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Overview

Product Information on AWS WAF

Updated 13th October 2025

What is AWS WAF?

AWS WAF is a web application firewall software designed to help organizations protect their web applications from common internet threats. The software enables users to create security rules that allow, block, or monitor web requests based on specific criteria such as IP addresses, HTTP headers, and body data. AWS WAF provides features for filtering traffic, preventing attacks including SQL injection and cross site scripting, and managing bot traffic. It integrates with other AWS services to enhance security posture, offers real time visibility into web traffic, and automates responses to detected threats. The software addresses the challenge of securing web applications against evolving cyber risks and helps organizations maintain compliance with security standards.

AWS WAF Pricing

AWS WAF software uses a pay-as-you-go pricing model where charges are based on usage components such as the number of web access control lists created, the number of rules added per web ACL, and the volume of web requests processed. There is no upfront cost or required long-term commitment, and users are billed monthly based on actual usage.

Overall experience with AWS WAF

Manager
Gov't/PS/ED <5,000 Employees, Education
FAVORABLE

“Centralized Dashboard Simplifies Metrics, Logs, and Trace Management for Teams”

5.0
Mar 24, 2026
The WAF provides cloud native capabilities without the need to introduce 3rd party devices which can increase complexity, overheads of administration and management.
Operations Associate
<50M USD, Transportation
CRITICAL

“Product Offers Real-Time Streaming but Struggles with False Positive Detections”

3.0
Apr 21, 2026
Strong first layer defense and lot of out of the box rules but there are lot of false positives detections

Key Insights

A Snapshot of What Matters - Based on Validated User Reviews

Peer Discussions

Recommended Gartner Insights

  • Market Guide for Cloud Web Application and API Protection

Gartner Peer Insights content consists of the opinions of individual end users based on their own experiences, and should not be construed as statements of fact, nor do they represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in this content nor makes any warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this content, about its accuracy or completeness, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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Logo of AWS WAF

AWS WAF

byAmazon Web Services (AWS)
in
4.4
Market Presence: Cloud Web Application and API Protection, DDoS Mitigation Solutions

About Company

Company Description

Updated 6th March 2025

Amazon Web Services (AWS), established in 2006, is focused on providing essential infrastructure services to businesses globally in the form of cloud computing. The key advantage offered through cloud computing, particularly via AWS, is its capacity to shift fixed infrastructure expenses into flexible costs. Businesses have been able to forgo extensive planning and procurement of servers and other Information Technology (IT) resources, owing to AWS. AWS seeks to provide businesses with prompt and cost-effective access to resources using Amazon's expertise and economies of scale, as and when their business requires. Currently, AWS offers a robust, scalable, economic infrastructure platform on the cloud powering an extensive array of businesses worldwide. It operates across numerous industries with data center locations in various parts of the globe including U.S., Europe, Singapore, and Japan.

Company Details

Updated 23rd December 2024
Company type
Public
Year Founded
2006
Head office location
Seattle, United States
Number of employees
10001+
Website
http://aws.amazon.com

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User Sentiment About AWS WAF
Reviewer Insights for: AWS WAF
Deciding Factors: AWS WAF Vs. Market Average
Performance of AWS WAF Across Market Features

AWS WAF Likes & Dislikes

Like

It provides a rich feature set between targeted protection, the ability to configure Web ACLs, manage rule sets, including the integration with application load balancers (ALBs), AWS API gateways and others. Using AWS native tools also makes for easier support since the whole 'chain' is AWS end to end.

Like

good range of out of the box detection rules, near real time streaming to S3 and CloudWatch

Like

Native AWS integrations are a breeze. Managed rule groups and the ability to scope rules per resource.

Dislike

None, since the tool does deliver on the capabilities and features described in their whitepapers. Since AWS has a rich set of features and capabilities, there are always new updates to stay across.

Dislike

lot of false positive detections and it is not full IDS/IPS so can't detect malware payloads.

Dislike

Pricing model is opaque and we've been caught by surprise on scaling before. Per-rule and per-request costs add up. Console UX can be a little painful for complex rule logic.

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AWS WAF Reviews and Ratings

Filter Reviews
Sort By:
Most helpful
Last 12 Months
Star Rating
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  • Manager
    Gov't/PS/Ed
    Education
    Review Source

    Centralized Dashboard Simplifies Metrics, Logs, and Trace Management for Teams

    5.0
    Mar 24, 2026
    The WAF provides cloud native capabilities without the need to introduce 3rd party devices which can increase complexity, overheads of administration and management.
  • Engineer
    50M-1B USD
    Energy and Utilities
    Review Source

    Powerful AWS-native WAF taht rewards infrastructure-as-code discipline

    4.0
    Mar 6, 2026
    AWS WAF delivers reliable, scalable web app protection that integrates well with CloudFront, Load Balancers, and API Gateway. Rule management and managed rule groups reduce operational overhead significantly, a great boon for our DevOps team.
  • SENIOR SECURITY ENGINEER
    50M-1B USD
    IT Services
    Review Source

    Effective Protection for Web Applications With Smooth AWS Integration Experience

    5.0
    Jan 30, 2026
    Overall a good experience. Provides good protection against our inhouse web applications. Plus the integration with other aws services is smooth as well .Works well for small & large applications
  • Devops Engineer
    <50M USD
    IT Services
    Review Source

    Protecting Applications with Amazon WAF

    5.0
    Mar 26, 2026
    I have experience working with AWS WAF to protect web applications from common web exploits and APIs from common threats like SQL injection, XSS and bot traffic. I configured custom rules and integrated WAF with CloudFront and application load balancer to control incoming traffic effectively. Used AWS Managed rules for common vulnerabilities, combined with our custom rules for application specific threats.
  • Operations Associate
    50M-1B USD
    IT Services
    Review Source

    WAF Delivers Reliable Security and Flexible Rules Despite Challenging UI Navigation

    4.0
    Feb 10, 2026
    WAF provides a strong and reliable security experience. Configuration takes time to learn but overall it is effective and dependable.
...
Showing Result 1-5 of 490

4.4

(376 Ratings)

Rating Distribution

5 Star
49%
4 Star
46%
3 Star
5%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
0%
Why ratings and reviews count differ?

Customer Experience

Evaluation & Contracting

4.4

Integration & Deployment

4.5

Service & Support

4.5

Product Capabilities

4.5