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F5 Advanced WAF vs Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service 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

F5 Advanced WAF
Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
73
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF...
Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)
18th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category, the mindshare of F5 Advanced WAF is 7.5%, down from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service is 0.8%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Web Application Firewall (WAF) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
F5 Advanced WAF7.5%
Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service0.8%
Other91.7%
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
 

Featured Reviews

Kallamuddin Ansari - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
RA
Global Head - DevOps and AIOps Startegist at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Cloud security has reduced web attack incidents and protects our public applications and APIs
The best features Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service offers include managed WAF rules, OWASP protection, bot mitigation, and Fortinet threat intelligence. In day-to-day work, I use all of the features: managed WAF rules, OWASP protection, bot mitigation, and Fortinet threat intelligence. This provides a strong baseline security without requiring deep WAF expertise internally. The integration with the broader Fortinet security system is a plus regarding the features. In terms of its impact on our organization, Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service has been positively protecting us from security threats and automated attacks. With this layered protection against common web and API attacks, we have noticed that the incidents and risks have been reduced to a greater extent.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is stable."
"The most valuable features of F5 Advanced WAF are the overall capabilities, there is not a comparable solution on the market."
"It protects and mitigates damage in the network."
"Overall, F5 Advanced WAF is a strong, dependable enterprise solution that works best when seen as a long-term security platform rather than a quick add-on; once properly designed, sized, and tuned, it runs quietly in the background and effectively does its job without constant attention."
"F5 Advanced WAF is a comprehensive community platform with a strong commitment, making it valuable for businesses."
"The most valuable features of F5 Advanced WAF are the easy identification of events and customization. We can pinpoint our settings."
"This solution is an enterprise-class firewall that provides both load-balancing and security."
"With F5 Advanced WAF, it was protection for online publications and for our customers that caused us to choose the platform."
"Regular updates are one of the aspects I appreciate about Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service, and it is provided by a leading brand in cybersecurity."
"It is user-friendly and easy to work with."
"Fortinet FortiWeb offers a variety of protections, including machine learning that helps protect web applications."
"The stability of the solution is excellent."
"It is a secure tool."
"With this layered protection against common web and API attacks, we have noticed that the incidents and risks have been reduced to a greater extent."
"I rate the overall solution ten out of ten."
"The company provides technical support, and they are mostly available 24/7."
 

Cons

"The product could be more user-friendly, particularly the user interface for administrators."
"The contextual-based component needs a lot of help to catch up with the next-gen products."
"The BIG-IQ is supposed to centralize the management for all of the boxes but it's not very effective."
"There are opportunities for improvement in updating the user interface to a more modern look."
"Compatibility with multiple cloud environments needs improvement. Both stability and scalability need to be improved."
"I would like to see improved features in the F5 Advanced WAF solution, especially with a focus on enabling Kubernetes fully."
"I would like to see a better interface and better documentation compatibility with other products. It's more complicated with OWASP."
"My experience with the technical support from F5 is that on the technical side, we sometimes face issues with reachability and availability."
"Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service could be improved with better logging capabilities, as many come with less spacing, necessitating a FortiSIM for enhanced functionality."
"The usability of the interface could be improved as it is not user-friendly."
"The utilization of AI in Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service still needs to be upgraded and improved."
"Better visibility and more intuitive reporting would be helpful for Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service."
"The usability of the interface could be improved as it is not user-friendly."
"The only thing I encountered was related to integration, mostly concerning translation."
"I do not have any notes on improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing of F5 Advanced WAF is more expensive than other solutions like Radware and CD18, it is quite high."
"F5 bundles up services and the bundle is what you pay for rather than individual components."
"It's more expensive than other solutions and depending on the modules, there can be additional fees."
"I would rate the pricing as seven out of ten"
"The price of F5 Advanced WAF could improve it is expensive."
"There are various plans available for Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF as a Service, including a trial version."
"There are different licenses available to use F5 Advanced WAF, such as BT, ASM, and LPM."
"The cost is slightly above average."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Energy/Utilities Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise31
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

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 rules per the requirements.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 Advanced WAF?
Regarding the price, I think the cost is a bit higher compared to others. Earlier we were using Radware, and compared to Radware, it is very high. However, it is providing more features than Radwar...
What needs improvement with F5 Advanced WAF?
In terms of additional features I would like to see from them in the future, I think the GTM is a bit complicated to configure, which I observed. Otherwise, LTM and WAF are straightforward. I faced...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service?
In terms of pricing, setup cost, and licensing, my experience with Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service has been good. Pricing aligns well with enterprise-grade managed WAF offerings. While not...
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service?
Better visibility and more intuitive reporting would be helpful for Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service. Clearer insights from Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service will make it easier to d...
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service?
Our primary use case is protecting public facing web applications and APIs against OWASP Top 10 threats and automated attacks. Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service was used to protect a custome...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

MAXIMUS, Vivo, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office, City Bank
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about F5 Advanced WAF vs. Fortinet FortiWeb Cloud WAF-as-a-Service and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,757 professionals have used our research since 2012.