Head-to-head
DataDome vs Kasada
In short
DataDome publishes prices and monetization tiers; Kasada publishes none but says it can deploy behind an incumbent bot manager. On charging the rubric grades DataDome yes and Kasada not published, and on commerce agents the rubric grades DataDome partial and Kasada not published. For a security engineer: Both verify Web Bot Auth; DataDome adds KYA tokens and reverse DNS.
The sourced difference
DataDome publishes prices and monetization tiers; Kasada publishes none but says it can deploy behind an incumbent bot manager. Source, read 2026-11-04.
Side by side
| Question | DataDome | Kasada |
|---|---|---|
| Tells a verified agent from a spoof | Yes Web Bot Auth, KYA tokens, official IP lists, reverse DNS, plus fingerprinting fallback |
Yes Web Bot Auth plus Kasada's verified agent directory |
| Per-purpose policy (train, search, answer, act) | Partial policies per agent, trust score and intent; no published search versus training switch (checked 2026-11-04) |
Partial endpoint-level access policies per verified agent; no published search versus training split (checked 2026-11-04) |
| Charging for access | Yes AI crawler and agent monetization through partners, from the Advanced plan |
Not published support (checked 2026-11-04) |
| Lets signed commerce agents through | Partial TAP and KYA trust-authority integrations listed; Experian Agent Trust member since 2026-10-01 |
Not published Visa TAP or Mastercard Agent Pay support (checked 2026-11-04) |
| Cost | published: from USD 3,830/month | no public price; sales-led |
| Reporting | Yes agent traffic by intent, identity, geo, URL and endpoint type |
Yes Kasada Portal and Custom Reporting for verified agent activity |
| Where it runs | both: server-side module on web servers, CDNs or API gateways plus client-side tag | edge: enforcement upstream of origin |
| Points, rank | 8 of 10, rank 1 (tied) | 5 of 10, rank 9 |
| Price read 2026-11-04 | Bot Protect Essentials USD 3,830/month (under 100M requests/month), Advanced USD 8,670/month (under 200M), Premium USD 10,160/month (under 300M), Enterprise from USD 13,270/month (over 300M). Agent Trust capability listed from Essentials; monetization from Advanced. | no public price; sales-led (checked 2026-11-04). Indirectly, Vercel BotID Deep Analysis (powered by Kasada) costs USD 1 per 1,000 checkBotId() calls on Vercel Pro. |
Verdicts by reader
- Platform engineer
- Kasada can be layered; DataDome usually replaces.
- Security engineer
- Both verify Web Bot Auth; DataDome adds KYA tokens and reverse DNS.
- Publisher operations
- DataDome can monetize through partners; Kasada lists no charging.
What each does not do
DataDome
- Agent Trust does not run on its own; Bot Protect must be fully installed with server and client components (Agentic Trust docs).
- Monetization is not in the Essentials plan; it starts at Advanced (pricing page).
- No published control that separates search crawling from training crawling as distinct purposes (docs and pricing read 2026-11-04).
Kasada
- No monetization or pay-per-crawl feature in AI Agent Trust (launch post, 2026-01-21).
- No public price list (homepage read 2026-11-04).
- No published support for Visa TAP or Mastercard Agent Pay (pages read 2026-11-04).
More: alternatives to DataDome, alternatives to Kasada.
Sources
Last reviewed 2026-11-04