What Tempesta Technologies does

Tempesta Technologies is a privately held, founder-led software company headquartered in Seattle that builds high-performance, open-source networking and security infrastructure. Its flagship product, Tempesta FW, is a Linux kernel module integrated with the TCP/IP stack that functions as an HTTPS reverse proxy, web accelerator, load balancer, WAF platform, and L7 DDoS mitigation system. The company complements this with Tempesta TLS (a heavily optimized in-kernel TLS implementation forked from mbed TLS, claiming up to 40x performance gains over the baseline and 80%+ over OpenSSL for handshakes), Tempesta Escudo/xFW (proprietary enterprise tier adding volumetric L3/L4 DDoS protection), Tempesta Fingerprints (TLS/HTTP fingerprint hashing for ML classification), and WebShield (an open-source ML-based bot and L7 DDoS detection daemon built on ClickHouse access logs). Tempesta FW is benchmarked at roughly 3x the HTTP requests per second of Nginx and 10x deeper HTTP parsing than competitors.

The business model combines three monetization layers: (1) free open-source distribution of Tempesta FW on GitHub as a top-of-funnel acquisition channel; (2) professional services and custom software development in C/C++, Linux kernel, networking, cryptography, databases, and machine learning (clients referenced include Percona, Wallarm, Kinescope, plus unnamed enterprise customers in email, database, telecom, and IT); and (3) proprietary enterprise subscriptions (Tempesta xFW/Escudo) for volumetric DDoS mitigation sold to organizations requiring production-grade L3/L4 protection. No public pricing is disclosed; engagements appear quote-based. The company markets primarily through technical content (blog, research papers), conference presence (FOSDEM, Netdev, SCALE), GitHub community engagement, and earned reviews on Clutch.co, rather than paid demand generation.

Tempesta Technologies has operated continuously since its founding, with active product releases extending through 2025, but has no disclosed outside funding, no parent company, and no public financial information. The company participates in open-source database ecosystems (MariaDB, Percona XtraDB Cluster) and the broader Linux kernel community, and integrates with Intel Hyperscan for WAF regex acceleration, indicating ecosystem partnerships rather than large channel or reseller motions. The overall profile is a small, technically elite boutique concentrated in a narrow high-performance, open-source security niche.

Name

Tempesta Technologies

Legal name

Tempesta Technologies

Website

https://tempesta-tech.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Tempesta Technologies is a Seattle-based, founder-led software firm that develops Tempesta FW, an open-source Linux kernel HTTPS reverse proxy and WAF/DDoS accelerator, monetizing through proprietary enterprise DDoS modules (Tempesta xFW/Escudo), ML-based bot detection (WebShield), and high-performance C/C++ and Linux kernel consulting services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Web Application Security Software

NAICS

Computer Systems Design Services (541512)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

Next-Gen Firewalls (NGFW) & UTM (HDADABAA)

Keywords

• Linux kernel networking
• Web application firewall
• DDoS mitigation software
• High-performance HTTP proxy
• TLS handshake acceleration

Headquarters

HQ city

Seattle

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Open Source Software (Tempesta FW): Tempesta FW is distributed as fully open-source software under GPL license, available on GitHub. Revenue is not directly generated from the open-source product but serves as a customer acquisition channel.
2. Professional Services & Consulting: Custom software development and consulting services including high-performance C/C++ development, networking solutions, database optimization, Linux kernel development, machine learning implementation, performance analysis, and network security consulting.
3. Enterprise Support (Tempesta xFW): Proprietary volumetric DDoS mitigation module (Tempesta xFW) offered as an enterprise product complementing the open-source Tempesta FW.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Tempesta Technologies develops and maintains Tempesta FW, an open-source Linux kernel HTTPS reverse proxy that delivers web acceleration, load balancing, TLS termination, WAF capabilities, and L7 DDoS protection. The company complements this with proprietary enterprise modules (Tempesta Escudo, Tempesta xFW) for volumetric DDoS mitigation, the open-source WebShield bot-detection daemon, and custom C/C++ software development and network security consulting services for organizations with high-performance infrastructure needs.

Product overview

Tempesta Technologies offers a dual-layer product strategy combining open-source and proprietary solutions. The core is Tempesta FW, an all-in-one Linux kernel HTTP accelerator providing web caching, load balancing, TLS termination (via Tempesta TLS), and L7 DDoS/WAF protection (with Hyperscan integration). Tempesta Escudo is the enterprise edition extending to volumetric DDoS protection. The proprietary Tempesta xFW provides additional DDoS modules. Tempesta Web Fingerprints (TF) enable ML-based bot detection, while WebShield is an open-source Python daemon that analyzes ClickHouse access logs and automatically generates filtering rules to block bots and L7 DDoS attacks.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Tempesta FW: Open-source HTTPS reverse proxy, web accelerator, and application firewall (WAF) with DDoS protection capabilities
• Tempesta TLS
• Tempesta Escudo
• WebShield
• Tempesta xFW

Products and services

• Tempesta FW All-in-one open-source Linux kernel HTTP accelerator and reverse proxy providing web caching, load balancing, TLS termination, WAF capabilities, and L7 DDoS protection for high-traffic web properties and enterprise infrastructure. Services up to 3x more HTTP requests per second than Nginx.
• Tempesta Escudo Enterprise version of Tempesta FW extending coverage to volumetric DDoS attacks including SYN/FIN/RST/ACK TCP floods, UDP floods, and amplification attacks for full DDoS protection across all network layers.
• Tempesta TLS High-performance TLS handshake implementation for the Linux kernel, forked from mbed TLS and hand-optimized with assembly. Outperforms OpenSSL by 40-80% more TLS connections per second with up to 4x lower latency.
• WebShield Open-source Python daemon that analyzes Tempesta FW access logs in ClickHouse, classifies traffic using machine learning (tft/tfh fingerprints), and dynamically blocks L7 DDoS bots, web scrapers, shopping bots, and other automated threats by writing filtering rules back to Tempesta FW.
• Tempesta xFW Proprietary volumetric DDoS mitigation module extending Tempesta FW with protection against large-scale network-layer attacks such as SYN/UDP floods and amplification attacks.
• Software Development Services Custom software development and consulting specializing in high-performance C/C++ and x86-64/ARM assembly development, including SIMD extensions, networking, Linux kernel, cryptography, and machine learning for infrastructure software companies.
• Network Security and Performance Analysis Services Consulting services in DDoS protection, application security (WAF), cryptography, and security assessment, leveraging 15+ years of network security software development experience.

Quantifiable outcome

• 3x faster HTTP requests per second than Nginx
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability5 records

Feature12 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• WallarmminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWallarm commissioned Tempesta Technologies to develop their open source SQL detection library. This engagement demonstrates Tempesta's expertise in security-focused development for WAF technologies.
• MariaDB FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTempesta Technologies is a contributor to MariaDB and Percona XtraDB Cluster open source database projects. Contributed to sophisticated parts including InnoDB transaction engine, Galera Cluster synchronous replication, and SQL query optimizer.
• PerconaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founded by Vadim Tkachenko (also listed as customer reference). Tempesta contributes to Percona's open source database products and Percona references Tempesta's development capabilities.
• Linux Kernel CommunitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTempesta FW is a Linux kernel module that requires ongoing collaboration with the Linux kernel community. The company maintains kernel patches and contributes to kernel security features including bounds checking, VLA removal, and address space layout randomization.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• F5 (NGINX): F5 acquired NGINX, the most widely deployed open-source reverse proxy and web server. Tempesta FW directly benchmarks against and targets replacement of NGINX in high-performance HTTP/TLS workloads, with cited 3x performance advantages.
• HAProxy Technologies: HAProxy is a leading open-source load balancer and reverse proxy with a comparable community-led distribution model and an enterprise edition (HAProxy Enterprise) mirroring Tempesta's open-source-plus-paid-product structure.
• Envoy Proxy (originally Lyft): Envoy is a widely adopted open-source edge and service proxy used in service-mesh architectures. It is a community-driven alternative to NGINX and Tempesta FW for L7 traffic management and load balancing, with a different architectural philosophy (user-space).
• Varnish Software: Varnish is a high-performance open-source HTTP accelerator focused on web content delivery and caching. Tempesta FW targets a similar web acceleration use case while adding WAF, DDoS protection, and load balancing in a single kernel-level product.
• Caddy Server: Caddy is an open-source, Go-based web server with automatic HTTPS and reverse proxy capabilities. It represents a more developer-friendly alternative to Tempesta FW, though typically without the kernel-level performance and DDoS protection positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Cloudflare: Cloudflare offers WAF, DDoS mitigation, CDN, and TLS acceleration as a global cloud service. Tempesta positions itself as the in-infrastructure alternative to Cloudflare for customers seeking to avoid cloud-based, black-box mitigation.
• Akamai Technologies: Akamai is a global CDN and cloud security provider offering WAF, DDoS mitigation, and bot management. It represents the largest incumbent against which Tempesta positions its on-premises, open-source, no-vendor-lock-in value proposition.
• Fastly: Fastly operates an edge cloud platform combining CDN, WAF, and DDoS protection. Like Cloudflare and Akamai, it is a cloud-delivered alternative to in-infrastructure solutions like Tempesta FW, targeting similar enterprise buyers.

Emerging players

• Wallarm: Wallarm is a next-generation WAF/API security vendor that has commissioned Tempesta Technologies for open-source development work. The companies share a technical community and overlap on L7 attack detection, with Wallarm positioned as a commercial platform and Tempesta as the underlying engine.
• Coraza (OWASP): Coraza is an open-source Web Application Firewall (WAF) compatible with the OWASP ModSecurity rule set. Tempesta FW integrates Hyperscan and positions itself as a WAF accelerator, making Coraza a partial overlap on WAF functionality with a different architectural approach.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/tempesta-tech
• Facebookfacebook.com/tempestatech
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tempesta-tech

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tempesta Technologies