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F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs Fortinet FortiWeb vs Imperva Application Security Platform 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:
 

ROI

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
Fortinet FortiWeb users value cost-effectiveness, security enhancements, reduced operational expenses, and efficient deployment with notable infrastructure cost savings.
Sentiment score
6.3
Users report Imperva's significant ROI, citing cost recovery, DDoS protection, reduced cloud bills, and improved efficiency and compliance.
The major return on investment is the security of our data.
They know how much money they are losing while the system is down, so by increasing the possibility of not having a down website or web application, return on investment can be calculated easily.
 

Customer Service

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
6.7
Fortinet FortiWeb support is generally well-rated, though some users experience delays and suggest improvements in language support.
Sentiment score
7.2
Imperva's customer service is praised for expertise but criticized for inconsistency, with recent improvements noted by some users.
I would rate the technical support of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) nine out of ten.
The expertise of engineers varies across different time zones, affecting the effectiveness of the support provided, especially during our daytime.
I would rate the technical support of Imperva DDoS as ten.
 

Scalability Issues

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
7.2
Fortinet FortiWeb provides scalable options, with virtual and cloud models offering flexibility, though initial sizing is crucial.
Sentiment score
7.9
Imperva Application Security Platform offers strong scalability and reliability, though costs and on-premises flexibility may present challenges.
99% of customers are using the cloud version of Imperva DDoS protection, so they just purchase the new license and scale as needed.
 

Stability Issues

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
7.8
Fortinet FortiWeb is stable and reliable, with efficient support despite occasional memory, firmware, and setup issues.
Sentiment score
7.8
Users find Imperva Application Security Platform reliable and stable, rating its stability highly despite occasional minor issues.
We have not faced any significant issues during deployments.
The stability of Imperva DDoS is very good, as it seems they have a lot of servers around the world.
 

Room For Improvement

F5 BIG-IP LTM is expensive, complex, lacks flexibility, and needs better UI, reporting, support, cloud integration, and pricing.
Fortinet FortiWeb users desire improved patching, integration, usability, detection accuracy, reporting, hardware support, training, and cloud deployment options.
Imperva needs UI improvements, competitive pricing, better integration, real-time analytics, and enhanced support for efficiency and transparency.
The cloud-based security service of Fortinet FortiWeb could be enhanced to match the level of providers like Cloudflare.
Maybe Imperva DDoS could use endpoints to get information about the attacks before they commence from the endpoint level or establish cooperation with endpoint vendors to share this information.
 

Setup Cost

F5 BIG-IP LTM pricing is higher with complex licensing, but performance justifies the cost; AWS Marketplace is convenient yet costlier.
Fortinet FortiWeb offers affordable pricing and flexible licensing options, making it a cost-effective choice against competitors like F5.
The Imperva platform's pricing is competitive with advanced features, ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 annually and no setup costs.
For VM machines, the price increases based on CPU configurations of 2, 4, or 8 CPUs.
Fortinet FortiWeb is cost-effective compared to solutions like F5.
I would rate the pricing of Imperva DDoS as five, where one is very cheap and ten is very expensive.
 

Valuable Features

F5 BIG-IP LTM provides traffic management, security, and customization with iRules, SSL offloading, and an intuitive interface.
Fortinet FortiWeb offers exceptional security with features like advanced threat detection, application control, and seamless integration with Fortinet products.
Imperva's platform offers robust security features, user-friendly integration, real-time analytics, and scalability for diverse enterprise protection needs.
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 machine learning-based threat detection is significant, as it uses a learning method that eases the configuration burden, making it very useful.
I have utilized Imperva's Intelligent Traffic Filtering feature. This feature helps me understand how the attack is progressing and what is happening inside the requests to our website.
 

Mindshare comparison

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)16.1%
NetScaler14.3%
HAProxy11.1%
Other58.5%
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
Web Application Firewall (WAF) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiWeb7.3%
F5 Advanced WAF9.0%
Microsoft Azure Application Gateway7.5%
Other76.2%
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Imperva Application Security Platform7.4%
Cloudflare18.8%
Arbor DDoS11.4%
Other62.4%
Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection
 

Featured Reviews

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) 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.
Nasir Akbar - PeerSpot reviewer
Security measures have improved but patch releases create challenges
There is room for improvement in Fortinet FortiWeb. The team was only from FortiGate itself. They are making new firmware versions and releasing them before checking, which leads to many bugs in these versions. The reason for not giving Fortinet FortiWeb an eight is because every 45 to 60 days, they are releasing a patch. Without checking these patches, users face many issues, which are called bugs, and some policies will not work.
Mitesh D Patel - PeerSpot reviewer
Effectively defends against threats like cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, and others
It does bring value. For example, consider a BFSI customer. Their application is critical and represents their brand. Without a WAF, an attack could take their application down, harming their reputation. It leads to hampering the customer's workflow. With an Imperva WAF, they protect against attacks like DDoS or SQL injection, ensuring their application remains available and customers are happy. That's the main benefit for both the customer and the organization. The impact depends on the customer's use case. If their business primarily operates online, a CDN is beneficial for traffic optimization. Moreover, the integration options depend on the specific use case of our customers. Generally, integration capabilities are good with SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) parts.
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Comparison Review

it_user68487 - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 6, 2013
CloudFlare vs Incapsula: Web Application Firewall
CloudFlare vs Incapsula: Round 2 Web Application Firewall Comparative Penetration Testing Analysis Report v1.0 Summary This document contains the results of a second comparative penetration test conducted by a team of security specialists at Zero Science Lab against two cloud-based Web…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business62
Midsize Enterprise31
Large Enterprise84
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business47
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise30
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business83
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise61
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiWeb?
The WAF profiles has been effective at mitigating web-based threats.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiWeb?
The pricing for Fortinet FortiWeb varies with different models having different prices. It depends on the requirement...
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiWeb?
There is room for improvement in Fortinet FortiWeb. The team was only from FortiGate itself. They are making new firm...
Which Web Application Firewall (WAF) would you recommend? R&S or Imperva?
Imperva is a strong choice, given their security focus and ongoing R&D into the product in areas such as bot mana...
What do you like most about Imperva Incapsula?
We use Imperva DDoS to stop DDoS attacks and reduce the amount of unwanted queries against web services or web scraping.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Imperva DDoS?
The pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Imperva DDoS are reasonable for the amount of technical capabilities provi...
 

Also Known As

F5 BIG-IP, BIG-IP LTM, F5 ASM, Viprion, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition , Crescendo Networks Application Delivery Controller, BIG IP
No data available
Imperva Bot Management, Imperva Web Application Firewall, Imperva API Security
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc.
Lush, Barnabas Health, Options, Riverside Healthcare, Hillsbourough County Schools, Columbia Public Schools, Schiller AG
Hitachi, BNZ, Bitstamp, Moz, InnoGames, BTCChina, Wix, LivePerson, Zillow and more.
Find out what your peers are saying about NetScaler, F5, Microsoft and others in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC). Updated: September 2025.
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