shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Akamai?

Cloud computing, security, and content delivery (CDN) - akamai.com

Depends. Akamai fits large enterprises moving serious global traffic and wanting CDN plus edge security under one negotiated contract. Small teams, startups, and simple sites will overpay and overcomplicate — use Cloudflare, Fastly, or Linode-style cloud instead.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 20+ public sources; many review snippets were truncated, so numeric detail is partial.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo buyer-side support evidence found
  • Security posture

Pricing

Akamai Cloud (Linode)

Pay-as-you-go, published per-region rates

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
CDN, security & enterpriseCustom, sales-negotiated

Best for

  • Large enterprises with global traffic
  • Security teams needing edge WAF/DDoS/API protection
  • High-volume e-commerce or streaming CDN buyers
  • Startups qualifying for the Rise program

Not for

  • Small sites and side projects — freight-train tooling for a bicycle
  • Bootstrapped startups wanting self-serve, transparent pricing
  • Teams with no dedicated infra or security staff
  • Anyone unwilling to sit through sales-negotiated contracts

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

No public rate card for CDN/security — expect sales calls and budget surprises

medium

CDN per-GB rates only get competitive around 400+ TB/month commitments

medium

Guess: edge configs and WAF rules are vendor-specific — treat exit as a real migration project

medium

Recent CVEs (request smuggling, SSRF) mean you must track their advisory feed

Pros and cons

Pros

  • One vendor for CDN, edge security, DNS, and cloud compute
  • Large installed base: 17,849 companies detected using Akamai
  • Akamai Cloud (ex-Linode) publishes transparent billing docs
  • Rise program gives qualifying startups a three-year track
  • Publishes detailed CVE advisories for its own products

Cons

  • Core CDN and security pricing is negotiated behind sales calls
  • Only 6 Trustpilot reviews — very little independent buyer feedback
  • Several 2025-2026 CVEs across edge and CloudTest products
  • Sysadmin threads show active migration interest toward Cloudflare and AWS
  • Complexity has spawned a whole 'Akamai alternatives' content industry

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/24/2026 - 18 sources - Actively discloses and patches; at least four CVEs across edge and cloud products in 2025-2026.

official x4review x6security x4news x4
  • CVE-2025-32094 — HTTP request smuggling via OPTIONS, Reported to Akamai in March 2025; addressed via vendor advisory.
  • CVE-2026-26365 — Incorrect Connection/Transfer-Encoding processing, Affected Akamai edge servers; patched per vendor advisory.
  • CVE-2025-52491 — CloudTest SSRF, Server-side request forgery vulnerability in Akamai CloudTest.
  • CVE-2025-66373 — 'Akamai Ghost' on CDN edge servers, NIST NVD entry covering a CDN edge-server vulnerability.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 2/5

    Rating

  • Pay-as-you-go, published per-region rates

    Starting price

  • 18

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 2/5. Negotiated CDN pricing; only cloud tier transparent
  • Ease of use: 3/5. Linode cloud simpler; enterprise suites need specialists
  • Feature depth: 5/5. CDN, WAF, DNS, API security, cloud in one portfolio
  • Support quality. No buyer-side support evidence found
  • Security posture: 3/5. Multiple 2025-2026 CVEs, disclosed and patched openly
  • 4.3/5 Employee rating 3,508 Glassdoor reviews
  • 406 G2 reviews Akamai Cloud Computing product
  • 183,305 Websites on Akamai US sites tracked by BuiltWith
  • $2.6B 2026 debt raise Convertible bond offering

Pricing

Akamai Cloud (Linode)

Pay-as-you-go, published per-region rates

  • Compute, object storage, Kubernetes
  • Transparent billing documentation

CDN, security & enterprise

Not disclosed

  • Volume-based per-GB pricing
  • No public rate card

Security

Actively discloses and patches; at least four CVEs across edge and cloud products in 2025-2026.

  • CVE-2025-32094 — HTTP request smuggling via OPTIONSReported to Akamai in March 2025; addressed via vendor advisory.⁹
  • CVE-2026-26365 — Incorrect Connection/Transfer-Encoding processingAffected Akamai edge servers; patched per vendor advisory.10
  • CVE-2025-52491 — CloudTest SSRFServer-side request forgery vulnerability in Akamai CloudTest.11
  • CVE-2025-66373 — 'Akamai Ghost' on CDN edge serversNIST NVD entry covering a CDN edge-server vulnerability.12

What users say

Reddit comparisons with Cloudflare dominate the discussion, employees rate it 4.3/5 on Glassdoor, and independent Trustpilot feedback is nearly nonexistent.

“Akamai has a much better setup for...”
Reddit, r/cybersecurity

Alternatives

Compare Akamai with each alternative.

  • Cloudflare

    Self-serve CDN and WAF with a free tier

  • Fastly

    Developer-friendly CDN with published pricing

    Akamai vs Fastly

  • AWS CloudFront

    CDN bundled into an existing AWS bill

  • BunnyCDN

    Guess: cheap, simple CDN for smaller sites

Companies that use it

  • adidas
  • 3P Learning
Full analysis

Based on 20+ public sources; many review snippets were truncated, so numeric detail is partial.

Enterprise CDN + edge security at negotiated prices. Overkill for small sites — use Cloudflare or Linode-style cloud instead.

Methodology

Based on 20+ public sources; many review snippets were truncated, so numeric detail is partial.

Sources

  1. Akamai Cloud Computing Reviews — G2g2.com
    review
  2. Akamai Reviews — Glassdoorglassdoor.com
    review
  3. Websites using Akamai in the United States — BuiltWithtrends.builtwith.com
    news
  4. Companies using Akamai — Bloomberrybloomberry.com
    news
  5. Akamai Cloud Pricingakamai.com
    official
  6. Akamai Productsakamai.com
    official
  7. Akamai Rise startup programakamai.com
    official
  8. Billing docs — Akamai Cloudtechdocs.akamai.com
    official
  9. CVE-2025-32094 advisory — Akamaiakamai.com
    security
  10. CVE-2026-26365 advisory — Akamaiakamai.com
    security
  11. CVE-2025-52491 — SentinelOne databasesentinelone.com
    security
  12. CVE-2025-66373 — NIST NVDnvd.nist.gov
    security
  13. Akamai CDN per-GB pricing — Blazing CDNblog.blazingcdn.com
    news
  14. Akamai costs thread — Reddit r/selfhostedreddit.com
    review
  15. Cloudflare vs Akamai — Reddit r/cybersecurityreddit.com
    review
  16. CDN replacement thread — Reddit r/sysadminreddit.com
    review
  17. Akamai convertible bond offering — Bloombergbloomberg.com
    news
  18. Akamai pricing and Trustpilot note — CheckThatcheckthat.ai
    review

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