Cloudflare WAF vs F5 WAF for Distributed Cloud

Cloudflare WAF9.4Visit F5 WAF for Distributed Cloud8.6Visit

Higher score Cloudflare WAF #1 in Web Application Firewall Software 9.4/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 3 of 4 features Visit Cloudflare

vs

F5 WAF for Distributed Cloud #8 in Web Application Firewall Software 8.6/10 Pricing on request ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit F5

• Cloudflare WAF fits best

  Teams wanting broad WAF coverage with a free plan

• F5 WAF for Distributed Cloud fits best

  Organizations wanting flexible F5 hybrid deployment

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Side by side

Feature	Cloudflare WAF 9.4/10 Visit ↗	F5 WAF for Distributed Cloud 8.6/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.4	8.6
Ranking	#1 in Web Application Firewall Software	#8 in Web Application Firewall Software
Best for	Teams wanting broad WAF coverage with a free plan	Organizations wanting flexible F5 hybrid deployment
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Paid
Starting price	$20/mo	Pricing on request
Free plan	✓ (best)	—
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Community, Tickets, Live chat, Phone, Docs	Email, Phone, Tickets, Docs · 24/7
Compliance	ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR, PCI DSS	SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS
Integrations	1 integrations	7 integrations
Built for	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Cloudflare WAF 3/4 · F5 WAF for Distributed Cloud 4/4
Managed rule sets	✓	✓
API protection	✓	✓
Bot management	—	✓ (best)
Rate limiting	✓	✓
Specs
Deployment model	Edge	Hybrid
Log retention	30 days (best)	7 days
Our review
Pros	Free plan includes managed rules and one rate-limiting rule Edge inspection covers web applications and APIs Terraform management, analytics, and virtual patching support	Hybrid coverage across public cloud, on-premises, edge, and F5 network PoPs AI risk scoring, managed signatures, bot protection, and API controls Terraform, public APIs, vesctl, and integrations with major operations tools
Cons	Bot management is a separate Cloudflare product Paid managed rules begin with the Pro plan Business pricing starts at $200 per month billed annually	Pricing requires contact with F5 rather than a published product table No free plan is available Firewall and event log retention is stated as seven days
Our verdict	Cloudflare WAF is a cloud-delivered web application firewall for websites and APIs. It inspects HTTP and HTTPS requests at Cloudflare’s edge, applying managed rulesets, custom rules, and protections for attacks such as SQL injection and… Read the review →	F5 WAF for Distributed Cloud protects web applications and APIs across public clouds, on-premises environments, customer-edge sites, and F5 global network points of presence. It is designed for organizations running distributed, hybrid, or… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Cloudflare WAF — where it wins

  • Free plan includes managed rules and one rate-limiting rule
  • Edge inspection covers web applications and APIs
  • Terraform management, analytics, and virtual patching support

  Where it doesn't

  • Bot management is a separate Cloudflare product
  • Paid managed rules begin with the Pro plan
  • Business pricing starts at $200 per month billed annually

• F5 WAF for Distributed Cloud — where it wins

  • Hybrid coverage across public cloud, on-premises, edge, and F5 network PoPs
  • AI risk scoring, managed signatures, bot protection, and API controls
  • Terraform, public APIs, vesctl, and integrations with major operations tools

  Where it doesn't

  • Pricing requires contact with F5 rather than a published product table
  • No free plan is available
  • Firewall and event log retention is stated as seven days

• Cloudflare WAF9.4/10 · Free plan

  Broad edge WAF coverage with a free plan and Terraform management.

  Visit CloudflareFull verdict →
• F5 WAF for Distributed Cloud8.6/10 · Pricing on request

  A flexible hybrid WAF with strong automation, API, bot, and rate-limiting coverage.

  Visit F5Full verdict →