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

Cloudflare and Fastly are both solutions in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category. Cloudflare is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.6, while Fastly is ranked #28 with an average rating of 7.5. Cloudflare holds a 7.4% mindshare in WAF, compared to Fastly’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Cloudflare users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 50% of Fastly users who would recommend it.
Cloudflare Web Application ...
Read 24 Cloudflare Web Application Firewall reviews
  • 4,909 Views
  • 2,631 Comparison Views
95% willing to recommend
The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (po...
Read 3 The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) reviews
  • 672 Views
  • 348 Comparison Views
50% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

Fastly Next-Gen WAF and Cloudflare Web Application Firewall compete in web application security. Fastly Next-Gen WAF excels in pricing and support, while Cloudflare stands out with its advanced feature set for those willing to invest.

Features: Fastly Next-Gen WAF provides robust visibility and analytics, adaptive learning, and real-time insights. Cloudflare Web Application Firewall offers comprehensive DDoS protection, integrated global network delivery, and a broad range of security protocols. Fastly focuses on immediate data interpretation, whereas Cloudflare emphasizes scalability within an integrated platform.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fastly Next-Gen WAF features straightforward deployment with responsive service. Cloudflare Web Application Firewall requires a more complex setup due to numerous configuration options but offers commendable support. Fastly's approach benefits quick integrations, while Cloudflare's detailed setup allows for extensive customization.

Pricing and ROI: Fastly Next-Gen WAF is cost-effective and offers a rapid return on investment, suitable for budget-conscious businesses. Cloudflare Web Application Firewall has a higher initial setup cost but provides significant ROI through its expansive feature offerings, appealing to businesses seeking long-term security investment returns.

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To learn more, read our detailed Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) Report (Updated: June 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)
June 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 Web Application ...
Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (po...
Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)
28th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category, the mindshare of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall is 7.4%, up from 6.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) is 1.0%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
 

Featured Reviews

SachidDoshi - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers a huge signature repository and is superiorly effective in mitigating DDoS attacks
The solution's learning curve can still be further reduced, which presently stands at two or three months. The product has a custom rule set that users can modify and manifest as needed. The vendor can probably shorten the learning curve using cutting-edge technologies like AI. The solution provider can also work around the web applications and identify the toolset that needs to be implemented to deploy the solution in less time. The vendor has launched a SASE product that can function with Cloudflare Web Application Firewall, but many improvements are needed in terms of features, such as the web filtering feature, and CASB has not yet been added.
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Archana Heeralal - PeerSpot reviewer
A good solution to implement web application firewall for applications
There are some lags in Signal Sciences for the web application firewalls. Even if we create some custom rules, Signal Sciences cannot capture some of the malicious traffic. There is a little bit of complexity with custom rules that should be removed. Signal Sciences should add a feature called rate limiting with multiple options, wherein I can create a rate limiting based on the cookie request or the IP.
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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

"We like that there's load balancing, firewall capabilities, DDoS protection, et cetera, all covered by Cloudflare."
"The Cloudflare Web Application Firewall's most valuable feature is its ease of configuration."
"The product has a valuable security control functionality."
"The setup process is very simple for me."
"Technical support has a very fast response time and they are helpful."
"Some of the most valuable features of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall include its DNS zone setup and the zero trust policy."
"I'm highly satisfied. It's remarkably user-friendly, enabling me to quickly identify issues, and deploy solutions, and it offers the necessary features."
"It's pretty convenient and pretty easy to set up and run. And then kind of for static content, it also offers caching."
More Cloudflare Web Application Firewall 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."
 

Cons

"We have noticed some latency when the call goes through the firewall. That could be improved."
"They need to improve their support because getting a response for basic requests took around 48 hours, which is too long."
"It would be ideal if the solution offered better log integration and more integration with different platforms."
"I have experienced some difficulties with Cloudflare's support as a customer based in India."
"The dashboard could be more user-friendly."
"The notification part could be improved. It's very much connected to Web Application Firewall, rate-limiting, and DDoS protection."
"They have some limitations with third-party integrations."
"Cloudflare Web Application Firewall should include port forwarding features."
More Cloudflare Web Application Firewall cons
"Even if we create some custom rules, Signal Sciences cannot capture some of the malicious traffic."
"Fastly don't support caching for China users. That's the only feature lacking compared to Akamai."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing option needs to be more transparent for enterprise clients."
"Cloudflare offers different types of subscriptions for businesses, enterprises, and personal users, and the pricing is negotiable."
"We pay $210 per month for CloudFlare WAF."
"It is not too pricey."
"The pricing model is very straightforward compared to the competition. You just pay per month for the product and usage."
"The annual licensing fee is $10,000 USD."
"Cloudflare Web Application Firewall is more affordable than other solutions."
"What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? I believe the pricing is not the best, but it's reasonable and acceptable. We also use the McAfee system in parallel. In terms of pricing, its okay - not great, but not bad either. It falls in the middle, which is acceptable. In terms of support licensing, last time, we were searching for a solution, and we considered products from resellers rather than directly from the cloud provider. However, the pricing we encountered was exceptionally high. As a result, we are inclined to select support from the reseller."
More Cloudflare Web Application Firewall pricing and cost advice
"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
15%
Educational Organization
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Educational Organization
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cloudflare Web Application Firewall?
The product has a valuable security control functionality.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cloudflare Web Application Firewall?
The price of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall is reasonable.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Cloudflare Web Application Firewall?
I cannot say much about areas of improvement for Cloudflare Web Application Firewall because I haven't gone through deep understanding of it, as I am still learning. However, they need to improve t...
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 50% less than Akamai.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Signal Sciences?
Fastly don't support caching for China users. That's the only feature lacking compared to Akamai.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Compared 18% of the time
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Compared 15% of the time
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F5 Advanced WAF vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)
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Akamai App and API Protector vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) Logo
Akamai App and API Protector vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)
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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Cloudflare Web Application Firewall
June 2025
Cloudflare Web Application Firewall reportDownload Cloudflare Web Application Firewall product report
Buyer's Guide
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
June 2025
The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) reportDownload The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) product report
 

Also Known As

Cloudflare WAF
Signal Sciences Next-Gen WAF, Signal Sciences RASP
 

Overview

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.

Cloudflare

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

crunchbase, udacity, marketo, okcupid, zendesk
Chef, Adobe, Datadog, Etsy, GrubHub, Vimeo, SendGrid, Under Armour, Duo, AppNexus
Buyer's Guide
Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)
June 2025
Free Report: Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)
Find out what your peers are saying about Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
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