F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) vs Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service comparison

F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) vs. Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service

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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

Cloudflare

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection category, the mindshare of Cloudflare is 18.8%, down from 19.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) is 1.4%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service is 7.8%, up from 6.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection

Featured Reviews

Spencer Malmad

Owner at Tech Exchange

It's easy to set up because you point the DNS to it, and it's working in under 15 minutes

Cloudflare is highly scalable. Cloudflare is a system with a web portal that the end users like me see. It's a console where we can adjust the DNS, caching, and security features all in that console. Cloudflare owns thousands of servers across the world that cache the data. It's a powerful solution. When clients sign up for Cloudflare, they're getting this monster content delivery network, security, and a web application firewall in one. It's all rolled into one, and it's massive. Unless you have your website hosted on a massive hosting provider, there's no way that you can deliver the amount of data that Cloudflare can provide to the end users. If you have static content, there's no way that you can ever match what Cloudflare can do. Obviously, there are competitors to Cloudflare that do the same, but I'm saying other types of solutions. Let's say you go with F5. Great, that's on-prem. That's in your colo. You can't deliver as much data to the internet as you can with a CDN. You don't have to spend $20,000 on a net scaler, F5, or whatever Cisco's selling now. You don't have to buy that. You pay them $50 a month or $150 a month. It's totally worth it because even in five years, you'll never get the performance value, not just the actual ROI. You have to consider how much throughput you can get with Cloudflare.

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Richard Polyak

Sr. Architect at NBC Universal

Straightforward setup with very good granularity and performance

Our company uses the solution as a data center firewall. It is hard to determine all users within our infrastructure. It depends on systems we put behind the solution. Its internal but also a data center firewall. Sometimes, there are hooks from the solution to our external infrastructure or…

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Pankaj Kaushik

Cyber Security Engineer at Nokia Corporation

Plays a vital role in safeguarding our network by protecting us from DDoS threats and attacks

We've been encountering a lack of updates in DefensePro. Currently, we're facing numerous bugs within our data solution. These bugs are impacting the failover process, and we're observing repeated crashes of the Elasticsearch container across various workflows. There's room for improvement in the clarity of the feedback provided by the command service in the CLI. Specifically, the messages it gives when something happens to Docker containers could be more informative. For example, it might simply state that container states have changed, or it might mention the directory paths where container data is saved, but these messages don't provide enough detail. To access the files, users currently need to navigate through a complex directory structure, which isn't very user-friendly. There is a need for more informative release notes. The current ones lack detail about what's included in the updates and what fixes have been implemented. This makes it difficult for users to understand the changes and how they might affect the experience.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Cloudflare DNS is its global reach and it is always evolving."

"It's very user-friendly."

"I like Cloudflare's application gateway and DDoS protection."

"Smaller businesses have seen great ROI due to the low investment and strong performance."

"Generally, I am satisfied with this product."

"The attacker won't have details since my public IP is anonymous. It offers us good privacy."

"Cloudflare DNS is widely used, and it's good for websites. If we use Cloudflare DNS and update one record, it updates in their office instantly."

"We're using dynamic components to build flexible pages to create and manage Git merge requests for code and reviews."

More Cloudflare pros

"I find the signature base is very helpful to see traffic"

"The protection is very useful."

"The features of F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager that have proven most effective in securing the network are significant."

"This product excells in every aspect from installation and the interface to providing superior network security."

"The most valuable feature of F5 BIG-IP AFM is the iRules where I can customize the configuration."

"The product’s most valuable features are LTM and WAF."

"The web application firewall has been very helpful. We purchased F5 when we were migrating our applications to the cloud."

"It excels in preventing downtime and maintaining application performance, which is crucial for our clients' security and operational continuity."

More F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) pros

"Radware DefensePro's most valuable feature lies in its ability to mitigate non-traffic attacks."

"The DDoS protection that the solution provides is its most valuable feature."

"All of our traffic has to pass through the appliance, so we can very quickly mitigate the attack. This is a very valuable feature. On top of that, it's not only volumetric attack protection that the solution offers, but also layer 7 attack protection as well."

"The intuitive user interface makes the entire process seamless and efficient."

"The reporting is very good and provides us with a comprehensive description of where attacks are emanating from."

"With the secure signature feature, the Radware DefensePro is a big assistance. It is a big help to our customers to improve their productivity and performance. The prompt response from the Radware team is definitely increasing in the new era."

"Its functionality is very good."

"The most important part is that Radware DDoS integrates seamlessly and provides anomaly identification, real-time notifications, and security against DDoS attacks. It also helps us with multi-layer volumetric attacks. It shields us from global botnet threats."

More Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service pros

Cons

"Support response time could be improved."

"Cloudflare does not have an on-premise solution. If they had different approaches they could be better suited to accommodate more customers, such as on-premise and hybrid deployments. For example, hybrid deployments would be useful where you could move the traffic from the enterprise to the cloud."

"It should have easier documentation for the configuration. It's very technical and people who aren't technical should also be able to do the configuration."

"They lack a good way to manage DNS as a company, since everything is relegated to single account logins until you get to the higher levels. They have come out with a paid feature to remedy this, but I have not had a chance to fully review it yet to know if it fixes the access problem."

"The product needs to improve its automation."

"The product support needs to be accessible from more places, a wider area of coverage."

"DNS Management."

"The solution could work at being less expensive. It costs a lot to use it."

More Cloudflare cons

"F5 could provide a distributed cloud version."

"We would have preferred to have support when we first started"

"The solution’s initial setup is not easy."

"F5 BIG-IP AFM can improve the reporting interface in relation to advanced troubleshooting depending on CLI. They should have enhanced troubleshooting with the use of GUI."

"For configuring the firewall, every single vendor on the planet has pretty much the same logic when it comes to firewalls, and F5 has a completely different approach and completely different behavior."

"Currently, we have eighty F5s and we need some kind of management software. It would be very helpful."

"We needed to protect the database but the solution didn't offer a certain feature to do so."

"The solution's UI could be improved."

More F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) cons

"I would like to have more granular steps according to protected bandwidth, so the granularity should be better."

"There is room for improvement in the pricing; the product could be more affordable."

"If they would go to a cloud-based approach, that would give much more flexibility in terms of working with them."

"Radware DefensePro requires a continuous learning process. Using this technology, we can improve our network. Based on the different attack mechanisms, we use Radware DefensePro to provide security for our clients' networks very effectively."

"It currently takes about 15 to 20 minutes for the process to complete, which should be minimized."

"There's room for improvement in the clarity of the feedback provided by the command service in the CLI."

"This solution may not cover all of the requirements in situations for which I am unfamiliar, and there is always room for improvement."

"It could incorporate more intelligence for reacting with web site visitors."

More Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In terms of licensing costs, we don't pay for licensing for Cloudflare. We only establish communication, then for peering, Cloudflare takes care of the cross-connection in different data centers."

"The price is reasonable."

"The solution has many features but there are ones that you need to pay for. Sometimes you have to find out which is available for free and which you have to pay for."

"The price of the solution is expensive."

"I think the pricing is competitive. I think as far as licensing is concerned it's pretty straightforward because it's based on domain. It's just that sometimes domains could be tricky with some customers."

"When you compare Cloudflare DNS to other solutions, such as Akamai, the price is reasonable."

"The tool is a premium product, so it is very expensive."

"That is one of the great features. I was able to access the majority of the features and services for free."

More Cloudflare pricing and cost advice

"F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) is an expensive solution. They are one of the best in the market, but the price could be cheaper."

"We need to pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution."

"It is somewhat on the expensive side although it is worth the additional cost."

"F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager is not an expensive solution."

"The price of F5 BIG-IP AFM is a little more expensive than other firewalls on the market."

"The solution is slightly on the higher priced side."

"F5 BIG-IP AFM is an affordable solution. There were not any additional fees other than the standard licensing."

"We have purchased a five-year licensing package for the product."

More F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) pricing and cost advice

"Radware's switch to a pay-as-you-go model last year provides great flexibility."

"The NetFlow security could be improved too."

"The cost for maintenance is cheaper because the majority of the deployments using the solution are in areas where cost of maintenance is also lower."

"Licensing of Radware is quite simple and straightforward, while Arbor DDos is a bit complicated."

"Its pricing is competitive. The licensing model is also very competitive. It is customizable, so there is no issue at all. They have given us whatever we have asked in terms of the pricing model and SLA."

"The Radware DefensePro was bundled together with our security platform."

"It is sort of middle-of-the-road for this type of solution."

"The price was well over six figures."

More Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection solutions are best for your needs.

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831,020 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

25%

Computer Software Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

22%

Computer Software Company

17%

Insurance Company

Government

Educational Organization

50%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?

Cloudflare. We are moving from Akamai prolexic to Cloudflare. Cloudflare anycast network outperforms Akamai static GR...

Which would you choose - Cloudflare DNS or Quad9?

Cloudflare DNS is a very fast, very reliable public DNS resolver. It is an enterprise-grade authoritative DNS service...

What do you like most about Cloudflare?

Cloudflare offers CDN and DDoS protection. We have the front end, API, and database in how you structure applications.

What do you like most about F5 Advanced Firewall Manager?

CGNAT is one of its strong areas.

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

The price of the solution presents a challenge.

What needs improvement with F5 Advanced Firewall Manager?

I have encountered challenges with the price of the solution. Apart from the price, I feel no other areas need improv...

What do you like most about Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service?

The most important part is that Radware DDoS integrates seamlessly and provides anomaly identification, real-time not...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service?

The pricing is okay, and I do not have any concerns about the price. To someone who is researching DDoS protection so...

What needs improvement with Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service?

The time it takes to upload a site to the cloud is critical when under attack. If a site is down, a quick response to...

Azure Front Door vs Cloudflare

Comparisons

Quad9 vs Cloudflare

Compared 49% of the time

Compared 4% of the time

Azure DNS vs Cloudflare

Compared 4% of the time

Akamai vs Cloudflare

Compared 4% of the time

G-Core Labs CDN vs Cloudflare

Compared 1% of the time

More Cloudflare Competitors

Arbor DDoS vs F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)

Compared 62% of the time

AWS Shield vs F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)

Compared 16% of the time

More F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) Competitors

Arbor DDoS vs Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service

Compared 38% of the time

Imperva DDoS vs Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service

Compared 7% of the time

Fortinet FortiDDoS vs Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service

Compared 6% of the time

Corero vs Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service

Compared 5% of the time

F5 Silverline Managed Services vs Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service

Compared 2% of the time

More Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service Competitors

Product Reports

Cloudflare

Download Cloudflare product report

F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)

Download F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) product report

F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) report

Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service

December 2024

Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service report

Download Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service product report

Also Known As

Cloudflare DNS

F5 AFM, F5 Advanced Firewall Manager

Radware DefensePro

Learn More

Cloudflare

Radware

Overview

Cloudflare is a highly-regarded Content Delivery Network (CDN) and a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) protection solution. The robust global connectivity cloud platform that is Cloudflare ensures users are able to connect to the Internet quickly, securely, and reliably. Cloudflare is one of the world's largest networks in the marketplace today. Using Cloudflare, businesses, educational entities, NGOs, vloggers, bloggers, and anyone else with an internet presence can experience more secure, faster websites and applications.

Currently, there are millions of Internet locations on Cloudflare, and the Cloudflare network
continues to grow every day by the thousands. The solution is able to fulfill the requests for
millions of websites seamlessly and serves on average 45 million HTTP requests per second.

Cloudflare has safe, secure data centers in close to 300 cities worldwide to ensure every
client request is filled as quickly as possible. It is Cloudflare’s edge network that makes this
possible by keeping content and other services as close to each client as possible, so the
information requests are always only seconds away.

Many organizations that work in democracy, civil society, human rights, or the arts are able to
access Cloudflare's highest levels of protection for free via Project Galileo. Additionally, official
election websites can be secured from hacking and fraud through Cloudflare’s Project
Athenian, also at no additional cost.

Cloudflare can also help organizations of all sizes develop a robust zero-trust strategy to
ensure the highest levels of productivity and profitability. Employees, stakeholders, and end users have a greater level of satisfaction and overall improved user experience, which can, in
turn, result in higher revenues and overall ROI. Zero-trust and BYOD (bring your own device)
access ensure end users and employees always have the best resources and technology
available to them at all times.

Cloudflare benefits

Cloudflare has many benefits. Some of its most valuable benefits include:

- Faster load times

- Robust DNS security

- Intuitive cloud Web Application Firewall (WAF)

- Free universal SSL

- Image enhancement

- Automatic browser caching

- Next-generation cloud load balancer

- Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

- Rate limiting

- Minification

- Zero-trust capabilities

- Cost-effective

- Reduced carbon footprint

Reviews from real users

“Many websites require an SSL certificate because they sell stuff and want SSL. Cloudflare
comes with an SSL certificate built in. It's automatic. You sign yourself up for Cloudflare, and
an SSL certificate automatically protects your website. If you have a connection between your
website and your host, the server, Cloudflare, and the host, you don't necessarily need a
certificate.” Spencer M., Owner at Tech Exchange

“What I like best about Cloudflare is that my company can use it to trace and manage
applications and monitor traffic. The solution tells you if there's a spike in traffic. Cloudflare
also sends you a link to check your equipment and deployment and track it through peering,
so it's a valuable tool.” Daniel P., Network Engineer at Ufinet

“The most valuable feature of Cloudflare is the GUI. You are able to control the solution very
well through the interface. There is a lot of functionality that is embedded in the service.” PeerSpot user, Competence Center Manager at a tech services company

F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) is a high-performance, full-proxy network security solution designed to protect networks and data centers against incoming threats that enter the network. Built on F5’s industry-leading BIG-IP hardware and software platforms, BIG-IP AFM provides a scalable platform that delivers the flexible performance and control needed to mitigate aggressive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) and protocol attacks before they overwhelm and degrade applications and infrastructure availability.

For service providers, BIG-IP AFM IPS does even more, protecting the network edge and performing traffic inspection and protocol adherence for prevalent service provider protocols such as SS7, Diameter, HTTP/2, GTP, SCTP and SIP traffic coming into the network over UDP, TCP, and SCTP.

Provides a unique range of deployment options including always-on, on-demand or fully managed hybrid DDoS services that provide customers optimal cloud DDoS protection to meet the needs of their networks and applications.

Sample Customers

Trusted by over 9,000,000 Internet Applications and APIs, including Nasdaq, Zendesk, Crunchbase, Steve Madden, OkCupid, Cisco, Quizlet, Discord and more.

City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office

Myntex, APAC retailers

F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) vs. Radware Cloud DDoS Protection Service