

F5 Advanced WAF and Link11 are security solutions competing in the web application security category. F5 Advanced WAF has an edge due to its extensive feature set, though Link11's cloud deployment capabilities and support stand out.
Features: F5 Advanced WAF includes network detection intelligence, behavior analysis, and anti-bot protection with stable and reliable service. It allows for granular policy control and module integration for enhanced security. Link11 provides effective bot filtering and SQL injection defenses, coupled with customizable rule creation. However, it needs improvement in rule granularity and bot management.
Room for Improvement: F5 Advanced WAF's interface and reporting tools need enhancements for intuition and user-friendliness, along with better cloud integration and transparent pricing. Link11 should focus on improving its bot management databases and simplifying rule creation processes.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: F5 Advanced WAF supports diverse environments including on-premises and hybrid clouds, but its support is noted for mixed response times. Link11 is praised for its adaptability to cloud infrastructures and is known for responsive and reliable support, enhancing its reputation.
Pricing and ROI: F5 Advanced WAF is considered expensive with high licensing and support costs, yet it offers substantial ROI for enterprise-level protection. It helps prevent revenue losses and maintains compliance. Link11, on the other hand, offers balanced pricing with predictable costs, making it a cost-effective solution despite higher initial investments.
A large volume of malicious traffic was blocked at the WAF layer, preventing issues from reaching the backend servers, which reduced emergency troubleshooting and application team involvement, ultimately lowering operational stress and incident cost savings without requiring additional security tools.
Subscription models offer clearer ROI due to a more competitive pricing scheme.
F5 Advanced WAF protects our organization and provides security, achieving a return on investment.
F5 Advanced WAF provides the insights and notifications I need in terms of reporting and alerting.
Both response time and availability need to be improved.
If there is a bug, the support is usually understanding and resolves issues.
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.
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.
Whenever something goes wrong or we have to whitelist anything, it clearly indicates where to go and where I have to make modifications.
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.
After implementing F5 Advanced WAF, we saw a significant reduction in web-based attacks such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and automated malicious traffic, allowing us to block real threats before they reached the backend server.
F5 Advanced WAF offers the best features that are capable of stopping any type of attack, and it is a really reliable and stable product that you can rely on to stop any type of attack.
The perpetual license, despite an initial higher cost, lacks transparency regarding support expiration.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| F5 Advanced WAF | 7.8% |
| Link11 | 1.0% |
| Other | 91.2% |

| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 26 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 15 |
| Large Enterprise | 30 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 5 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 3 |
| Large Enterprise | 2 |
F5 Advanced WAF is a web application security solution for financial and government sectors, e-commerce, and public-facing websites. It offers protection against various attacks, including botnets, web scraping, and foreign entities. The solution can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud and is often used with other security tools. Its most valuable features include DDoS and DNS attack protection, SSL uploading, anomaly detection, and the ability to input custom rules.
F5 Advanced WAF has helped organizations to expose more services to the public while providing an extra layer of protection, preventing revenue loss, and securing connectivity.
Link11, headquartered in Germany, offers cloud-based IT security services designed to prevent business disruptions, enhancing cyber resilience for IT networks and critical applications globally. Their services benefit industries across Europe, North America, and Asia with comprehensive protection.
Link11 provides a range of security and performance solutions, including Network Security, Web Application & API Protection, and Application Performance solutions. Their offerings encompass Network DDoS protection and an all-in-one WAAP solution, featuring Web Application Firewall, Web DDoS Protection, Bot Management, API Protection, and Secure CDN & DNS. A high-performance global network, monitored 24/7 by the Link11 Security Operations Center, ensures robust defense mechanisms.
What are the key features of Link11?Link11 is suited for industries wanting to protect web applications against Layer 7 DDoS attacks, cross-site scripting, SQL injection, and phishing attempts. Deployed on cloud models, Link11 integrates as a fundamental security layer, offering effective bot management and securing websites with multiple technologies.
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