F5 Advanced WAF vs Fortinet FortiAppSec Cloud comparison

F5 and Fortinet are both solutions in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category. F5 is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.4, while Fortinet is ranked #41. Additionally, 98% of F5 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between F5 Advanced WAF and Fortinet FortiAppSec Cloud based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, F5, Imperva and others in Web Application Firewall (WAF).

To learn more, read our detailed Web Application Firewall (WAF) Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

March 2026

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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 ...

Featured Reviews

Dean Barisic

CTO at PlayNirvana

Advanced security reporting has protected high-traffic betting platforms from constant attacks

I don't see room for improvement to Cloudflare Web Application Firewall. One thing I don't know much about because we have a dedicated IT team for that, and I'm not involved with Cloudflare much anymore. But if I were to compare them to F5, I would like to see more features that F5 offers. F5 has an option to bring the whole infrastructure, the whole WAF and all their packages, Bot Management, and everything else on your infrastructure. You need to install certain services from their side, and then you can choose if you would like requests to hit your servers immediately or if requests need to be proxied through F5 backbone. That would be a nice addition because we have 90% of the traffic as legit traffic coming from whitelisted servers. If it comes from whitelisted servers, I don't need to go every request through the backbone; I could easily just IP whitelist everything. Then I could maybe have Bot Management on my infrastructure that drastically reduces the price of Cloudflare. I would like to see Push CDN more improved in the next release of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall. 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. From our perspective, if we have a listener that listens for stock updates, I would just need to have one processor that pushes those updates to the Cloudflare API, and then Cloudflare would broadcast that message to all listeners. Cloudflare will check the order of the message, and if you, as a customer, are not connected or have some kind of network issue, when you reconnect, you will receive the latest state and missing updates.

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Kallamuddin Ansari

Cyber Security Consultant at ProTechmanize

Application security has protected critical banking services while policy learning minimizes false blocks

F5 Advanced WAF performs well overall, but I have noticed some points that could enhance the solution. Initially, policy tuning could be simpler, as while the learning engine is powerful, initial tuning still requires experienced engineers, which can be challenging for new teams due to the complexity of options and parameters. A more guided and simple tuning workflow would help reduce the learning curve. Additionally, tighter native integration with SIEM or SOAR tools would simplify correlation and investigations for security teams, although log exports are available. Overall, these are not blockers, merely enhancement opportunities, and once tuned, F5 Advanced WAF is very stable and reliable; improving usability, reporting, and onboarding would make it even more effective for larger environments.

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Mohamed Fouad

Cybersecurity Team Leader at EMAK For Computer Manufacturing (ECM)

Web protection has improved security posture and prevents advanced bot and zero-day attacks

In my opinion, the best features of Fortinet FortiAppSec Cloud are usability and price, which are the two strongest features from Fortinet security products. We use the advanced bot mitigation, which supports credential stuffing, account takeover prevention, and stopping layer 7 DDoS and OWASP Top 10 attacks. With the bot mitigation in Fortinet FortiAppSec Cloud, we control end users whenever they connect to our website, checking that they are not bots and allowing access only after verification. We run AI detection in a testing phase, using both basic and advanced security measures, including API security and XML protection. AI helps by providing machine learning that suggests which policies need tuning and which signatures need to be added to our policy. Fortinet FortiAppSec Cloud's adaptability to traffic patterns helps mitigate zero-day vulnerabilities through machine learning. Fortinet FortiAppSec Cloud helps our organization by relying on Fortinet threat intelligence, which provides information on newly emerging zero-day attacks, allowing us to run signatures to stop these attacks. We utilize the dynamic learning capabilities for threat updates.

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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

"It is configurable via API."

"The setup process is very simple for me."

"The Cloudflare Web Application Firewall's most valuable feature is its ease of configuration."

"It's pretty convenient and pretty easy to set up and run. And then kind of for static content, it also offers caching."

"Someone with a basic understanding of networking and security will be able to implement the firewall's basic features within 15 minutes."

"Cloudflare is cheaper compared to Azure WAF, which I have considered before."

"Technical support has a very fast response time and they are helpful."

"The stability of Cloudflare Web Application Firewall deserves a perfect 10 out of 10."

More Cloudflare Web Application Firewall pros

"The most valuable features of F5 Advanced WAF are SSL uploading, signature, and anomaly detection. It is overall a high-quality solution."

"The solution is stable."

"WAF functionality is valuable for protecting applications from attacks."

"Web attack signatures are very important for detecting web attacks."

"The solution uses AI to protect against botnet attacks."

"The product is used to secure web applications and has the ability to use API templates and bot protection features, such as blocking requests or presenting CAPTCHA pages to end users."

"Good technology for mitigating different application attacks, e.g. DDoS, DNS, and layer seven attacks."

"Provides good protection from attacks."

More F5 Advanced WAF pros

"We have seen a reduction in incidents and a good return on investment from Fortinet FortiAppSec Cloud, with our return on investment around 60%."

Cons

"The product can improve by having more multitenancy capability, which is currently not available."

"Cloudflare Web Application Firewall should include port forwarding features."

"Cloudflare Web Application Firewall should improve visibility for a customer."

"The notification part could be improved. It's very much connected to Web Application Firewall, rate-limiting, and DDoS protection."

"We don't even use Cloudflare Bot Management because it's too expensive; you need to pay per request, and it's much cheaper to get one or two additional machines."

"The blocked logs are difficult to read at times."

"The platform's control features related to real-time authentication and response time need improvement."

"It would be ideal if the solution offered better log integration and more integration with different platforms."

More Cloudflare Web Application Firewall cons

"The solution should include RASP for another level of protection at the code itself."

"We usually use a third-party tool for logging and reporting. It would be nice if we could do that right on this solution. They have one, but it's not very stable. Logging and reporting effectively would be a big enhancement."

"The solution's dashboard could be improved. When you're moving from policy to policy, the logs and the integration of the logs in other systems aren't straightforward."

"F5 Advanced WAF could improve resource usage, it is CPU intensive. Additionally, adding automated remediation would be a benefit. For example, an easy button alerts us of the events that are occurring, and what we want to do at the time. An automated approach where somebody could be alerted very quickly. Instead of going and reconfiguring everything, an automated approach is what I'm looking at."

"F5 Advanced WAF could improve the reporting. It's a bit difficult to populate, them. If you're not so familiar with the functions, such as where to find the logs and other settings."

"My experience with the technical support from F5 is that on the technical side, we sometimes face issues with reachability and availability."

"They should work on the virtualization of NGINX."

"The product could be more user-friendly, particularly the user interface for administrators."

More F5 Advanced WAF cons

"Real-time traffic analysis has posed an issue for us because we did not see logs for legitimate traffic."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay $210 per month for CloudFlare WAF."

"The solution is expensive."

"Cloudflare Web Application Firewall is more affordable than other solutions."

"It is not too pricey."

"The annual licensing fee is $10,000 USD."

"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."

"Cloudflare offers different types of subscriptions for businesses, enterprises, and personal users, and the pricing is negotiable."

"It starts at $20 and can easily go up to $200 monthly"

More Cloudflare Web Application Firewall pricing and cost advice

"F5 Advanced WAF technical support comes at a cost, and it's expensive."

"As far as the pricing of F5 Advanced WAF I would rate it a four out of five depending on what features I am looking for. Imperva is more expensive."

"I think the price is very high."

"I rate F5 Advanced WAF's pricing a three out of ten."

"F5 Advanced WAF pricing structure should be adjusted to meet the need of small to medium-sized companies."

"The way we deployed it, I would rate it a four out of five in terms of pricing."

"It's more expensive than other solutions and depending on the modules, there can be additional fees."

"I am not sure about pricing but licenses are available on Google."

More F5 Advanced WAF pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

Manufacturing Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	26
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	31

No data available

Questions from the Community

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 don't see room for improvement to Cloudflare Web Application Firewall. One thing I don't know much about because we...

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What is your primary use case for Cloudflare Web Application Firewall?

We are using Cloudflare Web Application Firewall's advanced reporting and analytics tools with their Zero Trust, so e...

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What do you like most about F5 Advanced WAF?

It's a fairly easy-to-use and user-friendly tool. My administrators and team also like its ability to customize the r...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 Advanced WAF?

The pricing for F5 Advanced WAF is a bit higher, but not that high. I would say for a good amount of revenue-generati...

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What needs improvement with F5 Advanced WAF?

On the features I wish existed, Big-IP Advanced WAF is primarily an on-premises solution and in that solution, there ...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cloudflare Web Application Firewall

March 2026

Cloudflare Web Application Firewall report

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Buyer's Guide

F5 Advanced WAF

March 2026

Download F5 Advanced WAF product report

Buyer's Guide

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

March 2026

Download Fortinet FortiAppSec Cloud product report

Also Known As

Cloudflare WAF

No data available

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

F5 Advanced WAF is a web application security solution for financial and government sectors, e-commerce, and public-facing websites. It offers protection against various attacks, including botnets, web scraping, and foreign entities. The solution can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud and is often used with other security tools. Its most valuable features include DDoS and DNS attack protection, SSL uploading, anomaly detection, and the ability to input custom rules.

F5 Advanced WAF has helped organizations to expose more services to the public while providing an extra layer of protection, preventing revenue loss, and securing connectivity.

Fortinet FortiAppSec Cloud is a comprehensive security offering, designed to protect applications across cloud environments. It focuses on providing advanced security measures that cater to the needs of enterprises looking for robust application protection.

Fortinet FortiAppSec Cloud leverages an array of sophisticated technologies to offer top-tier security for cloud applications. It safeguards against threats by implementing features such as cutting-edge machine learning models and real-time threat intelligence. This ensures data integrity and application availability, crucial for maintaining normal business operations. By integrating seamlessly into cloud environments, Fortinet FortiAppSec Cloud offers a user-friendly experience that does not compromise on security.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiAppSec Cloud?

Machine Learning Models: Employs AI for threat detection and prevention, enhancing security efficiency.
Real-Time Threat Intelligence: Offers timely updates to combat emerging threats.
Seamless Cloud Integration: Ensures easy deployment and operation within cloud infrastructures.
Scalability: Adapts to growing business needs, providing consistent security coverage.

What benefits should users expect when evaluating Fortinet FortiAppSec Cloud?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces expenses by preventing security breaches and minimizing downtime.
Enhanced Security Posture: Provides improved protection, reducing vulnerability exposure.
Operational Efficiency: Streamlines management, allowing IT teams to focus on strategic tasks.
Future-Proof Investment: Offers scalable security to meet evolving business demands.

Fortinet FortiAppSec Cloud is widely implemented across industries such as finance, healthcare, and e-commerce. Organizations in these fields benefit from its ability to secure sensitive data and maintain compliance with rigorous industry standards. Its adaptive design ensures that businesses can provide secure and reliable services to their customers at all times.

Fortinet

Sample Customers

crunchbase, udacity, marketo, okcupid, zendesk

MAXIMUS, Vivo, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office, City Bank

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

March 2026

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Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, F5, Imperva and others in Web Application Firewall (WAF). Updated: March 2026.

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