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F5 Silverline Managed Services vs Fortinet FortiWeb comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 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
6.6
F5 Silverline Managed Services offers effective cybersecurity solutions, with variable ROI perceptions and appreciation for time and cost savings.
Sentiment score
7.3
Users experience significant cost savings, enhanced security, and efficient performance with easy deployment of Fortinet FortiWeb, despite some measurement challenges.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.1
F5 Silverline's customer support is responsive but varies; users praise personalization but note challenges with escalations and response times.
Sentiment score
6.8
Fortinet FortiWeb's customer support is inconsistent, praised for responsiveness but criticized for slow responses and varying regional satisfaction.
Their support team is responsive, and they deliver timely updates, addressing any glitches promptly.
They resolve the issues by joining me to fix them.
The expertise of engineers varies across different time zones, affecting the effectiveness of the support provided, especially during our daytime.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
F5 Silverline offers scalable managed services, efficiently handling enterprise demands with flexible expansion and seamless capacity management.
Sentiment score
7.2
Fortinet FortiWeb effectively scales, supporting thousands, though upfront sizing and hardware constraints are key for optimal performance.
F5 Silverline Managed Services is scalable enough without observed limitations.
The solution is fully scalable, and I would give it a rating of ten on a scale of one to ten for scalability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
F5 Silverline delivers stable performance with strong monitoring, minimal downtime, effective support, and high stability ratings despite occasional issues.
Sentiment score
7.9
Fortinet FortiWeb offers stable performance with rare issues, quickly resolved through support, ensuring reliable high-traffic management.
They offer regular updates, and overall, I would rate the stability of the solution as nine out of ten.
We have not faced any significant issues during deployments.
 

Room For Improvement

F5 Silverline needs improved pricing, integration, user interfaces, automation, API, and enhanced features like AI and bot detection.
Fortinet FortiWeb needs enhancements in throughput, cloud presence, integration, and user-friendly features to improve competitiveness and scalability.
Introducing preemptive support prompts would reduce the manual effort required for creating policies or blocking specific IPs.
Improvements could include the creation of highly optimized profiles.
The cloud-based security service of Fortinet FortiWeb could be enhanced to match the level of providers like Cloudflare.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users view F5 Silverline pricing as competitive but costly, with room for negotiation and flexible licensing options.
Fortinet FortiWeb offers competitive, cost-effective pricing with flexible options, appealing to enterprises for value, transparency, and performance.
On a scale where ten is very expensive, I would rate the pricing as three.
The solution is expensive
Fortinet FortiWeb is cost-effective compared to solutions like F5.
 

Valuable Features

F5 Silverline Managed Services provides easy setup, robust security features, excellent scalability, and effective DDoS protection with comprehensive reporting.
Fortinet FortiWeb offers advanced security features with seamless integration, intuitive interface, and enhanced threat detection using AI and machine learning.
The monitoring tab displays GET and POST requests in a readable format, making it accessible even to non-tech-savvy individuals.
It allows for centralized management of certificates, protecting applications from top ten attacks like SQL injection and cross-site scripting.
The machine learning-based threat detection is significant, as it uses a learning method that eases the configuration burden, making it very useful.
 

Categories and Ranking

F5 Silverline Managed Services
Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)
23rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (14th)
Fortinet FortiWeb
Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
95
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 Silverline Managed Services is 1.2%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiWeb is 8.4%, up from 7.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
 

Featured Reviews

Archana Heeralal - PeerSpot reviewer
A reasonably priced product with a good UI, but the navigation is difficult, and the support team takes a long time to respond
Since we use the solution’s cloud, the product has more control over the back end. The customer will not have control. It is part of the product’s feature. When we get more complex requirements or if we want to write more complex tools, the support team will have the visibility to write them because they have control. The navigation is difficult to use. The navigation should be improved. Other products are quite straightforward. If I try to implement a new application and do an onboarding, it is not very easy. We must go to one feature, inside which there will be more features. It should be simplified, and a menu should be provided.
Kacem CHAMMALI - PeerSpot reviewer
Even if an attacker detects the IP address, they can't connect directly to the server due to FortiWeb
The xFF, or X-Forwarded-For feature, IP reputation, and protected hostname. We can block access using the IP address, so no one can connect to our web server or website using the real IP. They need to use the FQDN instead. Even if an attacker detects the IP address, they can't connect directly to the server due to FortiWeb and the option to protect the hostname. All traffic passes through FortiWeb. Machine learning capabilities in FortiWeb: I don't use machine learning all the time. In the initial phase of FortiWeb deployment, we use the learning process to detect the traffic passing through FortiGate to our website.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
13%
Insurance Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Educational Organization
31%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Is Citrix ADC (formerly Netscaler) the best ADC to use and if not why?
For ADC, any ADC can do a good job. But in case if you want to add WAF functionality to the same ADC hardware you have to look for other ADC's like F5, Imperva, Radware, Fortinet, etc.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 Silverline Managed Services?
The solution is quite reasonably priced, with costs being lower in comparison to competitors. On a scale where ten is very expensive, I would rate the pricing as three. It offers cost savings and i...
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?
Fortinet FortiWeb is cost-effective compared to solutions like F5. It offers strong performance for the price, providing substantial value for our customers.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiWeb?
The cloud-based security service of Fortinet FortiWeb could be enhanced to match the level of providers like Cloudflare ( /products/cloudflare-reviews ). Right now, it is more focused on on-prem so...
 

Also Known As

F5 Silverline Web Application Firewall, F5 Silverline DDoS Protection
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office
Lush, Barnabas Health, Options, Riverside Healthcare, Hillsbourough County Schools, Columbia Public Schools, Schiller AG
Find out what your peers are saying about F5 Silverline Managed Services vs. Fortinet FortiWeb and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
857,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.