WAF + challenges vs Rate limiting — Dstat comparison
A full WAF/challenge stack and plain rate limiting are complementary Layer-7 defenses with different strengths.
WAF + challenges
- Inspects and challenges suspicious requests.
- Adapts to attack patterns in real time.
- Higher protection, more moving parts.
Rate limiting
- Caps requests per client over a window.
- Simple, predictable, low overhead.
- Blunt against distributed low-and-slow floods.
Takeaway
Pair rate limiting as a cheap baseline with a WAF/challenge layer for adaptive defense against larger Layer-7 attacks.