# AWS Shield vs Radware Cloud DDoS Protection: which do AI models recommend for ddos, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, DDoS protection. Two of fourteen models named AWS Shield first on the direct prompt; zero named Radware Cloud DDoS Protection. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/network/ddos-protection/aws-shield-vs-radware-cloud-ddos-protection/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Shield | 4% | #2 of 9 | 11% | 62 | 14 of 14 |
| Radware Cloud DDoS Protection | 2% | #4 of 9 | 6% | 33 | 14 of 14 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- Mistral Small: aws shield first (first choices: AWS Shield, Cloudflare) (alternatives: Nexusguard, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: aws shield first (first choices: AWS Shield, Cloudflare) (alternatives: Imperva DDoS Protection, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: Imperva DDoS Protection, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection, Vercara)
- GPT-5.4 mini: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare Business or Cloudflare Contract) (alternatives: AWS Shield)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: AWS Shield, Fastly DDoS Protection, Imperva DDoS Protection)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: AWS Shield, Akamai Kona Site Defender, Imperva DDoS Protection, Radware DefensePro)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: AWS Shield, Azure DDoS Protection, Imperva DDoS Protection)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic)
- MiniMax M2.5: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare Magic Transit) (alternatives: AWS Shield, Imperva DDoS Protection, Radware Cloud DDoS Protection)
- GPT-6 Luna: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: AWS Shield, Akamai Prolexic, Magic Transit)
- Muse Glimmer 30B: neither first, one named (first choices: Cloudflare, Imperva DDoS Protection, Imperva Incapsula) (alternatives: Radware Cloud DDoS Protection)
- Perplexity Sonar: neither named (first choices: LevelBlue) (alternatives: Cloudflare, Imperva DDoS Protection)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither named
- Kimi K2: neither named (first choices: Cloudflare) (alternatives: Imperva DDoS Protection)

## What the models said about AWS Shield

- "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 Radware Cloud DDoS Protection

- "Middle-tier pricing but still steep for SMBs" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt, hard negative)
- "typically less budget-friendly" (GPT-5.4 mini, budget prompt, soft negative)
- "Cloudflare and Radware are frequently mentioned as top choices due to their comprehensive services and scalability" (Llama 4 Maverick, paraphrase prompt, first choice)
- "Radware is highlighted for hybrid precision, sub-second inline mitigation... but it may require more tuning and expertise." (Perplexity Sonar, paraphrase prompt, alternative)
- "Radware offers advanced behavioral detection and hybrid deployment, suitable for organizations with complex architectures." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, comparative prompt, alternative)

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. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.