IDC MarketScape recognized F5 as a Leader in Web Application and API Protection Platforms 2026 Vendor Assessment

Nirav ShahSVP, Product and Solution Marketing | F5

We've entered an era of frontier AI threats, and autonomous agentic attacks. Autonomous AI models can scan, discover, and exploit vulnerabilities across distributed environments in hours. In fact, the patch window has completely inverted, with exploits now occurring seven days before vulnerability disclosure. When exploits emerge before security teams are even aware of a vulnerability, let alone receiving a software patch, reactive defense and multi-week release cycles are no longer viable. Runtime protection can no longer be a secondary layer; it must now be the enterprise's primary line of defense.

The mandate for security leaders is clear: with uncontrolled API sprawl, shadow AI workloads, data leakage risks, and requirements for crypto-agility they need to defend every app, API, and AI application and agent with a self-learning engine that enforces consistent policy across hybrid, multi-cloud, and air-gapped data planes.

That’s exactly what F5’s web app and API protection (WAAP) solution is built to do. We’re proud to share that F5 was named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide WAAP Platforms 2026 Vendor Assessment (US54130626, September 2026), the second time F5 has been recognized since IDC MarketScape began publishing this report in 2024.

F5 has been recognized as a Leader in the IDC MarketSpace Web Application and API Protection Platforms 2026 Vendor Assessment.

What F5 delivers for your enterprise that point tools cannot

F5 is the only security provider that delivers an application delivery and security platform built to secure modern applications, APIs, and AI—from development through runtime, across any environment. Delivered as part of the F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP), F5 WAAP converges web application firewall (WAF), API security, bot defense, and DDoS mitigation to eliminate security gaps and vendor sprawl wherever apps and APIs operate. In this year’s assessment, IDC MarketScape noted F5’s strengths including:

• AI-powered WAF with a measurable efficacy gain: F5 WAAP balances a combination of signatures and analysis to increase detection accuracy and reduce false positives without the need for constant manual tuning. F5 customers reported that the addition of the neural network risk engine cut false positives and lifted detection accuracy measurably. The new engine further aids F5's efforts to detect zero days in a more timely manner, including the Ivanti EPM and SolarWinds Web Help Desk CVEs.
• Breadth of AI security options: The F5 suite for AI includes F5 AI Red Team, F5 AI Guardrails, and F5 AI Remediate. F5 AI Red Team provides proactive testing of AI applications for vulnerabilities. F5 AI Guardrails provides the real-time inspection and monitoring needed to block threats targeting AI, such as prompt injection and data leakage. Importantly, F5 AI Remediate is an important addition to other AI security solutions (e.g., AI Red Team and AI Guardrails, as they allow organizations to close the loop on security events).
• Bot and agent defense built on rich telemetry: F5 Distributed Cloud Bot Defense collects 120+ signals through tamper-resistant client-side instrumentation and now distinguishes humans, bots, and AI agents, gating action to verified agents via Web Bot Auth and a Skyfire KYA (Know Your Agent) partnership.
• Air-gapped API security supports government and other sensitive customers: F5 API Security Local Edition deploys without external connectivity and enforces directly on F5 BIG-IP, which is important for security and privacy-aware agencies and organizations.

Using F5 WAAP technologies to fight highly sophisticated attacks

Over the years, organizations across a wide range of industries have turned to F5 WAAP solutions to deliver consistent policy enforcement, streamline operations, and secure apps, APIs, and AI across dispersed hybrid multi-cloud environments. Today, 28% of F5's top 1,000 customers have adopted all three deployment modes—SaaS, software, and hardware/cloud—validating that a unified platform approach dramatically simplifies security operations at enterprise scale.

For example, Prime Bank, which operates 146 branches and 153 ATMs across Bangladesh, has been using F5 WAAP technologies for the last decade including most recently AI-powered WAF, enabling the bank to fight the most sophisticated attacks.

As Md Mahbubul Alam Rafel, Chief Information Security Officer at Prime Bank, put it: “You do not need a human to generate an attack anymore, so you must have solutions with AI capacity as well. You have to fight fire with fire. We are already taking advantage of AI-based security insights within our existing consumption of F5 ADSP."

Likewise, F5 customer HDI Sigorta, among Turkey's top 10 insurance firms, uses F5 WAAP technologies to protect its hybrid application landscape, including more than 200 APIs.

As Altuğ Şahin, Network and Cybersecurity Manager at HDI Sigorta, explains: “F5 helped us significantly reduce blind sports across the API landscape, improved our threat detection capabilities, and enabled us to respond faster and more confidently to emerging risks.”

With AI-driven threats now able to exploit vulnerabilities faster than security teams can patch them, WAFs in monitoring mode and reactive multi-week release cycles are insufficient. F5 gives organizations the accuracy and confidence to enforce active blocking across any environment—plus close the loop from proactive vulnerability discovery to runtime virtual patching. It's how we help organizations reduce risk and strengthen their security posture in the frontier AI era. We believe being named a Leader in the 2026 IDC MarketScape for WAAP affirms our mission: protecting every app, API, and AI application and agent without compromise.

Download an excerpt of the IDC MarketScape with the F5 vendor profile today. Also, be sure to read our press release.

About the Author

Nirav ShahSVP, Product and Solution Marketing | F5

Nirav Shah is the Senior Vice President and Head of Products and Solution Marketing at F5, where he leads the strategic direction for Application Security and AI Security. Before joining F5, he spent eleven years at Fortinet in several leadership positions, most notably heading the AI-Powered SASE, SOC, and Secure Networking solutions. His extensive background also includes significant roles at Cisco Systems, where he spearheaded major initiatives for SD-WAN. With more than two decades of experience in the cybersecurity sector, he has an established record of launching market-defining products and building high-performance teams that align product development with sales and marketing for maximum impact. As a thought leader and USC alumnus, he is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and a regular contributor to leading publications on the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, while remaining dedicated to mentoring emerging cybersecurity professionals.

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