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F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) vs Reblaze comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 31, 2025

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
7.2
F5 BIG-IP AFM offers ROI and cost efficiency when integrated, but standalone ROI is below average, despite perceived value.
Sentiment score
7.2
Reblaze is cost-efficient, satisfies security and regulatory needs, offers 100% uptime, and reduces expenses compared to alternatives.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
F5 BIG-IP AFM support is praised for professionalism but needs faster ticket resolution and improved recommendation accuracy.
Sentiment score
8.3
Reblaze support is expert and responsive, with some time zone challenges but effective solutions and committed service.
The responses are generally fast and effective.
The customer service is excellent, and I rate it ten out of ten.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager offers scalable, efficient management for hybrid setups, supporting organizational growth and cloud migration.
Sentiment score
7.6
Reblaze offers seamless scalability and robust security, ensuring efficient performance and protection across diverse, high-demand environments on public clouds.
The solution is highly scalable, allowing me to add or remove nodes and manage traffic without interruption, which is essential for meeting application demands.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
F5 BIG-IP AFM is lauded for its stability and reliability, with high user ratings and minimal operational issues.
Sentiment score
8.3
Users appreciate Reblaze for its stable, uninterrupted performance, effective traffic management, and swift issue resolution despite initial setup challenges.
 

Room For Improvement

F5 BIG-IP AFM is costly, complex, needs dashboard improvements, enhanced features, better integration, and concerns over CPU and support.
Users desire an intuitive interface, better session management, automation, unified view, enhanced WAF, simplified rules, and cost reduction.
Having advanced technology similar to other vendors like Palo Alto for zero-day attack prevention would be valuable.
The appliance and features could be enhanced further, especially in terms of security.
 

Setup Cost

F5 BIG-IP AFM is costly but justified by its features, with pricing for licenses and potential extra feature fees.
Reblaze offers flexible and affordable pricing with discounts, flat rates, regional variations, and scalability options on private cloud setups.
The standard license is reasonably priced, but additional features like the WAF can be more expensive.
If considering a one-stop solution that provides load balancing, DNS security, AAA authentication, and firewalling on the same hardware, the cost is reasonable.
 

Valuable Features

F5 BIG-IP AFM offers robust network security, ease of use, and supports cloud migration with AI-driven features.
Reblaze offers user-friendly, comprehensive security with real-time monitoring, DDoS protection, and effective traffic management, enhancing overall threat defense.
The solution provides behavioral analysis via AI to detect malicious traffic.
The most valuable features for me are stability, availability, and security, along with the ability to manage multiple features to secure my applications.
 

Categories and Ranking

F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall...
Ranking in Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Reblaze
Ranking in Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection
16th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Web Application Firewall (WAF) (22nd), Bot Management (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) is 1.3%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Reblaze is 0.7%, down from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection
 

Featured Reviews

Pawel Augustyn - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides outstanding resource management and application security across multiple geographies
The most valuable features for me are stability, availability, and security, along with the ability to manage multiple features to secure my applications. The solution also monitors and blocks unconventional requests and maintains security efficiently. The scalability feature also allows me to manage and allocate resources dynamically without disrupting production traffic.
SS
Offers flexibility with a kill switch for bypassing Reblaze if needed and provides a reliable Layer 7 defense against attacks
There is still some room for improvement when it comes to bot management from Reblaze because they are relatively new compared to other vendors in the town. AWS WAF, the Web Application Firewall from AWS, has a vast database of bad IP addresses due to its long-standing presence in this business. Reblaze, being a new entrant, is still building its database of bad IP addresses and malicious systems. So, Reblaze needs to work on that aspect. But other than that, I don't think scaling Reblaze has been an issue. There were some initial glitches, but they were all sorted out. So currently, I would say that the bot management and the database are areas they should focus on for further improvement.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection solutions are best for your needs.
859,129 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
17%
Government
9%
Performing Arts
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Educational Organization
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Media Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 Advanced Firewall Manager?
The standard license is reasonably priced, but additional features like the WAF can be more expensive. There are plenty of technical documents and a supportive community available, which helps mana...
What needs improvement with F5 Advanced Firewall Manager?
The appliance and features could be enhanced further, especially in terms of security. Some features like the WAF ( /categories/web-application-firewall-waf ) firewall may seem expensive compared t...
What do you like most about Reblaze?
It is a highly resilient product that can handle significantly larger workloads and high volumes of traffic with ease.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Reblaze?
We found the cost to be a bit on the higher side, starting at approximately three to four thousand dollars for a small configuration. It is worth mentioning that these figures might not be current....
What needs improvement with Reblaze?
There is a potential improvement regarding simplifying the complexity of rule creation. It would be beneficial if it had a workflow or a feature that could fine-tune settings based on high-level re...
 

Also Known As

F5 AFM, F5 Advanced Firewall Manager
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office
eBay, AirAsia, Taboola, Reebonz, IAI, Payoneer, mySupermarket, William Hill, Fanduel
Find out what your peers are saying about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) vs. Reblaze and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
859,129 professionals have used our research since 2012.