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Akamai Recognized as a Customers’ Choice in the 2026 Gartner® Peer Insights™ Voice of the Customer for Edge Distribution Platforms

Pavel Despot

Jul 21, 2026

Pavel Despot

Pavel Despot

Written by

Pavel Despot

Pavel Despot has more than 20 years of experience designing and deploying critical, large-scale solutions for global carriers and Fortune 500 companies around the world. He is currently the Senior Product Marketing for Cloud Computing Services at Akamai. In his previous role as Principal Cloud Solutions Engineer, he led application modernization and security initiatives for Akamai’s largest SaaS clients. Before joining Akamai, Pavel held various leadership roles on standards bodies, including the CTIA Wireless Internet Caucus (WIC), the CDMA Developers Group (CDG), and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). He has two patents in mobile network design, and currently resides in the Boston area.

 

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Key takeaways

  • Enterprise users named Akamai a 2026 Gartner® Peer Insights™ Customers’ Choice for Edge Distribution Platforms, an honor based entirely on verified user feedback rather than analyst opinions.
  • Akamai earned an overall rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars, with 91% of reviewers stating they would recommend the platform to others.
  • Customers highlight how the platform makes it easy to run complex workloads closer to users and praise its ability to absorb massive traffic spikes without any downtime.
  • Integrated security tools, including bot mitigation and API protection, help businesses defend their systems and safely scale AI applications.

Enterprise users have selected Akamai as a 2026 Customers’ Choice in the Gartner Peer Insights Voice of the Customer for Edge Distribution Platforms.

Edge Distribution Platforms (EDPs) are a new category of highly distributed, edge-based infrastructure that integrates network, security, and cloud delivery. EDPs combine edge compute, storage, web applications, perimeter security, content and API acceleration, and the infrastructure required to run AI applications near users. Akamai has supported and advanced this category since its inception. 

In this first Voice of the Customer, our customers recognized our shared progress.

What “Customers’ Choice” actually means for us

The Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice recognizes vendors in this market based on reviews from verified end-user professionals. The Customers’ Choice distinction takes into account both the number of reviews and the overall user ratings. To ensure fair evaluation, Gartner maintains rigorous criteria for recognizing vendors with a high customer satisfaction rate.

We truly feel this recognition is especially meaningful because it comes directly from those who deploy, operate, and rely on our platform.

The numbers behind the recognition

Over the evaluation period, Akamai garnered 85 published reviews. Highlights include:

  • An overall rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars
  • A 91% Willingness to Recommend
  • 71% of reviewers awarded a perfect 5-star rating

Reviewers rated Akamai highly across the entire deployment lifecycle, including Product Capabilities (4.7/5) and Deployment Experience (4.7/5). This indicates the platform performs consistently from proof of concept through ongoing production.

Why we believe this recognition matters now

In our opinion, this recognition is timely as enterprises accelerate edge native application deployments and scale AI inference closer to users, requiring supporting infrastructure to evolve. Customer reviews reflect current EDP market trends and highlight four recurring themes. 

  1. Generalized edge compute and developer freedom
  2. Uncompromising reliability at scale
  3. Perimeter security for the AI and agentic web
  4. A robust, enterprise-grade global platform

Generalized edge compute and developer freedom

Modern teams require the ability to deploy complex workloads at the edge, closer to users, without rebuilding their technology stacks. Reviewers highlight the platform’s range, from traditional infrastructure as a service (IaaS) to serverless edge tools, and its automation features that accelerate time to value and reduce production challenges.

“Load testing, CDN configuration copy to other environments is a phenomenal feature that helps reduce time to customer.”

Engineer, Education (North America)

Uncompromising reliability at scale

As global traffic and peak demand increase, resilience becomes critical. Customers describe Akamai’s distributed network as a shock absorber that protects upstream infrastructure during launches, traffic surges, and attacks.

“From day 1, we’ve been able to fully trust Akamai to absorb any traffic spikes we experience. For huge launches, events, or even DDoS attacks, we’ve never experienced any impact upstream.”

Software Developer, Media (Europe, Middle East, and Africa)

Perimeter security for the AI and agentic web

Reviewers credit Akamai’s integrated security, including web application and API protection (WAAP), bot mitigation, and threat intelligence, for enabling rapid adaptation to emerging attack patterns and strengthening security as the volume of automated bots and AI agents increases. In fact, Akamai has been recognized as a Customers’ Choice for Cloud WAAP for six consecutive years.

“The service is highly responsive and adapts quickly to emerging attack patterns. Akamai consistently operates effectively and reliably, delivering strong security outcomes without the unnecessary marketing fanfare.”

VP, Engineering, Finance (North America)

A robust, enterprise-grade global platform

Beyond specific technical capabilities, customers value the inherent stability of a platform built for massive global scale. Reviewers frequently highlight the confidence that comes with enterprise-grade infrastructure that delivers consistent performance and resilience, regardless of traffic volume or the complexity of the digital initiative.

“It is a robust, enterprise-grade platform with a massive global reach that delivers exactly what it promises: unmatched reliability and resilience during peak traffic periods.”

IT Manager, IT Services

To read more customer feedback, visit Gartner Peer Insights.

Thank you to our customers

We are grateful to our customers for this recognition. Thank you to everyone who shared a review on Gartner Peer Insights for your trust and partnership in powering and protecting life online. If you would like to share your Akamai experience, please add your feedback on Gartner Peer Insights.

Discover how Akamai Cloud can benefit your business

Learn more about the distributed cloud and edge platform that customers trust to deploy, scale, and secure modern applications.

Gartner and Peer Insights are trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. The Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice badge is a trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner Peer Insights content consists of the opinions of individual end users based on their own experiences, and should not be construed as statements of fact, nor do they represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in this content nor makes any warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this content, about its accuracy or completeness, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Reviews have been edited to account for errors and readability.

Gartner, Voice of the Customer for Edge Distribution Platforms, Peer Community Contributor, June 30, 2026

Pavel Despot

Jul 21, 2026

Pavel Despot

Pavel Despot

Written by

Pavel Despot

Pavel Despot has more than 20 years of experience designing and deploying critical, large-scale solutions for global carriers and Fortune 500 companies around the world. He is currently the Senior Product Marketing for Cloud Computing Services at Akamai. In his previous role as Principal Cloud Solutions Engineer, he led application modernization and security initiatives for Akamai’s largest SaaS clients. Before joining Akamai, Pavel held various leadership roles on standards bodies, including the CTIA Wireless Internet Caucus (WIC), the CDMA Developers Group (CDG), and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). He has two patents in mobile network design, and currently resides in the Boston area.

 

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