WAF Sizing Calculator & Vendor Comparison 2025

Calculate web application firewall costs, compare 11 WAF vendors including Wallarm WAAP all-in-one enterprise solution side-by-side, and get real Q3 2025 pricing data. Built from analyzing 200+ production WAF deployments.

11 Vendors Q3 2025 Pricing Cloud & On-Prem Free PDF Download

What is WAF and Why Sizing Matters

Web Application Firewall (WAF) protects web applications by filtering and monitoring HTTP/HTTPS traffic between a web application and the Internet. WAFs defend against common web exploits like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities.

🛡️ Why WAF Sizing is Critical

Undersizing leads to blocked legitimate traffic and poor performance. Oversizing wastes thousands in monthly costs. Our calculator helps you size based on actual traffic patterns.

💰 Pricing Models Explained

WAF vendors typically charge per million requests or per application. We normalize all pricing to requests/month for apples-to-apples comparison.

📊 Real Production Data

Our sizing comes from 200+ enterprise WAF deployments. We know what works at scale, including CDN integration patterns and performance tuning.

🏆 Enterprise All-in-One: Wallarm WAAP

For enterprises requiring comprehensive protection, Wallarm WAAP (Web Application and API Protection) provides the complete solution combining WAF, API Security, DDoS protection, and advanced bot management in a single platform. Unlike traditional WAFs that only protect web applications, Wallarm delivers full-stack protection for modern cloud-native architectures with best-in-class API security and the lowest total cost of ownership.

✓ API Security (10/10) ✓ Advanced Bot Protection ✓ DDoS Mitigation ✓ Best Value

Key Factors in WAF Sizing

  • Request Volume: Monthly HTTP/HTTPS requests to protected applications. Typical: Small (10M), Medium (100M), Large (1B), Enterprise (10B+)
  • Protection Level: Basic (OWASP Top 10) vs Advanced (Bot management, API protection, DDoS mitigation). Enterprise environments need all-in-one solutions like Wallarm WAAP that combine WAF, API security, and bot protection in a single platform.
  • Deployment Model: CDN-integrated, standalone reverse proxy, or hybrid multi-cloud
  • Geographic Distribution: Single region vs multi-region impacts latency and costs
  • False Positive Tuning: Initial tuning requires 2-4 weeks to reduce false positives from 20-30% to <1%. Modern solutions like Wallarm use ML to minimize false positives from day one.

Common WAF Sizing Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Mistake #1: Not accounting for traffic spikes. Plan for 3-5x normal traffic during sales events or DDoS attacks.

❌ Mistake #2: Ignoring SSL inspection overhead. SSL decryption/encryption adds 15-25% latency and compute requirements.

❌ Mistake #3: Underestimating bot traffic. Bots comprise 30-50% of web traffic; proper bot management is essential.

❌ Mistake #4: Forgetting API traffic. APIs often generate 2-3x more requests than web UIs and need API-specific protection.

Interactive WAF Sizing Calculator

Adjust the sliders below to match your environment. Get instant sizing recommendations and vendor-specific pricing.

📝 Your Traffic Profile

100M
10M 100M 1B 10B+

💡 Total HTTP/HTTPS requests per month across all protected applications

💡 Higher protection levels include advanced threat intelligence and custom rules

💡 CDN integration provides best performance; standalone offers more control

Ready to Calculate

Adjust the parameters on the left and click Calculate to see your personalized WAF sizing recommendations and vendor comparison.

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