DDoS protection · October 2026 Edition
AWS Shield vs Imperva DDoS Protection
Two of fourteen models named AWS Shield first on the direct prompt; one named Imperva DDoS Protection. AWS Shield was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Imperva DDoS Protection by thirteen and AWS Shield carries 62 labels and Imperva DDoS Protection 43, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in one category this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share4%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate11%9%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#3A position in a field of 9; printed, not drawn.
Labels6243A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, AWS Shield reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Cloudflare was named alongside these two in eleven of the fourteen direct answers. Cloudflare vs AWS Shield · Cloudflare vs Imperva DDoS Protection · AWS Shield vs Radware Cloud DDoS Protection
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the ddos protection page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
AWS ShieldFirst choices, of fourteen modelsImperva DDoS Protection
Direct211 against AWS Shield
Paraphrase001 against Imperva DDoS Protection
Comparative00
Budget-constrained004 against AWS Shield · 3 against Imperva DDoS Protection
Scale-constrained00
Negative002 against AWS Shield
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, AWS Shield and Imperva DDoS Protection were named in the same answer 102 times, of the 200 answers naming AWS Shield and the 114 naming Imperva DDoS Protection. In those answers Imperva DDoS Protection took the first choice four times and AWS Shield one.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where AWS Shield and Imperva DDoS Protection stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | | ||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | ||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | | | |
| Grok 4.1 Fast | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | ||||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | ||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | | |
| Kimi K2 | | | | | | |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | ||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | | | |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | |
AWS Shield Imperva DDoS Protection first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, AWS Shield on the left and Imperva DDoS Protection on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where AWS Shield and Imperva DDoS Protection stood in it.
AWS Shield first, Imperva DDoS Protection an alternative
2 of 14 modelsImperva DDoS Protection was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Mistral SmallAWS Shield, Cloudflare alternatives: Nexusguard, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection
Qwen 3.7 FlashAWS Shield, Cloudflare alternatives: Imperva DDoS Protection, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection
Imperva DDoS Protection first, AWS Shield not the choice
1 of 14 modelsAWS Shield was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Muse Glimmer 30BCloudflare, Imperva DDoS Protection, Imperva Incapsula alternatives: Radware Cloud DDoS Protection
Neither was the first choice, one was named
10 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Claude Haiku 4.5Cloudflare alternatives: Imperva DDoS Protection, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection, Vercara
GPT-5.4 miniCloudflare Business or Cloudflare Contract alternatives: AWS Shield
Gemini 3.5 FlashCloudflare alternatives: AWS Shield, Fastly DDoS Protection, Imperva DDoS Protection
Perplexity SonarLevelBlue alternatives: Cloudflare, Imperva DDoS Protection
Grok 4.1 FastCloudflare alternatives: AWS Shield, Akamai Kona Site Defender, Imperva DDoS Protection, Radware DefensePro
DeepSeek V4 FlashCloudflare alternatives: AWS Shield, Azure DDoS Protection, Imperva DDoS Protection
Kimi K2Cloudflare alternatives: Imperva DDoS Protection
GLM 4.7 FlashXCloudflare alternatives: AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic
MiniMax M2.5Cloudflare Magic Transit alternatives: AWS Shield, Imperva DDoS Protection, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection
GPT-6 LunaCloudflare alternatives: AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Magic Transit
Neither was named
1 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Llama 4 Maverickno first choice
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Level: the same share of first choices.
AWS Shield0%#2 of 10Imperva DDoS Protection0%#8 of 10Mid-marketThe figures above
AWS Shield leads by two points.
AWS Shield4%#2 of 9Imperva DDoS Protection2%#3 of 9Enterprise
The order flips: Imperva DDoS Protection leads at enterprise.
Imperva DDoS Protection6%#3 of 8AWS Shield0%#5 of 8What the models said about AWS Shield
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“A Budget Trap to Avoid ... Costs a flat $3,000/month with a 1-year commitment, plus data transfer fees.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · hard negative
“Options to Avoid on a Limited Budget ... $3,000/month” DeepSeek V4 Flash · budget prompt · hard negative
“AWS Shield Standard protects only when used with AWS edge services like CloudFront and Route 53, and Shield Advanced is needed for stronger cost protection” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · soft negative
“Cloudflare and AWS Shield Advanced are the top choices due to their balance of cost, ease of use, and comprehensive protection” Mistral Small · direct prompt · first choice
“If your entire stack is hosted on Amazon Web Services (EC2, Elastic Load Balancing), AWS Shield is the logical choice.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
“If you're on AWS: AWS Shield Advanced (free Standard tier + paid for advanced). Seamless integration but best if heavily cloud-native.” Grok 4.1 Fast · paraphrase prompt · alternative
What the models said about Imperva DDoS Protection
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Custom (high) | Enterprise-focused sales model” DeepSeek V4 Flash · budget prompt · hard negative
“Imperva (strong L7 + network protection)—great if you need custom SLAs, but pricier and more complex for mid-sized setups.” Grok 4.1 Fast · paraphrase prompt · soft negative
“though pricing is likely higher than the options above” GLM 4.7 FlashX · budget prompt · soft negative
“Cloudflare or Imperva Incapsula are the most frequently cited cost-effective starting points” Muse Glimmer 30B · direct prompt · first choice
“Offers a powerful Data Security Platform. It is slightly more complex to configure than Cloudflare but offers granular control” Qwen 3.7 Flash · direct prompt · alternative
“Imperva, Radware, NETSCOUT Arbor Cloud, and F5 Silverline are often selected when organizations want hybrid architectures” Perplexity Sonar · comparative prompt · alternative
Also compared
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.