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Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service vs NetScaler comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 30, 2025

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
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
CDN (1st), WAN Optimization (4th), Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (1st), Managed DNS (1st), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (5th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (13th)
Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF...
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Web Application Firewall (WAF) (23rd)
NetScaler
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
107
Ranking in other categories
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (1st), Network Management Applications (5th), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (10th)
 

Featured Reviews

HA
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.
Meshack Okundi - PeerSpot reviewer
Network and Security Engineer (Contractor) at Clymora Technology Limited
Protects high-risk financial and government websites from evolving threats while helping meet compliance requirements
Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service meets all the basic capabilities expected of a WAF, offers numerous features, and is affordable compared to other WAFs in the market. For others considering Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service, my advice is to focus on the cost-effectiveness, as it is relatively cheaper compared to other WAFs while still offering the necessary features for blocking attacks. Fortinet has created a holistic product that integrates features including AI and API protection, with straightforward automation and articulate reporting that even less experienced engineers can use easily. There is something small or specific that could further improve Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service. I give Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service a rating of nine out of ten.
LD
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"What I like best about Cloudflare is that my company can use it to trace and manage applications and monitor traffic. The solution tells you if there's a spike in traffic. Cloudflare also sends you a link to check your equipment and deployment and track it through peering, so it's a valuable tool."
"The solution is stable, and the DNS servers are simple to use."
"Generally, I am satisfied with this product."
"The web application firewall brought us good security and a view of the accesses/blocks of the entire domain and subdomain that were accessed both by region (country) and IPs."
"Cloudflare consolidates various capabilities into one product, streamlining processes."
"It's very user-friendly."
"The most valuable feature of Cloudflare is the GUI. You are able to control the solution very well through the interface. There is a lot of functionality that is embedded in the service."
"Cloudflare has many features."
"Fortinet FortiWeb offers a variety of protections, including machine learning that helps protect web applications."
"The company provides technical support, and they are mostly available 24/7."
"Fortinet has created a holistic product that integrates features including AI and API protection, with straightforward automation and articulate reporting that even less experienced engineers can use easily."
"I rate the overall solution ten out of ten."
"Regular updates are one of the aspects I appreciate about Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service, and it is provided by a leading brand in cybersecurity."
"The technical support is really good."
"It is a secure tool."
"The stability of the solution is excellent."
"The web application firewall is one feature I found valuable in the solution."
"The most valuable feature is load balancing."
"I like the ease of use. It's easy to manage. I also like it's ease of use with virtualization technologies with applications."
"Citrix Director has been great. It gives us one pane of glass to be able to monitor what's going on with the user sessions as well as to keep on top of the virtual desktops, any servers that may be offline or behaving suspiciously, or any troublesome spots like disconnections. We also use Citrix Studio for maintaining the actual servers that are hosting these applications. We use it for delivery groups in case we need to modify delivery groups in regards to which groups have access to which applications. It has been very helpful."
"The web application firewalling component is a powerful feature."
"Available on any device and can be accessed on a wide area network."
"My customers have told me that the performance of this solution is good."
"It is a complete solution for those looking for an all-in-one."
 

Cons

"Cloudflare doesn't have a reverse lookup. We can only do a DNS lookup to get the IP address from the hostname. It doesn't work if you want to look up the hostname from an IPA address."
"It would be good if Cloudflare could have more servers for better traffic routing or an increase in the traffic routed. This is what I'd like to improve in Cloudflare."
"Cloudflare should add more documentation and pricing to the cloud version."
"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 solution could work at being less expensive. It costs a lot to use it."
"Sometimes their more advanced caching tools can cause higher first-byte times and problems with JavaScript."
"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."
"The solution could use more analytics on the backend to give us more insights into everything. More reports would be helpful."
"The usability of the interface could be improved as it is not user-friendly."
"The utilization of AI in Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service still needs to be upgraded and improved."
"The only thing I encountered was related to integration, mostly concerning translation."
"Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service could be improved with better logging capabilities, as many come with less spacing, necessitating a FortiSIM for enhanced functionality."
"The usability of the interface could be improved as it is not user-friendly."
"I do not have any notes on improvement."
"Technical support sometimes takes a little longer because of the multilevel ticket priority."
"Overall the price of Citrix ADC could be more competitive."
"The SLB could be better, and they should improve it."
"Their upgrades are not very backward compatible, and sometimes they mess up."
"I feel that Citrix NetScaler's customer support needs to improve."
"It was challenging explaining to customers that it's no longer NetScaler but ADC, and now it's not just ADC but also the rebranding from NetScaler."
"The tool needs to add a feature where we can access the network policy access manager."
"Does not include security. A web application firewall would be a nice addition."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is a premium product, so it is very expensive."
"We are using the free tier of the solution."
"A free version of the solution is available."
"The pricing for the service is reasonable, neither excessively cheap nor prohibitively expensive. It aligns well with the value of their solution."
"The product's pricing is cheap."
"So far I use free tier and happy with it. You can subscribe to business package if needed."
"The solution is expensive when compared to other products but offers unlimited bandwidth."
"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."
Information not available
"The client pays for the Citrix NetScaler license annually."
"It all depends on the features that will be used and the number of accesses."
"We are quite happy with price. It's not too high."
"Citrix Web App and API Protection are in the middle when we talk about pricing and licensing"
"Our licensing fees including technical support are approximately $3,500 USD."
"Its licensing cost is much higher than other products, but it is acceptable because it is a one-time investment, and we are getting our requirements fulfilled when we buy this product. So, there is no issue with the pricing."
"You get the value for your money. There aren't any hidden fees."
"We have a yearly licencing fee, and there are no additional costs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Energy/Utilities Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Hospitality Company
9%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business46
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise25
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise57
 

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...
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...
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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service?
My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service is good, and i...
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service?
Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service could be improved with better logging capabilities, as many come with less s...
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service?
Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service protects our customers' websites, including e-commerce sites, normal website...
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...
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...
What needs improvement with Citrix ADC?
Citrix NetScaler is a robust product, but mastering it requires significant learning and training due to its complexi...
 

Also Known As

Cloudflare DNS
No data available
Citrix ADC, Citrix NetScaler VPX, NetScaler Console, NetScaler Web Application Firewall, NetScaler VPX - Customer Licensed
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Trusted by over 9,000,000 Internet Applications and APIs, including Nasdaq, Zendesk, Crunchbase, Steve Madden, OkCupid, Cisco, Quizlet, Discord and more.
Information Not Available
ABB Schweiz, Aer Lingus, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Amnet Technology Solutions, Aramex International, Ascenty, Atos, Autodesk
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service vs. NetScaler and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,310 professionals have used our research since 2012.