Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) comparison

Fortinet and Fastly are both solutions in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category. Fortinet is ranked #23 with an average rating of 9.0, while Fastly is ranked #25 with an average rating of 7.3. Additionally, 100% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 60% of Fastly users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service 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.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)

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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RahulArora

Global Head - DevOps and AIOps Startegist at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Cloud security has reduced web attack incidents and protects our public applications and APIs

The best features Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service offers include managed WAF rules, OWASP protection, bot mitigation, and Fortinet threat intelligence. In day-to-day work, I use all of the features: managed WAF rules, OWASP protection, bot mitigation, and Fortinet threat intelligence. This provides a strong baseline security without requiring deep WAF expertise internally. The integration with the broader Fortinet security system is a plus regarding the features. In terms of its impact on our organization, Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service has been positively protecting us from security threats and automated attacks. With this layered protection against common web and API attacks, we have noticed that the incidents and risks have been reduced to a greater extent.

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reviewer2161107

Staff Engineer at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees

Room for improvement with user interface while competitive pricing impresses

It is managed through Infrastructure as Code, so all configurations can be managed in the code itself, which is beneficial. Because it uses rules, it is easy to set up, and we have many different sites where the configurations are straightforward. Though the UI is not very interactive, which is a downside, we can manage many things. The UI is not very intuitive and could be better. However, we manage all the configurations through code, which is easy to maintain. It has extensive anomaly detection capabilities, so the traffic is classified into several categories where thresholds can be defined and customized based on false positives and false negatives. This is advantageous because you do not need to tweak it very often. Once you set it up, an audit once a quarter would suffice. Because The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) is API-driven, we have integrations with the CI/CD pipeline through GitHub Actions, making it easy to integrate.

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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

"Even when there is a high load on our servers, Cloudflare is able to cache the data and serve it to users, ensuring they can still access the website."

"New and innovative way to protect the client's data."

"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."

"The features of Cloudflare were found to be more beneficial and led to the decision to utilize it over other options."

"Cloudflare DNS is widely used, and it's good for websites. If we use Cloudflare DNS and update one record, it updates in their office instantly."

"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."

"The solution is very good at mitigating threats."

"It is a stable solution. I rate the stability a ten out of ten...I rate the scalability a ten out of ten."

More Cloudflare pros

"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."

"With this layered protection against common web and API attacks, we have noticed that the incidents and risks have been reduced to a greater extent."

"It is user-friendly and easy to work with."

"The technical support is really good."

"I rate the overall solution ten out of ten."

"The company provides technical support, and they are mostly available 24/7."

"The stability of the solution is excellent."

"Fortinet FortiWeb offers a variety of protections, including machine learning that helps protect web applications."

More Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service pros

"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."

"When configuring a web application firewall using Signal Sciences, we configure a rule whereby no one except a few people can access the application."

"Because The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) is API-driven, we have integrations with the CI/CD pipeline through GitHub Actions, making it easy to integrate."

Cons

"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 tool needs to improve caching of servers. The product needs to include PFX certificate as well."

"The documentation could improve for Cloudflare DNS."

"We are a product integrator and reseller, and we would like to have a better partner relationship, similar to a channel sales relationship. Sometimes we are on our own or get diverted by Cloudflare because they have direct sales, which competes with us and makes it difficult to build a relationship with this company since we want to be an MSP or a managed service provider for the solution."

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

"The analytics, basically the dashboard, doesn't have much to it."

"Technical support is not well developed. While there are good engineers, Cloudflare does not offer hands-on technical support to fix customer problems but rather a self-service model."

"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."

More Cloudflare cons

"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."

"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."

"Better visibility and more intuitive reporting would be helpful for Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service."

"I do not have any notes on improvement."

"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."

"The UI is not very intuitive and could be better."

"Even if we create some custom rules, Signal Sciences cannot capture some of the malicious traffic."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The product's pricing is minimal compared to other products."

"The price of the solution is expensive."

"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."

"When you compare Cloudflare DNS to other solutions, such as Akamai, the price is reasonable."

"The product's pricing is cheap."

"That is one of the great features. I was able to access the majority of the features and services for free."

"The solution is expensive when compared to other products but offers unlimited bandwidth."

More Cloudflare pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"The product has an affordable cost."

"Signal Sciences is pretty cheap compared to other solutions."

"The pricing is 50% less than Akamai."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Energy/Utilities Company

12%

Hospitality Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Retailer

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

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	3
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	3

No data available

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...

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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 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...

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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...

See all answers

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...

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 very competitive compared to other providers. The pricing is definitely a factor in our decision-makin...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Signal Sciences?

We do use it, but the UI can be improved as we mostly work through the CI/CD. It provides support, but sometimes it i...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 50% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 2% of the time

Azure DNS vs Cloudflare

Compared 2% of the time

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Compared 43% of the time

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Compared 15% of the time

Azure Web Application Firewall vs Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service

Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 16% of the time

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Compared 16% of the time

Azure Web Application Firewall vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)

Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cloudflare

January 2026

Download Cloudflare product report

Buyer's Guide

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

January 2026

Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service report

Download Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service product report

Buyer's Guide

The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)

December 2025

The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) report

Download The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) product report

Also Known As

Cloudflare DNS

No data available

Signal Sciences Next-Gen WAF, Signal Sciences RASP

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

Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service provides cloud-based web application protection, ensuring businesses secure their web apps against threats without hardware management, offering dynamic scalability and threat intelligence.

Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service offers an advanced security platform that effectively protects web applications from cyber threats by leveraging comprehensive threat intelligence and efficient traffic management. Its cloud-native architecture facilitates seamless integration, allowing for scalable security solutions that adapt to varying demand levels. Known for reducing complexity, it empowers organizations to focus on strategic initiatives without the need for dedicated on-premise resources. The service also provides robust analytics, enabling informed decision-making based on real-time threat landscapes.

What are the key features?

Auto-scaling: Automatically adjusts resources to handle increasing traffic without manual intervention.
Threat Intelligence: Uses comprehensive data to preempt and mitigate potential threats effectively.
Centralized Management: Simplifies monitoring and control of web application security through a single interface.
Robust Analytics: Offers detailed insights into traffic and threat patterns for better decision-making.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces the financial burden of maintaining hardware with a cloud-based approach.
Scalability: Easily adapts to business growth without requiring additional infrastructure investments.
Enhanced Security: Provides up-to-date threat protection, safeguarding critical business data.
Resource Optimization: Frees technical staff to focus on core business objectives by managing security centrally.

In industries such as finance and e-commerce where sensitive data protection is paramount, Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service is extensively implemented to secure web applications against potential vulnerabilities. It ensures compliance with stringent regulatory standards and protects consumer information, thus maintaining trust and brand reputation. Healthcare providers leverage it to protect patient records, a sector that demands the utmost security and confidentiality.

Fortinet

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

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

Chef, Adobe, Datadog, Etsy, GrubHub, Vimeo, SendGrid, Under Armour, Duo, AppNexus

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)

December 2025

Free Report: Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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