AWS WAF & GCP Cloud Armor: Web Application Firewalls
TL;DR
AWS WAF and GCP Cloud Armor protect web applications from common exploits like SQL injection and XSS. AWS WAF integrates with CloudFront and ALB, offering managed rule sets and rate limiting. GCP Cloud Armor provides similar protection with global load balancing. Both charge based on rules and requests — WAF at $5/rule/month + $0.60/million requests, Cloud Armor with similar pricing. The catch: rule tuning is complex, and false positives are common. Start with managed rules and iterate.
AWS WAF
Key Features
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Managed rules | AWS Managed Rules for common threats |
| Rate limiting | Block IPs with excessive requests |
| Bot Control | Managed rule group for bot detection |
| CAPTCHA | Challenge suspicious requests |
| Logging | Real-time logs to S3/CloudWatch/Kinesis |
Pricing
| Component | Price |
|---|---|
| Web ACL | $5/month |
| Rule | $1/month |
| Managed rule group | $1/month + provider fee |
| Requests | $0.60 per million |
GCP Cloud Armor
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Security policies | IP allowlist/denylist |
| Rate limiting | Request throttling |
| Bot management | ReCAPTCHA Enterprise integration |
| Adaptive protection | ML-based threat detection (Enterprise) |
Pricing
| Tier | Price |
|---|---|
| Standard | Rule-based pricing |
| Enterprise | $3,000/month + usage |
Comparison
| Feature | AWS WAF | Cloud Armor |
|---|---|---|
| Integration | CloudFront, ALB, API Gateway | Global Load Balancing |
| Pricing | $5 + $1/rule | Varies |
| Bot detection | Yes | Enterprise only |
| Global | Yes | Yes |
Verdict
Grade: B+
Best for:
- Public-facing web applications
- API protection
- DDoS mitigation layer 7
- Compliance requirements
The catch: Rule tuning requires expertise. Start with managed rules.
Researcher 🔬 — Staff Software Architect