


Barracuda Web Application Firewall and Imperva Application Security Platform compete in the web application security space. Imperva seems to have the upper hand with its comprehensive cloud-based offerings, appealing to firms needing wide-ranging protection.
Features: Barracuda focuses on user-friendly features like bot traffic management and effective DDoS protection. Its simplicity in configuration, coupled with robust security capabilities, is highly valued. Imperva, on the other hand, emphasizes API security with features like threat detection and advanced bot protection. The cloud-based approach provides additional capabilities, offering extensive security suites.
Room for Improvement: Barracuda faces challenges with log storage and frequent false positives, demanding improved scalability and API security. Its console and interface could be more intuitive. Imperva's complex licensing and occasionally slow technical support are drawbacks. Enhancements in analytics depth, traffic visibility, and platform integration would benefit users, alongside refining interface and configuration options.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Barracuda offers various deployment options, including on-premises and hybrid models, generally praised for customer support despite occasional regional inconsistencies. Imperva caters to enterprise-level networks with extensive cloud-oriented deployment. While both receive positive customer feedback, Barracuda's local support sometimes lacks regional expertise, whereas Imperva excels in cloud flexibility but may struggle with support efficiency.
Pricing and ROI: Barracuda offers competitive pricing with good ROI, particularly in reducing manual security efforts, though the cost may be steep for smaller businesses. Imperva is generally more expensive with complex licensing models, yet its comprehensive security capabilities may justify the price for companies needing broad protection and custom configurations.
My experience with the pricing or licensing of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall is that many features can be accessed for free, so the pricing is definitely reasonable.
My development team is working on the latest language tools or applications, so until then, this web application firewall is essential in my network to protect my existing online assets or software.
We have seen a return on investment as the manual work for monitoring attacks and generating reports is reduced significantly, saving money.
They know how much money they are losing while the system is down, so by increasing the possibility of not having a down website or web application, return on investment can be calculated easily.
Regarding return on investment, ROI, I can say it is noticeable with Imperva Application Security Platform.
I would rate the technical support with Cloudflare as excellent every time I've had to contact them.
The technical support of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall rates between five and seven at maximum.
I would rate customer support a solid ten, as they are consistently on top of every issue, addressing them without delays and providing excellent support twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
The customer service and support from Barracuda have been excellent.
The customer service and support are exceptional, and I would give them a ten out of ten.
I would rate the technical support of Imperva DDoS as ten.
The response is satisfactory, though the gaps in enablement and lab sessions are clear.
My experience with technical support from Imperva Application Security Platform was good when I reached out to them.
The scalability of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall rates between 8 to 9, as it depends upon the use cases and what exactly the client needs.
The VMSS feature allows for easy upgrades or scaling of virtual editions.
I believe Barracuda Web Application Firewall is quite scalable, and I would rate it as an eight.
99% of customers are using the cloud version of Imperva DDoS protection, so they just purchase the new license and scale as needed.
I have not even needed support after deployment, since it has remained stable.
The stability of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall deserves a perfect 10 out of 10.
These result in clients complaining about blocked transactions on a daily basis.
Barracuda Web Application Firewall is stable in my experience.
It is also a stable product without much glitch or downtime.
One notable drawback is that, unlike Fortinet, which offers fast track labs and continuous enablement, Imperva Application Security Platform lacks lab access and fast track labs for enablement and product advertising.
The stability of Imperva DDoS is very good, as it seems they have a lot of servers around the world.
The product can improve by having more multitenancy capability, which is currently not available.
I think they're doing a good job with DNS and as support for any domains that I create or that my clients create, it's mandatory for me to ensure they have Cloudflare as their DNS provider.
And maybe something similar to Pushpin that Fastly has, which is an option where you can push messages that then can be scaled globally over the network.
Reducing false positives must be a priority.
The issues with false positives affect client transactions, leading to complaints about blocked transactions.
Tenable provides more comprehensive dark web scanning capabilities, which Barracuda could improve upon.
To convince my clients, a purely on-prem solution would be ideal since they are financial institutions.
Maybe Imperva DDoS could use endpoints to get information about the attacks before they commence from the endpoint level or establish cooperation with endpoint vendors to share this information.
Regarding return on investment, ROI, I can say it is noticeable with Imperva Application Security Platform.
I requested a quote from Barracuda's UK team, which was half the price I was quoted in Pakistan.
The pricing for Barracuda is quite high compared to other OEMs.
They are competitive when compared to other vendors including F5 and Imperva, who tend to have higher prices.
I would rate the pricing of Imperva DDoS as five, where one is very cheap and ten is very expensive.
The custom rules and the geo-redundant geographical rule feature, which allows me to implement geographical rules for customers, add significant value.
The best features of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall are multiple, including the WAF, rate limiter, and bot attack protection.
Cloudflare Web Application Firewall's advanced reporting and analytics tools add a layer that we're able to visualize and see before it actually hits the local firewall.
The most valuable features of Barracuda Web Application Firewall include advanced bot protection, DDoS protection, and addressing the top ten vulnerabilities.
This process protects against attacks including SQL injection or cross-site scripting, where Barracuda Web Application Firewall will block any request that matches attack signatures.
The most valuable feature of Barracuda Web Application Firewall is managing bot traffic.
I have utilized Imperva's Intelligent Traffic Filtering feature. This feature helps me understand how the attack is progressing and what is happening inside the requests to our website.
I believe the reputational analysis in Imperva Application Security Platform is effective for blocking security threats before impact.
The main drawback for signature-based approaches happens when there is a new zero-day attack that is not in the database.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Imperva Application Security Platform | 8.1% |
| Cloudflare Web Application Firewall | 5.4% |
| Barracuda Web Application Firewall | 1.9% |
| Other | 84.6% |

| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 16 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 6 |
| Large Enterprise | 6 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 26 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 8 |
| Large Enterprise | 11 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 84 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 25 |
| Large Enterprise | 62 |
Cloudflare Web Application Firewall's intuitive dashboard enables users to build powerful rules through easy clicks and also provides Terraform integration. Every request to the WAF is inspected against the rule engine and the threat intelligence curated from protecting over 27 Million websites. Suspicious requests can be blocked, challenged or logged as per the needs of the user while legitimate requests are routed to the destination, agnostic of whether it lives on-premise or in the cloud. Analytics and Cloudflare Logs enable visibility into actionable metrics for the user.
Barracuda Web Application Firewall is a game-changing cloud-connected security solution that enables organizations to safeguard both their applications and their data from an ever-growing array of advanced cyber threats. It offers protection from cyber attacks that target not only data and applications stored on the cloud but also those that are housed on web servers. 43% of the time a breach takes place via a compromised application. Barracuda Web Application Firewall prevents these types of breaches from occurring.
Barracuda Web Application Firewall denies hackers the ability to penetrate your system by using a number of techniques to keep your organization safely insulated. The first method of protection consists of two parts. The first part involves a thorough scanning of all inbound web traffic. This solution monitors everything that comes into the system. It employs IP reputation intelligence, which filters all incoming data. If the source of the data has a bad reputation, it is blocked by the firewall. Administrators now have a way of locking out many common threats that could otherwise compromise sensitive networks. These scans can also allow administrators to protect their systems from within as DLP (Data Loss Prevention) protocols. If any sensitive data attempts to leave, administrators will automatically be alerted and the data will be blocked from exiting.
Barracuda Web Application Firewall can also be set up to apply the AAA (Authentication, Authorization & Accounting) framework to an organization’s network. If an intruder manages to get past the authentication stage, the authorization protocols kick in. After the authorization stage comes accounting, which works by tracking and logging users’ activities so that administrators will be in a position to prevent long-term damage from being done. This three-step process can be implemented without requiring administrators to make changes to their applications.
Key Features
Some of Barracuda Web Application Firewall’s key features include:
Reviews from Real Users
Barracuda Web Application Firewall stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. One of the main ones is the robustness of the solution. Users are given access to a vast variety of security features in a single product.
PeerSpot user Muhammed S., a Presales Solutions Architect at Hilal Computers, notes this when he writes, "The solution offers multiple security features. There are machine learning features and great URL encryption. It also offers multi-protocol support against DDoS attacks."
Other reviewers note that Barracuda Web Application Firewall is user-friendly, easy to set up, stable, and reliable.
Imperva Application Security Platform delivers comprehensive and continuous web threat protection. Renowned for its ease of use, it shields web applications and databases from various cyber threats while integrating seamlessly with cloud and on-premises environments.
Imperva Application Security Platform protects web environments by offering advanced security measures against threats like DDoS attacks, SQL injections, and cross-site scripting. As a robust web application firewall, it provides extensive monitoring and bot management capabilities. The platform integrates content delivery networks for enhanced performance and scalability, while real-time traffic analysis ensures consistent protection. Despite its strengths, improvements can be made in policy management and customization options. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and more competitive pricing models. The inclusion of AI for enhanced analytics is also anticipated.
What are the key features of Imperva Application Security Platform?Imperva Application Security Platform is implemented in industries needing strong database and application protection. Companies use it to enforce geolocation restrictions and manage bots, benefiting sectors like finance and e-commerce where data security and threat monitoring are critical. Its ability to protect and ensure data accessibility makes it integral to business operations prioritizing cyber resilience.
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