DataDome vs Kong Gateway WAF

DataDome

Model: Tiered (by request volume per month)

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Kong Gateway WAF

Model: Tiered (Plus per-gateway + Enterprise custom)

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DataDome

• Multi-Layered AI Detection

  Combines client-side and server-side signal analysis across thousands of AI models to detect bot intent in real time. Processes both browser fingerprinting and behavioral signals for 99.99% detection accuracy.

• Agent Trust Management

  Identifies and classifies AI agent traffic including LLM crawlers, agentic AI, and MCP clients. Set per-agent policies to allow, block, challenge, or monetize AI traffic across all protected endpoints.

• Account Protect

  Prevents account takeover (ATO), credential stuffing, and fake account creation by analyzing login and registration flows for automated behavior. Customers report 99% reduction in ATO fraud.

• L7 DDoS Protection

  Detects and blocks application-layer DDoS attacks that bypass CDN-level protection. Real-time detection with auto-scaling to 200x average traffic in under one minute.

• AI Crawler Monetization

  Grants controlled access to trusted AI crawlers while blocking unauthorized scrapers. Create rules, define partnerships, and manage AI access to turn crawler traffic into a revenue stream.

• MCP Server Protection

  Secures Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers from agentic threats. Real-time detection and automated blocking protects AI infrastructure while allowing trusted agent interactions.

• Real-Time Dashboard

  Award-winning interface providing instant visibility into threat landscape, traffic composition (human vs bot vs AI), actions taken, and automated reporting. Drill into individual threats and sessions.

• Vulnerability Scanner

  Free tool to assess domain defenses and uncover subdomains exposed to malicious bots and untrusted AI agents. Available without purchase at datadome.co.

• DataDome Intel

  Publicly accessible threat intelligence database powered by 5 trillion daily signals. Covers bots, crawlers, AI agents, CAPTCHA solvers, headless browsers, anti-detect tools, and web unblockers.

Kong Gateway WAF

• Gateway-Embedded WAF

  WAF runs as a plugin inside the Kong Gateway process, inspecting API traffic at the same layer where routing, authentication, and rate limiting occur. No separate WAF appliance or additional proxy hop needed.

• OWASP Top 10 Protection

  Built-in protection against common web application attacks including SQL injection, cross-site scripting, command injection, and path traversal at the API gateway layer.

• Plugin Ecosystem

  Over 100 plugins for security, traffic control, authentication, and observability. WAF works alongside bot detection, IP restriction, CORS, ACL, and rate limiting plugins in a configurable execution chain.

• Third-Party WAF Integrations

  Open plugin architecture supports third-party WAF engines including open-appsec (ML-driven detection) and Wallarm (API security). Teams can choose the WAF engine that fits their threat model.

• Kubernetes-Native Deployment

  Kong Ingress Controller and Kong Kubernetes Operator provide native Kubernetes integration. WAF policies can be managed declaratively through Kubernetes CRDs alongside gateway configuration.

• Hybrid Mode

  Cloud-managed control plane with self-hosted data planes. WAF policies are centrally managed and distributed to data planes running in any environment, including air-gapped networks.

• AI Gateway

  Dedicated AI gateway capabilities including LLM proxy, token-based rate limiting, semantic caching, PII sanitization, prompt guardrails, and MCP server proxy. WAF protects AI endpoints alongside traditional APIs.

• Declarative Configuration

  Gateway and WAF configuration can be managed as code through declarative YAML/JSON, enabling GitOps workflows and CI/CD pipeline integration for security policy changes.

• Advanced Rate Limiting

  Enterprise-grade rate limiting with sliding window counters, consumer groups, and cluster-wide synchronization. Works in conjunction with WAF to prevent both application-layer attacks and abuse.