F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall) is as good as other WAAP leaders
Updated August 01, 2025

F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall) is as good as other WAAP leaders

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall)

We tested F5 Cloud WAF as an option to substitute Imperva Cloud WAF.

Pros

  • Blocks SQLi
  • Blocks XSS
  • Blocks IRA

Cons

  • More POPs around the world
  • Good results in pentest scans.
  • PCI compliance.
F5 Cloud WAF is easy to use, is very good as management web console, is simple and very straightforward.
  • Imperva Web Application Firewall (WAF)
They are very similar and protect pretty much against the same attacks. F5 though is easier to manage.

Do you think F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall)'s feature set?

Yes

Did F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall) live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall) go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall) again?

Yes

Imperva Advanced Bot Protection, Imperva Web Application Firewall (WAF), Imperva CDN
I recommend F5 Cloud for protection against web app threats and API protection.

Using F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall)

3 - Currently only 3 people in our organization as we're on the proof of concept phase to test the web application firewall and API Security features. Currently we use the Imperva WAF and right now we're validating other options on the market. F5 was one of the options we choosed since we already use F5 Big IP on our on premises environment.
3 - Currently only 3 people in our organization as we're on the proof of concept phase to test the web application firewall and API Security features. If we get to deploy it then this number would increase as we'd involve the NOC team to also manage de F5 distributed cloud Web application Firewall.
  • WAF
  • API Security
  • CDN Load Balancing
  • Rewriting headers
  • Discovering APIs behavior
  • Other custom rules
  • Maybe expand to thousands of websites if the POC is suceeded
Imperva is currently fullfilling our needs, but F5 is for sure a reasonable option.

Evaluating F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall) and Competitors

  • Cloud Solutions
  • Other
API Security
We're still on the evaluation and selection process.

F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall) Implementation

Just make sure you origin servers have F5 IPs allowed.
  • Third-party professional services
3rd party PS is helping us with the proof of concept tests.
Yes - - Config UAT apps in alert mode - Monitor logs and mitigate false positives - Config UAT apps in block mode - Config Prod apps in alert mode - Monitor logs and mitigate false positives - Config prod apps in block mode
For API Security first we enable discover mode only.
Change management was a big part of the implementation and was well-handled - Change management is a standard process is our company very mature so for all changes we do there's a change ticket describing everything that we'll do on the environment.
  • ACL on the origin servers had to be changed

F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall) Support

I never contacted support for this product.
ProsCons
None
None
Not yet, but that's an option we consider.
As we're on the POC phase, we have only used the 3rd party support which has been great by the way.

Using F5 Distributed Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall)

It's very easy compared to other WAFs. The Web GUI has its features very well distributed and clear. Configuring new apps is also very simple. Setting policies is also easy to do. The monitoring dashboards are also very good and provide the information needed is a very direct and clear way both for performance and security.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • API Security
  • Bot Defense
  • L7 dos mitigation
  • None

Comments

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