Silker vs the alternatives
WAFs, LLM firewalls and observability tools each solve a slice of the problem. Here is an honest, side-by-side look at where Silker fits - and where it doesn't.
| Capability | Silker Runtime agent | WAF Cloudflare, ModSecurity | LLM Firewall Lakera, Prompt Security | LLM Observability Helicone, LangSmith |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Prompt injection & jailbreaks Instruction overrides, jailbreaks, extraction on LLM routes | Strong (ML) | |||
Outbound data-leak prevention Secrets, API keys, PII leaving your app | ||||
OWASP Top 10 (SQLi, XSS, traversal) | Strong | |||
Scanner Trap - honeypot + instant bot ban Bans scanners the moment they probe /.env, /wp-login.php, /.git | Unique | |||
Runs in your runtime (traffic never leaves) | Edge proxy | Cloud API | ||
Setup | One npm install | DNS / proxy | API integration | SDK |
Self-host / Docker proxy (any stack) | ||||
Real-time dashboard & alerts | Strong | |||
Built for SMB / indie pricing | Free - $39 | Enterprise | Enterprise | Varies |
Inline ML detection model Where heavy ML beats heuristics today | Heuristics + async AI verdict | Strong (ML) | ||
Competitor capabilities are our reading of publicly documented features and may change. We keep this honest - if we get something wrong, tell us.
Scanner Trap
New in v1.3.4Bots probe the same paths before they attack: /.env, /wp-login.php, /.git/config, /phpmyadmin. Your Node/Next app never serves these, so a request to one is a near-certain scanner. Silker treats them as honeypots - hit one and the IP is banned instantly, before it reaches a real vulnerability. Near-zero false positives, no config.
Honest trade-offs
No tool covers everything. Here's where another layer is the better call - and where Silker still sits comfortably alongside it.
You need heavy inline ML
If a deep, model-based classifier on every request is your hard requirement, a dedicated LLM firewall like Lakera or Prompt Security goes further than our heuristics. Silker pairs fast inline heuristics with an on-demand AI verdict layer - honest about the trade-off.
You want a global CDN / DDoS edge
Silker is an in-runtime agent, not an edge network. For L3/L4 DDoS, caching and a global CDN, a WAF like Cloudflare is the right layer - and Silker sits happily behind it.
You want evals & tracing, not security
If your goal is prompt evals, cost tracking and LLM tracing, observability tools like Helicone or LangSmith are built for that. Silker is a security layer, not an evals platform.
See it on your own app
One npm install, free tier, no credit card. The first scanner ban usually shows up within hours.