Akamai Global Traffic Management vs Azure Traffic Manager

Akamai Global Traffic Management9.3Visit Azure Traffic Manager8.8Visit

Higher score Akamai Global Traffic Management #1 in GeoDNS Services 9.3/10 Pricing on request · 30-day trial Free trial✓ 0 of 4 features Visit Akamai

vs

Azure Traffic Manager #6 in GeoDNS Services 8.8/10 Paid ✓ 0 of 4 features Visit Microsoft

• Akamai Global Traffic Management fits best

  Enterprises needing advanced global traffic steering

• Azure Traffic Manager fits best

  Azure users routing across Azure and external endpoints

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Side by side

Feature	Akamai Global Traffic Management 9.3/10 Visit ↗	Azure Traffic Manager 8.8/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.3	8.8
Ranking	#1 in GeoDNS Services	#6 in GeoDNS Services
Best for	Enterprises needing advanced global traffic steering	Azure users routing across Azure and external endpoints
Pricing model	Paid	Paid
Starting price	Pricing on request · 30-day trial	Not checked yet
Free plan	—	—
Free trial	30 days	—
Deployment	Cloud	Cloud
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Email, Phone, Tickets, Community · 24/7	Docs
Built for	Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Akamai Global Traffic Management 0/4 · Azure Traffic Manager 0/4
Health checks	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Failover routing	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
DNSSEC support	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Query logging	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Specs
Routing methods	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Health-check regions	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Steering rules	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Routes by geography, CIDR, ASN, IP headers, weight, and performance. Uses active health checks and real-time load feedback for routing decisions. Supports API, Akamai CLI, and Terraform automation.	Offers geographic, subnet, latency, weighted, priority, and multivalue routing. Monitors endpoint health and directs new DNS-resolved connections away from failures. Supports Azure, external, and nested endpoints with HTTP, HTTPS, and TCP probes.
Cons	Pricing requires contacting sales. Traffic steering depends on DNS answers and records. Designed for multi-region and multi-cloud needs, not simple DNS hosting.	Operates at the DNS layer rather than proxying application traffic. Usage-based pricing spans queries, monitored endpoints, add-ons, and optional features. Documentation is the listed support channel.
Our verdict	For organizations running applications across data centers, cloud providers, or regions, Akamai Global Traffic Management provides DNS-based global server load balancing. It selects endpoints in response to DNS queries using geographic,… Read the review →	Azure Traffic Manager is a cloud DNS-based traffic load balancer for globally distributed applications and hybrid deployments. It routes DNS-resolved requests among public-facing endpoints in Azure or outside Azure, and is suited to teams… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Akamai Global Traffic Management — where it wins

  • Routes by geography, CIDR, ASN, IP headers, weight, and performance.
  • Uses active health checks and real-time load feedback for routing decisions.
  • Supports API, Akamai CLI, and Terraform automation.

  Where it doesn't

  • Pricing requires contacting sales.
  • Traffic steering depends on DNS answers and records.
  • Designed for multi-region and multi-cloud needs, not simple DNS hosting.

• Azure Traffic Manager — where it wins

  • Offers geographic, subnet, latency, weighted, priority, and multivalue routing.
  • Monitors endpoint health and directs new DNS-resolved connections away from failures.
  • Supports Azure, external, and nested endpoints with HTTP, HTTPS, and TCP probes.

  Where it doesn't

  • Operates at the DNS layer rather than proxying application traffic.
  • Usage-based pricing spans queries, monitored endpoints, add-ons, and optional features.
  • Documentation is the listed support channel.

• Akamai Global Traffic Management9.3/10 · Pricing on request · 30-day trial

  Advanced DNS traffic steering for applications spanning regions, data centers, and clouds.

  Visit AkamaiFull verdict →
• Azure Traffic Manager8.8/10 · Paid

  A flexible DNS routing service for directing traffic across Azure and external endpoints.

  Visit MicrosoftFull verdict →