Is Akamai or Portworx better?

Neither clearly leads. Akamai starts at $1000/month and Portworx at $0.33/node hour, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Akamai or Portworx?

Akamai starts at $1000/month and Portworx at $0.33/node hour.

Does Akamai or Portworx run on more platforms?

Akamai runs on Web, Api. Portworx runs on Linux.

What is Akamai best used for?

Akamai is most often used for content delivery and web performance through ion and adaptive media delivery, ddos protection, bot management and api security, running compute, kubernetes and managed databases on akamai's cloud, edge compute with edgeworkers. Of those, content delivery and web performance through ion and adaptive media delivery and ddos protection, bot management and api security are not what Portworx is typically brought in for.

What can Akamai do that Portworx cannot?

Akamai covers CDN, DDoS Protection, Web Application Firewall, Bot Management. Portworx covers Container-native volumes, Failure domain placement, Volume encryption, Database automation.

Cloud · head to head

Akamai vs Portworx

Akamai

Cloud

Leading content delivery and security platform

From: $1000/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Portworx

Cloud

Kubernetes-native storage and data services, priced by the node hour

From: $0.33/node hour
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Akamai no public pricing available; custom quotes required; Portworx bare metal nodes are charged at 1.11 USD per node hour against 0.33 for virtual nodes, so a bare metal cluster costs more than three times a virtualised one for identical capability.
They diverge on capability: Akamai covers CDN, Portworx covers Container-native volumes.
Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Akamai and Portworx actually diverge.

Attributes where Akamai and Portworx differ
Attribute	Akamai	Portworx
Starting price	$1000/month	$0.33/node hour
Pricing model	quote	Per node hour
Platforms	Web, Api	Linux
Founded	1998	Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Akamai

CDN
DDoS Protection
Web Application Firewall
Bot Management
Image Optimization
Video Platform
API Gateway
Analytics

Only in Portworx

Container-native volumes
Failure domain placement
Volume encryption
Database automation
Disaster recovery
Autopilot capacity management
Hardware independence

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Akamai

Content delivery and web performance through Ion and adaptive media deliverynot Portworx
DDoS protection, bot management and API securitynot Portworx
Running compute, Kubernetes and managed databases on Akamai's cloudnot Portworx
Edge compute with EdgeWorkersnot Portworx
Zero trust access for enterprise applicationsnot Portworx

Portworx

Running a production PostgreSQL or Cassandra cluster on Kubernetes and needing the data to survive node lossnot Akamai
A platform team offering self-service databases to developers on an internal Kubernetes platformnot Akamai
Failing over stateful applications between clusters in different regions as a disaster recovery positionnot Akamai
An OpenShift estate where the built-in storage option does not meet the availability requirement for stateful setsnot Akamai

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Akamai

No public pricing available; custom quotes required
Sales-focused pricing model

Portworx

Bare metal nodes are charged at 1.11 USD per node hour against 0.33 for virtual nodes, so a bare metal cluster costs more than three times a virtualised one for identical capability.
A 1,000 node hour monthly minimum applies, which means small or intermittent clusters pay for capacity they do not consume.
Replicating volumes across nodes consumes real capacity and network bandwidth, so the underlying infrastructure cost rises alongside the licence in a way the node hour rate does not show.
Pure Storage ownership means roadmap priorities are set by an array vendor, and buyers should confirm that hardware independence remains contractual rather than assumed.
Operating it well requires Kubernetes storage expertise, and teams that adopted Kubernetes to simplify operations often find they have added a distributed storage system to run.

Pricing, plan by plan

Akamai

$1000/month

CDN$1000/month
- Content delivery
- Global edge network
- Real-time analytics
Security Suite$2000/month
- DDoS protection
- WAF
- Bot management

Portworx

$0.33/node hour

Portworx Enterprise on virtual machine nodes$0.33/node hour
- Minimum 1,000 node hours per month
- Replicated persistent volumes
- Encryption and disaster recovery
Portworx Enterprise on bare metal nodes$1.11/node hour
- Minimum 1,000 node hours per month
- Same capabilities on bare metal clusters
- Higher rate reflects node density

Which should you pick?

Choose Akamai if

You need cdn.
You work on Web, Api.
You also want ddos protection.

Akamai review

Choose Portworx if

You need container-native volumes.
You work on Linux.
You also want failure domain placement.

Portworx review

Questions people ask

Is Akamai or Portworx better?: Neither clearly leads. Akamai starts at $1000/month and Portworx at $0.33/node hour, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Akamai or Portworx?: Akamai starts at $1000/month and Portworx at $0.33/node hour.
Does Akamai or Portworx run on more platforms?: Akamai runs on Web, Api. Portworx runs on Linux.
What is Akamai best used for?: Akamai is most often used for content delivery and web performance through ion and adaptive media delivery, ddos protection, bot management and api security, running compute, kubernetes and managed databases on akamai's cloud, edge compute with edgeworkers. Of those, content delivery and web performance through ion and adaptive media delivery and ddos protection, bot management and api security are not what Portworx is typically brought in for.
What can Akamai do that Portworx cannot?: Akamai covers CDN, DDoS Protection, Web Application Firewall, Bot Management. Portworx covers Container-native volumes, Failure domain placement, Volume encryption, Database automation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Akamai: How is Akamai pricing structured?

Akamai emphasizes straightforward pricing with no hidden fees, no egress surprises, and no vendor lock-in, but specific pricing is not published. Regional pricing pages exist for North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, and other areas, with customers directed to contact sales.

Source

Portworx: Is Portworx tied to Pure Storage hardware?

No. It runs on any Kubernetes distribution over any underlying storage, though Pure has owned it since 2020 and sets the roadmap.

Akamai: Does Akamai offer a free trial?

Akamai offers a promotional trial with $100 in credits for Akamai Cloud, though conditions apply.

Source

Portworx: What does a real cluster cost?

At 0.33 USD per virtual node hour, twenty nodes running continuously is roughly 4,800 USD a month. Bare metal at 1.11 USD per node hour is around 16,000 USD for the same node count.

Portworx: Is backup included?

No. Portworx Backup is a separately priced product covering Kubernetes application backup.

Akamai vs Portworx

Akamai

Portworx

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Akamai

Only in Portworx

What people use each for

Akamai

Portworx

Where each one falls short

Akamai

Portworx

Pricing, plan by plan

Akamai

Portworx

Which should you pick?

Choose Akamai if

Choose Portworx if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Akamai

More on Portworx

Keep looking

Other head to heads