F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall) vs. IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall)
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
F5 Distributed Cloud WAF leverages F5's Advanced WAF technology, delivering WAF-as-a-Service and combining signature- and behavior-based protection for web applications. It acts as an intermediate proxy to inspect application requests and responses to block and mitigate a broad spectrum of risks stemming from the OW ASP Top 10, persistent and coordinated threat campaigns, bots, and layer 7 DoS.N/A
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers are customizable, public or private, cloud-based servers available from IBM. User can launch applications and software across blended, hybrid environments as the servers integrate with all cloud models.
$0.01
per hour
Pricing
F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall)IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (dedicated host)
starting at $0.22
per hour
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (dedicated host)
starting at $149.00
per month
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (multi-tenant)
starting at $0.038
per hour
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (multi-tenant)
starting at $25.21
per month
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (reserved)
starting at $0.02
per hour
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (reserved)
starting at $13.27
per month
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (transient)
starting at $0.01
per hour
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall)IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalOptional
Additional DetailsIBM Cloud virtual servers include 250 GB of outbound public bandwidth, unmetered inbound public bandwidth, and unmetered private and management network bandwidth.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall)IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall)IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
Comparison of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) features of Product A and Product B
F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall)
-
Ratings
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
8.3
88 Ratings
2% above category average
Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime00 Ratings8.381 Ratings
Dynamic scaling00 Ratings8.276 Ratings
Elastic load balancing00 Ratings8.264 Ratings
Pre-configured templates00 Ratings7.873 Ratings
Monitoring tools00 Ratings8.284 Ratings
Pre-defined machine images00 Ratings8.278 Ratings
Operating system support00 Ratings8.284 Ratings
Security controls00 Ratings8.978 Ratings
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F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall)IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
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User Ratings
F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall)IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(51 ratings)
8.1
(89 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
7.8
(3 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.5
(5 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall)IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
Likelihood to Recommend
F5
So a lot of companies that have a digital side and they have a lot of applications in the cloud, this is one of those areas that it can protect the net so it can lock 'em down, it'll build a baseline so you understand what that application's doing. So if it sees something not normal, it'll get protected against that.
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IBM
One scenario that immediately came to my mind was large-scale data processing, IBM Cloud Virtual Servers is well-suited for organizations that require high-performance computing capabilities, particularly when processing large amounts of data. It can also be useful for companies or organizations that wish to migrate their workplace to the cloud and it may suite companies that have strict compliance requirements since the servers have robust security features.
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Pros
F5
  • Layer seven attacks are becoming far more common. Traditionally it was always layered three, layer four, where you get an additional firewall, but with the application layer attacks become more frequent, more popular, et cetera. So having the web application firewall protecting us, and then with the recent Log4j, that's the most recent use case when it gave us that instant level of protection whilst we remediated the Log4j that we had that and the F5 Distributed Cloud WAF was protecting us.
  • I have a great relationship with the account manager, my account manager, and I think he drives the best price possible, um, for me, and I'm happy with that price.
  • F5 Distributed Cloud WAF is always innovating and evolving.
  • We run a very competitive proof value where we run numerous competitors against each other, and then we evaluate from that and then make the selection, and F5 Distributed Cloud WAF was the winner.
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IBM
  • Scalability: IBM Cloud Virtual Servers enable businesses to simply and quickly scale up or down the resources they require in response to changing business demands. This enables firms to respond to traffic spikes, requests for new services, or changes in business size without the need for additional hardware purchases or maintenance.
  • Cost savings: By employing virtual servers in the cloud, enterprises can decrease capital expenditures for hardware and infrastructure while also lowering ongoing operational expenses by removing server maintenance and management costs. This can result in significant cost savings for enterprises, particularly those that need to raise or decrease their computer capacity fast and easily.
  • High availability: IBM Cloud Virtual Servers is built with high availability in mind, giving enterprises the certainty that their applications and data will be available and accessible even if hardware fails or other disruptions occur. This assists enterprises in maintaining business continuity and lowering the chance of downtime, which is crucial for firms that rely on 24/7 access to their systems. Furthermore, IBM's comprehensive network and security features aid in the prevention of data breaches and other security risks, assuring the availability and reliability of their applications and data.
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Cons
F5
  • So we just had some performance issues when it comes to routing. Because the web application firewall sits in front of our website, which is hosted on-site, we had some trouble with the VGP protocols between the two sites and it took us a while to figure it out. So that is probably one area where we could improve. Otherwise, when it comes to the WAF functionality itself, it's really good.
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IBM
  • It would also be nice if there were more templates to choose from when creating a server. Right now there are only a few options, and we'd like to see more variety.
  • We'd like to see the ability to create server groups. This would make it easier to manage a large number of servers since we could do all of the updates and management tasks for them at once.
  • There doesn't seem to be a way to automatically install updates on all of the virtual servers. We have to go in and manually update each one, which can be time-consuming. It would be really nice if automatic updates can be done.
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Likelihood to Renew
F5
No answers on this topic
IBM
It has a flexible and affordable pricing, easy to configure and manage. It is easy to spawn one or multiple instances and have them up and running in no time
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Reliability and Availability
F5
No answers on this topic
IBM
Always available when you need an instance.
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Performance
F5
No answers on this topic
IBM
Most of the instances work on hypervisors with good processors, but not all of them.
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Support Rating
F5
No answers on this topic
IBM
It is adequate, but you need to be ready to argue your point - which is fair enough, I suppose, but being given the opposite of the benefit of the doubt every time does not necessarily result in an enjoyable user experience.
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Implementation Rating
F5
No answers on this topic
IBM
We did not use IBM professional services to implement IBM Cloud Virtual Servers.
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Alternatives Considered
F5
Basically, Cloudflare is a more economical solution at the level of DNS balancing, easy to use with a few simple clicks and that has gained an advantage in the market, however, compared to F5, it falls short of the entire protection panorama that the solution provides since F5 does not It's just DNS that goes further and that's where it differentiates and stands out.
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IBM
IBM Cloud Virtual Servers offer more customization options than Amazon EC2, with the ability to select from a range of operating systems, storage types, and network configurations. IBM also provides a wide range of tools and services to help manage and optimize your virtual servers, including a web-based console, CLI, and API.

AWS EC2 is a more managed platform, with a focus on providing a simple and easy-to-use interface. Amazon provides a range of predefined instance types, each with different specs and pricing, to make it easy to find the right option for your needs. AWS also offers a number of management and monitoring tools, but these are often more basic than what is available from IBM.
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Scalability
F5
No answers on this topic
IBM
It worked well for us in the beginning, it works well for us when we have more instances.
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Return on Investment
F5
  • Accelerated time to value as it was a requirement for a workload being provisioned on that cloud
  • As an existing f5 customer, access to their solutions integrator (GridZero) made the sizing, licensing, purchases, and downloading of the software very quick and painless
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IBM
  • Supports businesses who want compute power on demand (instances are ready within minutes).
  • It can give you access to a 32-core CPU at $0.29 for short running or interruptible processes - enabling cost-efficient number crunching.
  • Given me a taste of the powers of remote compute power for compilation and development.
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