Enterprise CDN and cloud security platform
Visit WebsiteThe Bottom Line
Entry price
From $5/mo
Biggest pro
Enterprise CDN leader
Biggest con
Very expensive
TL;DR - Akamai
- Akamai is a global CDN and cloud security provider powering many of the world's largest websites
- It delivers content from edge servers worldwide while protecting against DDoS and web attacks
- Custom enterprise pricing based on traffic and security requirements
What is Akamai?
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Enterprise CDN leader
- Global network
- Security features
- Good performance
- DDoS protection
Cons
- Very expensive
- Complex pricing
- Enterprise sales
- Overkill for small sites
- Dated UI
Ratings Across the Web
Akamai holds an aggregate rating of 4.5 out of 5 from 665 reviews across G2, last checked March 18, 2026.
What people say
“The integration with AWS is perfect to simulate a real experience”via G2
Ratings aggregated from independent review platforms. Learn more
Key Features
Pricing Plans
Free TrialPricing checked Aug 27, 2026
Nanode
$5/month
Shared CPU
- 1 CPU
- 1GB RAM
- 25GB storage
- 1TB transfer
Linode 2GB
$12/month
Shared CPU
- 1 CPU
- 2GB RAM
- 50GB storage
- 2TB transfer
Dedicated 4GB
$36/month
Dedicated CPU
- 2 CPUs
- 4GB RAM
- 80GB storage
- 4TB transfer
Enterprise CDN
Custom
Global CDN
- Edge computing
- DDoS protection
- Web application firewall
- 24/7 support
Is Akamai worth the price?
Akamai operates on two pricing tracks: Akamai Cloud (formerly Linode) for compute starting at $5/month, and Akamai CDN/Security for enterprise content delivery and web security with custom pricing typically starting at $8,000-25,000/month.
The cloud compute side is straightforward and competitive, shared instances from $5/month, dedicated from $36/month, GPUs from $350/month. The CDN/Security side is opaque enterprise pricing with 12-month minimum contracts, bandwidth charges of $0.035-0.049/GB, and security add-ons (WAF, bot management, DDoS) that can push annual contracts to $100,000+.
Most smaller companies interact only with Akamai Cloud; the CDN/Security products target enterprises with significant traffic.
Hidden Costs & Gotchas
CDN bandwidth pricing ($0.035-0.049/GB) varies by geography. Asia-Pacific and South America traffic costs 2-3x more than North America/Europe. A global audience significantly increases effective per-GB costs
Security products are sold separately from CDN. Web Application Firewall, Bot Manager ($20K-80K/year), API Security ($25K-100K/year), and DDoS protection are all additional line items on top of CDN delivery costs
12-month minimum contracts for CDN/Security with committed usage levels. Under-utilization means paying for unused capacity. Over-utilization triggers overage charges at potentially higher rates
Professional services and implementation for CDN/Security are typically required and cost $10K-50K+ for initial setup, rule configuration, and optimization
Cloud compute transfer overage beyond included allowance is metered. A Nanode ($5/month) includes 1 TB transfer, exceeding it costs extra. High-bandwidth applications can blow through transfer limits
GPU instances start at $350/month and scale to $1,665/month per GPU card. Multi-GPU configurations for ML workloads can cost $5,000-10,000+/month
Enterprise CDN contracts are heavily negotiated. List pricing ($0.049/GB) is a starting point, large customers negotiate 30-50% discounts, but small/mid companies get less favorable rates
No self-service for CDN/Security products. Every configuration change beyond basic settings may require support tickets or professional services engagement
How Akamai Compares to Competitors
Cloudflare is the primary CDN alternative, free tier includes unlimited bandwidth, DDoS protection, and basic WAF. Cloudflare Pro ($20/month) adds advanced WAF and image optimization. For most websites, Cloudflare eliminates the need for Akamai CDN entirely. Akamai CDN still wins for highest-traffic sites (100+ Tbps capacity) and specialized edge computing. Fastly offers transparent pay-as-you-go CDN pricing ($0.12/GB for first 10 TB in North America) without long-term contracts, more predictable than Akamai for mid-tier traffic. AWS CloudFront starts at $0.085/GB and integrates tightly with AWS services. For cloud compute, DigitalOcean ($4/month entry) and Vultr ($2.50/month entry) offer similar products at comparable or lower prices. Akamai Cloud (Linode) differentiates through included transfer allowances and no surprise egress fees, a meaningful advantage over AWS/GCP where egress costs can double cloud bills.
How Akamai's pricing compares
At $5/mo, Akamai is the most affordable of its 3 direct competitors.
Entry paid plan, monthly. Pricing checked Aug 27, 2026.
Reviews
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Akamai FAQ
How does Akamai enhance website performance for enterprise organizations?
Which teams within an enterprise would benefit most from using Akamai?
How is Akamai priced?
What kind of security features does Akamai offer?
Can Akamai be overkill for smaller websites or startups?
How does Akamai compare to Cloudflare in terms of its target users?
Source: akamai.com