Speed & Performance Comparison
How SafeComms compares to Akismet, Hive Moderation, and Sightengine in latency, features, accuracy, and developer experience.
Overview
When choosing a content moderation API, performance directly impacts user experience. Every millisecond of latency on a content submission endpoint is a millisecond your users wait. We benchmarked SafeComms against three leading competitors across multiple dimensions.
Methodology Note: All benchmarks, feature comparisons, and pricing data were collected in Q1 2026. Competitor offerings may have changed since publication. Feature availability was verified through public documentation and trial accounts. Latency tests were conducted from US-East-1 over a 7-day period.
Response Time Benchmarks
All benchmarks are based on text moderation requests with ~200 word inputs, measured from the client's perspective. Tests were conducted from US-East in Q1 2026, averaging 10,000 requests per provider.
Average Latency (ms)
P95 Latency (ms)
P99 Latency (ms)
Why it matters: At P99, SafeComms is 3–4x faster than competitors. For real-time applications like chat or live comments, this means your users never notice a moderation delay.
Feature Comparison Matrix
| Feature | SafeComms | Akismet | Hive | Sightengine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text Moderation | ||||
| Image Moderation | All paid tiers | |||
| Video Moderation | (Beta) All paid tiers | |||
| Audio Moderation | (Beta) All paid tiers | |||
| PII Detection & Redaction | 20+ types Detect: Text, Image, Video Redact: Text, Image | |||
| Custom Rules Engine | Full | Limited | ||
| Webhook Support | ||||
| Gaming SDKs (Unity/Godot) | Native | |||
| WordPress Plugin | Official | Official | ||
| Free Tier | 250 tokens Text only | Personal blogs only | Trial only | 500 ops/mo |
| Multi-language Support | 11 languages | Multiple | Multiple | Multiple |
Accuracy Benchmarks
Measured against a curated test dataset of 5,000 samples spanning toxicity, spam, profanity, and PII categories. Scores represent the percentage of correctly classified samples.
Toxicity Detection
* Akismet is primarily a spam filter; toxicity detection is not its core strength.
Spam Detection
* Akismet excels at spam. It's their primary focus with 20+ years of training data.
PII Detection
* SafeComms: Identification works in text, image, and video. Redaction available for text and image only.
Pricing Comparison
Monthly pricing for a typical mid-size application processing ~50,000 moderation requests per month.
SafeComms
Basic tier: 5,000 tokens/mo
- Text + Image
- Audio + Video (Beta)
- PII detection included
- All system profiles
- All SDKs included
Akismet
Plus plan: 10k API calls/mo
- Spam filtering only
- No image/video/audio
- No PII detection
- No custom rules
Hive Moderation
Enterprise-focused, contact sales
- Multi-modal support
- No self-serve pricing
- No free tier
- Enterprise contracts
Sightengine
Starter plan: 10k ops/mo
- Image + Video focus
- Text is add-on
- No PII detection
- No gaming SDKs
Developer Experience
Integration complexity and time-to-first-moderation for each provider.
| Metric | SafeComms | Akismet | Hive | Sightengine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to first call | ~5 min | ~10 min | ~1 hour (approval) | ~10 min |
| Official SDK languages | 7 (+ 2 game engines) | 4 | REST only | 5 |
| TypeScript support | First-class | Community | Partial | |
| Interactive docs | ||||
| Dashboard analytics | Real-time | Basic stats |
References & Methodology
Benchmark Methodology
- Testing Period: January 15 - February 10, 2026
- Test Location: AWS US-East-1 (Virginia)
- Sample Size: 10,000 requests per provider
- Test Content: ~200 word text samples, representative of typical user-generated content
- Measurement: Client-side latency including network round-trip time
Data Sources
- Akismet: Public documentation (akismet.com), pricing verified February 2026
- Hive Moderation: Public API documentation and enterprise sales inquiry, February 2026
- Sightengine: Public pricing and documentation (sightengine.com), verified February 2026
- Accuracy Benchmarks: Internal test dataset of 5,000 labeled samples across toxicity, spam, and PII categories
Important Disclaimers
- • Competitor features and pricing are subject to change. Always verify current offerings on their official websites.
- • Performance benchmarks were conducted under controlled conditions and may vary based on geographic location, network conditions, and API usage patterns.
- • Feature comparisons are based on publicly available information and trial account testing. Enterprise features may differ.
- • This comparison is intended as a general guide. Your specific requirements may favor different solutions.
Verdict
Choose SafeComms if...
You need a unified moderation API that handles text, images, video, and audio with PII detection, custom rules, and native SDKs for web and game engines. Best for teams building modern applications who want comprehensive safety coverage in one integration.
Choose Akismet if...
Your primary concern is spam filtering on WordPress or blog platforms. Akismet excels at spam with decades of training data, but it does not handle toxicity, images, or video moderation.
Choose Hive Moderation if...
You are an enterprise with custom requirements and budget for a tailored solution. Hive offers powerful multi-modal moderation but requires a sales process and custom contracts.
Choose Sightengine if...
Your primary focus is image and video moderation with less emphasis on text. Sightengine has strong visual content analysis but treats text moderation as a secondary feature.
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