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NGINX App Protect vs Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 26, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.9
Organizations saw positive ROI with NGINX App Protect during COVID-19, improving security and integration, anticipating future benefits.
Sentiment score
7.0
Prisma Cloud enhances security, saves time, improves compliance, and reduces costs, although exact financial benefits are hard to quantify.
It eliminates the need for additional hardware, making it a financially and technically sound investment.
Partner at Quasys
Reputation and data security are the two most important things to a financial institution.
Works at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
We may have prevented a security breach with remediation of the findings.
Security Solutions Architect - Cloud Security Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.3
NGINX App Protect support is praised for promptness and helpfulness but inconsistencies and costs affect user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
7.0
Prisma Cloud's customer service is praised for expertise but criticized for inconsistent response times and regional support variations.
They were quick and efficient when we had issues.
Project Manager at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
They can respond with technical documentation or pass on the case to the next level because it requires the development of a new feature or changing a feature due to a bug.
Technical Lead at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Anywhere we raise a tech case, they revert back within an hour.
Cloud Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
I would rate them a nine out of ten because whenever there are issues, they are able to resolve them within the timelines and SLAs.
Senior IT infrastructure consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.5
NGINX App Protect is scalable with diverse options but faces deployment, traffic, and configuration centralization challenges noted by users.
Sentiment score
7.6
Prisma Cloud offers scalable solutions, efficiently managing deployments, despite occasional operational complexities and licensing influences on scalability perception.
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Technology Specialist - Cloud Security at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
We haven't had any issues scaling the solution.
Senior Cloud Security Engineer at impelsys
There aren't any limits to Prisma Cloud's scalability.
Senior Security Consultant at helpag
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
NGINX App Protect is praised for stability and integration, outperforming competitors, though minor improvements in HTML5 are needed.
Sentiment score
8.0
Prisma Cloud is praised for high stability, though minor disruptions and data retrieval challenges occur in complex environments.
It is a quality solution, and I would rate its stability as eight out of ten.
IT Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
I would rate it a ten out of ten for stability.
Cloud Security Engineer (Team lead) at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Most of the time, when the client requires data, it is not available.
Technology Specialist - Cloud Security at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The cloud environment is dynamic, so the tool must be dynamic.
Cloud Security Delivery Associate Manager at Accenture
 

Room For Improvement

NGINX App Protect requires improved flexibility, UI, API, automation, network support, pricing, integration, and feature enhancements like security and documentation.
Prisma Cloud requires enhanced documentation, user interface, automation, integration features, pricing, support, updates, and improved access and monitoring.
There was more information from F5 regarding hardware requirements and specifications to deploy the service.
IT Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Prisma Cloud is an excellent tool.
Technical Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
We could have deployed the runtime monitoring with Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks, but within our organization at our company, it was very difficult to find who would be the owner for the alerts.
Cyber Security Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Even though documentation was available, it took a while for a new person to understand what integration meant, what will be achieved after the integration, or how the integration needed to be done on the Azure or AWS side.
Technical Architect at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

NGINX App Protect costs $3,000-$400,000 annually, considered expensive but competitive, with no hidden fees and strategic cost management possible.
Prisma Cloud offers comprehensive features and robust security but presents challenges with its complex and potentially expensive licensing model.
The cost was not on the higher side.
Technical Architect at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
If you are using a single tool like Prisma Cloud, with a single license, you can monitor all environments, such as Google Cloud, Azure, AWS, and Oracle Cloud.
Cloud Security Delivery Associate Manager at Accenture
It is not a cheap product.
Technical Director at Cascade Solutions
 

Valuable Features

NGINX App Protect provides comprehensive security features including automation, containerization, and flexible API connectivity for robust application protection.
Prisma Cloud enhances multi-cloud security with automated forensics, compliance monitoring, and integration in CI/CD pipelines for threat prevention.
The most valuable feature is the ability to operate in a DevOps environment and to be configured through API and pipeline by the developers themselves.
IT Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Detecting bots and blocking IPs have proven effective for securing applications.
Project Manager at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
There is a wide range of integrations, and the compatibility with various cloud providers is very useful.
Technical Director at Cascade Solutions
It provides a single pane of glass.
enterprise architect at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
If I want to check how many of my S3s have encryption, I can write a Lambda function in Prisma Cloud and get that report.
Senior IT infrastructure consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

NGINX App Protect
Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)
15th
Ranking in Container Security
27th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
API Security (7th)
Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto N...
Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)
8th
Ranking in Container Security
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
113
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (2nd), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (2nd), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category, the mindshare of NGINX App Protect is 2.0%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is 1.7%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Web Application Firewall (WAF) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks1.7%
NGINX App Protect2.0%
Other96.3%
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
 

Featured Reviews

JP
Project Manager at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Blocking IPs and detecting bots enhances security for medical websites
I was researching products like NGINX App Protect and F5 Advanced WAF for long-term options. I have some use for such a solution, but probably not before next year Detecting bots and blocking IPs have proven effective for securing applications. We were able to block groups of IP addresses that…
reviewer2776578 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber Security Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Image scanning has supported consistent security practices during cloud deployment
On a scale of ten, we would say people are happy with Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks for the part we use. People are okay with it. We probably would give an eight. We don't give ten because if we don't use the other parts of Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks, it's because it was difficult to implement from an operational point of view. We could have deployed the runtime monitoring with Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks, but within our organization at our company, it was very difficult to find who would be the owner for the alerts. People have other tools and in the end, we don't use the full capabilities of a product that we pay for. It's partially related to the difficulty to integrate Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks runtime in our company's support process. We don't use the real-time monitoring part of Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks. We don't know about the automated remediation feature of Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Web Application Firewall (WAF) solutions are best for your needs.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business36
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise56
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NGINX App Protect?
I don't know the pricing yet because in my other project, I was not part of the buying side and I was just starting to look at options.
What needs improvement with NGINX App Protect?
It would be better if it were easier to implement and if there was more information from F5 regarding hardware requirements and specifications to deploy the service, to avoid disruptions after impl...
What is your primary use case for Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
Prisma Cloud helps support DevSecOps methodologies, making those responsibilities easier to manage.
What Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform do you recommend?
We like Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks, since it offers us incredible visibility into our entire cloud system. We are able to easily see where our container vulnerabilities lie and and where cl...
What do you think of Aqua Security vs Prisma Cloud?
Aqua Security is easy to use and very manageable. Its main focus is on Kubernetes and Docker. Security is a very valuable feature and their speed of integration is very good. The initial setup was ...
 

Also Known As

NGINX WAF, NGINX Web Application Firewall
Prisma Public Cloud, RedLock Cloud 360, RedLock, Twistlock, Aporeto
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Amgen, Genpact, Western Asset, Zipongo, Proofpoint, NerdWallet, Axfood, 21st Century Fox, Veeva Systems, Reinsurance Group of America
Find out what your peers are saying about NGINX App Protect vs. Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.