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F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) comparison

F5 and Fastly are both solutions in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category. F5 is ranked #19 with an average rating of 10.0, while Fastly is ranked #27 with an average rating of 7.7. F5 holds a 1.0% mindshare in WAF, compared to Fastly’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of F5 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 50% of Fastly users who would recommend it.
F5 Distributed Cloud Services
Read 2 F5 Distributed Cloud Services reviews
  • 459 Views
  • 266 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (po...
Read 3 The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) reviews
  • 664 Views
  • 353 Comparison Views
50% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary
We performed a comparison between F5 Distributed Cloud Services and The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Web Application Firewall (WAF) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

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To learn more, read our detailed F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) Report (Updated: June 2025).
Buyer's Guide
F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)
June 2025
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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

F5 Distributed Cloud Services
Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)
19th
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.4
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
CDN (10th), API Security (8th), AWS Marketplace (26th)
The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (po...
Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)
27th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category, the mindshare of F5 Distributed Cloud Services is 1.0%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) is 1.0%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
 

Featured Reviews

FM
Protects web applications with comprehensive security features
All features are valuable. In a multi-cloud or distributed cloud, there are many protection possibilities from data to web application or API protection, including bot mitigation. This is a comprehensive package for web application security. The main benefit is Web App Security, offering a complete security package from DDoS to web application firewall, API protection, and bot mitigation.
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Archana Heeralal - PeerSpot reviewer
A good solution to implement web application firewall for applications
There are some lags in Signal Sciences for the web application firewalls. Even if we create some custom rules, Signal Sciences cannot capture some of the malicious traffic. There is a little bit of complexity with custom rules that should be removed. Signal Sciences should add a feature called rate limiting with multiple options, wherein I can create a rate limiting based on the cookie request or the IP.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The main benefit is Web App Security, offering a complete security package from DDoS to web application firewall, API protection, and bot mitigation."
"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."
"In a multi-cloud or distributed cloud, there are many protection possibilities from data to web application or API protection, including bot mitigation."
"When configuring a web application firewall using Signal Sciences, we configure a rule whereby no one except a few people can access the application."
"Fastly (Signal Sciences) integrates and tags the intermittent traffic based on patterns. It generates signals and provides them in a dashboard where we can view them and decide whether to allow or deny traffic. It's a more advanced and easy-to-navigate dashboard."
"The product's most valuable feature is its ability to set up the rules easily."
 

Cons

"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 main issue is integration with other parts or products of F5, like on-premise WAF."
"The pricing could be adjusted to better meet the needs of typical customers in regions like Poland, where the product is considered too expensive."
"The areas that could be improved in Signal Sciences include the effectiveness of rules, as many didn't function optimally and required custom rule-writing to address bypasses for WAF."
"Fastly don't support caching for China users. That's the only feature lacking compared to Akamai."
"Even if we create some custom rules, Signal Sciences cannot capture some of the malicious traffic."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The pricing is 50% less than Akamai."
"The product has an affordable cost."
"Signal Sciences is pretty cheap compared to other solutions."
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Web Application Firewall (WAF) solutions are best for your needs.
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859,129 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Insurance Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Educational Organization
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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 out of ten since it is not a cheap product.
See all answers
What needs improvement with F5 Distributed Cloud Services?
It's a long way to be perfect, of course, as with all solutions. The main issue is integration with other parts or products of F5, like on-premise WAF. There are some problems, mainly from the pers...
See all answers
What is your primary use case for F5 Distributed Cloud Services?
There are two main use cases for Distributed Call Services: DDoS or Distributed attacks protection and WAF web application security or firewall.
See all answers
What do you like most about Signal Sciences?
The product's most valuable feature is its ability to set up the rules easily.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Signal Sciences?
The pricing is 50% less than Akamai.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Signal Sciences?
Fastly don't support caching for China users. That's the only feature lacking compared to Akamai.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

F5 Silverline Managed Services vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services Logo
F5 Silverline Managed Services vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services
Compared 21% of the time
Akamai vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services Logo
Akamai vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services
Compared 17% of the time
Akamai API Security vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services Logo
Akamai API Security vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services
Compared 16% of the time
Imperva Web Application Firewall vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services Logo
Imperva Web Application Firewall vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services
Compared 11% of the time
F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services Logo
F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services
Compared 9% of the time
More F5 Distributed Cloud Services Competitors
Cloudflare vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) Logo
Cloudflare vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)
Compared 19% of the time
AWS WAF vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) Logo
AWS WAF vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)
Compared 15% of the time
Azure Front Door vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) Logo
Azure Front Door vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)
Compared 11% of the time
Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) Logo
Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)
Compared 9% of the time
F5 Advanced WAF vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) Logo
F5 Advanced WAF vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)
Compared 8% of the time
More The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
CDN
June 2025
F5 Distributed Cloud Services reportDownload F5 Distributed Cloud Services product report
Buyer's Guide
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
June 2025
The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) reportDownload The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) product report
 

Also Known As

No data available
Signal Sciences Next-Gen WAF, Signal Sciences RASP
 

Overview

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.

F5

The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) provides web application and API protection, RASP, rate limiting, bot protection and DDoS purpose built to eliminate the challenges of legacy WAF.

Fastly
 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Chef, Adobe, Datadog, Etsy, GrubHub, Vimeo, SendGrid, Under Armour, Duo, AppNexus
Buyer's Guide
F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)
June 2025
Free Report: F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)
Find out what your peers are saying about F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
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