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Let's Encrypt VS AWS WAF

Compare Let's Encrypt VS AWS WAF and see what are their differences

Let's Encrypt logo Let's Encrypt

Let’s Encrypt is a free, automated, and open certificate authority brought to you by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG).

AWS WAF logo AWS WAF

AWS WAF is a web application firewall that helps protect your web applications from common web exploits.
  • Let's Encrypt Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-12
  • AWS WAF Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-02

Let's Encrypt features and specs

  • Free of Charge
    Let's Encrypt provides SSL/TLS certificates at no cost, making it an economical choice for individuals and businesses.
  • Automated Certificate Issuance and Renewal
    The process of obtaining and renewing certificates can be automated using the ACME protocol, reducing manual intervention and administrative overhead.
  • Ease of Use
    Let's Encrypt simplifies the process of enabling HTTPS for websites, even for users with limited technical expertise.
  • Security
    Let's Encrypt certificates provide strong encryption, improving the security of data transmitted between clients and servers.
  • Widely Recognized
    Certificates issued by Let's Encrypt are trusted by all major web browsers and operating systems.
  • Promotes Secure Web Practices
    By making SSL/TLS certificates freely available, Let's Encrypt encourages more websites to adopt HTTPS, contributing to a more secure internet.

Possible disadvantages of Let's Encrypt

  • Short Duration of Certificates
    Let's Encrypt certificates are valid for only 90 days, requiring more frequent renewals compared to traditional certificate authorities.
  • Limited Support Options
    Let's Encrypt relies on community support and documentation, and does not offer dedicated customer support for troubleshooting and assistance.
  • No Extended Validation (EV) Certificates
    Let's Encrypt does not issue Extended Validation (EV) certificates, which provide additional verification and a higher level of trust for business websites.
  • Potential for Misuse
    Since certificates are issued for free and with minimal validation, there is a risk that cybercriminals might use them for phishing or other malicious activities.
  • No Wildcard Certificates for Multi-Level Subdomains
    While Let's Encrypt supports wildcard certificates for single-level subdomains, it doesn't support them for nested subdomains (e.g., *.sub.example.com).
  • Reliance on Third-Party Tools for Automation
    Users may need to rely on third-party tools or scripts for automation, which could introduce additional complexity or security risks.

AWS WAF features and specs

  • Scalability
    AWS WAF is designed to scale automatically with your application. It can handle high traffic loads without manual intervention, making it suitable for dynamic and unpredictable environments.
  • Ease of Integration
    AWS WAF easily integrates with other AWS services such as CloudFront, Application Load Balancer, and API Gateway, providing a seamless security solution within the AWS ecosystem.
  • Custom Rule Configuration
    Users can define custom rules and policies to suit specific security requirements. AWS WAF provides a flexible rule creation environment, enabling the creation of complex firewall rules.
  • Managed Rules
    AWS WAF offers a set of pre-configured managed rules that provide protection against common threats such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting, which saves time and effort for administrators.
  • Comprehensive Logging and Monitoring
    AWS WAF integrates with AWS CloudWatch and AWS Kinesis Firehose to provide detailed logging and monitoring capabilities. This helps in tracking, analyzing, and reacting to security events in real time.
  • Cost-Effectiveness
    AWS WAF operates on a pay-as-you-go pricing model, allowing businesses to scale costs with usage. This can be particularly cost-effective for smaller organizations or startups.

Possible disadvantages of AWS WAF

  • Complexity
    While AWS WAF offers powerful features, its setup and configuration can be complex, especially for users who are not familiar with AWS or web security concepts.
  • Initial Learning Curve
    New users may find it challenging to get up to speed with AWS WAF due to the need to understand AWS services and security rules syntax. This initial learning phase can be time-consuming.
  • Rule Processing Latency
    In some cases, the processing of complex rules can introduce latency in response times. This may impact the performance of high-speed applications that require minimal delay.
  • Service Dependency
    AWS WAF is deeply integrated within the AWS ecosystem. As a result, its effectiveness is dependent on the use of other AWS services, which may not be ideal for multi-cloud strategies.
  • Cost for Heavy Usage
    While the pay-as-you-go model can be cost-effective for small-scale operations, businesses with high traffic volumes might find the cumulative costs to be significant.
  • Limited Offline Capabilities
    AWS WAF is designed primarily for protecting online applications. Offline or on-premise applications require different solutions, and AWS WAF may not be well-suited in these scenarios.

Let's Encrypt videos

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AWS WAF videos

Protecting Your Web Application Using AWS Managed Rules for AWS WAF - AWS Online Tech Talks

More videos:

  • Review - Amazon AWS WAF (Web application Firewall ) Training
  • Review - AWS WAF REVIEW

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Let's Encrypt and AWS WAF)
Security & Privacy
100 100%
0% 0
Web Application Security
0 0%
100% 100
Identity And Access Management
Security Monitoring
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Let's Encrypt should be more popular than AWS WAF. It has been mentiond 338 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Let's Encrypt mentions (338)

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AWS WAF mentions (36)

  • Understanding AWS Regions and Availability Zones: A Guide for Beginners
    AWS CloudFront is the star of the show here. It caches static content (like media, scripts, and images) to ensure fast, reliable delivery. Other AWS services that run at the edge include Route 53 for DNS routing, Shield and WAF for security, and even Lambda via Lambda@Edge — giving you the ability to run serverless logic closer to the user. - Source: dev.to / 8 days ago
  • 🚀🚀Setting Up AWS Firewall Manager Used For Auditing Security Groups in AWS Organization accounts.
    AWS Firewall Manager is a security management service that makes it easier to centrally configure and manage firewall rules across your accounts and applications in AWS Organizations. You can use Firewall Manager to manage AWS WAF, AWS Shield Advanced, VPC, security groups, AWS Network Firewall, and more. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • 12 Practices and Tools to Ensure API Security
    Like Adam said - WAF is Cloudflare's bread-and-butter product offering, but Amazon also offers AWS WAF in case you want to stick to a single-cloud solution. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Block direct access to CloudFront origins with custom headers and AWS WAF
    Amazon Web Application Firewall AWS WAF is a web application firewall that lets you monitor the HTTP(S) requests that are forwarded to your protected web application resources. AWS WAF lets you control access to your content. Based on criteria that you specify, such as the IP addresses that requests originate from or the values of query strings, the service associated with your protected resource responds to... - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • AWS Serverless Security: Preventing HTTP Flood DDoS Attack
    AWS WAF is a web application firewall that helps protect your web applications / APIs against common web exploits and bots. Attacks may affect availability, compromise security, or consume excessive resources. AWS WAF gives you control over how traffic reaches your applications by enabling you to create security rules that control bot traffic and block common attack patterns. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Let's Encrypt and AWS WAF, you can also consider the following products

OpenSSL - OpenSSL is a free and open source software cryptography library that implements both the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols, which are primarily used to provide secure communications between web browsers and …

Ensighten - Ensighten provides enterprise tag management solutions that enable businesses manage their websites more effectively.

Sqreen - Sqreen is a web application security monitoring and protection solution helping companies protect their apps and users from attacks. Get started in minutes.

AWS Certificate Manager - AWS Certificate Manager from Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Certbot - Automatically enable HTTPS on your website with EFF's Certbot, deploying Let's Encrypt certificates.

Barracuda Web Application Firewall - Barracuda Web Application Firewall offers security and DDoS protection against automated & targeted attacks.