SMBs

Not everyone needs a full-blown enterprise DDoS solution. If you cannot spend more than $5,000 an year on DDoS and you have limited DDoS concerns, an SMB type of solution offered by Incapsula Enterprise and F5 Silverline may be suitable for your needs.

What Type of DDoS Services are Offered to SMBs?

CloudFlare Business and Incapsula Business are intended for SMBs and for enterprises with very modest DDoS needs.

The Business plan is a subset of the Enterprise plan, so you’ll get approximately only 30% of the DDoS functionality, so to speak (but pay a fraction of the cost).

Services That are Lost and Remain in the BUSINESS Plans (for SMBs)

Deployment

The comparison table of SMBs is much simpler than those of the Enterprise plan. The reason for this is that most options are not available for SMBs. In this context, there is no difference between the two vendors.

Diversion Method: DNS The diversion of traffic from the customer to the DDoS cloud provider using a Domain Name Server (DNS) change. DNS diversion is one of the primary methods used divert traffic to a DDoS mitigation cloud service. (read more)
Always-on A DDoS mitigation architecture where traffic is diverted to a cloud provider’s data centers. In ‘Always-on’ the diversion is permanent whereas in ‘On-demand’ the diversion is made only during an attack. (read more)
On-demand A DDoS mitigation architecture that is in contrast to ‘Always-on’ diverts traffic only during an attack. Before and after the attack, traffic goes directly to the customer without DDoS mitigation. (read more)
Service Features
Number of data centers The number of data centers, also referred as POPs (points of presence) or ‘scrubbing centers’, that a vendor offers. It does not have a direct impact on the DDoS mitigation but may still act as an important decision factor. (read more)	30 see locations	79 see locations

Diversion Method: DNS The diversion of traffic from the customer to the DDoS cloud provider using a Domain Name Server (DNS) change. DNS diversion is one of the primary methods used divert traffic to a DDoS mitigation cloud service. (read more)
Always-on A DDoS mitigation architecture where traffic is diverted to a cloud provider’s data centers. In ‘Always-on’ the diversion is permanent whereas in ‘On-demand’ the diversion is made only during an attack. (read more)
On-demand A DDoS mitigation architecture that is in contrast to ‘Always-on’ diverts traffic only during an attack. Before and after the attack, traffic goes directly to the customer without DDoS mitigation. (read more)
Service Features
Number of data centers The number of data centers, also referred as POPs (points of presence) or ‘scrubbing centers’, that a vendor offers. It does not have a direct impact on the DDoS mitigation but may still act as an important decision factor. (read more)	30 see locations	79 see locations

Incapsula Business vs. CloudFlare Business – Deployment

Mitigation

The mitigation options are very similar to the Enterprise plan. Read the Enterprises’ Mitigation comparison to learn about the differences. The bottom line is that while both vendors can stop DDoS attacks, Incapsula has a clear advantage.

UX and Reporting

The User Experience (UX) of the Business plan is very similar to that of the Enterprise plan. Read the Enterprises’ UX and Reporting comparison to learn about the differences. Both vendors are good, but Incapsula has an advantage.

Pricing

Incapsula’s monthly fee for the Business service is $300 USD vs. $200 charged by CloudFlare. Note that these prices are for a single web site.

Pricing (monthly)	300$	200$

Pricing (monthly)	300$	200$

Business Plan Pricing

Bottom Line

Incapsuala’s advantage over CloudFlare as presented in the enterprise solution segment is less significant when discussing SMBs (because many features in which it has an advantage are not available). Still, the Incapsula advantage remains; it offers more tools to fight DDoS attacks as well as more challenges, and allows you to compose rules yourself rather than wait for support. It also offers rate limit options, which can be very important if you need to protect RESTful APIs.

On the other hand, organizations may have non-DDoS considerations and decide that CloudFlare is better or has an appealing application that Incapsula does not offer. Such considerations are naturally not part of this report. Another factor is the cheaper price offered by CloudFlare.

Another point in favor of Incapsula is future growth. An enterprise plan may become relevant for an SMB down the road due to growth or an increased threat level, in which case Incapsula’s DDoS mitigation is a more secure investment.

Additional Relevant Chapters:

• Individual vendor reviews: Incapsula, CloudFlare
• Next steps – completing your evaluation

Additional Relevant Chapters:

• Individual vendor reviews: Incapsula, CloudFlare
• Next steps – completing your evaluation

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