Report:
The Forrester Wave™: Bot Management Software, Q3 2024
How does Forrester define the Bot Management Software market in 2024?
Bad bots have become more sophisticated and accessible, with attackers analyzing defenses and sharing workarounds in marketplaces. Bots account for 30% of internet traffic and may be central to attacks like credential stuffing or play supporting roles in web scraping and reconnaissance. Bot management vendors face a landscape where sophisticated bots quickly adapt to defenses and operators share evasion tips on underground forums. The market requires vendors that rapidly evolve detections, support the full range of use cases and stakeholders (security, e-commerce, marketing, fraud, executive teams), and help customers incorporate bot management into larger security strategies with integrations to SIEM, SOAR, and analytics tools.
Key Facts for The Forrester Wave™: Bot Management Software, Q3 2024 in 2024
- Publication Date: 30-Jun-2024
- Document ID:
- Summary: In our 24-criterion evaluation of bot management software providers, we identified the most significant ones and researched, analyzed, and scored them. This report shows how each provider measures up and helps security professionals select the right one for their needs.
- Authors: Sandy Carielli, Amy DeMartine, Sarah Morana, Peter Harrison
How did the Bot Management Software market evolve in 2024?
- Bad bots account for 30% of internet traffic
- Bad bots have become more sophisticated with attackers analyzing defenses and sharing workarounds in marketplaces and message boards
- Bot services are now accessible to anyone who can pay for them
- Bots may be central to malicious attacks like credential-stuffing or play supporting roles in larger application attacks through scraping or web reconnaissance
- Sophisticated bots quickly adapt to defenses and operators share evasion tips on underground forums
- Bot management vendors face challenges from better AI and privacy regulations
- Vendors must constantly update detection models and retire ineffective ones
- The market includes 11 significant providers evaluated across 24 criteria
- Solutions must address needs of security, e-commerce, marketing, fraud, and executive teams
- Integration with SIEM, SOAR, and marketing analytics tools helps increase ROI
What product features are required to be included in this year's evaluation?
- A comprehensive, enterprise-class bot management software solution. All vendors in this evaluation offer a distinct bot management solution that operates independently of other tools like web application firewalls. Included vendors have most of the following capabilities out of the box: protection against a range of attacks, such as account fraud, web scraping, web recon, and e-commerce fraud; a range of detection models to discover sophisticated bot attacks; research on new attack methods; configurable attack responses; and visual representation of attack and detection data for security pros and other business stakeholders.
- $10 million or more in global bot management revenue. Forrester estimates that the vendors in this evaluation earned $10 million or more in global revenue, with no more than 90% of revenue attributed to a single region, directly from bot management capabilities.
- Interest from or relevance to Forrester clients. Forrester clients often discuss the included vendors and products during inquiries and interviews. Alternatively, included vendors may, in Forrester's judgment, have warranted inclusion because of technical capabilities and market presence.
What are the common features of top products in the Bot Management Software space?
No common features specified.
Scope Exclusions
- Bot management capabilities that do not operate as distinct solutions independent of web application firewalls
- Vendors with less than $10 million in global bot management revenue
- Vendors with more than 90% of revenue attributed to a single region
- Vendors lacking comprehensive enterprise-class bot management capabilities
- Solutions without most key capabilities including protection against multiple attack types, detection models, threat research, configurable responses, and visual data representation
Inclusion Criteria
Vendors must, among other requirements:
- A comprehensive, enterprise-class bot management software solution that operates independently of other tools like web application firewalls
- Most capabilities out of the box including protection against account fraud, web scraping, web recon, and e-commerce fraud
- $10 million or more in global bot management revenue with no more than 90% attributed to a single region
- Interest from or relevance to Forrester clients through inquiries, interviews, or warranted inclusion due to technical capabilities and market presence
Offering Strengths — Relative Weighting
- Detection models — 10%
- Mobile app and API protection — 10%
- Bot explainability — 10%
- Management UI — 5%
- Accessibility — 5%
- Good bot management — 5%
- Out-of-the-box response policy — 5%
- Customizable response policy configuration — 5%
- Out-of-the-box reports and dashboards — 10%
- Customizable reports and dashboards — 5%
- Threat research team — 5%
- Threat research integration with product — 5%
- Feedback loops — 5%
- Privacy — 5%
- Product security — 5%
- Scalability — 5%
Strategy Strength — Relative Weighting
- Vision — 15%
- Innovation — 20%
- Roadmap — 15%
- Partner ecosystem — 20%
- Adoption — 15%
- Supporting services and offerings — 15%
FAQs
Q: What does this research cover?
A: This research covers a comprehensive evaluation of 11 bot management software providers across 24 criteria. It analyzes vendor offerings, strategies, and market presence to help security professionals understand how each provider addresses sophisticated bot attacks, credential-stuffing, web scraping, fraud attempts, and other malicious bot activities. The evaluation examines detection capabilities, management interfaces, response policies, reporting, threat intelligence, partnerships, innovation strategies, and supporting services.
Q: Who should use this research?
A: Security professionals, CISOs, application security teams, fraud prevention teams, and e-commerce leaders should use this research when evaluating and selecting bot management software solutions. It helps buyers understand vendor strengths and weaknesses, compare offerings against specific organizational needs, and identify which providers best address their use cases—whether protecting against account fraud, web scraping, API attacks, or supporting broader application security and fraud prevention strategies.
Q: What are the mandatory features of vendors included in this market?
A: Vendors must offer a distinct bot management solution that operates independently of other tools like web application firewalls. Required capabilities include: protection against a range of attacks (account fraud, web scraping, web recon, e-commerce fraud); a range of detection models to discover sophisticated bot attacks; research on new attack methods; configurable attack responses; and visual representation of attack and detection data for security professionals and other business stakeholders. Vendors must also have $10 million or more in global bot management revenue with no more than 90% attributed to a single region.
Q: What are some reasons for not being included in this report?
A:
- Bot management revenue below $10 million globally
- More than 90% of revenue from a single region
- Lack of distinct bot management solution that operates independently of other security tools
- Missing comprehensive enterprise-class capabilities
- Insufficient protection against range of attack types (account fraud, web scraping, web recon, e-commerce fraud)
- Lack of multiple detection models for sophisticated bot attacks
- No research capabilities on new attack methods
- Missing configurable attack response capabilities
- Lack of visual representation of attack and detection data for stakeholders
- Insufficient interest from or relevance to Forrester clients
Q: What should buyers consider when evaluating products in this market?
A:
- Vendors that rapidly evolve detections to defend against new attacks and meet customer needs with consistently updated models and retirement of ineffective models
- Vendors offering customization options including customer-built bespoke models for specialized use cases
- Vendors with SOC services or threat intel teams that proactively share data and reach out to customers under attack
- Solutions that support the full range of use cases and stakeholders with use-case-specific response policies and dashboards
- Detailed analysis and explainability about bot attack approaches and goals
- ROI reports to help articulate solution value to leadership teams
- Vendors offering adjacent products in fraud or appsec spaces or simplified deployments and integrations
- Range of feedback loops and out-of-the-box integrations with SIEM and SOAR tools like Splunk
- Integrations with e-commerce or marketing analytics tools like Adobe and Salesforce
Q: How has the Bot Management Software market evolved in 2024?
A:
- Bad bots becoming more sophisticated with attackers analyzing defenses and sharing workarounds in marketplaces and message boards
- Bad bots becoming more accessible with bot services available to anyone who can pay for them
- 30% of internet traffic comes from bad bots
- Sophisticated bots quickly adapt to defenses and bot operators share evasion tips on underground forums
- Growing need for multilayer detection strategies with machine learning models that evolve to new use cases and attack patterns
- Increasing importance of privacy-forward detection approaches
- Security leaders must consider bots in the context of broader application and fraud attacks
- Need for bot management solutions to address security, e-commerce, marketing, fraud, and executive team requirements
Q: What differentiates Strength of Offering vs. Strength of Strategy?
A: Strength of Offering (Current Offering) evaluates the vendor's existing product capabilities, features, and technical implementation - including detection models, UI, response policies, reporting, threat research integration, privacy, and scalability. It represents what the vendor delivers today. Strength of Strategy evaluates the vendor's future direction and market positioning - including vision for the market, innovation approach, product roadmap, partner ecosystem development, customer adoption support, and supporting services. It represents where the vendor is headed and how they plan to compete in the evolving market.
Reference
- Forrester, The Forrester Wave™: Bot Management Software, Q3 2024, 30-Jun-2024, ID
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