NGINX App Protect vs Salt Security comparison

F5 and Salt Security are both solutions in the API Security category. F5 is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.3, while Salt Security is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.5. F5 holds a 3.8% mindshare in APIS, compared to Salt Security’s 6.9% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of F5 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Salt Security users who would recommend it.

NGINX App Protect

Read 27 NGINX App Protect reviews

4,037 Views
767 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Salt Security

Read 3 Salt Security reviews

1,861 Views
1,247 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

NGINX App Protect

Salt Security

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between NGINX App Protect and Salt Security based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two API Security solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed NGINX App Protect vs. Salt Security Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

NGINX App Protect vs. Salt Security

June 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 904,680 peers since 2012

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

NGINX App Protect

Ranking in API Security

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Web Application Firewall (WAF) (19th), Container Security (28th)

Salt Security

Ranking in API Security

5th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

8.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

AI Security (21st)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the API Security category, the mindshare of NGINX App Protect is 3.8%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salt Security is 6.9%, down from 12.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Security Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Salt Security	6.9%
NGINX App Protect	3.8%
Other	89.3%

API Security

Featured Reviews

Valerio Guaglianone

Dev Ops Engineer at adesso AG

Long-term web protection has supported reliable traffic management but needs a simpler interface

NGINX App Protect is a good product. I have used both versions from F5 -also the free version- (I mean the NGINX/NGINX One/App Protect free trial period), and I think it is a good product. It's stable, affordable, and easy to manage. NGINX App Protect is a comprehensive security solution that combines advanced WAF, DoS protection, API security, and DevSecOps automation in a lightweight, scalable package ideal for modern cloud-native architectures. The adaptive machine learning capabilities are truly commendable, as the solution can establish traffic baselines and detect anomalies in real time. It automatically adjusts security policies, minimizing the need for manual intervention and reducing false positives. Additionally, it supports scalable deployment across diverse environments, including on-premises, cloud, Kubernetes, and containers, offering both flexibility and scalability I have experience with the web server, F5 load balancer, and similar products provided by Ergon, for eg. the web application firewall and the Microgateway for K8S. I'm also familiar with F5 BIG-IP products.

Read full review

Tbaker Baker

Risk Advisory Senior Manager at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Behavioral AI has protected critical applications and now blocks complex external attacks

I think Salt Security could improve their implementations. The one that I saw was very complex and took quite a bit of time, and if the environment is unique at all, it takes quite a bit of time to figure out how to properly ensure that it will be implemented. A lot of times there is a steep learning curve for someone that hasn't been in it to figure out the APIs and really dig deep into it, but once you get used to it, it is easy. However, that ramp-up period could be tough. I think Salt Security could use a more enterprise focus. Some of the smaller companies that I have referred them to think it is a little bit too complex for them, so if they could come up with a different version or something a little bit easier to simplify their platform, they may be able to find more customers that way.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I tested specific features and evaluated the solution against the Web Application Firewall. I conducted research to test different detection percentages. I did not use it directly for protection but for evaluation purposes."

"NGINX App Protect has positively impacted my organization by adding an additional layer of security on top of my infrastructure layer, which I consider quite helpful."

"NGINX App Protect is a good product and performs very well even when it is under stress."

"The initial setup was simple and took three to four days."

"This solution is very much stable."

"NGINX App Protect's best features are auto-learning, which creates a profile of applications that are deployed, bot protection, and force protection, which lets you configure your brute force policy and alert for and prevent brute force attacks."

"WAF is useful to track mitigation, inclusion, prevention, and the parametric firewall."

"The most valuable feature of NGINX App Protect is its flexibility."

More NGINX App Protect pros

"It's really great. I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. I haven't encountered any instability issues."

"Salt Security gave me much better visibility into API risk, helping me identify exposed endpoints, misconfigured APIs, and sensitive data flowing through APIs that required additional controls, and it has become an important part of my API security program."

"Salt Security has positively impacted my organization and my client's organization by being able to stop cyberattacks and ensure that they have proper security over all their applications, giving them a sense of peace of mind that they have security over something that could ultimately take down the whole company if not mitigated properly."

"Salt Security gives you visibility of all your APIs, identifies API security issues, and immediately alerts you of attacks."

Cons

"Areas for improvement would be if NGINX could scan for vulnerabilities and learn and update the signatures of DoS attacks."

"The product's price is high, making it an area of concern where improvements are required. The tool's licensing model is also not good."

"They have a messy license model; it's not really made for microservice architecture. It's getting expensive really, really fast."

"It doesn't have more advanced features like no false-positive security, which you can configure in Advanced WAF."

"I encountered issues with NGINX App Protect while trying to upgrade custom rules."

"NGINX App Protect could improve security."

"The configuration needs to be more flexible because it is difficult to do things that are outside of the ordinary."

"The GUI and web GUI configuration could be improved to be easier to manage and use."

More NGINX App Protect cons

"Regarding scalability, for users in smaller environments, it is not exactly the best."

"The setup cost was acceptable, but adding additional APIs was actually quite expensive."

"The integration part could be a bit extended."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a license needed to use NGINX App Protect."

"There is a monthly or annual subscription to use NGINX App Protect. There are not any additional costs to the subscription."

"The product's price is high."

"There are no additional fees."

"The price of NGINX App Protect is not much different from the products that fall under the leader category of Gartner Magic Quadrant."

"NGINX is not expensive."

"The licensing fees for this solution are pretty expensive for what it does, but there is no alternative."

"There are not any additional costs we had to pay to use NGINX App Protect."

More NGINX App Protect pricing and cost advice

Information not available

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which API Security solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

904,680 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

16%

Computer Software Company

16%

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	14

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NGINX App Protect?

I will not be able to answer about my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for NGINX App Protect, as something different handles that in my team.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NGINX App Protect?

I did not face any issues with NGINX App Protect. The only issue that we had is that someone was trying to install the POC for the customer, and he by mistake installed the Instance Manager on the ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for NGINX App Protect?

I have been dealing with NGINX App Protect and the WAF policy. I usually recommend NGINX App Protect for banking and telecom, and for anyone that has their own database or servers that they host we...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Salt Security?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that I think it was affordable. For smaller companies, it might be a barrier to entry, but for the large enterprise that I was working with,...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Salt Security?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Salt Security?

My main use case for Salt Security is that one of my clients uses it as a security vendor for their security across all of their overlying applications. I can give you a specific example of how my ...

See all answers

Comparisons

AWS WAF vs NGINX App Protect

Compared 7% of the time

Imperva Application Security Platform vs NGINX App Protect

Compared 7% of the time

Haltdos Enterprise WAF vs NGINX App Protect

Compared 6% of the time

Mirantis Container Cloud vs NGINX App Protect

Compared 5% of the time

Airlock vs NGINX App Protect

Compared 5% of the time

More NGINX App Protect Competitors

Akamai API Security vs Salt Security

Compared 13% of the time

Cequence Security vs Salt Security

Compared 10% of the time

Orca Security vs Salt Security

Compared 10% of the time

Upwind vs Salt Security

Compared 9% of the time

Wallarm NG WAF vs Salt Security

Compared 9% of the time

More Salt Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

NGINX App Protect

June 2026

Download NGINX App Protect product report

Buyer's Guide

API Security

June 2026

Download Salt Security product report

Also Known As

NGINX WAF, NGINX Web Application Firewall

Salt Security API Protection Platform

Overview

NGINX App Protect offers comprehensive security features like auto-learning and bot protection. Its real-time threat detection and ease of integration make it suitable for web and mobile application security across on-premises, cloud, and container environments.

NGINX App Protect stands out with its adaptive machine learning, scalable deployment options, and robust API connectivity, offering Layer 7 DDoS protection and an OWASP-certified WAF. While it supports comprehensive traffic and security management, enhancements in platform integration, automation, and technical support could improve usability. The pricing model and policy management options could also see refinement. Commonly employed in securing web and mobile applications, it addresses threats including OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities and DDoS attacks, while providing seamless integration with Kubernetes and CI/CD pipelines.

What are the key features of NGINX App Protect?

Auto-learning: Adapts to evolving threat landscapes.
Bot and Force Protection: Prevents unauthorized access efficiently.
Integration with DevOps: Streamlines security within CI/CD pipelines.
Adaptive Machine Learning: Continuously enhances threat recognition.
Scalable Deployment: Easily manages growing demand across environments.
Traffic and Security Management: Ensures secure data flow.
Command-line Interface: Offers efficient control and management.
OWASP Certification: Meets top industry security standards.
API Connectivity: Facilitates communication between components.
Layer 7 DDoS Protection: Safeguards against complex attacks.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Enhanced Security: Reliable protection against major vulnerabilities.
Effective Traffic Management: Balances load efficiently.
Ease of Implementation: Simple integration saves time and effort.
Operational Scalability: Supports growth across all environments.
Comprehensive Threat Detection: Real-time monitoring minimizes risks.
Flexible Policy Options: Tailors security measures to specific needs.

NGINX App Protect finds broader use in sectors like banking and telecommunications, where it secures high-performance digital infrastructures. Its application spans perimeter security, load balancing, and acts as a reverse proxy in environments necessitating stringent security, high throughput, and robust management. The tool's adaptability facilitates its deployment alongside containers, ensuring compatibility with contemporary development practices.

Salt Security specializes in protecting APIs and detecting vulnerabilities that could lead to potential security breaches. It provides comprehensive visibility and threat protection to ensure safe and efficient API usage.

Salt Security offers robust API security solutions that help companies identify and mitigate potential threats. Its advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities empower businesses to monitor and predict vulnerabilities, proactively safeguarding their digital infrastructure. By leveraging cutting-edge technologies, Salt Security ensures superior protection for sensitive data accessed through APIs, facilitating seamless operations and enhanced security management.

What key features does Salt Security offer?

Real-Time Monitoring: Continuously tracks API activities to identify anomalies.
Automated Threat Detection: Uses AI to recognize and alert on suspicious behaviors.
Comprehensive Analytics: Provides deep insights into API usage and security posture.
Scalable Architecture: Adapts to growing needs without compromising performance.

What benefits should you look for in reviews?

Improved Security Posture: Enhances protection of business-critical data.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces expenses related to manual security checks.
Time Savings: Streamlines API security management, allowing faster response.
Increased Visibility: Offers clear insights into API interactions.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, where data security is paramount, Salt Security's solutions are implemented to secure API communications, maintain compliance, and prevent unauthorized access. These industries benefit from Salt Security's ability to provide robust defenses tailored to their unique operational requirements.

Salt Security

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Appsflyer, Armis, City National Bank, Coralogix, Finastra, Gett, Honeybook, Payoneer

Buyer's Guide

NGINX App Protect vs. Salt Security

June 2026

Free Report: NGINX App Protect vs. Salt Security

Find out what your peers are saying about NGINX App Protect vs. Salt Security and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

904,680 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our NGINX App Protect vs. Salt Security report.

See our list of best API Security vendors.

We monitor all API Security reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.