NGINX App Protect vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) comparison

F5 and Fastly are both solutions in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category. F5 is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.3, while Fastly is ranked #25 with an average rating of 8.0. F5 holds a 2.1% mindshare in WAF, compared to Fastly’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of F5 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 60% of Fastly users who would recommend it.

NGINX App Protect

Read 26 NGINX App Protect reviews

2,365 Views
1,656 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (po...

Read 4 The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) reviews

992 Views
873 Comparison Views

60% willing to recommend

NGINX App Protect

The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (po...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

Fastly Next-Gen WAF and NGINX App Protect are competitors in the web application firewall space, each having its distinct advantages. Fastly stands out with ease of use and customer support, while NGINX is preferred for its robust feature set, enhancing its appeal for comprehensive security requirements.

Features: Fastly Next-Gen WAF offers real-time visibility, versatile deployment options across cloud, on-premise, and hybrid environments, and excellent integration with DevOps tools. NGINX App Protect provides advanced threat detection and mitigation, robust API security features, and seamless integration with the NGINX ecosystem, making it beneficial for existing NGINX users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fastly Next-Gen WAF receives praise for its straightforward deployment process and responsive support team, suitable for various platforms. NGINX App Protect provides seamless deployment for NGINX setups but may require more configuration for new users.

Pricing and ROI: Fastly Next-Gen WAF is noted for being cost-effective and offering a quick return on investment due to scalability and application protection efficiency. NGINX App Protect, although seen as more expensive, offers extensive security features that justify the higher cost for long-term needs. Fastly is preferred by budget-conscious buyers, while NGINX appeals to those seeking comprehensive security.

To learn more, read our detailed NGINX App Protect vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

NGINX App Protect vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)

February 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

NGINX App Protect

Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)

15th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Container Security (27th), API Security (7th)

The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (po...

Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)

25th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

4.8

Number of Reviews

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 NGINX App Protect is 2.1%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) is 1.2%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Web Application Firewall (WAF) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
NGINX App Protect	2.1%
The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)	1.2%
Other	96.7%

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Featured Reviews

Jean-Marc Porchet

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…

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reviewer2161107

Staff Engineer at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees

Room for improvement with user interface while competitive pricing impresses

It is managed through Infrastructure as Code, so all configurations can be managed in the code itself, which is beneficial. Because it uses rules, it is easy to set up, and we have many different sites where the configurations are straightforward. Though the UI is not very interactive, which is a downside, we can manage many things. The UI is not very intuitive and could be better. However, we manage all the configurations through code, which is easy to maintain. It has extensive anomaly detection capabilities, so the traffic is classified into several categories where thresholds can be defined and customized based on false positives and false negatives. This is advantageous because you do not need to tweak it very often. Once you set it up, an audit once a quarter would suffice. Because The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) is API-driven, we have integrations with the CI/CD pipeline through GitHub Actions, making it easy to integrate.

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

"It is a very good tool for load balancing."

"The tool's most valuable feature is the OWASP certification. Additionally, the tool's ability to enforce strong passwords and OTP within minutes is impressive. With its analytics and recommendations, it is a very good solution."

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

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

"We were looking for a product that is capable of complete automation and a container based solution. It's working."

"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."

"The policies are flexible based on the technologies you use."

"It's very easy to deploy."

More NGINX App Protect pros

"Because The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) is API-driven, we have integrations with the CI/CD pipeline through GitHub Actions, making it easy to integrate."

"When configuring a web application firewall using Signal Sciences, we configure a rule whereby no one except a few people can access the application."

"The product's most valuable feature is its ability to set up the rules easily."

"Fastly (Signal Sciences) integrates and tags the intermittent traffic based on patterns. It generates signals and provides them in a dashboard where we can view them and decide whether to allow or deny traffic. It's a more advanced and easy-to-navigate dashboard."

Cons

"The setup of NGINX App Protect is complex. The full process took one week to complete. Additionally, we had to change the network infrastructure platform which took one month."

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

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

"They could provide a better user interface."

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

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

"The dashboard could provide a more comprehensive view of the status of the connections."

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

More NGINX App Protect cons

"Even if we create some custom rules, Signal Sciences cannot capture some of the malicious traffic."

"The areas that could be improved in Signal Sciences include the effectiveness of rules, as many didn't function optimally and required custom rule-writing to address bypasses for WAF."

"The UI is not very intuitive and could be better."

"Fastly don't support caching for China users. That's the only feature lacking compared to Akamai."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of NGINX App Protect is approximately $3,000 annually. All of our licenses are observed by a managed service partner."

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

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

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

"NGINX App Protect is expensive."

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

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

"Our licensing costs are about $40,000 a year."

More NGINX App Protect pricing and cost advice

"The product has an affordable cost."

"Signal Sciences is pretty cheap compared to other solutions."

"The pricing is 50% less than Akamai."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Retailer

11%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	12

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about NGINX App Protect?

It's very easy to deploy.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Signal Sciences?

The pricing is very competitive compared to other providers. The pricing is definitely a factor in our decision-making process.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Signal Sciences?

We do use it, but the UI can be improved as we mostly work through the CI/CD. It provides support, but sometimes it is hard to navigate unless you are very familiar with it.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Signal Sciences?

The CDN is for caching and The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) is for protecting the servers from malicious traffic. They both perform different jobs and serve different purposes, ...

See all answers

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Compared 15% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

Azure Web Application Firewall vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)

Compared 10% of the time

Akamai App and API Protector vs The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

NGINX App Protect

January 2026

Download NGINX App Protect product report

Buyer's Guide

The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)

January 2026

The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) report

Download The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) product report

Also Known As

NGINX WAF, NGINX Web Application Firewall

Signal Sciences Next-Gen WAF, Signal Sciences RASP

Overview

NGINX App Protect application security solution combines the efficacy of advanced F5 web application firewall (WAF) technology with the agility and performance of NGINX Plus. The solution runs natively on NGINX Plus and addresses some of the most difficult challenges facing modern DevOps environments:

Integrating security controls directly into the development automation pipeline
Applying and managing security for modern and distributed application environments such as containers and microservices
Providing the right level of security controls without impacting release and go-to-market velocity
Complying with security and regulatory requirements

NGINX App Protect offers:

Expanded security beyond basic signatures to ensure adequate controls
F5 app‑security technology for efficacy superior to ModSecurity and other WAFs
Confidently run in “blocking” mode in production with proven F5 expertise
High‑confidence signatures for extremely low false positives
Increases visibility, integrating with third‑party analytics solutions
Integrates security and WAF natively into the CI/CD pipeline
Deploys as a lightweight software package that is agnostic of underlying infrastructure
Facilitates declarative policies for “security as code” and integration with DevOps tools
Decreases developer burden and provides feedback loop for quick security remediation
Accelerates time to market and reduces costs with DevSecOps‑automated security

The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences) provides web application and API protection, RASP, rate limiting, bot protection and DDoS purpose built to eliminate the challenges of legacy WAF.

Fastly

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Chef, Adobe, Datadog, Etsy, GrubHub, Vimeo, SendGrid, Under Armour, Duo, AppNexus

Buyer's Guide

NGINX App Protect vs. The Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)

February 2026

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