FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) vs Imperva Web Application Firewall comparison

FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) vs. Imperva Web Application Firewall

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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

FortiWeb Web Application Fi...

Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)

15th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Imperva Web Application Fir...

Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)

7th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

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 FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) is 1.1%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Imperva Web Application Firewall is 5.6%, down from 6.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Featured Reviews

Martin Ellmann

Chief Executive Officer at EE Solutions GmbH

Provides users with ease of policy configuration and good integration capabilities

The solution helps protect our company's web applications against common threats up to 99 percent. We feel very safe with the tool. Speaking about how the tool has effectively mitigated web security threats for an application, I would say that it is an application behind the web portal, so there are about a hundred or thousand people who can access a website. If it is a sensitive application, and we have to watch every access to it to make it really safe, that is the reason why we need WAF on the application. My company doesn't use AI with the tool. I recommend the product to others. I would say that others need to have it if they have a shopping website or something similar. I know it is hard to sell because we find it quite hard whenever my company tries to do so. The solution offers 100 percent integration with other Fortinet security products. The ease of policy configuration in the tool is okay. I rate the tool a nine to ten out of ten.

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Mitesh D Patel

Senior Technical Consultant- Cyber Security at Ivalue Infosolution

Effectively defends against threats like cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, and others

It does bring value. For example, consider a BFSI customer. Their application is critical and represents their brand. Without a WAF, an attack could take their application down, harming their reputation. It leads to hampering the customer's workflow. With an Imperva WAF, they protect against attacks like DDoS or SQL injection, ensuring their application remains available and customers are happy. That's the main benefit for both the customer and the organization. The impact depends on the customer's use case. If their business primarily operates online, a CDN is beneficial for traffic optimization. Moreover, the integration options depend on the specific use case of our customers. Generally, integration capabilities are good with SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) parts.

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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

"The good thing about Fortinet is that their enablement is very good in terms of training me and enabling resources on their technology."

"The product is easy to configure."

"The initial setup was easy since it was possible to get remote support for the product."

"It improves latency by optimizing traffic routing."

"The machine learning feature reduces the false positives."

"FortiWeb Web Application Firewall helps us to block certain categories of browsing, such as weapons, and other inappropriate content on the client side. We have also blocked social media sites like TikTok and Facebook to enhance user productivity and maintain application security."

"The machine learning on FortiWeb WAF is valuable."

"The solution's integration with other products is easy. Its most valuable feature is the antivirus engine. The tool helps us comply with GDPR and KVKK standards."

More FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) pros

"Its inline transferring mode is the most valuable because it is 100% transparent. When you change the IP, there is no change on the network side. If you can't and want to try to reach an IP, you can reach the server IP. There are many other advanced security features in it. The smallest appliances of Imperva can handle the highest traffic at a customer site. For example, a smaller appliance from Imperva can provide you the same security as an F5 product."

"There are a number of features that are valuable such as the account takeover and various antivirus features."

"Data masking is the most valuable feature of this solution."

"Protection is the best solution since it has profile functionality."

"Imperva WAF's strongest features are the detection of web application threats and vulnerabilities in the source code."

"Configuration for different application sources is most valuable. We can segregate the traffic that an application is carrying and identify the sizing in Imperva."

"The configurability of the tools and the ease of operation to be the most valuable feature of Imperva."

"It has threat intelligence and we are using Incapsula. With threat intelligence, we can separate HTTP and HTTPS traffic. We can use Incapsula to send all the threat intelligence to the WAF."

More Imperva Web Application Firewall pros

Cons

"For users not familiar with Fortinet, it could be beneficial to provide more user-friendly analytics and reporting."

"The price is a little higher than the competitors."

"There could be ADC offering as well."

"There is room for improvement in pricing, and actually, the price is a bit higher because on the same terms I purchased, the support subscription is so high."

"FortiWeb could have an inbound load balancing pack."

"The tool's price and performance are areas of concern where improvements are required."

"I don't see any issues with the tool apart from the pricing aspect of the product. The price of the product is an area where improvements are required."

"We haven't faced any significant issues with FortiWeb Web Application Firewall. But they can lower the pricing, since it is a concern, especially in South Africa and the technical support, could be more responsive at times."

More FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) cons

"They can provide an option to create reports, automatically import the entire report, and create rules again. In a real-life crisis, it would be helpful to be able to import a report and generate security rules from that report. I should be able to create a simple query and import the reports automatically. It can maybe also tell us the format of the report."

"There could be some limitations that from the converged infrastructure perspective: when you want to converge with everything and you want Imperva to get there easily because it's not a cloud component. For example, when you want to build servers and you're using OneView to manage your software-defined networks, implementing Imperva right away is not that simple. But if you're doing just a simple cloud infrastructure with servers in there, you're good to go. Also, we are not able, with Imperva, to block by signatures. Imperva by itself needs to be complemented with another service to do URL filtering."

"I would like the solution to improve its support response time."

"Some of the features should be included in the next release is a file integrating monitoring tool. This feature should be improved."

"It is complicated to integrate the solution's on-cloud version with other platforms."

"I would like to improve the tool's turnaround time in terms of support."

"The solution works for particular zones but isn't always the best solution for all zones."

"Imperva Web Application Firewall is very expensive."

More Imperva Web Application Firewall cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a cheap solution."

"I rate the product price a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price, and ten is a low price."

"FortiWeb WAF is priced well for customers compared to other vendors' solutions."

"This product offers two pricing options: a standard package and an advanced package."

"I would rate the pricing a four out of ten."

"FortiWeb Web Application Firewall's pricing is suited for small or medium organizations."

"The tool is really expensive."

"It is a cost-effective product. If you need an extra module in the product, there will be an extra cost in addition to the licensing fee."

More FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) pricing and cost advice

"It's an excellent product, but it can be very costly."

"There are a couple of different licensing models."

"We sell three-year licenses for Imperva Web Application Firewall to our customers. The price is a little expensive."

"The solution's pricing is an issue."

"Imperva’s pricing is a bit higher in the market since it offers a full-blown WAF."

"There are some licenses that you have to buy to use some features. Its price could be better. Price is always important because, at the end of the day, customers have a budget. If you can meet the budget, you can sell, and if you don't, you cannot sell."

"The tool is expensive."

"The price is high compared to other solutions like FortiWeb."

More Imperva Web Application Firewall pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Web Application Firewall (WAF) solutions are best for your needs.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

12%

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF)?

The most valuable features of the solution are SD-WAN, filtration, web filter, application filter, and IPS.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF)?

The pricing for FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) is reasonable. That said, it depends on how many websites we need to protect. The licensing is based on the number of websites or individuall...

What needs improvement with FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF)?

Their AI technology is good. Overall, Fortinet is only good. The improvement needed is in their response time. In the past three to four years, whenever we called for support, they responded quickl...

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?

My recommendation is Imperva.

Is Citrix ADC (formerly Netscaler) the best ADC to use and if not why?

For ADC, any ADC can do a good job. But in case if you want to add WAF functionality to the same ADC hardware you have to look for other ADC's like F5, Imperva, Radware, Fortinet, etc.

DDoS solutions: Any other solutions to consider aside from Radware DDoS Protection Service and F5 Silverline DDoS Protection?

You can have a look to Imperva Cloud WAF, the anti-DDoS mitigation is under 1s and works very well. I observed a lot of DDoS attacks that were well managed (even not seen by the customer) by Imperv...

F5 Advanced WAF vs FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Comparisons

Compared 35% of the time

AWS WAF vs FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Compared 14% of the time

Azure Front Door vs FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Compared 11% of the time

NGINX App Protect vs FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Compared 8% of the time

NetScaler vs FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Compared 7% of the time

More FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) Competitors

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs Imperva Web Application Firewall

Compared 15% of the time

F5 Advanced WAF vs Imperva Web Application Firewall

Compared 12% of the time

Azure Front Door vs Imperva Web Application Firewall

Compared 9% of the time

AWS WAF vs Imperva Web Application Firewall

Compared 8% of the time

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs Imperva Web Application Firewall

Compared 2% of the time

More Imperva Web Application Firewall Competitors

Product Reports

FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Download FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) product report

FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) report

Imperva Web Application Firewall

Download Imperva Web Application Firewall product report

Overview

FortiWeb Web Application Firewall uses machine learning to reduce false positives, detects zero-day threats, and blocks DDoS attacks. It integrates with existing security infrastructure and provides SD-WAN capabilities, offering protection for websites and mobile applications.

FortiWeb WAF secures web applications with features like machine learning-based threat detection, DDoS attack mitigation, and robust integration capabilities. Additionally, it manages HTTP traffic and offers SD-WAN functionalities. Built for GDPR compliance, it supports API protection and bot mitigation while enabling secure mobile and cloud application access. Users implement it across multi-cloud environments and in data centers offering advanced security and compliance, including PCI DSS. Despite feature-rich abilities, users seek enhanced database updates, better enterprise integration, and more accessible analytics. Improvements in support response, documentation, and scalability are desired to strengthen its robust security offering.

What are the key features of FortiWeb WAF?

Machine Learning: Reduces false positives and detects zero-day attacks.
DDoS Protection: Blocks distributed denial of service attacks.
Integration: Seamlessly fits with existing infrastructure.
GDPR Compliance: Ensures data privacy and protection standards.
SD-WAN Capabilities: Manages network distribution effectively.
Mobile and API Security: Protects applications and APIs efficiently.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Cost-Effectiveness: Offers a balance between features and pricing.
User-Friendly: Easy to navigate and manage deployments.
Global Deployment: Supports multi-cloud and cross-data center usage.
Security Compliance: Meets standards like PCI DSS for secure operations.
Enhanced Application Security: Provides comprehensive protection for apps.

FortiWeb WAF is widely implemented in data centers and financial industries, ensuring robust protection for web applications and sites. It supports multi-cloud environments on platforms like AWS and Azure, providing secure access while meeting compliance standards. Users benefit from enhanced application security and load balancing capabilities, making it a preferred choice in financial sectors that require VPN and SD-WAN consistency.

Fortinet

Imperva Web Application Firewall is a versatile solution that protects web applications and databases from various attacks, including DDoS, cross-site scripting, and SQL injection attacks. It offers data security, availability, and access control and can be deployed on-premises or on the cloud.

The solution has good security against web attacks and offers advanced bot protection, API security, and mitigation features. Imperva WAF is easy to configure and deploy; it has good customer service and an excellent user interface.

Imperva

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

BlueCross BlueShield, eHarmony, EMF Broadcasting, GE Healthcare, Metro Bank, The Motley Fool, Siemens

FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) vs. Imperva Web Application Firewall