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Akamai vs Restate

Akamai logo

Akamai

Cloud

Leading content delivery and security platform

From
$1000/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Restate logo

Restate

Developer Tools

Durable execution engine in Rust with a free tier and low-latency workflows

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Restate has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Akamai no public pricing available; custom quotes required; Restate the runtime is under a Business Source Licence rather than an open source licence, so building a competing managed offering on it is prohibited and some procurement functions will reject it on licence grounds alone.
  • They diverge on capability: Akamai covers CDN, Restate covers Durable execution.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Akamai and Restate actually diverge.

Attributes where Akamai and Restate differ
AttributeAkamaiRestate
Starting price$1000/monthFree
Pricing modelquotePer month by durable action count
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, ApiLinux, macOS, Web
CategoryCloudDeveloper Tools
Founded1998Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Restate

  • Durable execution
  • Virtual objects
  • Single binary runtime
  • Multi-language SDKs
  • Workflows and sagas
  • Restate Cloud

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 Restate
  • DDoS protection, bot management and API securitynot Restate
  • Running compute, Kubernetes and managed databases on Akamai's cloudnot Restate
  • Edge compute with EdgeWorkersnot Restate
  • Zero trust access for enterprise applicationsnot Restate

Restate

  • Payment or order flows where a crash between two external API calls must not double-charge or lose the ordernot Akamai
  • AI agent loops that call tools over minutes or hours and must survive a deployment mid-runnot Akamai
  • Replacing hand-rolled retry, idempotency key and outbox code across a set of microservicesnot Akamai
  • A small team that wants durable workflows without operating a Temporal cluster and its databasenot 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

Restate

  • The runtime is under a Business Source Licence rather than an open source licence, so building a competing managed offering on it is prohibited and some procurement functions will reject it on licence grounds alone.
  • Restate Cloud jumps from a free fifty thousand actions straight to 300 US dollars a month for twenty million, so a workload sitting at a few hundred thousand actions pays enterprise-shaped money for hobby-shaped volume.
  • It is a young project against Temporal’s established base, so hiring engineers who already know it is unrealistic and the answer to most questions is in the docs rather than on Stack Overflow.
  • The programming model requires structuring code around durable handlers and virtual objects, which is a genuine rewrite for existing services rather than a library you add.
  • The single-binary simplicity that makes small deployments cheap also means fewer operational knobs at very large scale than a system designed as separable components.

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

Restate

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Fifty thousand durable actions per month
    • No credit card required
    • Community support
  • Starter$300/month
    • Twenty million actions per month
    • Two hundred actions per second, bursting to one thousand
    • Twenty GB storage
  • Pro$1000/month
    • Fifty million actions per month
    • Five hundred actions per second, bursting to two thousand
    • Fifty GB storage
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Negotiated volume
    • Twenty-four seven P0 support
    • 99.99 per cent SLA

Which should you pick?

Choose Akamai if

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

Choose Restate if

  • You need durable execution.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Web.
  • You also want virtual objects.
Restate review

Questions people ask

Is Akamai or Restate better?
Neither clearly leads. Akamai starts at $1000/month and Restate at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Akamai or Restate?
Restate has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $1000/month for Akamai and Free for Restate.
Does Akamai or Restate run on more platforms?
Akamai runs on Web, Api. Restate runs on Linux, macOS, Web.
Can I use Restate for free?
Yes. Restate has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Akamai starts at $1000/month.
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 Restate is typically brought in for.
What can Akamai do that Restate cannot?
Akamai covers CDN, DDoS Protection, Web Application Firewall, Bot Management. Restate covers Durable execution, Virtual objects, Single binary runtime, Multi-language SDKs.

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
Restate: Is Restate open source?

The SDKs are MIT. The runtime is under a Business Source Licence, which permits self-hosting but not offering it as a competing service.

Akamai: Does Akamai offer a free trial?

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

Source
Restate: How does it compare with Temporal?

Same problem, different shape: one Rust binary with embedded storage instead of a server plus database plus workers, and lower per-step latency.

Restate: Is there a free tier?

Yes, fifty thousand durable actions a month on Restate Cloud with no card required.

Restate: Which languages are supported?

TypeScript, Java, Kotlin, Go, Python and Rust.

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