Cequence Security vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services comparison

Cequence Security and F5 are both solutions in the API Security category. Cequence Security is ranked #5 with an average rating of 10.0, while F5 is ranked #9 with an average rating of 9.0. Cequence Security holds a 7.3% mindshare in APIS, compared to F5’s 5.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cequence Security users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of F5 users who would recommend it.

Cequence Security

Read 1 Cequence Security review

1,550 Views
791 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Read 4 F5 Distributed Cloud Services reviews

3,391 Views
407 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cequence Security

F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cequence Security and F5 Distributed Cloud Services based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Akamai, Imperva, Checkmarx and others in API Security.

To learn more, read our detailed API Security Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

API Security

March 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 884,873 peers since 2012

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

Cequence Security

Ranking in API Security

5th

Average Rating

10.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (22nd), Bot Management (9th)

F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Ranking in API Security

9th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

CDN (10th), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (20th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the API Security category, the mindshare of Cequence Security is 7.3%, down from 8.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 Distributed Cloud Services is 5.3%, down from 5.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Security Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cequence Security	7.3%
F5 Distributed Cloud Services	5.3%
Other	87.4%

API Security

Featured Reviews

reviewer2395431

Technology Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Detect and mitigate attacks with API protection

Compliance with standards like those in Europe often requires ensuring that APIs adhere to OAuth and other security protocols. Many organizations need to verify that their APIs meet these compliance requirements. We can include information about where an API was first recorded and create a detailed chart. Some competitors already offer this feature. It is simple to integrate. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Read full review

Mohan Janarthanan

Associate Vice President at Novac Technology Solutions

Centralized security has protected APIs and optimized multi‑cloud traffic management

F5 Distributed Cloud Services has been used for two years for DDoS protection, and there is a particular feature called API protection. Within API protection, there is malicious user mitigation, which is one particular technology that has been implemented. This is a kind of advanced bot attack prevention. Malicious user mitigation is an AI/ML-based technology that was introduced by the F5 team, and this particular MUG protects rate limiting. If some users are having anomaly detection or someone is trying to do a bot attack, it will create a CAPTCHA challenge for that particular user alone and not for all users. For example, if someone is trying to act as a rogue, it will create a CAPTCHA challenge in the backend system on that particular system, so they cannot try again and again at the same time. It is for a concurrent session, and it will give the CAPTCHA challenge. This MUG, malicious user mitigation, prevents bot attacks. F5 Distributed Cloud Services includes the real-time intelligence feature, which helps with threat response strategies from a threat intelligence perspective. For example, if there are geo-restrictions or geo-based restrictions, sometimes people may come in through proxy-based servers, and it will prevent that. The load balancing feature optimizes application performance. Observability is the basic piece where F5 got introduced. This observability piece provides end-to-end visibility on the application performance. It gives complete end-to-end visibility across network latency and application performance issues. Sometimes when it is getting more than 200 pages, it throws errors such as 300, 400, or whatever has been configured, including 500 errors. F5 Distributed Cloud Services has helped improve traffic management efficiency. Most applications are hosted in the Check Point and F5 firewall, F5 web application firewall, where applications and traffic management can be accessed in a single dashboard. Automated threat detection is a basic feature of F5 Distributed Cloud Services meant for that purpose. There are two scenarios with automated threat detection, which is provided by F5. It is a completely machine learning solution that came from the bot defense, and it automatically protects against sophisticated attacks.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It uses machine learning algorithms to detect attacks and manage API inventory."

"F5 Distributed Cloud Services provides a single unified console for security operations, network operations, and DevOps across all environments."

"In a multi-cloud or distributed cloud, there are many protection possibilities from data to web application or API protection, including bot mitigation."

"The main benefit is Web App Security, offering a complete security package from DDoS to web application firewall, API protection, and bot mitigation."

"F5 Distributed Cloud Services is the market leader in load balancers and manages traffic really well."

"Technical support from F5 is good compared to Cisco and HP."

"F5 is known for being the best load balancer in the market. Customers with an existing module can easily adopt additional modules without investing in new hardware."

Cons

"It is expensive."

"Last year there was a downtime of 30 minutes across the cloud distributed console, and that was the only impact observed."

"The pricing could be adjusted to better meet the needs of typical customers in regions like Poland, where the product is considered too expensive."

"The main issue is integration with other parts or products of F5, like on-premise WAF. There are some problems, mainly from the perspective of implementation and customer expectations, which sometimes differ from reality."

"For small players, it is completely not worth it."

"The main issue is integration with other parts or products of F5, like on-premise WAF."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which API Security solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

22%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

10%

Insurance Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cequence Security?

It is expensive.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Cequence Security?

We use the solution to detect and mitigate attacks. It helps prevent them while also protecting APIs and effectively managing API inventory.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Cequence Security?

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 Distributed Cloud Services?

I am not involved in sales, so I do not deal with the pricing aspect directly. I give the cost of the solution a four out of ten since it is not a cheap product.

See all answers

What needs improvement with F5 Distributed Cloud Services?

Last year there was a downtime of 30 minutes across the cloud distributed console, and that was the only impact observed. Since 30 minutes of downtime is huge for applications, maintenance, it impa...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for F5 Distributed Cloud Services?

F5 Distributed Cloud Services is being used for web application firewall along with API security, bot protection, and DDoS protection. There are two scenarios involving web applications and mobile ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Akamai API Security vs Cequence Security

Compared 13% of the time

Imperva Application Security Platform vs Cequence Security

Compared 10% of the time

Salt Security vs Cequence Security

Compared 9% of the time

Wallarm NG WAF vs Cequence Security

Compared 5% of the time

Checkmarx One vs Cequence Security

Compared 5% of the time

More Cequence Security Competitors

Radware Cloud WAF Service vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Compared 10% of the time

Azure Front Door vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Compared 10% of the time

Akamai vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Compared 10% of the time

Cloudflare vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Compared 9% of the time

More F5 Distributed Cloud Services Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Security Tools

February 2026

Download Cequence Security product report

Buyer's Guide

CDN

March 2026

Download F5 Distributed Cloud Services product report

Also Known As

Cequence ASP, Cequence Unified API Protection Platform

No data available

Overview

Cequence is a leader in API security and bot management, leveraging an innovative approach to protect applications and data against various threats while supporting AI productivity.

The Cequence Unified Application Protection Platform offers comprehensive security for applications and APIs, defending against attacks, business logic abuse, and fraud. Its integrated API Security and Bot Management solutions cover the entire API protection lifecycle, offering visibility and control over internal, external, and third-party APIs. Trusted by major organizations, Cequence secures over 10 billion daily API interactions and 4 billion user accounts.

What are the key features?

Unified Platform: Combines API security and bot management for comprehensive protection.
API Security: Discovers, monitors, and tests APIs, identifying risks and vulnerabilities.
Bot Management: Mitigates a range of bot attacks using a machine learning-based analytics engine.
Secure AI Gateway: Connects AI agents securely to applications and data, enabling enterprise scalability.

What benefits can you expect?

Scalability: Enables rapid deployment and scaling without coding.
Real-Time Protection: Offers immediate defense against sophisticated cyber threats.
Risk Mitigation: Identifies and remediates security risks to prevent data loss and fraud.
Improved Compliance: Ensures adherence to security standards and regulations.

Cequence Security is implemented across numerous industries, providing adaptable and robust security solutions that meet specific commercial, financial, and public sector requirements. It empowers businesses to maintain the integrity of their API ecosystems and protect sensitive data while facilitating AI-driven growth and innovation.

Cequence Security

F5 Distributed Cloud Services excel in enhancing security, optimizing web application delivery, and ensuring robust network performance. Users value its integrated Web Application Firewall, DDoS protection, global server load balancing, and intuitive management interface. It boosts organizational efficiency, reduces operational costs, and scales seamlessly, making it essential for businesses operating in distributed environments.

Sample Customers

T-Mobile, Lbrands, Ulta Beauty

Information Not Available

Find out what your peers are saying about Akamai, Imperva, Checkmarx and others in API Security. Updated: March 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our list of best API Security vendors.

We monitor all API Security reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.