


NGINX App Protect and F5 Advanced WAF compete in web application security. F5 Advanced WAF seems to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive threat detection and strong load balancing features.
Features: NGINX App Protect is valued for its flexibility, reverse proxy capabilities, and its open-source nature. It effectively manages traffic and integrates seamlessly with other solutions, offering features like auto-learning and bot protection. F5 Advanced WAF offers advanced threat detection using AI, robust load balancing, and exceptional DDoS protection, making it highly customizable and stable.
Room for Improvement: NGINX App Protect could improve its security features and compatibility with other systems. There is a need for an enhanced upgrade process and better support portal, alongside improved API exposure for automation. F5 Advanced WAF could enhance its reporting capabilities and address its high pricing. Simplified deployment and better integration with Kubernetes and cloud environments are desired.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NGINX App Protect offers deployment flexibility across private and hybrid clouds but faces challenges in high-throughput scenarios. Its technical support can be costly and slow. F5 Advanced WAF supports a wide range of environments including public and hybrid clouds. Although the setup is complex, its comprehensive features make the process worthwhile. Its customer service is proactive, albeit premium cost may be a concern.
Pricing and ROI: NGINX App Protect is considered expensive, yet it offers a satisfactory return on investment, particularly for its ease of integration in CICD pipelines. Pricing is moderate with costs associated with annual subscriptions. F5 Advanced WAF is seen as a premium product. Its high pricing can be an obstacle for smaller businesses, yet its robust features offer significant value, yielding a high return on investment, especially for larger enterprises.
My experience with the pricing or licensing of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall is that many features can be accessed for free, so the pricing is definitely reasonable.
Time savings in daily operations come from the automatic learning and signature update reducing the need for constant manual rule management, allowing the security and network teams to spend significantly less time handling false positive application-related escalations.
Subscription models offer clearer ROI due to a more competitive pricing scheme.
The amount of attacks it protects against is immense, more than F5 Advanced WAF itself costs.
I would rate the technical support with Cloudflare as excellent every time I've had to contact them.
The technical support of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall rates between five and seven at maximum.
Both response time and availability need to be improved.
If there is a bug, the support is usually understanding and resolves issues.
I have interacted with F5's support, and while I have no major complaints, they could improve.
They were quick and efficient when we had issues.
I would rate the customer support a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10.
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.
I can run it in HA mode or even divide the traffic volume to the number of instances that I have based on their resource sizing.
The scalability of NGINX App Protect is good and open source at its best.
The stability of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall deserves a perfect 10 out of 10.
F5 Advanced WAF has been very reliable and consistent for us; in our on-premise enterprise setup, it has been stable and predictable in day-to-day operations without any unexpected crashes or WAF-related downtime in production.
F5 Advanced WAF is pretty stable.
It is a quality solution, and I would rate its stability as eight out of ten.
The product can improve by having more multitenancy capability, which is currently not available.
I think they're doing a good job with DNS and as support for any domains that I create or that my clients create, it's mandatory for me to ensure they have Cloudflare as their DNS provider.
And maybe something similar to Pushpin that Fastly has, which is an option where you can push messages that then can be scaled globally over the network.
Deployment training for F5 Advanced WAF is lacking and restricts growth by being inaccessible and costly for partners.
Overall, these are not blockers, merely enhancement opportunities, and once tuned, F5 Advanced WAF is very stable and reliable; improving usability, reporting, and onboarding would make it even more effective for larger environments.
There is excellent clarity in the LTM and the WAF.
There was more information from F5 regarding hardware requirements and specifications to deploy the service.
For now, I think NGINX App Protect is good, but maybe I would like to see the logging feature added.
The GUI and web GUI configuration could be improved to be easier to manage and use.
Licensing is capacity-driven, so you need careful planning based on traffic volume and use cases, and adding features such as Bot Protection impacts costs; once licensing is clear and sized correctly, there are no surprises.
Subscription models have competitive pricing, while perpetual licenses involve an upfront higher cost.
The price is affordable and satisfactory.
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.
Cloudflare Web Application Firewall's advanced reporting and analytics tools add a layer that we're able to visualize and see before it actually hits the local firewall.
The Advanced Attack Signature database is very strong and regularly updated, effectively blocking SQL injections, cross-site scripting, command injections, and file inclusion attacks while allowing selective enabling or disabling of signatures to avoid blocking genuine traffic.
The perpetual license, despite an initial higher cost, lacks transparency regarding support expiration.
It contains the logic of both negative and positive security combined.
The most valuable feature is the ability to operate in a DevOps environment and to be configured through API and pipeline by the developers themselves.
Some threats like injection and running scripts, SQL injections, these all get stopped and rejected by the server.
Detecting bots and blocking IPs have proven effective for securing applications.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| F5 Advanced WAF | 6.0% |
| Cloudflare Web Application Firewall | 4.7% |
| NGINX App Protect | 2.1% |
| Other | 87.2% |


| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 16 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 6 |
| Large Enterprise | 6 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 26 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 15 |
| Large Enterprise | 31 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 9 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 6 |
| Large Enterprise | 12 |
Cloudflare Web Application Firewall integrates DDoS protection, load balancing, and firewall capabilities. Its ease of use, configurability, and robust security measures make it a versatile choice for protecting web applications.
Cloudflare Web Application Firewall provides a comprehensive defense against threats with advanced reporting and robust security measures. It includes DNS integration, rate limiting, and extensive rule sets, all within a SaaS model that allows API configurability. Users value its caching, scalability, and pricing, although enhancements are needed in rate-limiting and third-party integration. Improvements in customer support, especially in India, real-time controls, and user documentation are also desired. Users seek a more intuitive dashboard, better log management, and improved alert systems, along with multitenancy capabilities and enhanced reporting.
What are the key features of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall?Cloudflare Web Application Firewall finds application in industries like banking and retail by acting as a comprehensive security gateway, managing authentication and authorization while protecting web applications from malicious Layer 7 traffic. It also implements load balancing, CDN, and zero-trust policies, supported by advanced reporting, analytics tools, and threat scoring to meet specific industry needs.
F5 Advanced WAF delivers robust web security with features like signature-based threat protection and behavior analysis, ensuring app stability and security.
F5 Advanced WAF integrates advanced security with functionalities such as SQL injection defense and real-time threat intelligence. It enhances security for applications with load balancing, bot detection, and DDoS protection alongside comprehensive attack monitoring capabilities. Popular among diverse sectors, its usability and easy integration make it a practical choice by providing a stable security infrastructure across both on-premises and cloud environments.
What are the key features?Particularly relevant in banking and financial services, F5 Advanced WAF safeguards applications from threats like SQL injections and DDoS attacks, ensuring compliance and API security. Its capabilities are leveraged for both load balancing and application defense, offering a versatile deployment model suited for protecting critical infrastructure in competitive and demanding industries.
NGINX App Protect offers comprehensive security features like auto-learning and bot protection. Its real-time threat detection and ease of integration make it suitable for web and mobile application security across on-premises, cloud, and container environments.
NGINX App Protect stands out with its adaptive machine learning, scalable deployment options, and robust API connectivity, offering Layer 7 DDoS protection and an OWASP-certified WAF. While it supports comprehensive traffic and security management, enhancements in platform integration, automation, and technical support could improve usability. The pricing model and policy management options could also see refinement. Commonly employed in securing web and mobile applications, it addresses threats including OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities and DDoS attacks, while providing seamless integration with Kubernetes and CI/CD pipelines.
What are the key features of NGINX App Protect?NGINX App Protect finds broader use in sectors like banking and telecommunications, where it secures high-performance digital infrastructures. Its application spans perimeter security, load balancing, and acts as a reverse proxy in environments necessitating stringent security, high throughput, and robust management. The tool's adaptability facilitates its deployment alongside containers, ensuring compatibility with contemporary development practices.
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