Deflect
Deflect is a DDoS mitigation and web security platform that protects civil society organizations, independent media, and human rights groups using AI-powered bot detection and global CDN infrastructure, operated by Canadian parent eQualitie.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersMontréal, Canada
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Deflect does
Deflect, operated by Canadian parent eQualitie, is a DDoS mitigation and web security service founded in 2010 to protect civil society organizations, independent media, and human rights groups from politically motivated cyberattacks. The platform combines a global CDN edge network with proprietary AI-powered bot detection (Baskerville, using Isolation Forest anomaly detection achieving 98.58% precision) and rule-based attack mitigation (Banjax). Additional offerings include eQPress, a managed WordPress hosting service integrated with the protection layer and used by 34% of clients, plus on-premise deployment, edge caching, ubiquitous encryption, and threat intelligence investigations through Deflect Labs.
Deflect's business model is built on a usage-based monthly subscription priced by unique monthly visitors, complemented by a free protection tier for eligible non-profit organizations, an affiliate referral program paying partners 50% of the first month's fees, and managed hosting revenue from eQPress. Distribution is primarily self-serve via dashboard.deflect.ca, with strategic partnerships extending reach through regional civil society infrastructure providers (Colnodo, Greenhost, GreenNet, SembraMedia) across the Americas and Europe. The company emphasizes ethical positioning — transparent pricing, no data resale, and multilingual human support — as a differentiation point against commercial DDoS vendors.
In 2021, Deflect served over 77 million unique readers, processed 10.2 billion legitimate requests, mitigated 103 significant DDoS events with zero platform outages, and achieved 21.62% year-over-year client growth. The technology stack is open-source-first, with Baskerville and supporting components published on GitHub under the eQualitie organization, reflecting the company's social-enterprise orientation.
Deflect firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Deflect
- Legal name
- eQualitie
- Website
- https://deflect.ca
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Deflect is a DDoS mitigation and web security platform that protects civil society organizations, independent media, and human rights groups using AI-powered bot detection and global CDN infrastructure, operated by Canadian parent eQualitie.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Deflect industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Web Security & DDoS Protection
- NAICS
- Investigation and Security Services (5616)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- DDoS Protection & Mitigation (HDADABAG)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Edge Security Delivery (DDoS, WAF, Bot Mitigation at Edge) (HDABAGAH), Spam, Fake Engagement & Content Abuse Prevention (HDADALAG)
Keywords
Where Deflect is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Montréal
- HQ country
- Canada
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Deflect business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- CDN/DDoS Protection Subscription: Monthly subscription based on unique monthly visitors to protected websites. Pricing scales with traffic volume. Transparent pricing with no hidden fees.
- Non-profit Free Tier: Free protection extended to eligible non-profit organizations as philanthropy program.
- eQPress WordPress Hosting: Managed WordPress hosting service offered as add-on to Deflect protection. Over 34% of Deflect clients also use eQPress hosting.
- Referral Program: Partners receive 50% of first full month's fees from new clients who subscribe through referral links.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Usage-based | Monthly | Usage-based subscription scaled by unique monthly visitors |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
Deflect product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Deflect provides DDoS mitigation and web security services through a CDN-based platform that filters traffic between users and client websites, removing malicious requests via defense-in-depth strategies. The service combines AI-powered bot detection (Baskerville) with rule-based attack mitigation (Banjax) and global edge infrastructure for performance optimization, offered primarily to civil society organizations, independent media, and human rights groups, with free protection extended to eligible non-profits.
Product overview
Deflect is a DDoS protection and web security platform comprising multiple integrated products: the core Deflect protection service backed by global edge infrastructure; Baskerville, an AI/ML-powered bot detection system using Isolation Forest anomaly detection; Banjax, complementary bot-banning technology; eQPress, a secure managed WordPress hosting solution (used by 34% of clients); and a user-facing Control Panel for account management. The platform offers additional features including edge caching, encryption, and on-premise deployment options. Deflect Labs provides threat intelligence through investigations and published reports. Deflect also supports the open-source Kandinsky WordPress theme for civil society websites.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Deflect Core Platform DDoS mitigation and web security service that protects websites from cyber attacks by filtering traffic between users and client websites, removing malicious requests through defense-in-depth strategies. The platform includes global edge infrastructure for performance optimization and content caching, serving civil society organizations, independent media, and human rights groups.
- Baskerville AI Bot Detection AI-powered bot detection and threat intelligence system using machine learning (Isolation Forest algorithm) for real-time traffic analysis. It classifies HTTP traffic, issues Turing challenges to suspicious IPs, and autonomously detects anomalous behavior patterns. Achieved 98.58% precision in bot classification.
- Banjax Bot Mitigation Bot banning technology and request rate-limiting library that works in conjunction with Baskerville's ML predictions to block malicious traffic and zombie bots. Provides rule-based attack detection complementing Baskerville's machine learning approach.
- eQPress Managed WordPress Hosting Secure managed WordPress hosting platform integrated with Deflect protection. Offers daily snapshots, differential backup, DDoS protection, brute-force protection, SEO management, Matomo Analytics, and Polylang translations. Used by 34% of Deflect clients.
- Kandinsky WordPress Theme Free open-source WordPress theme developed for NGOs and civil society groups. Offers three templates with pre-made content, over 100 Google Fonts, customizable headers and footers, enabling quick setup of civil society websites.
Quantifiable outcome
- 98.58% precision in bot detection by Baskerville ML system
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Deflect
Customer profileNamed customers11 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Deflect technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability4 records
Feature5 records
Deflect partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- ColnodocoreNon-profit organization providing Internet infrastructure services to activists and civil society organizations since 1994. Focused on access, use and appropriation of ICT for social development, human development, and citizen participation.
- Greenhost (Netherlands)coreInfrastructure provider focusing on digital human rights and sustainability. Provides services to organizations supporting human rights, free press, and censorship circumvention while preserving privacy guarantees.
- GreenNet (UK)coreNetworking people and activist groups for peace, environment, equality, and human rights since 1986. Provides internet services, web design, and hosting based on ethical business values.
- Cloud68.cominorOpen source digital infrastructure provider serving for-purpose small and medium teams, organizations, and individuals in Tirana, Tallinn, and worldwide.
- SembraMediacoreNon-profit dedicated to empowering diverse voices in Spanish media to publish news with independence and journalistic integrity. Provides research, training, consulting, and financial support in Latin America, Spain, and U.S. Hispanic market.
- MainMicrominorIT services provider focused on customer satisfaction with ongoing support and cost-effective solutions.
- Black Crow LabsminorBrand ecosystem construction and storytelling agency engaging with prospective customers on targeted platforms.
- eQualitiecoreParent Canadian company developing open and reusable systems focused on privacy, online security, and freedom of association. Technology solutions are driven by values to protect rights and aspirations of everyone online.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Deflect competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Sucuri: Sucuri provides website security including DDoS protection, malware removal, and WAF as a managed service primarily for SMBs and WordPress sites. It overlaps with Deflect's eQPress hosting + protection bundle for the WordPress operator segment.
- Wordfence: Wordfence is a WordPress-focused security plugin offering WAF, malware scanning, and brute-force protection. It competes with eQPress's bundled security offering for the WordPress website operator segment that accounts for 34% of Deflect clients.
Broad incumbents
- Radware: Radware provides network and application security including DDoS protection, WAF, and bot management. It overlaps with Deflect's Baskerville/Banjax capability stack and competes for the same protection use cases in mid-market and enterprise.
- Cloudflare: Cloudflare provides CDN, DDoS protection, WAF, and bot mitigation at global scale. It is the dominant commercial alternative to Deflect across all customer segments and explicitly referenced in Deflect's own client testimonials as a competitor that failed (IPOS Iran election case).
- Akamai: Akamai operates one of the world's largest CDN and edge security platforms, including App & API Protector and DDoS mitigation. It competes with Deflect on enterprise and high-traffic protection but does not target the civil society niche.
- Fastly: Fastly provides an edge cloud platform with CDN, WAF, and bot mitigation capabilities. It serves developer-driven enterprises with similar edge security delivery architecture, though it does not focus on the civil society / NGO segment.
- Imperva: Imperva (now part of Thales) offers application security including DDoS protection, WAF, and bot management. It competes with Deflect on bot detection and WAF capabilities but targets mid-market and enterprise rather than civil society.
- F5 (Shape Security): F5's Shape Security division provides fraud and bot mitigation including advanced ML-based detection analogous to Baskerville. It competes with Deflect on AI-driven bot detection capability, though targeted at financial services and large enterprises.
Direct peers
- Corero Network Security: Corero specializes in real-time DDoS protection and mitigation with ML-driven detection. As a focused DDoS vendor it competes with Deflect on core mitigation capability and is comparable in scale and product focus.
- Project Shield (Jigsaw / Google): Project Shield offers free DDoS protection specifically to news, human rights, and election-monitoring organizations — the exact same customer segments Deflect prioritizes. It represents the most direct competitive threat to Deflect's free-tier and mission-aligned clients.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Deflect social profiles
Digital presenceDeflect financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Deflect leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Deflect subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries3 records
Deflect funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Deflect M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Deflect
What does Deflect do?
Deflect provides DDoS mitigation and web security services through a CDN-based platform that filters traffic between users and client websites, removing malicious requests via defense-in-depth strategies. The service combines AI-powered bot detection (Baskerville) with rule-based attack mitigation (Banjax) and global edge infrastructure for performance optimization, offered primarily to civil society organizations, independent media, and human rights groups, with free protection extended to eligible non-profits.
Is Deflect a public or private company?
Deflect is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Deflect founded?
Deflect was founded in 2010. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Deflect based?
Deflect is headquartered in Montréal, Canada, in the North America region.
How does Deflect make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. CDN/DDoS Protection Subscription is the primary driver. The others are non-profit Free Tier, eQPress WordPress Hosting and referral Program.
Who are Deflect's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Sucuri and Wordfence. Broad incumbents are Radware, Cloudflare, Akamai, Fastly, Imperva and F5 (Shape Security). Direct peers are Corero Network Security and Project Shield (Jigsaw / Google).
Does Deflect have an API?
No public API is recorded for Deflect.
What industry is Deflect in?
Deflect's product category is Web Security & DDoS Protection. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDADABAG, DDoS Protection & Mitigation, with a secondary code of HDABAGAH, Edge Security Delivery (DDoS, WAF, Bot Mitigation at Edge). Its NAICS code is 5616 and its SIC code is 7370.