Akamai vs Hetzner DDoS Protection
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Akamai and Hetzner DDoS Protection.
Quick Verdict
4.1/5
Akamai
0 reviews
4.0/5
Hetzner DDoS Protection
0 reviews
Akamai is rated higher (4.1 vs 4.0). Akamai invented the CDN industry in 1998. 340,000+ servers in 130+ countries. Enterprise CDN, edge security, and media delivery at massive scale. Acquired Linode for cloud compute. Free automatic DDoS mitigation included with every Hetzner product. Arbor/Juniper scrubbing plus Nokia Deepfield Defender edge filtering (2026), with no per-gigabit charges and no configurable thresholds.
 Akamai The original CDN — 4,400+ edge PoPs across 130+ countries | Hetzner DDoS Protection Hardware-backed DDoS mitigation for high-traffic infrastructure | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.1 (0 reviews)✓ | 4.0 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | paid | free |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free |
| Best for | Global media and streaming platforms, gaming backends, and attack-prone enterprises that need the largest edge footprint and top-tier DDoS scrubbing under enterprise contracts | Hetzner customers who want a credible zero-cost first line of volumetric defense and will layer external L7 filtering on top only where attack risk justifies paying for it. |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | ddos protectioneu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenter | free tierddos protectioneu datacenter |
| Visit Akamai → | Visit Hetzner DDoS Protection → | |
Akamai
Pros
- + Unmatched edge reach: 4,400+ PoPs across 130+ countries and 1,200+ networks
- + Prolexic DDoS scrubbing is the industry reference: 20+ Tbps dedicated capacity, zero-second mitigation, 100% platform availability SLA
- + Two decades-plus of delivery track record at the largest media and event scale
- + Aggressive egress pricing on the Akamai Cloud compute side, inherited from the Linode acquisition
- + Edge compute (EdgeWorkers, Functions) plus core and distributed compute regions under one network
Cons
- - No public pricing — quote-based enterprise procurement with real sales-cycle overhead
- - Not an option for individuals, small businesses, or anyone who wants self-serve onboarding
- - Dense, modular product catalog that is easy to over-buy or misconfigure
- - Volume commitments can make traffic overruns expensive
- - Compute breadth is thin compared with AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud
Hetzner DDoS Protection
Pros
- + Free and automatic for every Hetzner customer, with no scrubbing or per-gigabit charges during attacks
- + Nokia Deepfield Defender edge mitigation (since March 2026) filters most attack traffic before it enters the backbone
- + Distinguishes attack types (e.g. UDP flood vs SYN flood) instead of reacting to raw volume alone
- + Filtering stays inside Hetzner's own German/Finnish network, supporting GDPR data-sovereignty requirements
- + Covers all Hetzner products at once: cloud servers, dedicated root servers, web hosting, load balancers
Cons
- - Protects Hetzner infrastructure only; useless for non-Hetzner origins
- - Zero user control: no configurable thresholds, no dashboard, no WAF rules
- - No published mitigation capacity, detection SLA, or uptime credits tied to the service
- - Non-EU locations (Ashburn, Hillsboro, Singapore) not confirmed to run the same mitigation stack
- - Historic community reports of null-routing attacked dedicated servers could not be confirmed against current policy
Stay in the loop
Get weekly updates on the best new hosting and infrastructure providers, deals, and comparisons.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.