IT Solutions Senior Manager at a media company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Helpful support, good licensing model, and fits within our budget
Pros and Cons
  • "It fits our requirements, as well as our budget."
  • "Some maintenance must be performed by our IT team."

What is our primary use case?

We use this product as our Web Application Firewall. It provides web-based protection for us. Our requirements are not very complex.

What needs improvement?

Some maintenance must be performed by our IT team.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been working with Imperva Incapsula for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is okay. We use it extensively, on a daily basis. The firewall operates 24 hours per day.

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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have approximately 500 employees that are protected with this product.

How are customer service and support?

We have not had any problems with their technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not use another Web Application Firewall before Imperva.

How was the initial setup?

Incapsula is not a difficult product to deploy.

What about the implementation team?

The vendor assisted us with the deployment.

We have an IT support team that is responsible for maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We have a yearly contract and I am happy with the pricing. Imperva charges us based on bandwidth, which is better than other vendors that charge us according to data transfer. In these cases, our costs are quite high.

Outside of our package, there are no additional fees.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I am really happy with this solution. This includes the features and capabilities, as well as the cost. It fits our requirements, as well as our budget.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Director at IT Big Bang
Real User
Easy to use and enables us to put everything in code
Pros and Cons
  • "Simplifies putting everything in code."
  • "A limited tool if you're looking to customize."

What is our primary use case?

The company uses this solution to protect us from any potential attacks. We are customers of Imperva and I'm the company director. 

What is most valuable?

Imperva makes it easier for us to put everything in code; we use Terraform to deploy our infrastructure. 

What needs improvement?

This is a very limited tool if you're looking to customize. It would be helpful if Imperva would provide additional resources for Terraform that can easily be deployed. There are some cases where we're currently unable to use Terraform.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for six months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable although sometimes content delivery seems to be affected because it's in the cloud.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is fine and we haven't had any issues with resource consumption. 

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is quite proactive in sharing information.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is relatively straightforward. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate this solution eight out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
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it_user817755 - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Security Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Gives us visibility into DDoS, SQL Injection and other types attacks
Pros and Cons
  • "Provides Anti-DDoS protection, as well as other protections like SQL injection, Cross-Site Scripting, and antiscanner. These types of protection are valuable to the business due to the daily attacks on our portals, and that often cannot be seen without a tool like this."
  • "Setup was straightforward, very simple. I only entered the domain and Incapsula returned the DNS data that I needed to change for the protection to be configured."
  • "Imperva now offers add-ons to add functionality, but I would like to see these included in the product, even if it would cost more."

What is our primary use case?

The first use case was due to the need to protect DDoS attacks as well as protection for SQL injection. The existing application was no longer supported, and to prevent further attacks from occurring, WAF Imperva was applied. The rollout was very fast due to the need for DNS notes only.

How has it helped my organization?

In the old days, we experienced many problems with denial of service attacks, and identifying them was very difficult because we did not have a WAF solution. After the deployment, the solution gave us the visibility we needed.

What is most valuable?

Anti-DDoS protection, as well as other protections like SQL injection, Cross-Site Scripting, and antiscanner. These types of protection are valuable to the business due to the daily attacks on our portals, and that often cannot be seen without a tool like this.

What needs improvement?

Imperva now offers add-ons to add functionality, but I would like to see these included in the product, even if it would cost more.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues with stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues with scalability.

How are customer service and technical support?

Very good, although I have not had any problems so far.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

No, this is the first solution I have used.

How was the initial setup?

It was straightforward, very simple. I only entered the domain and Incapsula returned the DNS data that I needed to change for the protection to be configured.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I did not participate in the process of choosing the solution.

What other advice do I have?

Only configure it by enabling all protections. This is very important for preventing attacks.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Solutions Architect at a security firm with 51-200 employees
Real User
Features that outperform it's competitors, easy to scale, reliable, and responsive support
Pros and Cons
  • "It's very pretty easy to onboard the URL."
  • "It would be beneficial to include vulnerability management in the solution, similar to what they have for their on-premise solution."

What is our primary use case?

We offer implementation services for our customers.

Most customers use Imperva Incapsula to protect themselves from WAF attacks. If they need an application load balancing, whether it is on a single data center or if they have a B2B extension. Also, if they need protection from the bots. Imperva has all of those functionalities.

What is most valuable?

It's very pretty easy to onboard the URL. One of the unique features included with Imperva is its advanced bot protection. In addition the base licensing modules with most of the features.

In terms of features, Imperva is quite good; it outperforms its competitors.

What needs improvement?

Pricing could be more competitive.

It would be beneficial to include vulnerability management in the solution, similar to what they have for their on-premise solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Imperva Incapsula for more than three years.

I have been using the latest update.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is quite good. It has an uptime of 99%. None of our customers have complained about its uptime and its availability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The majority of our customers are enterprise businesses, with some SMB, but it depends on their budget, as well as their needs, and whether it is for security or compliance purposes.

Imperva is quite expensive for organizations that use it for compliance purposes. Other WAP solutions, such as Fortinet or Barracuda, which are slightly less expensive than Imperva, will be considered.

Imperva Incapsula is easy to scale.

How are customer service and support?

I believe that Technical support is 24/7. They are also very quick to respond via email.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We work with all of the Imperva solutions from the database, monitoring tools, and the web applications firewall.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup Is quite simple and straightforward. We only have seven steps to follow. It's a very simple and straightforward process.

If the customer agrees to a DNS sense, it will take no more than 10 to 15 minutes.

Imperva is responsible for maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Incapsula is a SaaS (software-as-a-service) provider. Anyone can do the applications, but you must subscribe to the service.

Pricing is a challenge for most of our customers.

What other advice do I have?

I cannot provide a comparison because I have not worked with any other vendors.

I would recommend this solution to others because it is pretty simple to implement, and you don't need a dedicated WAP technician to maintain this solution. 

Anyone in the organization can easily implement it, and it can be maintained with a little application knowledge. On the application side, you do not need to be a subject matter expert it is not necessary.

I would rate Imperva Incapsula a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Support Manager at Sefisa
MSP
Reports are easy to configure with good graphics; tech support is knowledgeable
Pros and Cons
  • "There are quite a few useful Imperva Incapsula features. For example, one of them is the reports. The graphics are very good and it's easy to configure. The whole process is very fast and reliable too. They have good tech support as well."
  • "Users would benefit from better documentation. There is official documentation, but sometimes we need more detail. We have some use cases that are not so run of the mill. It would be great if there was a knowledge base that we could go to for more answers."

What is our primary use case?

Our customers have a number of use cases for Imperva Incapsula. Some use it to protect their APIs and others for its DDoS features. 

What is most valuable?

There are quite a few useful Imperva Incapsula features. For example, one of them is the reports. The graphics are very good and it's easy to configure. The whole process is very fast and reliable too. They have good tech support as well.

What needs improvement?

Users would benefit from better documentation. There is official documentation, but sometimes we need more detail. We have some use cases that are not so run of the mill. It would be great if there was a knowledge base that we could go to for more answers.

The price could also be more reasonable. The price should at the very least be adjusted for different parts of the world. For example, here in Latin America, our budgets are very different than those for projects in the United States or Europe. It would be really positive if we could get the product at a more affordable price as we are customers with lower budgets without sacrificing features or capabilities of the solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Imperva Incapsula for about three years. It's a solutions I recommend to my customers. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a very stable solution. 

How are customer service and support?

I like their support. The times we have asked for their help, they have been very accurate at giving answers.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy. It can take maybe half an hour due to the propagation of the DNS name on the server. However, setting up one Imperva website is very easy. You just have to wait for the DNS to refresh on the other DNS server and that's it.

What other advice do I have?

I would encourage people to implement Imperva Incapsula. I think it is a very mature, easy to use, and reliable solution.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Manager - IT Security at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Reseller
Stops web attacks from denying services and endangering the security of sensitive data
Pros and Cons
  • "It is an effective threat mitigation tool."
  • "The technical support is excellent."
  • "Imperva should have more points of presence in Africa."

What is our primary use case?

Incapsula was acquired by Imperva. We had a need to provide a solution for our clients and the Incapsula solution and Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall) allowed us to have people subscribe to Incapsula as a service. It was easy to work with because we would just put in the hostname and the IP address of the websites in Incapsula's DNS. When the DNS is resolved it first passes through Incapsula and makes a stops in the Cloud WAF before it sends the website itself.  

Customers can trust it because the traffic going to the customer passes through Incapsula's cloud service. So if there is an attack, the website and the visitors are protected because it will take care of such issues and it eliminates the bad traffic. Both ends are taken care of so the website is protected from hackers because it first goes through the Incapsula Cloud WAF. That is the basic high-level architecture of how the Incapsula works.  

We distributors of Imperva in Africa. I am responsible for our business presence in Eastern and Western Africa. I am fixed locally here in Nigeria. Being distributors, we have a pretty good idea of how the market is in general and how the products are used. All the partners who implement it and who resell sell it, buy it from us and deploy for customer accounts. We cover a high percentage of the financial service industry here in Nigeria.  

What is most valuable?

For this part of the world, several things are important. It is important that the clients have the features which they get to use to get against bad traffic, of course as this is the reason for the product. But especially for customers in this region, it is also the opportunity to use the service platform. They do not have to own it or maintain it and they may not otherwise have the capacity to deploy this type of solution. Instead, they can pay for it as a service. It works so well here that even some of the banks are using it.  

The most valuable feature is the ability to mitigate bad traffic. I think the highest traffic we would experience can be handled by the Incapsula Cloud WAF because it can scale. So if there is some attack on a website and there is high volume, instead of it disrupting the website and disrupting business operations, it is not a problem for the customer's website. That ability to mitigate problems with the traffic is why the clients use the product to protect their valuable data and customer interactions.  

What needs improvement?

If I had the opportunity to recommend an enhancement to Imperva it would be to have more POP (Point of Presence) in East and West Africa, and in Central Africa as well. There is only one POP in South Africa. There are other ones are in Europe, America, and Asia and sometimes the latency can be an issue because for your traffic to hit the website — say in East Africa. First, it has to first go to the nearest point of presence. Because of the distance, there can be some problems. So if they have a POP closer to manage customers around Africa this could be a better service to clients.  

For how long have I used the solution?

I have only recently begun to use Imperva Incapsula compared to the amount of time I have been in the industry. For more than a decade and I have tried my hands on various security solutions, mainly having to do with network infrastructure.  But now I am back to working with security solutions and, over this past year, I have engaged mostly with applications in data security. Before that, I was doing a lot more with the whole of network security. Incapsula is more of an application for data security and it is something which Imperva does pretty well.  

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is not an issue. The product is serviced and maintained for the client.  

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Virtually all the banks in Nigeria, Ghana, East, and West Africa, are using Imperva. Of course, they are using it for various things, but for the most part, they use it for data security and application security and then also a little bit on the Incapsula platform.  

The scalability depends on the customer but there are really no features that a client will want to request that Imperva does not handle in terms of scalability. Of course, you cannot compare the size of the banks and the input and output demands of banking in Western European countries or the Americas with the needs of banking in Africa.  

For us, it is a good solution.  

How are customer service and technical support?

Response from technical support has been very good. I would say that they are excellent because they are always willing to attend to customers' requests. They provide support based on time zones so there is good access.  

How was the initial setup?

Because it is a cloud product and the setup is minimal, it is straightforward and quickly implemented.  

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I do have experience with Imperva SecureSphere. I am working with various solutions that have various features and how these solutions work for different customers. For one customer, I was trying to do some research to see if they should replace Trustwave WAF with a different solution because the customer asked me about other possibilities. This was my first customer who had asked me to look into Trustwave, so I also took the time to research that product. But different products fit different businesses and industries better.  

What other advice do I have?

I am not an expert in every solution of this type, but I have a pretty good idea of what makes them work as a good solution based on customer needs. I do not do the implementation because I am more in a position of doing pre-sales and consultancy.  

I would highly recommend Imperva Incapsula especially for customers who want extra security for their web presence.  

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate the Incapsula product overall as a nine-out-of-ten.  

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Distributor
PeerSpot user
Director Of Hosting Services at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Reseller
Offers good protection for our customer's and the interface is user-friendly
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the user-friendly interface."

    What is our primary use case?

    We mainly use this solution as a web application firewall. We have CMS systems in our portfolio, which our customers use, and the full information portraits are running on our infrastructure and in our CMS product. We, therefore, use this solution mainly for protection and to improve performance.

    What is most valuable?

    I found that it is very easy to set everything up. I like the user-friendly interface.

    What needs improvement?

    I think the pricing needs some tweaks. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Imperva Incapsula is a very stable solution.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We use this solution as a crowd solution, a software service so we don't have any issues regarding its performance or scalability. Our IT administrators use Incapsula to maintain the solution because they have knowledge about how this protection works.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    I am satisfied with the customer service. The few times that we had issues, they technical support team was able to solve our issues. 

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was very easy and straightforward. Our customers need good protection so we do the installation for them to protect our sites. 

    What about the implementation team?

    We are resellers and in addition to supplying the product, we also offer support. 

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We compared this with other solutions like Akamai, but it couldn't deliver the same as Imperva Incapsula. We don't use specific application tweaks. We only use basic mechanisms of cashing and six years ago, when we were looking for a solution, there was no solution like this one out there. Incapsula does what we need it to do, and we like the easy installation process. We think still that Incapsula is the best.

    What other advice do I have?

    Because we are resellers, we prefer that our customers use it. But even if I wasn't a reseller, I would still recommend it. I love the solution's capabilities and the ease of the installation. 

    In the future, I would like to see better pricing. E.x. the additional bandwidth packages are higher than our needs so we end up paying for data that we don't use. I want them to provide me with the particular quantity of megabytes I need. I don't want to pay extra money for megabytes that I will not use in the future.

    I rate this program nine out of ten.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user507306 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Digital Solutions Architect | Development Manager | Technical Business Analyst at Corporate SEO
    Vendor
    Installation requires just a CNAME entry, avoiding the risk of email downtime.

    What is most valuable?

    • Faultless inlining & minification: Every competing product breaks the layout, but we are yet to see Incapsula break a site
    • Installation requires just a CNAME entry, avoiding the risk of email downtime.
    • Instant PCI compliance and protection from the OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities.
    • CDN & DDoS protection.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Incapsula delivers a massive improvement to website performance and security in less than 20 minutes, regardless of the CMS. We love it so much that we decided to create a new service around this product, which could result in our largest income stream yet.

    What needs improvement?

    They once terminated a free account without warning, resulting in a few days downtime. But you get what you pay for.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using it for two years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    I have not encountered any stability issues.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    I have not encountered any scalability issues.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Technical support is first class. These guys are sharp.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We moved from CloudFlare because Incapsula’s minification was faultless, and their CNAME installation procedure avoided downtime for other services such as email.

    How was the initial setup?

    It was very easy to set up: 20 minutes and you're done.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    Go for the $59/month Pro plan. Free accounts can get terminated, and the higher plans are only if you like to have your own SSL certificate, or get regular DDoS attacks. The Pro plan has everything you need; it's just that you're using Imperva's SSL certificate, not yours.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Before choosing this product, we evaluate other options in great detail. We looked at CloudFlare, W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache, Wordfence, BulletProof Security, Varnish, Mod_Security, ConfigServer, and a variety of other options. Incapsula isn't the cheapest, but is way in front of the competition. You'll easily spend double/triple the cost of your Incapsula subscription on maintaining any other solution, whereas Incapsula handles all that overhead for you, right out of the box.

    What other advice do I have?

    Don't wait till you've been hacked; get protected now. It'll cost you at least a year of Incapsula fees to recover from website hacking. And if your website is running slow, Google is probably already penalising your site, when the fix is so easy. Incapsula is by far the fastest fix for both website speed and security.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user507306 - PeerSpot reviewer
    it_user507306Digital Solutions Architect | Development Manager | Technical Business Analyst at Corporate SEO
    Vendor

    See the "valuable features" section above.

    See all 2 comments
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) Protection Report and find out what your peers are saying about Imperva, Cloudflare, NETSCOUT, and more!
    Updated: April 2024
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) Protection Report and find out what your peers are saying about Imperva, Cloudflare, NETSCOUT, and more!