Shifting Lines in the Bot War
Once upon a time, bot traffic meant scrapers and spam. Obviously, it can be annoying, but manageable. That era is gone. Today’s bots are smarter, faster, and far more dangerous. From credential stuffing and card fraud to account takeovers and fake ad clicks, bots now make up nearly half the internet’s traffic, and they’re costing businesses billions. This blog compares the SPARK Matrix Bot Management reports from 2023 and 2024, tracking how vendors have shifted across two axes: Technology Excellence and Customer Impact. What we found isn’t just a game of musical chairs, it’s a revealing look at which companies are scaling innovation, and which ones are slipping behind.
The Cornerstones of Leadership
Radware. HUMAN. Cloudflare – These three weren’t just Leaders in 2023, they were the ones everyone else was chasing. And in 2024, nothing’s changed, except that they’ve extended their lead. Radware continues to push the ceiling, posting the highest Customer Impact of any vendor. HUMAN Security (formerly White Ops) has edged further. Thanks to growth in its bot fraud, CTV, and threat intelligence capabilities. Meanwhile, Cloudflare remains in the top right position. It is building momentum with an aggressive rollout of bot protection tools baked directly into its WAF. These aren’t just bot defense tools, they’re entire platforms. And the market knows it. SPARK’s data confirms what many already suspected: the top tier is widening the gap.
Climbing the Ranks with Purpose
A lot can change in a year, and for these two vendors, it has. Imperva moved decisively right and upward in 2024, flirting with Leader status. That jump reflects deeper cloud WAF integration, better user visibility, and faster onboarding. However, AppsFlyer is still a Strong Contender. Even so, we can see a notable improvement in its Technology and Customer Impact. Likely driven by growing demand in mobile ad fraud protection and tighter bot mitigation tools for app ecosystems. Imperva and AppsFlyer are the classic cases of “slow burn, fast rise.” They’ve spent the past year building, refining, and responding to customer feedback, and it’s working.
Stability in a Shifting Market
Some vendors don’t chase headlines; they just keep delivering. Akamai retained its Leader position and even moved higher in Customer Impact, thanks to strong enterprise adoption and a well-rounded bot stack. Arkose Labs, known for its challenge-response models and fraud deterrence, held a similar spot in 2023, solid but static. F5 Networks stayed firmly in the Strong Contenders tier, with minimal movement. In this game, stability isn’t stagnation. These vendors are consistent performers. They may not have skyrocketed in positioning, but they’re holding their ground, which says a lot in a fast-moving field.
Caution Lights Flashing
These vendors showed measurable declines between 2023 and 2024. Kasada slipped noticeably left and down. Once nearly breaching Leader territory, it’s now deep in the Strong Contender pack. DataDome dropped slightly in Customer Impact, possibly reflecting challenges in scaling or customer retention. hCaptcha lost ground in Technology Excellence, though its impact score held relatively stable. This doesn’t mean these vendors are weak, but it does suggest market perception is shifting. Buyers may be asking harder questions about deployment friction, analytics depth, and overall fit beyond core CAPTCHA functions.
Still Outside the Mainstream
For the second year running, these two vendors remain at the lower end of the matrix. Reblaze holds its place in the Aspirants quadrant, low in both axes. Netacea, known for intent-based detection and ML-based decisioning, remains in the Strong Contenders tier, but with minimal upward movement. They may be technically competent, but lack of enterprise traction is keeping them outside the Leader discussion. To break through, they’ll need a bigger footprint, stronger integrations, or a killer feature that turns heads.
Final Thoughts
The bot management market is maturing, but it’s also stratifying. The Leaders are pulling further ahead by combining real-time decision engines, multi-surface visibility, and fast, transparent onboarding.
Strong Contenders like Imperva and AppsFlyer are rising fast, thanks to focused innovation and smarter UX. But vendors who fail to scale quickly or differentiate clearly are already being left behind. The message from SPARK Matrix 2024 is clear: If your anti-bot strategy isn’t evolving every six months, you’re already losing the battle.
The question is no longer whether you need bot protection. It’s who can deliver it faster, smarter, and invisibly, before the next wave of bots hits your APIs.