Web application firewalls · RankedModSecurity
ModSecurity is an open source, cross-platform web application firewall (WAF) module · modsecurity.org ↗
Read the same way at every company size.
The standing depends on who is buying. Every model is asked the same questions for each company size.
Cloudflare WAF is first at 94%.
Cloudflare WAF is first at 85%. 0 of 14 models made it the first choice when asked directly.
Cloudflare WAF is first at 60%.
Why models recommend it
“Top Recommendation: ModSecurity (with OWASP Core Rule Set)”Grok 4.20 · Budget-constrained question · first choice
“don't reject ModSecurity simply because it's older: its project says it is now under OWASP stewardship and actively maintained”GPT-6 Luna · Negative question · alternative
“ModSecurity or Coraza offer powerful, free protection with complete customization”Kimi K2 · Budget-constrained question · alternative
“open‑source options like ModSecurity or BunkerWeb are excellent choices”GLM 4.7 FlashX · Budget-constrained question · alternative
What gives them pause
“Do not install this unless you are prepared to spend weeks maintaining the OWASP Core Rule Set (CRS). An unpatched open-source WAF is often less secure”Qwen 3.7 Flash · Negative question · warning
“Deploying legacy self-hosted open-source WAF engines (like unmaintained ModSecurity v2/v3 builds) without active maintenance or rule updates.”Gemini 3.5 Flash · Negative question · warning
“Avoid purely open-source options like ModSecurity unless you have dedicated security staff”Grok 4.20 · Paraphrase question · warning
“the tuning burden is too high and bot protection would be minimal”DeepSeek V4 Flash · Paraphrase question · warning
Also on the shortlist
The products named in the same answers as ModSecurity, over the 48 answers that named it, and how often each was the first choice instead.
| Product | Named together | Picked instead | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | 27 | Compare → | |
| 38 | 0 | Compare → | |
| 29 | 2 | Compare → | |
| 22 | 3 | View → | |
| 20 | 1 | Compare → | |
| 14 | 0 | View → | |
| 14 | 0 | View → | |
| 13 | 0 | View → | |
| 9 | 1 | View → | |
| 9 | 0 | View → |
What the models named instead of ModSecurity →
A side-by-side page exists where both products are among a category's top eight.
At a glance
Stated on ModSecurity's own site, not checked by Gane.
- For
- web application defenders
How this is measured
Fourteen AI models from 12 labs are asked the same buying questions six ways, for three company sizes. Standings refresh every edition.
Gane sells AI visibility software. No company can pay to change a result.
Read the method →Sources returned with these answers
Fourteen of the fourteen models returned a source list in this edition: five return the pages they cited and nine the search results they consulted. These counts come from 38 of the 48 answers that named ModSecurity and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
108 of the 108 domain citations in answers naming ModSecurity came from a third party's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
By model
| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Grok 4.20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
What it publishes
| Kind | Pages | Last 90 days | 2025-10 to 2026-09 | Latest | Categories named |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glossary or explainer | 2 | 0 | 0001-01-01 |
Most recent
- 0001-01-01What is modsecurity glossary or explainer
- 0001-01-01What is the difference between modsecurity and crs glossary or explainer
How it is countedHide how it is counted
Every page modsecurity.org exposes, subdomains included. Kind is read from the address and title. The last 90 days, the latest date and the twelve months count pages by when they were published, from the site's feeds, a date in the address, or the page's own publication date, read from up to a hundred of its most recently changed pages; a page that says only when it last changed is counted in its kind but not in when, so the recent counts are a floor, and a kind none of whose pages gives a publication date reads undated. Read September 29, 2026.