# Fastly Next-Gen WAF alternatives: what AI models name instead, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. 226 of the 252 answers in the 1 category where Fastly Next-Gen WAF holds a standing named it neither first nor as an alternative; these are the first choices those answers made. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/vendors/fastly-next-gen-waf/alternatives/

## Named instead, most often (every category and segment added)

- Cloudflare WAF: 130
- Akamai App & API Protector: 11
- Imperva Cloud WAF: 9
- Sucuri WAF: 6
- AWS WAF: 5
- ModSecurity: 4

## Web application firewalls

**Small business**: 80 of 84 answers did not name Fastly Next-Gen WAF (Fastly Next-Gen WAF is #8 of 9 at 0%).

- Cloudflare WAF: first choice in 64 of those 80
- Sucuri WAF: first choice in 6 of those 80
- AWS WAF: first choice in 2 of those 80
- Akamai App & API Protector: first choice in 1 of those 80
- Barracuda WAF: first choice in 1 of those 80
- Cloudflare Application Security: first choice in 1 of those 80
- Cloudflare's Pro/Business plans: first choice in 1 of those 80
- Imperva Cloud WAF: first choice in 1 of those 80

**Mid-market**: 73 of 84 answers did not name Fastly Next-Gen WAF (Fastly Next-Gen WAF is #6 of 11 at 0%).

- Cloudflare WAF: first choice in 37 of those 73
- ModSecurity: first choice in 4 of those 73
- AWS WAF: first choice in 2 of those 73
- Barracuda Web Application Firewall: first choice in 2 of those 73
- OWASP Core Rule Set: first choice in 2 of those 73
- Barracuda WAF: first choice in 1 of those 73
- BunkerWeb: first choice in 1 of those 73
- Check Point CloudGuard: first choice in 1 of those 73

**Enterprise**: 73 of 84 answers did not name Fastly Next-Gen WAF (Fastly Next-Gen WAF is #5 of 9 at 4%).

- Cloudflare WAF: first choice in 29 of those 73
- Akamai App & API Protector: first choice in 10 of those 73
- Imperva Cloud WAF: first choice in 8 of those 73
- F5 BIG-IP Advanced WAF: first choice in 3 of those 73
- Imperva Web Application Firewall: first choice in 2 of those 73
- AWS WAF: first choice in 1 of those 73
- Akamai Adaptive Application Firewall: first choice in 1 of those 73
- Cloudflare One: first choice in 1 of those 73

Published under CC BY 4.0. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.