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NGINX App Protect vs StackPath WAF comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

NGINX App Protect
Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)
15th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Container Security (21st), API Security (2nd)
StackPath WAF
Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)
30th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.5
Number of Reviews
1
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 NGINX App Protect is 1.8%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StackPath WAF is 0.1%, down from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
 

Featured Reviews

Tomaz Sobczak - PeerSpot reviewer
Signature-based detection, DOS protection, and bot protection
NGINX App Protect is easier to automate and configure, or manage from an API. This is good for securing applications. However, it's not suitable for more complex tasks. NGINX App Protect positively impacted performance changes. There's a cache or it works like a proxy, so it can speed up applications. It can also offload some functions from servers, which NGINX can handle faster.
FC
Stable product with an easy setup process
We use StackPath WAF to protect small websites for our customers The product’s most valuable is WAF. The authentication feature helps us protect WordPress sites. The product’s performance for caching feature needs improvement. It could provide high security to handle large traffic volumes for…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"NGINX App Protect's best features are auto-learning, which creates a profile of applications that are deployed, bot protection, and force protection, which lets you configure your brute force policy and alert for and prevent brute force attacks."
"I would say that the most valuable feature is the ability to operate in a DevOps environment and to be configured through API and pipeline by the developers themselves."
"I tested specific features and evaluated the solution against the Web Application Firewall. I conducted research to test different detection percentages. I did not use it directly for protection but for evaluation purposes."
"The stability of the product is very impressive since it handles 60,000 to 70,000 requests or transactions per second."
"It's very easy to deploy."
"The most valuable feature of NGINX App Protect is its flexibility."
"The most valuable feature is that there is a link in the system that will help to analyze the security of an application when something abnormal is found."
"The tool is not complex and is very user-friendly."
"The product’s most valuable is WAF. The authentication feature helps us protect WordPress sites."
 

Cons

"The setup of NGINX App Protect is complex. The full process took one week to complete. Additionally, we had to change the network infrastructure platform which took one month."
"Currently, the policies have to be handled manually, and you have to create from scratch, which can be a bit time-consuming, in a large environment."
"Areas for improvement would be if NGINX could scan for vulnerabilities and learn and update the signatures of DoS attacks."
"It doesn't have more advanced features like no false-positive security, which you can configure in Advanced WAF."
"As far as scalability, it takes a long time for deployment."
"It's challenging if you need to go for a high throughput."
"They could provide a better user interface."
"Right now, the tool doesn't provide an option revolving around update feeds, specifically the signature update option in the UI."
"The product’s performance for caching feature needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's price is reasonable."
"Our licensing costs are about $40,000 a year."
"There are no additional fees."
"There is a monthly or annual subscription to use NGINX App Protect. There are not any additional costs to the subscription."
"NGINX is not expensive."
"The licensing fees for this solution are pretty expensive for what it does, but there is no alternative."
"The pricing is reasonable because NGINX operates on an instance basis."
"NGINX App Protect is expensive."
"The product is affordable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Retailer
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NGINX App Protect?
I don't know the pricing yet because in my other project, I was not part of the buying side and I was just starting to look at options.
What needs improvement with NGINX App Protect?
It would be better if it were easier to implement and if there was more information from F5 regarding hardware requirements and specifications to deploy the service, to avoid disruptions after impl...
What do you like most about StackPath WAF?
The product’s most valuable is WAF. The authentication feature helps us protect WordPress sites.
What needs improvement with StackPath WAF?
The product’s performance for caching feature needs improvement. It could provide high security to handle large traffic volumes for multiple websites.
 

Also Known As

NGINX WAF, NGINX Web Application Firewall
StackPath Web Application Firewall
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Robotics Cats, Jewlr
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Web Services (AWS), F5, Microsoft and others in Web Application Firewall (WAF). Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.