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F5 Advanced WAF vs Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service comparison

 

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:
 

Categories and Ranking

F5 Advanced WAF
Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF...
Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)
26th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category, the mindshare of F5 Advanced WAF is 11.1%, up from 10.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service is 0.6%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmed Moamen - PeerSpot reviewer
Protects applications with versatile authentication features
F5 offers a versatile solution that can be integrated with APM in cases where integration with an external IDB is needed. It is useful for authentication backup if the on-prem directory service is unavailable. Additionally, its WAF functionality is valuable for protecting applications from attacks. It is a versatile and strong solution that's easy to understand and deploy.
Lilian Blaitt - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficiently identifies and addresses vulnerabilities while providing robust protection
It is a secure tool. It is user-friendly and easy to work with. It is possible to easily find vulnerabilities with the WAF. I understand that the return is good since I haven't had any significant attacks. The vulnerabilities I found were easy to close. I think the return is good. It is a good tool.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features of F5 Advanced WAF are the balancer and you can change policies very easily."
"There are a lot of good features."
"I definitely recommend this solution because of the time you save on analysis."
"It's flexible and powerful, and the users can input their own rules to the system."
"The initial setup was was easy to install."
"F5 Advanced WAF helps our engineers to learn the complete configuration, including fundamental and advanced policies."
"The anti-bot protection is the solution's most valuable feature. Safe-guard or credential staffing are also useful features."
"We can monitor IP locations, but we have constraints from each country. It has a replication feature. Licenses can be shared, taking turns with each license."
"It is a secure tool."
"It is user-friendly and easy to work with."
"The company provides technical support, and they are mostly available 24/7."
"The technical support is really good."
"Fortinet FortiWeb offers a variety of protections, including machine learning that helps protect web applications."
"The stability of the solution is excellent."
"I rate the overall solution ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"I would like to see improved features in the F5 Advanced WAF solution, especially with a focus on enabling Kubernetes fully."
"Most customers encounter stability issues with the product's Big-IP logs."
"The pricing could be more flexible."
"Compatibility with multiple cloud environments needs improvement. Both stability and scalability need to be improved."
"F5 Advanced WAF sells perpetual licenses as perpetual assets during sales without informing me that support ends after a few years."
"Scalability could be improved."
"The deployment side is quite complex."
"Nevertheless, F5 products are generally considered to be hard to deploy."
"The usability of the interface could be improved as it is not user-friendly."
"The usability of the interface could be improved as it is not user-friendly."
"The only thing I encountered was related to integration, mostly concerning translation."
"I do not have any notes on improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is reasonable when compared with other products, such as FortiWeb. I am very satisfied with the price."
"There are different licenses available to use F5 Advanced WAF, such as BT, ASM, and LPM."
"It's more expensive than other solutions and depending on the modules, there can be additional fees."
"Licensing fees for this solution are paid on a yearly basis."
"The cost is slightly above average."
"There are various plans available for Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF as a Service, including a trial version."
"Its price is fair. We have done a couple of deals where they were able to give some kind of discount to the customers. The price was initially high for the customers, but after a couple of negotiations, it came within their budget. They were happy with that."
"F5 Advanced WAF's pricing is high."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about F5 Advanced WAF?
It's a fairly easy-to-use and user-friendly tool. My administrators and team also like its ability to customize the rules per the requirements.
What needs improvement with F5 Advanced WAF?
I do not have anything in mind right now that needs improvement. Generally, it works well. If we need any specific feature, we approach F5 directly.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service?
The price is not the cheapest, but it offers great value for money. I would rate it as an eight out of ten for pricing.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service?
While we find the solution to be really good overall, some improvements could be made to the alerting system, specifically around the health checks of endpoints. Enhancements to the X header forwar...
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service?
We use Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service situated in front of our web-facing APIs. This includes everything that is customer-facing, business-to-business APIs, and things like that.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

MAXIMUS, Vivo, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office, City Bank
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about F5 Advanced WAF vs. Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
859,129 professionals have used our research since 2012.