The Science of Acceleration
Akamai is the enterprise media default. NetDNA is smaller, SSD-only in 2013, with a simpler zone model and published GB pricing. Choose Akamai for huge live sports; choose NetDNA for platform CDN and self-serve APIs.
NetDNA advantages for this comparison
- Dedicated pull, push, VOD and live zones rather than a single proxy.
- EdgeCaching for Platforms and CDNManager if you resell CDN.
- EdgeSSL, EdgeRules, EdgeSecurity and EdgeReporting as named products.
- REST API with OAuth, PHP/Ruby/Python/Perl SDKs and CMS plugins.
- Published 2013 bandwidth table starting at $800/month.
When Akamai is the better default
Stay on Akamai if your team already operates that stack, your contract is locked, or you need a feature NetDNA did not ship in 2013 (for example Cloudflare Workers or CloudFront Functions). NetDNA is the better fit when you want a CDN, not a full edge compute platform.
Next: read the full comparison hub, EdgeCaching, or request a quote.
Network and contract
Akamai in 2013 was the default for live sports and huge media libraries. NetDNA published an SSD-only edge, Anycast DNS, and a GB table starting at $800/month. You do not need a master services agreement to open a pull zone.
Feature map
| NetDNA | Akamai | |
|---|---|---|
| Zones | Pull, push, VOD, live | Property / configuration units |
| Rules | EdgeRules | Metadata / XML config |
| SSL | EdgeSSL | SureRoute / customer certs |
| API | OAuth REST | OPEN / Luna APIs |
| Resale | EdgeCaching for Platforms, CDNManager | Custom |
Choose Akamai when the RFP names them. Choose NetDNA when a host or SaaS needs to provision thousands of short-lived zones through an API, as ZippyKid did.