect
- Pricing: Contact sales

#### Our take

Traceable, now part of Harness, covers APIs across the software life cycle. It discovers applications and APIs and assesses their risk, tests them for vulnerabilities as part of development, and protects them at runtime against attacks, data disclosure and fraud. It keeps API activity in a security data lake for threat hunting and also covers GenAI APIs.

It integrates with Kong and Mulesoft gateways and with Snyk, Wiz and Tines.

Traceable belongs here if you want API testing in development and runtime protection from one vendor, with the activity data kept for later hunts. It runs in the cloud and is built for microservice and container estates. Since Harness now owns it, ask how the product will develop under its new owner before you sign a long contract.

#### Traceable API Security main features

- Application and API discovery and risk assessment
- Application and API posture management
- Application and API security testing
- Contextual API security testing
- Application and API runtime protection
- API attack detection
- API threat hunting
- OWASP Top 10 protection

#### Traceable API Security main integrations

Kong, Mulesoft, Snyk, Tines, Wiz

#### Before you buy

Where it is strong:

- Covers API testing in development and protection at runtime
- Keeps API activity in a security data lake for threat hunting
- Integrates with Kong, Mulesoft, Snyk and Wiz

Ask in the demo:

- Ask how being part of Harness changes the product, contract and support
- Check which gateways and traffic sources it can read in your environment
- Ask for customer references, since we found no first-hand reviews

**Alternatives to each solution on this list**

The closest API Security alternatives for every pick, matched on features and integrations.

[See API Security alternatives →](https://cybersectools.com/alternatives)

### 5. Imperva API Security

**[Imperva](https://mandos.io/data/companies/imperva?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist-md&utm_campaign=explore-in-mandos)**. Unified API security platform for discovery, risk assessment, and mitigation

San Mateo, United States · Founded 2002 · $86M raised · Momentum 36/100 (Mandos)

Certifications: SOC 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP, PCI DSS, HIPAA

**Best for:** Imperva WAF customers adding API discovery

Product page: https://cybersectools.com/tools/imperva-api-security

#### At a glance

- Vendor: Imperva
- Headquarters: San Mateo, United States
- Founded: 2002
- Deployment: Hybrid
- Company size: SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise
- NIST CSF: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond
- Pricing: Contact sales

#### Our take

Imperva API Security discovers public, private and shadow APIs, classifies the data they carry, and assesses risk against the OWASP API Top 10. It detects broken object level authorization in real time and protects against business logic threats, with inline blocking through Imperva Cloud WAF and WAF Gateway. It runs agent-based or agentless, cloud-managed or self-managed.

It integrates with Kong, Mulesoft, Azure API Management, Apigee and F5.

Imperva earns a spot because it catches one user reading another user's data as it happens and can block it inline through the WAF you may already run. It suits you best if that WAF is Imperva Cloud WAF or WAF Gateway, and its self-managed option helps on hybrid estates. Imperva is now part of Thales, so check the roadmap and support model after that move.

#### Imperva API Security main features

- Continuous API discovery including shadow APIs
- OWASP API Security Top 10 risk assessment
- Real-time BOLA detection and response
- API Security Testing for shift-left vulnerability scanning
- Business logic threat protection
- Automated inline mitigation via WAF integration
- Agent-based and agentless deployment options
- Cloud-managed and self-managed deployment models

#### Imperva API Security main integrations

Kong, Mulesoft, Azure APIM, Apigee, F5, Imperva Cloud WAF, Imperva WAF Gateway, Imperva Advanced Bot Protection

#### What customers say

Imperva API Security is bought mainly to find every API a company runs and see what traffic hits it, and customers say it does that well while blocking attacks in real time. The catch is getting there, because setup and tuning take careful planning and real technical skill, and the price is high.

#### Before you buy

Where it is strong:

- Real-time detection of broken object level authorization
- Inline blocking through Imperva Cloud WAF and WAF Gateway
- Runs agent-based or agentless, cloud-managed or self-managed

Ask in the demo:

- Test detection on your own traffic, since a customer found it shallow beyond discovery
- Get a full price for your API volume, since customers raise price as a concern
- Plan setup time and skills, since customers say it needs planning

### 6. Fastly API Security

**[Fastly](https://mandos.io/data/companies/fastly?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist-md&utm_campaign=explore-in-mandos)**. API security platform for discovery, monitoring, and protection at edge

San Francisco, United States · Founded 2011 · Public company · Momentum 61/100 (Mandos)

Certifications: SOC 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP, PCI DSS, HIPAA

**Best for:** Fastly customers protecting APIs on the edge

Product page: https://cybersectools.com/tools/fastly-api-security

#### At a glance

- Vendor: Fastly
- Headquarters: San Francisco, United States
- Founded: 2011
- Ownership: Public company (FSLY)
- Deployment: Cloud
- Company size: SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise
- NIST CSF: Identify, Protect, Detect
- Starting price: Contact sales

#### Our take

Fastly API Security discovers public APIs on the Fastly edge network and detects new, changed and unintended API calls. It works with Fastly's Next-Gen WAF to block vulnerable or unwanted API traffic, and adds API-focused DDoS protection, bot mitigation, edge rate limiting and GraphQL inspection. Deception features add another way to catch API attackers.

It is on the list because discovery and blocking happen on the Fastly edge where your API traffic already flows, and it sends alerts to Slack, Jira, PagerDuty and Datadog. If your APIs are not behind Fastly, or most of your risk sits in internal and partner APIs, its edge view will see less of it, so weigh that first.

#### Fastly API Security main features

- Automatic API discovery at edge network
- Detection of new and unintentional API calls
- Integration with Next-Gen WAF for API traffic protection
- API-focused DDoS attack detection and mitigation
- Bot and crawler identification and mitigation
- Edge rate limiting for high-volume requests
- GraphQL request parsing and inspection
- API catalog and inventory management

#### Fastly API Security main integrations

Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira, PagerDuty, Datadog, Opsgenie, Splunk On-Call, Sumo Logic, Cisco SecureX

#### Before you buy

Where it is strong:

- Discovers new and unintended API calls at the edge
- GraphQL request inspection
- Deception features for catching API attackers

Ask in the demo:

- Check how it covers APIs that do not run through Fastly
- Ask which Next-Gen WAF features you need alongside it
- Ask for customer references for API Security specifically

### 7. Wallarm API Security

**[Wallarm](https://mandos.io/data/companies/wallarm?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist-md&utm_campaign=explore-in-mandos)**. Inline API discovery and protection platform blocking attacks, abuse, and ATO.

San Francisco, United States · Founded 2016 · $75M raised · Momentum 45/100 (Mandos)

Certifications: SOC 2

**Best for:** Teams wanting inline API blocking without specifications

Product page: https://cybersectools.com/tools/wallarm-api-security

#### At a glance

- Vendor: Wallarm
- Headquarters: San Francisco, United States
- Founded: 2016
- Deployment: Hybrid
- Company size: SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise
- NIST CSF: Identify, Protect, Detect
- Starting price: Free plan

#### Our take

Wallarm API Security discovers APIs from live traffic and blocks attacks inline. It supports REST, GraphQL, gRPC, SOAP and WebSocket, builds OpenAPI specifications from traffic, and needs no specification to start. It blocks OWASP API Top 10 attacks, injections, broken authentication and server-side request forgery, and detects credential stuffing, account takeover, bots and layer 7 DDoS.

It sends alerts to Splunk, QRadar, Microsoft Sentinel, Datadog, ServiceNow, Jira, PagerDuty and Slack, and adds security testing in CI/CD.

Wallarm earns its place because it can start blocking before your APIs are documented, which helps when your specs lag behind the code. It runs hybrid, so you can put the filtering where your traffic is. Before you choose it, test its blocking modes on your busiest APIs, because a wrong block there lands on real users.

#### Wallarm API Security main features

- Automated API discovery and inventory
- API topology mapping from traffic analysis
- OWASP API Security Top 10 protection
- AI-specific threat mitigation
- Bot and Layer 7 DDoS protection
- API specification enforcement
- Automated security testing in CI/CD
- Sensitive data identification

#### Wallarm API Security main integrations

Splunk, Sumo Logic, QRadar, Jira, PagerDuty, OpsGenie, Slack, Azure Monitor Logs, Microsoft Sentinel, Datadog, ServiceNow, InsightConnect, Microsoft Teams, Telegram, Fluentd, Logstash, Amazon S3, MinIO, VictorOps, Demisto, GitHub

#### Before you buy

Where it is strong:

- Supports REST, GraphQL, gRPC, SOAP and WebSocket
- Builds API specifications from live traffic
- Sends alerts to a long list of SIEM, paging and ticketing systems

Ask in the demo:

- Run it on limited traffic first to see what it finds
- Ask how blocking modes are chosen and how you tune false positives
- Ask for customer references in your industry

## How they fit your cybersecurity program (NIST CSF)

NIST CSF 2.0 has six functions: Govern, Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond and Recover. The grid shows which functions each pick maps to in our record, so you can see where a solution sits in your program and what it leaves to other controls.

All 7 solutions map to Protect and Detect. 6 of 7 map to Identify. 1 of 7 maps to Respond. None map to Govern or Recover.

| Solution | Govern | Identify | Protect | Detect | Respond | Recover |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| All solutions on this list | 0 of 7 | 6 of 7 | 7 of 7 | 7 of 7 | 1 of 7 | 0 of 7 |
| Akamai API Security | – | 2 of 3 (Asset Management, Risk Assessment) | 1 of 5 (Platform Security) | 2 of 2 (Continuous Monitoring, Adverse Event Analysis) | – | – |
| Salt Security Salt Collect | – | – | 1 of 5 (Data Security) | 2 of 2 (Continuous Monitoring, Adverse Event Analysis) | – | – |
| Cloudflare API Shield | – | 1 of 3 (Asset Management) | 2 of 5 (Data Security, Technology Infrastructure Resilience) | 1 of 2 (Continuous Monitoring) | – | – |
| Traceable API Security | – | 2 of 3 (Asset Management, Risk Assessment) | 1 of 5 (Platform Security) | 1 of 2 (Continuous Monitoring) | – | – |
| Imperva API Security | – | 2 of 3 (Asset Management, Risk Assessment) | 1 of 5 (Platform Security) | 1 of 2 (Continuous Monitoring) | 1 of 4 (Incident Mitigation) | – |
| Fastly API Security | – | 1 of 3 (Asset Management) | 1 of 5 (Technology Infrastructure Resilience) | 2 of 2 (Continuous Monitoring, Adverse Event Analysis) | – | – |
| Wallarm API Security | – | 1 of 3 (Asset Management) | 2 of 5 (Data Security, Platform Security) | 2 of 2 (Continuous Monitoring, Adverse Event Analysis) | – | – |

Each cell shows how many of the function's NIST CSF 2.0 categories the solution maps to, with the category names.

A product helps you reach these outcomes, but it does not make you compliant on its own. Your people and processes do the rest.

## CISO checklist for selecting an API Security product

Work through these steps in order to go from not knowing your APIs to a contract you can defend.

1. **List where your API traffic flows: edge, gateways, cloud and internal networks.** Each product reads traffic in different places, and APIs it cannot see stay unprotected.
2. **Run discovery on your real traffic during the trial.** The number of unknown APIs it finds is the clearest test of what you are buying.
3. **Check detection of broken object level authorization on your own APIs.** It is the most common API flaw and the hardest for classic web firewalls to see.
4. **Confirm which API types are covered: REST, GraphQL, gRPC and others.** Uncovered API types are blind spots, and many teams run more than one.
5. **Decide whether you need inline blocking or detection first.** Inline blocking stops attacks but can break traffic; detection first lets you tune safely.
6. **Check how sensitive data in API responses is flagged.** Knowing which APIs expose personal or payment data drives priorities and compliance.
7. **Confirm how findings reach your SIEM and ticketing systems.** Findings that stay in a separate console rarely get fixed.
8. **Ask how pricing grows with API count and traffic.** Customers report costs that climb as more APIs are added.
9. **Plan setup time and the skills you need.** Customers say rollout can take planning, especially across many traffic sources.
10. **Ask for references with an API estate like yours.** Results vary a lot by architecture, so references from similar teams tell you the most.

**Compare API Security solutions side by side**

Features, integrations, NIST coverage and deployment for every API Security solution we list, in one table.

[Compare API Security solutions →](https://cybersectools.com/compare)

## Other solutions we considered for this shortlist

We looked at 38 products for this list. These did not make the 7 above but are worth a look for the right team.

1. [Orca API Security](https://cybersectools.com/tools/orca-api-security) · Orca Security
   Agentless cloud API discovery, posture management, and drift detection.
2. [Checkmarx API Security](https://cybersectools.com/tools/checkmarx-api-security) · Checkmarx
   API security tool that discovers APIs in code and addresses vulnerabilities
3. [Invicti API Security](https://cybersectools.com/tools/invicti-api-security) · Invicti
   API security testing platform with discovery, scanning, and remediation
4. [Mend API Security](https://cybersectools.com/tools/mend-api-security) · Mend.io
   API security solution within Mend's AppSec platform
5. [Cequence API Security](https://cybersectools.com/tools/cequence-api-security) · Cequence Security
   API security platform for discovery, testing, and protection of APIs
6. [SecureLayer7 BugDazz API Security Scanner](https://cybersectools.com/tools/securelayer7-bugdazz-api-security-scanner) · SecureLayer7
   API security scanner for automated vulnerability detection in CI/CD pipelines
7. [Operant AI API Threat Protection](https://cybersectools.com/tools/operant-ai-api-threat-protection) · Operant AI
   Runtime API threat protection for Kubernetes environments with discovery
8. [Escape API Security](https://cybersectools.com/tools/escape-api-security) · Escape Technologies
   API discovery, documentation, and security testing platform for APIs
9. [Indusface AppTrana - API Protection](https://cybersectools.com/tools/indusface-apptrana-api-protection) · Indusface
   Managed API security platform with discovery, DAST, WAF, and 24x7 SOC
10. [StackHawk API Discovery](https://cybersectools.com/tools/stackhawk-api-discovery) · StackHawk
   API discovery tool that maps application attack surface from source code

Explore all API Security solutions: https://cybersectools.com/categories/api-security

## Conclusion

Start with where your APIs run. If they sit behind Cloudflare, Fastly or Imperva, their API products add discovery and protection with little setup. If you need a full inventory with risk scores across many traffic sources, Akamai API Security is the strongest fit, and Salt adds deep behavior analysis from live traffic. Traceable covers APIs from code to runtime, and Wallarm blocks attacks quickly without specifications. In every case, run discovery on your real traffic before you sign, because the inventory it finds is the best test.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What is the difference between API security and a WAF?

A WAF blocks known attack patterns in web requests. API security learns how each API should behave and catches abuse that looks like normal traffic, such as one user reading another user's records. Many products here combine both.

### What are shadow and zombie APIs?

Shadow APIs are running but not documented or known to security. Zombie APIs are old versions that should have been switched off but still answer requests. Both are common entry points because nobody watches them.

### What is broken object level authorization?

It is the most common API flaw: an API returns a record because the request names it, without checking that the caller may see it. Attackers change an ID in the request to read other people's data. Look for products that detect it from live traffic.

### Do I need an API specification to start?

Not with most products here. Several build specifications from live traffic. A specification still helps, because some products can block anything that does not match it.

### Can my API gateway handle API security?

Gateways handle authentication, rate limits and routing. They usually do not find undocumented APIs or detect business logic abuse. Most API security products here connect to gateways such as Kong, Mulesoft and Apigee to read their traffic.

### Edge platform or dedicated API product?

Edge platforms protect public APIs that already pass through them, with little setup. Dedicated products read more traffic sources and go deeper on behavior. Choose by where your APIs run and how much internal and partner traffic you need to cover.

## Sources

These are the pages we reviewed for each pick: the vendor's own product page and website, its market data on Mandos, and every review page we read for customer feedback.

1. **Akamai API Security** · Akamai: [Product page](https://www.akamai.com/products/api-security) · [Akamai website](https://www.akamai.com/) · [Market data on Mandos](https://mandos.io/data/companies/akamai?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist-md-sources&utm_campaign=explore-in-mandos) · [Gartner Peer Insights: akamai api security](https://www.gartner.com/reviews/product/akamai-api-security) · [Gartner Peer Insights: app and api protector](https://www.gartner.com/reviews/product/app-and-api-protector) · [G2](https://www.g2.com/products/akamai-api-security/reviews)
2. **Salt Security Salt Collect** · Salt Security: [Product page](https://salt.security/collect/) · [Salt Security website](https://salt.security/) · [Market data on Mandos](https://mandos.io/data/companies/salt-security?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist-md-sources&utm_campaign=explore-in-mandos) · [Gartner Peer Insights](https://www.gartner.com/reviews/product/salt-security-api-protection-platform) · [PeerSpot](https://www.peerspot.com/products/salt-security-reviews) · [G2](https://www.g2.com/products/salt-security/reviews)
3. **Cloudflare API Shield** · Cloudflare, Inc.: [Product page](https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/application-services/products/api-shield) · [Cloudflare, Inc. website](https://www.cloudflare.com/) · [Market data on Mandos](https://mandos.io/data/companies/cloudflare-inc?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist-md-sources&utm_campaign=explore-in-mandos) · [Gartner Peer Insights](https://www.gartner.com/reviews/product/cloudflare-api-gateway) · [Reddit: zero trust authentication](https://www.reddit.com/r/CloudFlare/comments/19029c1/zero_trust_authentication/) · [Reddit: whats the deal with cloudflare](https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1cpmp9f/whats_the_deal_with_cloudflare/)
4. **Traceable API Security** · Harness: [Product page](https://www.traceable.ai/) · [Harness website](https://harness.io/) · [Market data on Mandos](https://mandos.io/data/companies/harness?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist-md-sources&utm_campaign=explore-in-mandos)
5. **Imperva API Security** · Imperva: [Product page](https://www.imperva.com/products/api-security/) · [Imperva website](https://www.imperva.com/) · [Market data on Mandos](https://mandos.io/data/companies/imperva?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist-md-sources&utm_campaign=explore-in-mandos) · [Gartner Peer Insights](https://www.gartner.com/reviews/product/imperva-api-security) · [G2](https://www.g2.com/products/imperva-api-security/reviews) · [PeerSpot](https://www.peerspot.com/products/imperva-application-security-platform-reviews)
6. **Fastly API Security** · Fastly: [Product page](https://fastly.com/products/api-security/) · [Fastly website](https://www.fastly.com/) · [Market data on Mandos](https://mandos.io/data/companies/fastly?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist-md-sources&utm_campaign=explore-in-mandos) · [G2](https://www.g2.com/products/fastly-s-web-application-and-api-security/reviews) · [Reddit: cdn what can fastly do that cloudflare cant](https://www.reddit.com/r/fastly/comments/11rqcx2/cdn_what_can_fastly_do_that_cloudflare_cant/) · [Reddit: cloudlfare vs akamai](https://www.reddit.com/r/cybersecurity/comments/1k3vr7z/cloudlfare_vs_akamai/)
7. **Wallarm API Security** · Wallarm: [Product page](https://www.wallarm.com/product/api-security) · [Wallarm website](https://www.wallarm.com/) · [Market data on Mandos](https://mandos.io/data/companies/wallarm?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist-md-sources&utm_campaign=explore-in-mandos) · [G2](https://www.g2.com/products/wallarm-api-security-platform/reviews) · [Gartner Peer Insights](https://www.gartner.com/reviews/product/wallarm-cloud-native-waap) · [Reddit: what do you use for api security](https://www.reddit.com/r/cybersecurity/comments/1hde6jx/what_do_you_use_for_api_security/) · [Reddit: open source api security tools](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskNetsec/comments/tmzl9p/open_source_api_security_tools/)

---

For AI agents: every CybersecTools shortlist is listed at https://cybersectools.com/shortlists.md.

More on the vendors on this list: funding, momentum, hiring and news, plus the full product and company record, are available through the Mandos MCP Server (paid plans), which connects to AI assistants: https://mandos.io/mcp?utm_source=cybersectools.com&utm_medium=shortlist-md