Web Application Firewall vs API Gateway

Developers should learn and use WAFs when building or maintaining web applications that handle sensitive data, such as e-commerce sites, banking platforms, or healthcare portals, to mitigate security vulnerabilities and meet regulatory requirements like PCI DSS meets developers should use an api gateway when building microservices architectures or exposing apis to external clients, as it centralizes cross-cutting concerns like authentication, logging, and throttling. Here's our take.

Web Application Firewall

Nice Pick

Developers should learn and use WAFs when building or maintaining web applications that handle sensitive data, such as e-commerce sites, banking platforms, or healthcare portals, to mitigate security vulnerabilities and meet regulatory requirements like PCI DSS

Pros

• It is essential for protecting against OWASP Top 10 threats and reducing the risk of data breaches, especially in production environments where traditional firewalls are insufficient for application-layer defense
• Related to: cybersecurity, owasp-top-10

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

API Gateway

Developers should use an API Gateway when building microservices architectures or exposing APIs to external clients, as it centralizes cross-cutting concerns like authentication, logging, and throttling

Pros

• It's essential for managing API traffic efficiently, improving security by enforcing policies, and enabling features like versioning and monetization in enterprise applications
• Related to: microservices, rest-api

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Web Application Firewall is a tool while API Gateway is a platform. We picked Web Application Firewall based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Web Application Firewall wins

Based on overall popularity. Web Application Firewall is more widely used, but API Gateway excels in its own space.