Every category where a model named Cloudflare API Shield for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.

Category	Function	Share	Rank	Negative rate	Labels	Quadrant	Since September 2026
API security platforms	Security operations	2%	11 of 93	20%	20	accepted challenger
API gateways	Developer platform	0%	37 of 66	0%	1	under 10 labels · led by Kong Gateway at 53%

Movement

This is the first edition on this tier, so no move can be computed for Cloudflare API Shield yet. From the next edition this section shows, per buyer segment and per category, whether its share moved by more than the measured noise floor.

By model

How each model treated Cloudflare API Shield across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.

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Model	First choice	Alternative	Mention	Negative	Labels
Claude Haiku 4.5	0	1	0	0	1
GPT-5.4 mini	0	0	1	0	1
Gemini 3.5 Flash	0	1	0	1	2
Perplexity Sonar	0	0	1	0	1
Grok 4.1 Fast	1	1	0	1	3
Mistral Small	0	0	0	0	0
DeepSeek V4 Flash	0	2	1	0	3
Llama 4 Maverick	0	0	0	0	0
Qwen 3.7 Flash	0	1	0	1	2
Kimi K2	0	1	1	0	2
GLM 4.7 FlashX	0	1	0	0	1
MiniMax M2.5	0	1	1	1	3
GPT-6 Luna	0	1	1	0	2
Muse Glimmer 30B	0	0	0	0	0

By framing

Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.

FramingLabels by classFirst choices

Direct11 labelsNone

Paraphrase8 labels4

Comparative15 labelsNone

Budget-constrained11 labels1

Scale-constrained9 labels1

Negative8 labels1not counted in share

First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative62 labels in all, every segment counted; 6 of the 7 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.

What the models said for it

Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.

“For a mid-sized B2B company, I'd recommend Cloudflare API Shield (part of their broader API protection suite).” Grok 4.1 Fast · API security · paraphrase prompt · first choice

“Choose Cloudflare if you need a quick, cost-effective solution to protect the entry point of your application” GLM 4.7 FlashX · API security · comparative prompt · alternative

“If you are already using Cloudflare for DNS or CDN, adding API Shield is a no-brainer.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · API security · paraphrase prompt · alternative

“Affordable entry-level pricing - Includes API gateway, rate limiting, DDoS protection” MiniMax M2.5 · API security · direct prompt · alternative

And against it

Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.

“If you use cloud-delivery platforms (like Cloudflare, Fastly, or Akamai) on their basic, entry-level, or pro tiers, do not assume your APIs are safe.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · API security · negative prompt · soft negative

“Some platforms (like Cloudflare and Salt) use volumetric licensing - This can lead to unexpected cost spikes as API traffic grows” MiniMax M2.5 · API security · negative prompt · soft negative

“user reviews frequently cite a steep learning curve and complex interface” Qwen 3.7 Flash · API security · negative prompt · soft negative

“often bundle API security but aren't purely API-centric” Grok 4.1 Fast · API security · comparative prompt · soft negative

Named alongside

The products named in the same answers as Cloudflare API Shield, over the 62 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Cloudflare API Shield was named but was not.

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ProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head

Akamai API Security35 of 626Not among the top eight

Salt Security32 of 628Not among the top eight

Imperva API Security23 of 620Not among the top eight

42Crunch22 of 625Not among the top eight

Wallarm API Security22 of 623Not among the top eight

StackHawk15 of 623Not among the top eight

Traceable AI14 of 622Not among the top eight

Postman13 of 622Not among the top eight

Kong Gateway13 of 621Not among the top eight

OWASP ZAP12 of 624Not among the top eight

A head-to-head page exists where both products are among a category's top eight. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.

What carried it into the answer

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Cloudflare API Shield. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, five of the fourteen in this edition, so these counts come from 58 of the 62 answers that named Cloudflare API Shield and are not a share of its labels.

Domains cited

learn.g2.com35

radware.com33

indusface.com25

akamai.com24

beaglesecurity.com22

g2.com22

zuplo.com22

getastra.com18

expertinsights.com14

axis-intelligence.com13

228 of the 228 domain citations in answers naming Cloudflare API Shield came from somebody else's page.

Pages cited

learn.g2.com/best-api-security-tools35

radware.com/cyberpedia/application-security/choosing-api-security-solutions24

radware.com/cyberpedia/application-security/api-security-platforms20

zuplo.com/learning-center/best-api-security-tools-202620

indusface.com/blog/best-api-security-tools18

akamai.com/products/api-security16

beaglesecurity.com/blog/article/best-api-security-solutions-enterprises.html14

expertinsights.com/application-security/the-top-api-security-tools14

Pages are listed as the models cited them.

Search and answers

Where Cloudflare API Shield stands in Google search beside where it stands in the models' answers.

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In search

Google, US estimates

Searches for its name, Google: 260 a month (“cloudflare api shield”)
AI search demand for its name, est.: 8 a month
Its own site: It sits on Cloudflare's site (cloudflare.com), so there are no site figures for it alone

In answers

This edition

Share of first choices

rank 11 of 93 in API security

Segment leader

12%

Aikido Security

First choices: 6 across its categories
Named in: 62 answers
Its own site cited: in 58 of the answers that named it

Search figures are US estimates from DataForSEO, read October 5, 2026; AI search demand is its modeled, directional estimate, not a count of queries to any assistant. The answers are this edition's. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.

Names read as Cloudflare API Shield

What the judge wrote, as written, with how often. The vendor table decides that these count as Cloudflare API Shield; a claim can dispute any of them.

Cloudflare 12Cloudflare (API Shield) 2Cloudflare (Application Security & Performance / API Shield) 1

Follow Cloudflare API Shield

An email the morning each edition publishes: where this product moved, where it held, and by how much against the noise floor. One address, confirmed by a click; a stop link in every email.

Already following? Everything you follow, with a stop for each.

The company

Cloudflare is the company behind Cloudflare API Shield.

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On record

Company records

Also from Cloudflare: Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 for Families, Cloudflare AI Gateway, Cloudflare API Gateway, Cloudflare API Security, Cloudflare Access, Cloudflare Access / Cloudflare One, Cloudflare Access / Cloudflare Zero Trust, Cloudflare Application Security and 41 more

In its own words

Stated by the vendor, not checked

Positioning: Identify and address API vulnerabilities with discovery, schema validation, and abuse detection.
developers.cloudflare.com/api-shield
For: Enterprise customers
developers.cloudflare.com/api-shield
Price stated: Enterprise-only paid add-on developers.cloudflare.com/api-shield
Free plan or trial: Enterprise customers can preview this product as a non-contract service, which provides full access, free of metered usage fees, limits, and certain other restrictions. developers.cloudflare.com/api-shield
Customers named: Discord
Not stated on the pages read: Starting price, integrations, certifications, hosting

What Cloudflare API Shield's own pages state, read October 5, 2026: developers.cloudflare.com/api-shield, blog.cloudflare.com/introducing-api-shield, blog.cloudflare.com/api-management-metrics, blog.cloudflare.com/tag/api-shield, cloudflare.com/products/api-shield. A claimed page can correct any of them.

Is this your product?

Claim this page

Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when Cloudflare API Shield's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as Cloudflare API Shield, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.

What a new claim receivesHide what a new claim receives

A new claim receives the current edition's vendor brief for Cloudflare API Shield by email, built from the raw record of the edition. It shows:

where Cloudflare API Shield is named, by buyer and by framing, and which cells hold its first choices;
the claims the models make when they name it, ranked, with the strongest and the weakest quoted;
its vocabulary against the segment leader's, and the pages the models cited;
who was chosen in the answers that did not name Cloudflare API Shield, and every reason the record gives;
a battlecard for each top rival: the head-to-head split, why they win, and the reservation quoted against them;
one page of published figures cleared to show a buyer.