Fastly vs NetScaler comparison

Fastly and NetScaler are both solutions in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category. Fastly is ranked #18 with an average rating of 9.0, while NetScaler is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.5. Additionally, 100% of Fastly users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of NetScaler users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 30, 2025

NetScaler and Fastly are key players in the networking and CDN space. Fastly stands out with next-generation CDN capabilities, emphasizing real-time content delivery and innovative edge compute functions, while NetScaler excels with comprehensive application delivery and load balancing solutions. Fastly has an edge in innovation, offering advanced features at a higher cost.

Features: NetScaler includes versatile load balancing, application acceleration, and strong security measures. Fastly offers rapid content delivery, real-time analytics, and cutting-edge edge computing functionalities.

Room for Improvement: NetScaler could enhance integration with modern cloud services, broaden its security features for virtual platforms, and simplify its user interface for new users. Fastly needs to address its support responsiveness, refine pricing structures for small to medium enterprises, and expand CDN functionalities for non-tech users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NetScaler is known for extensive documentation and effective customer support, providing guidance throughout deployment. Fastly offers an easy integration process but experiences variability in support efficiency. Both platforms ensure satisfactory customer service, though NetScaler provides more tailored support options.

Pricing and ROI: NetScaler demands higher initial costs but delivers considerable returns due to enhanced network efficiency and scalability. Fastly adopts a usage-based pricing model, which might lead to higher operational expenses, yet its swift content delivery offers significant ROI where rapid data handling is essential. NetScaler suits businesses preferring upfront investment, while Fastly is ideal for those okay with variable expenses for advanced speed and features.

To learn more, read our detailed Fastly vs. NetScaler Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Fastly vs. NetScaler

December 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

Cloudflare

Featured Reviews

Herb Angle

Owner at Hga consulting

Has helped manage client domains with streamlined access control and threat visibility

I don't know what areas could be improved with Cloudflare WAF; Cloudflare is constantly improving and adding features to their feature set. They're doing a good job, and as far as DNS and support for any domains that I create or my clients create, it's mandatory for me to make sure that they have Cloudflare as their DNS provider. The Cloudflare load balancing capability hasn't really helped in enhancing my website's uptime and resiliency because we don't really get that much traffic; it's mostly remote users, and web hosting is done by a web hosting service. It doesn't pay to try to host your own website.

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Patel Parth

Technical support engineer at Adobe

Optimized ecommerce performance and improved access control through image handling and IP filtering

I believe that Fastly should provide guidelines for their WAF blocking rules. It should be public what the rules are that are blocking their contents. I believe Fastly should provide regional IP addresses instead of POP IPs. Fastly should provide features similar to Cloudflare regarding a block list. Additionally, a POP address should be there with a wide range of IP addresses provided, public static IP addresses, so customers can integrate egress IPs. Fastly should provide WebP image processing on the backend instead of on the fly. It would be a very useful feature to avoid unnecessary time for browser to browser and local cookies. I believe that Fastly service has a few gaps. We are not getting quick responses from Fastly technical support engineers. Sometimes they depend on their D3 developers. There should be transparency.

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Letarik Terefe

Information Technology Division Director at Ethiopian Roads Administration

Offers better visibility into user sessions compared to other solutions

Improvements are needed to address the issue of machines becoming unregistered, ensuring stability for end users. Troubleshooting with Citrix support can be challenging, so clearer diagnostics would be beneficial. As for global server load balancing, it works well on-premises, depending on user volume and service stability. Overall, it's satisfactory for us.

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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

"Smaller businesses have seen great ROI due to the low investment and strong performance."

"It is a fast and secure DNS."

"Many websites require an SSL certificate because they sell stuff and want SSL. Cloudflare comes with an SSL certificate built in. It's automatic. You sign yourself up for Cloudflare, and an SSL certificate automatically protects your website. You don't necessarily need a certificate if you have a connection between your website and your host, the server, Cloudflare, and the host."

"Its ease of integration with Office 365 and the fact that it's a good product compared to what I had before"

"The most valuable feature is the web application firewall."

"Cloudflare consolidates various capabilities into one product, streamlining processes."

"It's a great product because it's scalable, has great coverage, and is mature with good defenses against DDoS attacks."

"We're using dynamic components to build flexible pages to create and manage Git merge requests for code and reviews."

More Cloudflare pros

"The product's initial setup phase is straightforward."

"Fastly uses configuration versioning, where you can deploy a new version in less than one minute."

"Fastly combines both the CDN side and the Signal Sciences next-generation WAF, which is closely integrated with the CDN, allowing us to use both products seamlessly."

"The product helps our organization to access sites located in different regions quickly."

"Its initial setup process is straightforward."

"Fastly provides CDN, WAF, image optimization, and IP restriction."

"Support is good; the product works as advertised. We have a Slack connection with them. So we can basically ask for help, live, engage, and ring when they respond. Very quickly."

"Compute@Edge features are valuable to me."

More Fastly pros

"The solution is extremely stable."

"Citrix is good for application protection."

"The solution is very stable. We don't have any downtime or issues of that nature."

"The GSLB feature allows us to move services between data centers. We can do this in either a planned or unplanned manner. We have experienced service provider outages at our primary data center and GSLB will kick in to automatically modify DNS records to point to a secondary data center (active/passive). We also make use of GeoIP information to point clients to the closest data center for accessing applications."

"We appreciate that this solution facilitates our access to Citrix internet."

"Its customer support service is good."

"The most valuable feature for us is the application firewalling in Citrix NetScaler, ensuring only valid traffic enters our environment."

"Very stable."

More NetScaler pros

Cons

"The pricing could be improved."

"Cloudflare could offer a better view or maybe dashboards of the main resources used in the client."

"In the last two years, there has been a certain amount of downtime when using the VDM."

"It would be beneficial for us if Cloudflare could offer a scrubbing solution. This would involve taking a snapshot of my website and keeping it live during a DDoS attack, ensuring uninterrupted service for our users. DDoS attacks are typically short in duration, and having Cloudflare maintain the site's availability from its secure network would enhance the overall user experience. I would appreciate it if Cloudflare could consider implementing this feature. Many organizations already utilize similar capabilities in their CDN platforms, where a static snapshot of the web page is displayed during DDoS attacks. In terms of features, Cloudflare needs to enhance its resilience and stay more focused on adopting new technologies. For instance, solutions like F5 XC Box, Access Solution, and Distributed Cloud Solution have impressive features, and Cloudflare should strive to match and exceed those capabilities. There's a need for improvement in areas like AI-based DDoS attacks and Layer 7 WAF features. Cloudflare should prioritize enhancements in areas such as behavioral DDoS and protection against SQL injection attacks, considering the prevalent trend of public exposure to the internet for business reasons. Overall, Cloudflare needs to invest more in advancing its feature set."

"I would like Cloudflare to offer a dedicated account manager for large enterprise clients like us."

"We have noticed multiple instances where Cloudflare falsely indicates that our servers are down, even when there is no actual load on them. This makes it challenging for us to identify the exact issue."

"The product needs to improve its automation."

"There should be a specific price list for enterprise-level customers."

More Cloudflare cons

"The solution's pricing could be better."

"The product should provide improved bot detection and management."

"Fastly's customer service area needs improvement."

"What I don't like about Fastly is that they charge a heavy price."

"Support is not that great."

"We are not getting quick responses from Fastly technical support engineers. Sometimes they depend on their D3 developers."

"It is missing a "staging" platform to deploy a test configuration with all of the real settings, which would allow us to properly test before putting it into production."

"Stronger analytics would be helpful, like showing configurations that haven't served a certain amount of traffic in a while. With many properties, things can get lost track of - duplicates or unused configurations not properly decommissioned."

"If one device or switch fails, the failover to another device is not seamless which is painful."

"The setup was not simple."

"Citrix ADC can improve if it provides a more user-friendly interface and clear working protocols. Citrix is not working with classic RFC, it is working with Citrix RFC, which is not common in the world. If engineers of Citrix can provide us with more information on working with the classic IP networks it would be a benefit."

"Deployment is complicated."

"Citrix ADM needs to improve on its additional features and reduce the communication ports."

"The technical support has room for improvement."

"The interface could be improved, some customers struggle with that."

"The tool needs to add a feature where we can access the network policy access manager."

More NetScaler cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In terms of licensing costs, we don't pay for licensing for Cloudflare. We only establish communication, then for peering, Cloudflare takes care of the cross-connection in different data centers."

"We don't have any issues with the price."

"I think the pricing is competitive. I think as far as licensing is concerned it's pretty straightforward because it's based on domain. It's just that sometimes domains could be tricky with some customers."

"The price is reasonable."

"So far I use free tier and happy with it. You can subscribe to business package if needed."

"I give the price a five out of ten."

"For Cloudflare, I recommend it heavily for small businesses with revenue under a couple of million dollars. Onboarding is easy, and they even have a free plan. This makes it simple for businesses in the $100,000-$500,000 range to try it out and see its value, allowing them to scale up their infrastructure as needed."

"The pricing for the service is reasonable, neither excessively cheap nor prohibitively expensive. It aligns well with the value of their solution."

More Cloudflare pricing and cost advice

"Fastly is less expensive than one of its competitors."

"The solution is cheaper than other products in the market."

"The pricing has been very competitive."

"In my opinion, Fastly is priced competitively."

"I've generally found Fastly to be very competitive in pricing, especially around Compute@Edge."

"It is an expensive solution."

"You need to pay a premium price for the tool."

"It all depends on the features that will be used and the number of accesses."

"Citrix Web App and API Protection are in the middle when we talk about pricing and licensing"

"Citrix ADM costs us approximately $5000 per month."

"It is very pricey, but we get it. If you need the best, money shouldn't be a problem."

"We have all the features and functions of Citrix because we have a premium license."

"I rate the pricing an eight out of ten since it is expensive."

"The firewall license is included by default, with no additional costs."

"The pricing for Citrix Web App and API Protection is unreasonable. I don't know the exact price, but I heard it's tens of thousands and it's a bit too much for the small country I live in."

More NetScaler pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Retailer

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	46
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	25

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	45
Midsize Enterprise	23
Large Enterprise	57

Questions from the Community

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?

Cloudflare. We are moving from Akamai prolexic to Cloudflare. Cloudflare anycast network outperforms Akamai static GR...

See all answers

Which would you choose - Cloudflare DNS or Quad9?

Cloudflare DNS is a very fast, very reliable public DNS resolver. It is an enterprise-grade authoritative DNS service...

See all answers

What do you like most about Cloudflare?

Cloudflare offers CDN and DDoS protection. We have the front end, API, and database in how you structure applications.

See all answers

What do you like most about Fastly?

Support is good; the product works as advertised. We have a Slack connection with them. So we can basically ask for h...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fastly?

You need to pay a premium price for the tool.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fastly?

I believe that Fastly should provide guidelines for their WAF blocking rules. It should be public what the rules are ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Citrix ADC?

The most valuable feature for us is the application firewalling in Citrix NetScaler, ensuring only valid traffic ente...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix ADC?

After deployment, Citrix Netscaler shifted to a subscription-based license scheme for support, which is slightly more...

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What needs improvement with Citrix ADC?

Citrix NetScaler is a robust product, but mastering it requires significant learning and training due to its complexi...

See all answers

Comparisons

Quad9 vs Cloudflare

Compared 50% of the time

Akamai vs Cloudflare

Compared 4% of the time

Imperva Application Security Platform vs Cloudflare

Compared 3% of the time

Myra Security DDoS Protection vs Cloudflare

Compared 2% of the time

AWS Shield vs Cloudflare

Compared 1% of the time

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Akamai vs Fastly

Compared 22% of the time

Imperva Application Security Platform vs Fastly

Compared 6% of the time

Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs Fastly

Compared 5% of the time

Azure Front Door vs Fastly

Compared 5% of the time

F5 Advanced WAF vs Fastly

Compared 4% of the time

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Fortinet FortiADC vs NetScaler

Compared 8% of the time

HAProxy vs NetScaler

Compared 8% of the time

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs NetScaler

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs NetScaler

Compared 7% of the time

Azure Front Door vs NetScaler

Compared 2% of the time

More NetScaler Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cloudflare

January 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Fastly

January 2026

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Buyer's Guide

NetScaler

December 2025

Download NetScaler product report

Also Known As

Cloudflare DNS

No data available

Citrix ADC, Citrix NetScaler VPX, NetScaler Console, NetScaler Web Application Firewall, NetScaler VPX - Customer Licensed

Overview

Cloudflare enhances web performance and security with features like CDN caching and DDoS mitigation while providing easy DNS management and intuitive setup through its user-friendly dashboard.

Cloudflare is recognized for its comprehensive web security and performance solutions. Speed improvements are achieved through caching mechanisms and DDoS protection, combining ease of DNS management with flexible page rules. The robust analytics and threat insight tools provide valuable data, assisted by a user-friendly dashboard allowing quick setup and configuration. An API offers dynamic DNS settings ensuring low latency and high performance across the globe.

What are Cloudflare's key features?

CDN Caching: Enhances website speed through content delivery network caching.
Web Application Firewall: Protects websites from online threats.
DDoS Mitigation: Shields against distributed denial-of-service attacks.
DNS Management: Offers easy-to-use and flexible domain management.
SSL Certificates: Ensures secure connections between users and servers.
Analytics: Provides insights with robust analytics tools.

What benefits and ROI should users evaluate?

Enhanced Security: Strengthening web security with DDoS and firewall protection.
Speed Improvement: Faster content delivery with CDN caching.
Operational Simplicity: Simplifies website optimization through a user-friendly interface.
Scalable Solutions: Scales with global reach, lowering latency for improved performance.
Cost Efficiency: Offers layers of valuable functionality with pricing options.

Cloudflare finds utility across industries for DNS management and defense mechanisms. Its content delivery network assures fast content distribution and fortified security. Businesses integrate features like web application firewalls, load balancing, end-to-end SSL, and zero trust to protect websites from cyber threats while ensuring resilience and reliable performance.

Cloudflare

Fastly helps the world’s most popular digital businesses keep pace with their customer expectations by delivering fast, secure, and scalable online experiences. Businesses trust Fastly’s edge cloud platform to accelerate the pace of technical innovation, mitigate evolving threats, and scale on demand.

Fastly

NetScaler is an advanced application delivery controller providing load balancing, SSL offloading, and enhanced network performance. Users benefit from its robust security features, seamless Citrix integrations, and cost-effective infrastructure.

Designed to optimize and secure application delivery, NetScaler offers high availability and supports data centers with its load balancing and reverse proxy capabilities. It ensures effective traffic management and provides valuable insights into network health while integrating easily with Citrix products. Users appreciate its centralized management via ADM and flexible deployment options tailored to their infrastructure needs. However, there is room for improvement in its management tools, interface, and documentation, alongside a need for security enhancements and better licensing flexibility.

What are the most important features of NetScaler?

Flexible Deployment: Allows adaptation to different environments and needs.
Load Balancing: Efficiently distributes traffic to enhance performance.
SSL Offloading: Offloads encryption to optimize server performance.
Content Switching: Enables tailored content delivery based on user needs.
Robust Security: Includes firewalling and AAA authentication.
Global Server Load Balancing: Distributes load across multiple locations for high availability.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Delivers an efficient infrastructure without high costs.
Reliable Performance: Ensures consistent delivery and resilience.
High Availability: Maintains network uptime and service quality.
Technical Support: Offers responsive assistance for operational issues.

NetScaler is implemented across sectors like healthcare, finance, and education to guarantee secure remote access, enhance application network management, and support virtual desktops. Its application gateways and VPN access capabilities make it ideal for industries needing secure and efficient connectivity solutions.

NetScaler

Sample Customers

Trusted by over 9,000,000 Internet Applications and APIs, including Nasdaq, Zendesk, Crunchbase, Steve Madden, OkCupid, Cisco, Quizlet, Discord and more.

Twitter, Airbnb, Alaska Airlines, Pinterest, Vimeo, The Guardian, The New York Times, Ticketmaster, The Drupal Association, Opera, about.com, imgur, Etsy, Foursquare, GitHub, New Relic, shopify, Shazam, Firebase

ABB Schweiz, Aer Lingus, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Amnet Technology Solutions, Aramex International, Ascenty, Atos, Autodesk

Buyer's Guide

Fastly vs. NetScaler

December 2025

Free Report: Fastly vs. NetScaler

Find out what your peers are saying about Fastly vs. NetScaler and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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