Buyer Guide · DDoS Architecture

NeuroWall vs Cloudflare, AWS Shield,
Akamai, Radware & Imperva

Choosing DDoS protection is not only about who has the largest network. The decisive question is often where the attack is stopped: upstream in a global scrubbing network, inside a public cloud, or directly at your own network edge.

The Big Distinction

Cloud scrubbing and inline protection solve
overlapping — but different — problems.

Global Cloud Protection

Cloudflare Magic Transit, Akamai Prolexic and Imperva can absorb traffic upstream before it consumes your own circuit capacity.

Inline Edge Protection

NeuroWall and products such as Radware DefensePro can enforce DDoS policy inside infrastructure controlled by the network operator.

An inline firewall cannot create bandwidth. If a 100 Gbps attack reaches a 10 Gbps circuit, the upstream link is already the bottleneck.
Quick Comparison

Architecture at a glance.

CapabilityNeuroWallCloudflare Magic TransitAWS ShieldAkamai ProlexicRadware DefenseProImperva
Primary modelInline / edgeCloud networkAWS integratedCloud scrubbingInline / hybridCloud scrubbing
Customer-controlled inline deploymentYesNoNoAvailable optionsYesNo
Global volumetric absorptionLimited by upstream capacityYesYes within AWSYesHybrid/cloudYes
ISP / datacenter fitYesYesAWS-centricYesYesYes
Common L3/L4 flood coverageYesYesYesYesYesYes
Public entry pricingPublishedQuoteStandard included; Advanced publishedQuoteQuoteQuote
Vendor Context

What each product is fundamentally selling.

NeuroWall

Linux-native inline DDoS and firewall enforcement at the network edge, suited to ISPs, datacenters, hosting and self-operated infrastructure.

Cloudflare Magic Transit

BGP-routed protection through Cloudflare's global network, designed to protect whole IP networks upstream.

AWS Shield

DDoS protection integrated with supported AWS resources. Shield Standard is built in; Shield Advanced adds enhanced services.

Akamai Prolexic

Large-scale DDoS scrubbing with cloud, on-premises and hybrid options for high-risk enterprise networks.

Radware DefensePro

Dedicated inline and hybrid mitigation, making it one of the closest architectural comparisons to NeuroWall.

Imperva

Cloud-based network DDoS scrubbing for organizations wanting large upstream mitigation capacity.

Hybrid Strategy

For ISPs and datacenters,
“both” can be the right architecture.

Internet → upstream scrubbing → ISP/datacenter → NeuroWall → customer networks

Upstream protection handles attacks capable of saturating transit. Inline protection handles local network and customer-level attacks that remain within available capacity.

Buyer Checklist

Ask these questions before
choosing a platform.

Get started

Compare architecture before comparing logos.

Use this guide together with the TCO page to decide whether your environment needs upstream scrubbing, inline protection, or a hybrid of both.