Akamai App and API Protector vs F5 Advanced WAF comparison

Akamai and F5 are both solutions in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category. Akamai is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.7, while F5 is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.6. Akamai holds a 4.0% mindshare in WAF, compared to F5’s 12.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Akamai users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of F5 users who would recommend it.

Akamai App and API Protector

Read 28 Akamai App and API Protector reviews

4,224 Views
3,066 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

F5 Advanced WAF

Read 60 F5 Advanced WAF reviews

10,237 Views
8,239 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Akamai App and API Protector

F5 Advanced WAF

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Akamai App and API Protector and F5 Advanced WAF based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Web Application Firewall (WAF) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Akamai App and API Protector vs. F5 Advanced WAF Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Akamai App and API Protector vs. F5 Advanced WAF

October 2024

Download the complete report

Helped 815,854 peers since 2012

Categories and Ranking

Akamai App and API Protector

Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)

8th

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) Protection (4th), Cloud and Data Center Security (10th)

F5 Advanced WAF

Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)

3rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category, the mindshare of Akamai App and API Protector is 4.0%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 Advanced WAF is 12.0%, up from 10.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Featured Reviews

Deepesh Singh

Senior Engineering Manager Cybersecurity at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jul 9, 2024

Bot Manager and different features to manage threats

As a product, it has good capabilities, including professional support. However, it's risky for us to rely on AI for real-time traffic management. We use in-house analytics but avoid automatic actions due to their high impact. For example, I live in a developing country. Everyone has different types of phones, apps, and everything else. So, if someone is using a legacy phone, that is still a use case here. If AI decides that this is an end-of-life phone or end-of-life Android operating system, it starts blocking that traffic. We may potentially lose millions or probably thousands and hundreds of thousands of hits per second. Everything is all about how well we serve payments because we're into payments. So, AI is used for analytics but not for real-time decisions. We can't afford to block traffic based on AI models due to the variety of devices and operating systems our users have.

Read full review

YUSUF TAIWO

Founder roverupgrades.com.ng at 22 TEAM RESOURCES LIMITED

Oct 26, 2023

Ensures a robust and unified security approach for our clients

My clients often seek a comprehensive security solution for their hybrid environments, with both cloud and on-premise web applications. To address this, I recommend combining F5 Advanced WAF for web application security with Fortinet solutions, including FortiGate, FortiSign, and FortiAnalyzer, for…

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

"The CDN and the WAF features are the best."

"It is scalable for DDoS."

"The product has a good user interface."

"The features are powerful and better than F5."

"The solution easily identifies, delays, or allows business traffic."

"The product has a good UI."

"The product is user-friendly."

"The solution can scale extremely well."

More Akamai App and API Protector pros

"This solution inspects your traffic and based on that, automatically create distinct qualities for you, so you can add this to the policy already created. That's what I like most."

"It's a fairly easy-to-use and user-friendly tool. My administrators and team also like its ability to customize the rules per the requirements."

"F5 helped to meet compliance and regulatory requirements."

"Very easy to implement and works well."

"It is also quite intuitive and user-friendly. They have several webinars that are actually like labs. You can use these webinars to learn about how to use all features of the product."

"I like all of the features, but the main one is the attack signatures."

"I like the security features, especially against SQL injection."

"The best solution for WAF."

More F5 Advanced WAF pros

Cons

"Akamai App and API Protector is very new to me, so I do not have any insights on improvement areas for the product. However, when we ask for some help, it can take some time. We understand that the job is done by professionals, but if that time can be reduced, it would be great."

"We are experimenting with EdgeWorkers to write our own code at the Edge level. It could grow to be much better."

"The pricing could be reduced a bit."

"One thing I asked them is to integrate the API discovery product that they have and push that data into Akamai App and API Protector so that we do not have two types of reviews to identify the type of traffic. We already know the APIs that are frequently getting used, so analysis becomes easier. We can integrate both products and use them."

"It could have better analytics and reporting visibility in the OEM console."

"It would be nice if Akamai Web Application Protector's price is lowered and made cheaper."

"Could integrate more features for each security."

"The product should provide a secure NTP."

More Akamai App and API Protector cons

"F5 Advanced WAF could improve the reporting. It's a bit difficult to populate, them. If you're not so familiar with the functions, such as where to find the logs and other settings."

"There should be more ability to rate limit certain scenarios. The majority of the time, it is either on or off. For certain types of use cases, there should be the ability to rate limit, not just enable or disable."

"I think the deployment templates can be better."

"We get false positives sometimes."

"Compatibility with multiple cloud environments needs improvement. Both stability and scalability need to be improved."

"The pricing could be more flexible."

"There is a gap in report management."

"The solution is tedious. It takes a lot of discrete settings so one needs to get detailed and granular when they use the solution. It takes you a whole lot of energy and concentration to configure. It needs to be much more straight-forward, like other web solutions."

More F5 Advanced WAF cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is no license at all for Akamai. They are going to charge us only for the usage."

"The product is expensive, but it is worth the money."

"Based on the billing discussions in the DevOps team, Akamai's cost does not seem to be a major thing. However, LOE is an issue. When it comes to support, we know that even all the competitors do this. For a 30-minute issue, they give us a LOE of one or two hours. That is a basic practice, but that is something we worry about."

"The price they are offering is quite reasonable for premium customers, but it's very expensive if you're a small and medium-sized enterprises."

"It's more expensive than others, but the ROI is good for large-scale infrastructure."

"Cost depends on the volume of traffic."

"The solution is not expensive."

"The product’s price is high."

More Akamai App and API Protector pricing and cost advice

"I think the price is very high."

"A yearly license for F5 Advanced WAF is expensive."

"F5 Advanced WAF pricing structure should be adjusted to meet the need of small to medium-sized companies."

"F5 Advanced WAF is not a cost-effective solution. Although they are attempting to reduce prices with their VE and cloud options, they are more expensive than other solutions. The solution is more expensive on average."

"F5 bundles up services and the bundle is what you pay for rather than individual components."

"Its price is fair. We have done a couple of deals where they were able to give some kind of discount to the customers. The price was initially high for the customers, but after a couple of negotiations, it came within their budget. They were happy with that."

"F5 Advanced WAF's pricing is high."

"It is expensive. Its price should be better. Its licensing is on a yearly basis. Its licensing is also based on the model. There are no additional costs."

More F5 Advanced WAF pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Web Application Firewall (WAF) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

815,854 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

27%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Akamai Web Application Protector?

The product is user-friendly.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Akamai Web Application Protector?

The price is higher than others. It could be about 80% to 70% more expensive than other tools. So, it’s not just a slight difference.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Akamai Web Application Protector?

It could have better analytics and reporting visibility in the OEM console.

See all answers

What do you like most about F5 Advanced WAF?

It's a fairly easy-to-use and user-friendly tool. My administrators and team also like its ability to customize the rules per the requirements.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 Advanced WAF?

I don't have direct knowledge of the pricing. From what I know, it is not too expensive compared to other solutions.

See all answers

What needs improvement with F5 Advanced WAF?

The product could be more user-friendly for administrators. The user interface could be easier.

See all answers

Comparisons

Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs Akamai App and API Protector

Compared 19% of the time

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs Akamai App and API Protector

Compared 14% of the time

AWS WAF vs Akamai App and API Protector

Compared 12% of the time

Prolexic vs Akamai App and API Protector

Compared 7% of the time

More Akamai App and API Protector Competitors

Fortinet FortiWeb vs F5 Advanced WAF

Compared 21% of the time

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs F5 Advanced WAF

Compared 16% of the time

AWS WAF vs F5 Advanced WAF

Compared 15% of the time

Imperva Web Application Firewall vs F5 Advanced WAF

Compared 9% of the time

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs F5 Advanced WAF

Compared 5% of the time

More F5 Advanced WAF Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Akamai App and API Protector

November 2024

Download Akamai App and API Protector product report

Buyer's Guide

F5 Advanced WAF

November 2024

Download F5 Advanced WAF product report

Also Known As

Akamai Web Application Protector, Akamai Kona Site Defender, Akamai Kona DDoS Defender

No data available

Learn More

Akamai

Overview

Akamai App and API Protector provides website security by preventing DDoS attacks, acting as an application firewall, managing content delivery, and monitoring APIs. It adapts to threat profiles and is used for fast media delivery and identifying malicious activities.

Akamai App and API Protector offers strong protection, adaptable security features, and efficient traffic management. Its WAF blocks IP addresses and country-specific threats while preventing SQL injections. Companies utilize it for scalable CDN services and comprehensive traffic analysis. Known for its cost-effectiveness and user-friendly dashboard, this protector stands out for its customizable rules and technical support. Users also highlight the ease of integration and detailed attack insights available through its advanced dashboard.

What are the key features of Akamai App and API Protector?

DDoS Protection: Strong defense against Distributed Denial of Service attacks.
Scalable CDN: Manages content delivery efficiently under high traffic loads.
WAF Capabilities: Blocks specific IPs and countries, prevents SQL injections.
Traffic Filtering: Analyzes and controls incoming requests to maintain security.
Adaptive Stream Delivery: Adjusts content delivery to meet bandwidth needs.

What benefits should users expect?

Cost-Effectiveness: Provides robust security tools at a competitive price.
Enhanced Security: Comprehensive protection against cyber threats.
Scalability: Easily handles increasing traffic and data loads.
Ease of Integration: Simple integration with existing systems.
Insightful Analytics: Offers data-driven insights into traffic and attack patterns.

In media, Akamai App and API Protector ensures smooth streaming by handling high bandwidth demands. E-commerce companies use it to guard against fraud and data breaches. Financial sectors rely on its ability to protect sensitive transactions. Implementations in healthcare focus on safeguarding patient data while maintaining compliance with regulations.

F5 Advanced WAF is a web application security solution for financial and government sectors, e-commerce, and public-facing websites. It offers protection against various attacks, including botnets, web scraping, and foreign entities. The solution can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud and is often used with other security tools. Its most valuable features include DDoS and DNS attack protection, SSL uploading, anomaly detection, and the ability to input custom rules.

F5 Advanced WAF has helped organizations to expose more services to the public while providing an extra layer of protection, preventing revenue loss, and securing connectivity.

Sample Customers

Douglas Omaha Technology Commission, ZALORA, PrintPlanet

MAXIMUS, Vivo, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office, City Bank

Buyer's Guide

Akamai App and API Protector vs. F5 Advanced WAF

October 2024

Free Report: Akamai App and API Protector vs. F5 Advanced WAF

Find out what your peers are saying about Akamai App and API Protector vs. F5 Advanced WAF and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.

DOWNLOAD NOW

815,854 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Akamai App and API Protector vs. F5 Advanced WAF report.

See our list of best Web Application Firewall (WAF) vendors.

We monitor all Web Application Firewall (WAF) 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.