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Akamai App and API Protector vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.4
Cloudflare WAF delivers immediate ROI by securing e-commerce and banking platforms, ensuring operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Sentiment score
5.8
Akamai App and API Protector offers superior traffic management, security, and cost savings for large infrastructures, despite higher costs.
Sentiment score
7.1
F5 BIG-IP LTM offers strong ROI with 24/7 availability and security, though some note high costs and variable returns.
Sentiment score
6.9
Imperva SecureSphere offers high ROI and cost-effectiveness through automation, threat mitigation, compliance fulfillment, and varying benefits by company size.
The major return on investment is the security of our data.
My thoughts on the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of the Imperva SecureSphere Database Security are that it could be more competitive.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.1
Cloudflare's support is praised for responsiveness and effectiveness, though some Indian users face communication challenges and prefer local help.
Sentiment score
7.7
Customer service is excellent, while technical support has mixed reviews with praise for expertise but needs improved availability.
Sentiment score
6.7
F5 BIG-IP's customer service is praised for expertise and resources, though some experience delays and regional support issues.
Sentiment score
6.3
Imperva SecureSphere's support is professional but inconsistent, with response time affected by service agreements and regional availability.
The technical support of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall rates between five and seven at maximum.
I would rate the technical support of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) nine out of ten.
Regarding customer support, I would like to see improvements in response time.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Cloudflare Web Application Firewall is praised for its scalability, flexibility, automation, and superior advantages compared to open-source solutions.
Sentiment score
8.1
Akamai App and API Protector excels in scalability, seamlessly handling extensive user demands and large-scale deployments with stability.
Sentiment score
7.4
F5 BIG-IP LTM is valued for scalability, flexibility, and adaptability, with configuration and licensing considerations for optimal deployment.
Sentiment score
6.8
Imperva SecureSphere offers scalability and flexibility but faces challenges in integration, licensing, and cost, especially for smaller enterprises.
The scalability of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall rates between 8 to 9, as it depends upon the use cases and what exactly the client needs.
The scalability of the Imperva SecureSphere Database Security in accommodating the organization's growth and database security needs is excellent.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Cloudflare Web Application Firewall is highly stable and reliable, ensuring uninterrupted, effective protection and user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
8.4
Akamai App and API Protector is highly stable and reliable, with no reported outages or issues over years of use.
Sentiment score
8.0
F5 BIG-IP LTM is valued for stability, handling high loads well despite occasional bugs, making it preferred by organizations.
Sentiment score
7.0
Imperva SecureSphere Database Security is reliable with proper setup and resources, though stability varies by infrastructure and configuration.
 

Room For Improvement

Cloudflare WAF must update features, improve documentation and support, reduce false negatives, and enhance usability, integrations, and visibility.
Akamai App and API Protector needs enhancements in flexibility, UI, customer support, documentation, and advanced protection features.
F5 BIG-IP LTM is expensive, complex, lacks flexibility, and needs better UI, reporting, support, cloud integration, and pricing.
Imperva SecureSphere needs improvements in user interface, support, integration, reporting, modernization, pricing, cloud support, and update deployment.
The product can improve by having more multitenancy capability, which is currently not available.
They need to improve their support because getting a response for basic requests took around 48 hours, which is too long.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users find Cloudflare's Web Application Firewall competitively priced, reasonable, and transparent despite starting fees and optional features.
Akamai App and API Protector is expensive yet considered worth the cost by large enterprises for its quality services.
F5 BIG-IP LTM pricing is higher with complex licensing, but performance justifies the cost; AWS Marketplace is convenient yet costlier.
Imperva SecureSphere's high-quality database security features justify its pricing, offering annual, perpetual, and subscription options with possible discounts.
 

Valuable Features

Cloudflare WAF offers API configurability, comprehensive features, robust security, scalability, with strong integration and technical support.
Akamai App and API Protector delivers scalable security, ease of use, and cost-effective protection with advanced features like DDoS defense.
F5 BIG-IP LTM provides traffic management, security, and customization with iRules, SSL offloading, and an intuitive interface.
Imperva SecureSphere ensures robust database security with real-time monitoring, intuitive interfaces, third-party integration, and automated reporting for compliance.
The custom rules and the geo-redundant geographical rule feature, which allows me to implement geographical rules for customers, add significant value.
The best features of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall are multiple, including the WAF, rate limiter, and bot attack protection.
One of the most beneficial features of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is its ability to identify compromised traffic and its capabilities in authentication.
The Imperva SecureSphere Database Security has significantly aided my organization in forensic investigations and compliance audits.
 

Mindshare comparison

Web Application Firewall (WAF)
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
Database Security
 

Featured Reviews

SachidDoshi - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers a huge signature repository and is superiorly effective in mitigating DDoS attacks
The solution's learning curve can still be further reduced, which presently stands at two or three months. The product has a custom rule set that users can modify and manifest as needed. The vendor can probably shorten the learning curve using cutting-edge technologies like AI. The solution provider can also work around the web applications and identify the toolset that needs to be implemented to deploy the solution in less time. The vendor has launched a SASE product that can function with Cloudflare Web Application Firewall, but many improvements are needed in terms of features, such as the web filtering feature, and CASB has not yet been added.
Bharat Chandra - PeerSpot reviewer
Exceptional support, protects our sites, and provides visibility into traffic
We did a PoC of Akamai and Cloudflare. One area where Akamai can improve is the captcha part. Cloudflare provides a captcha if there are a certain number of threats. For example, I can assign that if there are 10 requests within a second from a single IP, it should send a captcha to the user. The user should fill in the captcha, and only after that, the user should be able to access our website. This captcha feature should be built into Bot Manager. I love this captcha feature of Cloudflare. Other things are good in Akamai. That is why we are using Akamai. Only the captcha part should be implemented.
Bonieber  Orofeo - PeerSpot reviewer
Identifying compromised traffic and securing data has been a significant advantage
One of the most beneficial features of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) ( /products/f5-big-ip-local-traffic-manager-ltm-reviews ) is its ability to identify compromised traffic and its capabilities in authentication. Additionally, the security aspect of it provides a significant advantage as it helps us secure our data, which is a major investment and benefit for us. Before using this system, we had difficulties in storing our data and managing the traffic that comes in and out.
PrashantParab - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides cluster management and has the ability to receive alerts if anyone tries to tamper a database
It would be more efficient if we could manage the consoles of management servers from a single location. Currently, if the management server for our DR environment is separate from the production management server, we have to log in to each server individually. For example, to check the status of production servers integrated with Infowa, I need to log in to the production management server. Similarly, I have to log in to the DR management server to check the status of the DR servers. Connecting both servers and managing them through a single console would make it easier to handle all alerts in one place.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
25%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cloudflare Web Application Firewall?
The product has a valuable security control functionality.
What needs improvement with Cloudflare Web Application Firewall?
I cannot say much about areas of improvement for Cloudflare Web Application Firewall because I haven't gone through d...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Akamai Web Application Protector?
The price is higher than others. It could be about 80% to 70% more expensive than other tools. So, it’s not just a sl...
What needs improvement with Akamai Web Application Protector?
It could have better analytics and reporting visibility in the OEM console.
What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP?
The GUI of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) could be improved. It's not something regarding how it processes or ...
What is your primary use case for F5 BIG-IP?
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is a perfect product for load balancing and WAF, and I would recommend it far m...
How does IBM Guardium Data Protection compare with Imperva SecureSphere Database Security?
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is a solution for database security from IBM that gives complete visibility, co...
What do you like most about Imperva SecureSphere Database Security?
The tool's pricing is flexible and affordable for small and medium enterprises.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Cloudflare WAF
Akamai Web Application Protector, Akamai Kona Site Defender, Akamai Kona DDoS Defender
F5 BIG-IP, BIG-IP LTM, F5 ASM, Viprion, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition , Crescendo Networks Application Delivery Controller, BIG IP
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

crunchbase, udacity, marketo, okcupid, zendesk
Douglas Omaha Technology Commission, ZALORA, PrintPlanet
Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc.
BlueCross BlueShield, eHarmony, EMF Broadcasting, GE Healthcare, Metro Bank, The Motley Fool, Siemens
Find out what your peers are saying about F5, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and others in Web Application Firewall (WAF). Updated: July 2025.
864,574 professionals have used our research since 2012.