F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs Radware Alteon comparison

F5 and Radware are both solutions in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category. F5 is ranked #20 with an average rating of 9.0, while Radware is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.9. F5 holds a 1.8% mindshare in WAF, compared to Radware’s 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of F5 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Radware users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

Radware Alteon and F5 Distributed Cloud Services are competing products in the network management and application delivery market. F5 Distributed Cloud Services has the upper hand with its comprehensive features that justify a higher investment.

Features: Radware Alteon offers robust load balancing, application acceleration, and SSL offloading ensuring reliability and security. F5 Distributed Cloud Services provides extensive cloud-native capabilities, including application security, identity management, and a scalable platform. The primary difference is F5's focus on comprehensive cloud services compared to Alteon's focus on load balancing performance.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: F5 Distributed Cloud Services offers a straightforward deployment model and responsive customer service aimed at quick resolutions. Radware Alteon, while easy to deploy, is noted for creating a more personalized experience through its customer support. The distinction is F5's streamlined cloud-centric model versus Alteon's personalized support.

Pricing and ROI: Radware Alteon is competitive with lower setup costs and predictable ROI offering value with its pricing model. F5 Distributed Cloud Services, despite a higher initial cost, is seen as delivering superior ROI due to a feature-rich offering. The main difference lies in immediate cost versus long-term returns from features.

To learn more, read our detailed F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs. Radware Alteon Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs. Radware Alteon

March 2026

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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

Cloudflare Web Application ...

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category, the mindshare of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall is 5.4%, down from 6.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 Distributed Cloud Services is 1.8%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Radware Alteon is 2.1%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Web Application Firewall (WAF) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cloudflare Web Application Firewall	5.4%
Radware Alteon	2.1%
F5 Distributed Cloud Services	1.8%
Other	90.7%

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Featured Reviews

Dean Barisic

CTO at PlayNirvana

Advanced security reporting has protected high-traffic betting platforms from constant attacks

I don't see room for improvement to Cloudflare Web Application Firewall. One thing I don't know much about because we have a dedicated IT team for that, and I'm not involved with Cloudflare much anymore. But if I were to compare them to F5, I would like to see more features that F5 offers. F5 has an option to bring the whole infrastructure, the whole WAF and all their packages, Bot Management, and everything else on your infrastructure. You need to install certain services from their side, and then you can choose if you would like requests to hit your servers immediately or if requests need to be proxied through F5 backbone. That would be a nice addition because we have 90% of the traffic as legit traffic coming from whitelisted servers. If it comes from whitelisted servers, I don't need to go every request through the backbone; I could easily just IP whitelist everything. Then I could maybe have Bot Management on my infrastructure that drastically reduces the price of Cloudflare. I would like to see Push CDN more improved in the next release of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall. 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. From our perspective, if we have a listener that listens for stock updates, I would just need to have one processor that pushes those updates to the Cloudflare API, and then Cloudflare would broadcast that message to all listeners. Cloudflare will check the order of the message, and if you, as a customer, are not connected or have some kind of network issue, when you reconnect, you will receive the latest state and missing updates.

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Mohan Janarthanan

Associate Vice President at Novac Technology Solutions

Centralized security has protected APIs and optimized multi‑cloud traffic management

F5 Distributed Cloud Services has been used for two years for DDoS protection, and there is a particular feature called API protection. Within API protection, there is malicious user mitigation, which is one particular technology that has been implemented. This is a kind of advanced bot attack prevention. Malicious user mitigation is an AI/ML-based technology that was introduced by the F5 team, and this particular MUG protects rate limiting. If some users are having anomaly detection or someone is trying to do a bot attack, it will create a CAPTCHA challenge for that particular user alone and not for all users. For example, if someone is trying to act as a rogue, it will create a CAPTCHA challenge in the backend system on that particular system, so they cannot try again and again at the same time. It is for a concurrent session, and it will give the CAPTCHA challenge. This MUG, malicious user mitigation, prevents bot attacks. F5 Distributed Cloud Services includes the real-time intelligence feature, which helps with threat response strategies from a threat intelligence perspective. For example, if there are geo-restrictions or geo-based restrictions, sometimes people may come in through proxy-based servers, and it will prevent that. The load balancing feature optimizes application performance. Observability is the basic piece where F5 got introduced. This observability piece provides end-to-end visibility on the application performance. It gives complete end-to-end visibility across network latency and application performance issues. Sometimes when it is getting more than 200 pages, it throws errors such as 300, 400, or whatever has been configured, including 500 errors. F5 Distributed Cloud Services has helped improve traffic management efficiency. Most applications are hosted in the Check Point and F5 firewall, F5 web application firewall, where applications and traffic management can be accessed in a single dashboard. Automated threat detection is a basic feature of F5 Distributed Cloud Services meant for that purpose. There are two scenarios with automated threat detection, which is provided by F5. It is a completely machine learning solution that came from the bot defense, and it automatically protects against sophisticated attacks.

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RaynielBadiola

Technical Manager at Secur Links

Load balancing has simplified deployments and improves application performance monitoring

I don't think of features that will make Radware Alteon better because it is already better, but to be able to compete also with other competitors, the price is something to consider. It is not actually that expensive, but for their level, there are other load balancers with the same feature, but they have a lower price, so pricing is the only point I can give. In the future, I would like to see some other security features added, such as DDoS, which is Distributed Denial of Service. Currently, it has the Web Application Firewall feature, but in the future, they can also add a DDoS feature or a more in-depth DDoS feature.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product has improved our security posture by blocking bad actors."

"There is a huge signature repository"

"The solution protects our application, which runs on the HTTP protocol, from DDoS attacks."

"We extensively use the solution every day. The solution is very stable; we haven’t seen any glitches."

"We like that there's load balancing, firewall capabilities, DDoS protection, et cetera, all covered by Cloudflare."

"The rate limiting features and customizations in terms of URL match and applying policies are valuable to me."

"Caching is the most valuable feature of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall."

"Very glad the WAF rulesets works out of box, and requires very little tuning or maintenance."

More Cloudflare Web Application Firewall pros

"Technical support from F5 is good compared to Cisco and HP."

"F5 Distributed Cloud Services is the market leader in load balancers and manages traffic really well."

"In a multi-cloud or distributed cloud, there are many protection possibilities from data to web application or API protection, including bot mitigation."

"The main benefit is Web App Security, offering a complete security package from DDoS to web application firewall, API protection, and bot mitigation."

"F5 Distributed Cloud Services provides a single unified console for security operations, network operations, and DevOps across all environments."

"F5 is known for being the best load balancer in the market. Customers with an existing module can easily adopt additional modules without investing in new hardware."

"The most valuable aspect is that it establishes user security."

"his solution allows me to secure applications, by blocking suspicious traffic based on the signature that has been enabled for that particular application."

"The solution has been very stable."

"My experience with technical support is that they were great."

"The simplicity of the GUI is what I like the most about Radware Alteon."

"I like the web GUI. It's very intuitive and easy to use."

"The best thing about Alteon is its automated threat detection and blocking."

"Alteon helps us troubleshoot issues. It provides us statistics on application, server, and load balancer response that we can use to identify problems or latency."

More Radware Alteon pros

Cons

"The ModSecurity core rules need to be updated."

"They have some limitations with third-party integrations."

"There could be an option to duplicate the cluster to maintain the consistency of rules."

"The rate limiting functionality could be enhanced, as we find it somewhat limited."

"Cloudflare Web Application Firewall should include port forwarding features."

"The product can improve by having more multitenancy capability, which is currently not available."

"Cloudflare should update the version of the ModSecurity core rule set that they run on."

More Cloudflare Web Application Firewall cons

"For small players, it is completely not worth it."

"Last year there was a downtime of 30 minutes across the cloud distributed console, and that was the only impact observed."

"The main issue is integration with other parts or products of F5, like on-premise WAF."

"The main issue is integration with other parts or products of F5, like on-premise WAF. There are some problems, mainly from the perspective of implementation and customer expectations, which sometimes differ from reality."

"The pricing could be adjusted to better meet the needs of typical customers in regions like Poland, where the product is considered too expensive."

"For small players, it is completely not worth it."

"Scalability should be based on customer requirements."

"I would like this solution to have an integration tool that will convert configuration from other software, into readable values for this product during implementation."

"The reverse proxy piece is a little bit complicated. If the reverse proxy were easier to implement, that would help."

"I would like for the load balancing to work with premier and the cloud, a mix of premium and cloud."

"The interface implementation can be improved."

"The solution could be more robust."

"I would like to see the loading documentation improved."

"We’d like the solution to include more security features in the standard license."

More Radware Alteon cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The annual licensing fee is $10,000 USD."

"Cloudflare offers different types of subscriptions for businesses, enterprises, and personal users, and the pricing is negotiable."

"It starts at $20 and can easily go up to $200 monthly"

"It is not too pricey."

"We pay $210 per month for CloudFlare WAF."

"The solution's pricing option needs to be more transparent for enterprise clients."

"What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? I believe the pricing is not the best, but it's reasonable and acceptable. We also use the McAfee system in parallel. In terms of pricing, its okay - not great, but not bad either. It falls in the middle, which is acceptable. In terms of support licensing, last time, we were searching for a solution, and we considered products from resellers rather than directly from the cloud provider. However, the pricing we encountered was exceptionally high. As a result, we are inclined to select support from the reseller."

"The pricing model is very straightforward compared to the competition. You just pay per month for the product and usage."

More Cloudflare Web Application Firewall pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"It is the best in the industry. It was better than the competition, and that is what made us go ahead with them."

"The cost of Radware Alteon is mid-ranged."

"The Radware team we work with always gives us the best price. As a university, our budget is limited. We need something that is the best solution but with a low or economical pricing. We are getting a better price than competitors. The shift from Barracuda to Alteon was primarily due to cost efficiency. It is very economical, and the price fits our business needs."

"It is cost-efficient. That is why we have gone with Alteon. As a product, it is efficient and robust. We have not faced any issues with the device."

"The pricing is better than the competition. It is getting more pricey as the years go on, as more people are migrating to it, and as the technology gets better."

"Radware Alteon is less expensive than many of the other competitors."

"The solution is cost-efficient."

"Its pricing is very good. It is very competitive. Radware Alteon is the leader in the market. At a lesser price, we get a good product and also good support. Other vendors who are providing load balancers charge separately for two items. You have the hardware cost, and you have the support cost, whereas, in the case of Radware, you get both in a single package."

More Radware Alteon pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

17%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

11%

Construction Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	6

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	17
Large Enterprise	22

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cloudflare Web Application Firewall?

The price of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall is reasonable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cloudflare Web Application Firewall?

I don't see room for improvement to Cloudflare Web Application Firewall. One thing I don't know much about because we...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Cloudflare Web Application Firewall?

We are using Cloudflare Web Application Firewall's advanced reporting and analytics tools with their Zero Trust, so e...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 Distributed Cloud Services?

I am not involved in sales, so I do not deal with the pricing aspect directly. I give the cost of the solution a four...

See all answers

What needs improvement with F5 Distributed Cloud Services?

Last year there was a downtime of 30 minutes across the cloud distributed console, and that was the only impact obser...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for F5 Distributed Cloud Services?

F5 Distributed Cloud Services is being used for web application firewall along with API security, bot protection, and...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Radware AppWall?

There is room for improvement in reducing the number of false positives I receive. We could benefit from more configu...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Radware AppWall?

We are a system integrator company in the Philippines, and we are selling Radware Alteon product. Radware Alteon is u...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Radware AppWall?

I would rate Alteon nine out of ten. The main reason I would recommend it is Radware's excellent support. I rate the ...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cloudflare Web Application Firewall

March 2026

Cloudflare Web Application Firewall report

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Buyer's Guide

CDN

March 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Radware Alteon

March 2026

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Also Known As

Cloudflare WAF

No data available

Alteon, Radware AppWall

Overview

Cloudflare Web Application Firewall's intuitive dashboard enables users to build powerful rules through easy clicks and also provides Terraform integration. Every request to the WAF is inspected against the rule engine and the threat intelligence curated from protecting over 27 Million websites. Suspicious requests can be blocked, challenged or logged as per the needs of the user while legitimate requests are routed to the destination, agnostic of whether it lives on-premise or in the cloud. Analytics and Cloudflare Logs enable visibility into actionable metrics for the user.

Cloudflare

F5 Distributed Cloud Services excel in enhancing security, optimizing web application delivery, and ensuring robust network performance. Users value its integrated Web Application Firewall, DDoS protection, global server load balancing, and intuitive management interface. It boosts organizational efficiency, reduces operational costs, and scales seamlessly, making it essential for businesses operating in distributed environments.

Radware Alteon is an advanced network solution offering exceptional load balancing, SSL offloading, and integrated application protection. Its high performance and user-friendly interface make it ideal for enhancing server capacity and reliability in demanding environments.

Radware Alteon enhances performance with robust load balancing, SSL-TLS acceleration, and comprehensive security features. Its automated threat detection and real-time analytics provide crucial insights and mitigation within high-demand scenarios. Users benefit from seamless server and application traffic management along with web application firewall capabilities, ensuring high availability and compliance with security standards. Scalability is supported through strong hardware and ease of integration, although improvements are needed in cloud service automation and interface simplicity. Challenges include response times and live traffic monitoring, with limited resources in support and documentation. Scalability faces constraints due to throughput limitations.

What are the key features of Radware Alteon?

Load Balancing: Optimizes traffic distribution across servers to enhance performance.
SSL Offloading: Alleviates pressure on servers via SSL-TLS acceleration and certificate management.
Application Protection: Integrates security measures to safeguard applications effectively.
Threat Detection: Automates identification of threats to ensure immediate action.
Real-time Analytics: Provides insights into network performance and security status.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

High Availability: Reliable load management ensures consistent service uptime.
Scalability: Supports network growth efficiently with robust hardware capabilities.
Performance Efficiency: Enhances server functionality by offloading intensive tasks like SSL processing.
Enhanced Security: Protects applications with integrated security features, reducing vulnerabilities.

Radware Alteon is crucial for industries requiring reliable load balancing across multiple servers and applications. It supports inbound and outbound traffic management, focusing on web application protection and data center security. Businesses in telecommunications, finance, and retail utilize its capabilities for server and link balancing, ensuring adherence to strict security standards with seamless functionality across diverse network environments.

Radware

Sample Customers

crunchbase, udacity, marketo, okcupid, zendesk

Information Not Available

Convergys

Buyer's Guide

F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs. Radware Alteon

March 2026

Free Report: F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs. Radware Alteon

Find out what your peers are saying about F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs. Radware Alteon and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.

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