Cloudflare WAF vs ModSecurity
No leader: the top candidate ModSecurity has only 0.23 confidence (low), below the 0.35 needed to declare a winner. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.
Capabilities
Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for waf. “-” means undocumented, not absent.
What each one is
The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.
Cloudflare WAF
A cloud-based service that monitors incoming web traffic for vulnerabilities and attacks like SQL injection and cross-site scripting, blocking threats at the network edge with automatic rule updates. Provides comprehensive attack protection without requiring manual security management.
ModSecurity
An open-source firewall module that monitors and controls HTTP traffic, providing customizable security rules and advanced protections against web application attacks. It serves as the foundation for many WAF implementations globally.
Pricing
List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.
Cloudflare WAF
Free tier; Pro starts at $20/mo annually, Business at $200/mo annually; custom pricing for enterprise
- FreeFree
- DNS
- Unmetered DDoS Protection
- Universal SSL Certificate
- Managed Ruleset
- Pro$20/mo billed annually ($25/mo monthly)
- Business$200/mo billed annually ($250/mo monthly)
- ContractContact sales
Platform & deployment
Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.
Integrations
What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.
Cloudflare WAF
- Amazon S3
ModSecurity
- OWASP CRS
Cloudflare WAF or ModSecurity: which one depends on you
A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.
Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works
Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.