--- title: "Alternatives to AWS WAF Bot Control | Agent Ready Crawlers" description: "Alternatives to AWS WAF Bot Control: 14 bot management and agent identity vendors on one rubric, with the sourced difference for each head-to-head." canonical: https://agentreadycrawlers.com/vendors/aws-waf-bot-control/alternatives site: "Agent Ready Crawlers" last_updated: 2026-11-04 section: "Vendors" --- # Alternatives to AWS WAF Bot Control | Agent Ready Crawlers > Alternatives to AWS WAF Bot Control: 14 bot management and agent identity vendors on one rubric, with the sourced difference for each head-to-head. Source: https://agentreadycrawlers.com/vendors/aws-waf-bot-control/alternatives Site: Agent Ready Crawlers Last reviewed: 2026-11-04 # Alternatives to AWS WAF Bot Control In short AWS WAF Bot Control, tied for first at 8 of 10 points with Akamai, Cloudflare and DataDome, has five head-to-head pages: Cloudflare, Akamai, DataDome, TollBit and Vercel. It is the alternative that charges AI bots through HTTP 402 inside a cloud WAF, at USD 10 a month per web ACL plus request fees. ## Head-to-head, with the sourced difference - [**AWS WAF Bot Control vs Cloudflare**](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/compare/cloudflare-vs-aws-waf-bot-control/). AWS WAF charges AI bots with an x402 HTTP 402 and settles in stablecoins through Coinbase (since 2026-06-15, CloudFront only); Cloudflare charges through pay per crawl with itself as Merchant of Record. [Source](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/06/aws-waf-ai-traffic-monetization), read 2026-11-04. - [**AWS WAF Bot Control vs Akamai**](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/compare/aws-waf-bot-control-vs-akamai/). AWS WAF publishes Bot Control prices (USD 10 a month per web ACL, USD 1 per million common requests after 10 million) and charges bots natively over x402; Akamai is sales-led and charges through partners. [Source](https://aws.amazon.com/waf/pricing/), read 2026-11-04. - [**AWS WAF Bot Control vs DataDome**](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/compare/aws-waf-bot-control-vs-datadome/). AWS WAF charges AI bots natively over x402 at no extra fee beyond WAF charges; DataDome charges through partners from its USD 8,670 Advanced plan. [Source](https://aws.amazon.com/waf/pricing/), read 2026-11-04. - [**AWS WAF Bot Control vs TollBit**](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/compare/tollbit-vs-aws-waf-bot-control/). TollBit sells publisher analytics and a paywall reached by redirect; AWS WAF returns HTTP 402 itself and settles through Coinbase. [Source](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/06/aws-waf-ai-traffic-monetization), read 2026-11-04. - [**AWS WAF Bot Control vs Vercel**](https://agentreadycrawlers.com/compare/vercel-botid-vs-aws-waf-bot-control/). Vercel splits AI crawlers from AI assistants on all plans for free; AWS WAF labels bots by category and name and can charge them, at USD 10 a month per web ACL plus request fees. [Source](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/waf/latest/developerguide/waf-bot-control.html), read 2026-11-04. ## All other vendors on the rubric "Stronger" and "weaker" compare each vendor's grade with AWS WAF Bot Control's on the five graded questions. Cost is quoted as read on 2026-11-04. | Vendor | Points | Stronger than AWS WAF Bot Control on | Weaker on | Cost | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Akamai | 8 | commerce agents | per-purpose policy, charging | No public price; sales-led | | Cloudflare | 8 | commerce agents | charging | Free tier covers AI Crawl Control; Pro from USD 20/month; Bot Management and BotBase are Enterprise and sales-led | | DataDome | 8 | commerce agents | per-purpose policy | From USD 3,830/month | | HUMAN Security | 7 | nothing | charging | No public price; sales-led | | Skyfire | 6 | commerce agents | per-purpose policy, reporting | Not published (checked 2026-11-04) | | TollBit | 6 | nothing | verifies agents, per-purpose policy | Free for publishers to start | | Vercel | 6 | nothing | charging | Basic free; Deep Analysis USD 1 per 1,000 checks on Pro | | Kasada | 5 | nothing | per-purpose policy, charging | No public price; sales-led | | Fastly | 4 | commerce agents | verifies agents, per-purpose policy, charging, reporting | No public price; sales-led | | Arcjet | 3 | nothing | verifies agents, per-purpose policy, charging, reporting | From USD 25/month plus USD 5 per 1M web requests | | Auth0 for AI Agents | 3 | commerce agents | verifies agents, per-purpose policy, charging, reporting | AI Agents add-on at 50 percent of base plan, from USD 18/month; free plan (checked 2026-11-05) | | Imperva | 3 | nothing | verifies agents, per-purpose policy, charging | No public price; sales-led | | Stytch IsAgent | 2 | nothing | verifies agents, per-purpose policy, charging, reporting | IsAgent free to 10,000 calls/month; fingerprints USD 0.005 each beyond 10,000 | | Netlify | 1 | nothing | verifies agents, per-purpose policy, charging, reporting | Platform plans from USD 0; extension price not stated | ## Where AWS WAF Bot Control is not the fit - Monetize only works with CloudFront-associated web ACLs, not regional resources (Bot Control docs). - Stripe payouts and Machine Payments Protocol are not live yet; settlement is via Coinbase x402 in stablecoins (what's new, 2026-06-15). - Web Bot Auth is off unless the rule group version is pinned to Version\_4.0 or later (Bot Control docs). ## Sources - [aws.amazon.com: pricing](https://aws.amazon.com/waf/pricing/) read 2026-11-04 - [aws.amazon.com: aws waf ai traffic monetization](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/06/aws-waf-ai-traffic-monetization) read 2026-11-04 - [docs.aws.amazon.com: waf bot control](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/waf/latest/developerguide/waf-bot-control.html) read 2026-11-04 - [akamai.com: akamai unveils agentic security framework to power trusted ai driven interactions and commerce](https://www.akamai.com/newsroom/press-release/akamai-unveils-agentic-security-framework-to-power-trusted-ai-driven-interactions-and-commerce) read 2026-11-04 - [cloudflare.com: network cdn.md](https://www.cloudflare.com/plans/network-cdn.md) read 2026-11-04 - [datadome.co: pricing](https://datadome.co/pricing/) read 2026-11-04 - [humansecurity.com: package plans](https://www.humansecurity.com/platform/package-plans) read 2026-11-04 - [skyfire.xyz: skyfire.xyz](https://skyfire.xyz/) read 2026-11-04 - [tollbit.com: tollbit.com](https://tollbit.com/) read 2026-11-04 - [vercel.com: botid](https://vercel.com/docs/botid) read 2026-11-04 - [kasada.io: kasada.io](https://www.kasada.io/) read 2026-11-04 Last reviewed 2026-11-04