# F5 BIG-IP Advanced WAF: how AI models rank it, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Named in 17 judge labels across 1 category by 10 of 14 models. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/f5-big-ip-advanced-waf

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Web application firewalls](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/web-application-firewalls/index.md) | 0% | 12 | 24% | 17 |

## What the models said for it

- "Strong on-prem and hybrid options, excellent security efficacy | Companies with significant on-prem infrastructure or hybrid environments" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, WAF)
- "F5 BIG-IP Advanced WAF, Radware Cloud WAF, and Imperva are the stronger enterprise options, but require skilled administrators" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, WAF)
- "Offers both on-premises and cloud-based solutions, with high performance and advanced security features." (Mistral Small, WAF)
- "Choose F5 when granular control, legacy integration, or appliance/virtual deployment is essential." (Perplexity Sonar, WAF)

## And against it

- "Radware / F5 — Strong enterprise products but over-engineered and over-priced for a mid-sized company." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, WAF)
- "Avoid enterprise solutions (Imperva, Akamai, F5)" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, WAF)
- "typically quote-based and more suited to hybrid/multi-cloud or compliance-heavy estates than cost-sensitive mid-market B2B" (Muse Glimmer 30B, WAF)
- "Can be rigid; hex encoding and other mutations bypass it. Known for integration issues and higher false positives." (Grok 4.20, WAF)

## By model

| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Grok 4.20 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |

## Sources returned with these answers

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named F5 BIG-IP Advanced WAF, from 50 of the 58 answers that named it (only the models that return a source list).

### Domains cited

- imperva.com: 31
- cloudflare.com: 20
- geekflare.com: 19
- g2.com: 18
- radware.com: 18
- openappsec.io: 16
- expertinsights.com: 15
- fastly.com: 15
- checkpoint.com: 14
- cybersecuritynews.com: 14

### Pages cited

- https://geekflare.com/guides/best-web-application-firewall: 19
- https://expertinsights.com/network-security/the-top-web-application-firewalls: 15
- https://cloudflare.com/products/waf: 14
- https://openappsec.io/post/best-waf-solutions-in-2024-2025-real-world-comparison: 14
- https://checkpoint.com/cyber-hub/cloud-security/what-is-web-application-firewall/the-top-5-waf-providers: 11
- https://imperva.com/blog/best-waap-solutions: 11
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-web-application-firewall-waf: 10
- https://wafplanet.com/: 10

## In its own words

What F5 BIG-IP Advanced WAF's own pages state, read 2026-09-28. Stated by the vendor, not checked by the index.

- Positioning: Web application firewall (https://f5.com/)
- Free plan or trial: Free Trials (https://f5.com/)
- Customers named: Rackspace Technologies, Docusign, NTUA

## What it publishes

Every page f5.com exposes, read 2026-09-29: 17480 addresses. By kind, pages and the last 90 days:

- blog: 2764 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-05-12
- case study: 98 pages, 8 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-09-11
- webinar or virtual event: 498 pages, 3 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-08-06
- conference or event: 154 pages, 6 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-09-01
- report or ebook: 253 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-03-27
- comparison: 156 pages, 9 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-08-18
- template or tool: 2 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest 2025-07-07
- glossary or explainer: 523 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-03-31
- podcast or video: 91 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest 2025-11-14
- news or press: 492 pages, 1 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-09-17
- Recent: 2026-09-17 news or press: F5 positioned as market shaper in the gartner emerging market quadrant for ai application https://www.f5.com/company/news/press-releases/f5-positioned-as-market-shaper-in-the-gartner-emerging-market-quadrant-for-ai-application
- Recent: 2026-09-11 case study: Hcww secures resilient water services in egypt with f5 adsp https://www.f5.com/case-studies/hcww-secures-resilient-water-services-in-egypt-with-f5-adsp
- Recent: 2026-09-02 case study: Rackspace technology accelerates growth with f5 innovation and tools https://www.f5.com/case-studies/rackspace-technology-accelerates-growth-with-f5-innovation-and-tools
- Recent: 2026-09-01 case study: Healthcare system adopts hipaa compliant ai with f5 https://www.f5.com/case-studies/healthcare-system-adopts-hipaa-compliant-ai-with-f5
- Recent: 2026-09-01 conference or event: F5 to participate in upcoming financial conference 0926 https://www.f5.com/company/news/press-releases/f5-to-participate-in-upcoming-financial-conference-0926
- Recent: 2026-08-31 conference or event: Four reasons not to miss the f5 post mythos security summit https://www.f5.com/company/blog/four-reasons-not-to-miss-the-f5-post-mythos-security-summit

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.