Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Imperva CDN

SafeLine is a self-hosted Web Application Firewall (WAF) that sits in front of web apps to filter and monitor HTTP/S traffic, protecting against common web attacks. It also functions as a reverse proxy with ML-powered threat detection and modular, policy-driven protection.

Key Features

• Intelligent protection engine powered by machine learning with high detection rates and very low false positives
• Bot protection with CAPTCHA challenges and anti-replay protection
• HTTP Flood DDoS protection through intelligent traffic orchestration and rate limiting
• Identity and Access Management for on-prem and cloud apps via standard protocols and flexible integration
• Nginx-based reverse proxy architecture that shields web apps from the Internet

Use Cases

• E-commerce & Payment Platforms: protects merchant sites with real-time bot detection and traffic analysis, aiming to maintain availability during peak periods
• SaaS & Cloud Platforms: protects REST and GraphQL APIs from common web threats with ML-powered anomaly detection
• Content & Media Services: guards against high-frequency attacks and content scraping, with geo-based access controls for copyright compliance

Conclusion

SafeLine is a production-ready, self-hosted WAF with a broad user base and open community. It provides enterprise-grade protection for web applications, APIs, and services through ML-powered threat detection and flexible deployment options.

Anubis is a lightweight web AI firewall utility that protects upstream websites from high-volume scraper bots, especially AI crawlers. It sits in front of your origin and uses one or more challenges to decide whether to allow a request through.

Key Features

• Challenge-based request gating to deter automated scraping and crawler traffic
• Designed to be lightweight and affordable to run in front of community sites and small services
• Configurable bot policies for allowlisting or blocking specific clients (including “good bots”)
• Acts as a standalone alternative for environments where a hosted reverse-proxy security service is not desired

Use Cases

• Protecting personal sites, forums, and small communities from aggressive AI crawler traffic
• Adding an anti-scraping layer in front of an origin server to reduce load and bandwidth costs
• Enforcing access rules for known bots and automated clients via explicit allow/deny policies

Limitations and Considerations

• Can be a disruptive (“nuclear”) approach that may block smaller scrapers and potentially useful crawlers unless explicitly allowlisted

Anubis is best suited for operators who need a self-managed, challenge-based front door for HTTP traffic and want fine control over which automated clients are permitted. When tuned with sensible policies, it can help balance discoverability with uptime protection.

BunkerWeb is a next-generation, open-source web application firewall (WAF) that runs as an NGINX-based reverse proxy in front of your web services. It aims to provide secure-by-default protection for websites, applications, and APIs while staying easy to integrate into common deployment environments.

Key Features

• Reverse proxy web server built on NGINX for fronting multiple web services
• Built-in web security hardening (TLS configuration, HTTP security headers)
• Automated HTTPS certificate management with ACME/Let’s Encrypt
• Integrated ModSecurity WAF with OWASP Core Rule Set support
• Rate limiting and request/connection limiting to reduce abuse
• Automatic banning based on suspicious behavior and HTTP status patterns
• Bot protection with challenge mechanisms (for example JavaScript, cookie, CAPTCHA)
• IP reputation blocking via external lists and DNSBL
• Extensible plugin system for adding or customizing security capabilities
• Optional web UI for managing instances and configuration

Use Cases

• Protecting self-hosted websites and web apps behind a hardened reverse proxy
• Shielding APIs from common web attacks, abusive clients, and automated bots
• Standardizing HTTPS/TLS and baseline security policies across environments

Limitations and Considerations

• Some advanced capabilities are reserved for the commercial PRO offering
• As with any WAF, effective protection requires careful tuning to minimize false positives

BunkerWeb is a strong fit when you want an auditable, configurable WAF that can be deployed across Linux, containers, and Kubernetes. Its secure-by-default approach, NGINX foundation, and plugin model make it suitable for both homelabs and production environments.

HAProxy is a high-performance reverse proxy and load balancer designed to improve availability and scalability of TCP and HTTP-based services. It is widely used as an edge proxy to route traffic, terminate TLS, and enforce traffic policies for web applications and APIs.

Key Features

• Layer 4 (TCP) and Layer 7 (HTTP) proxying with flexible routing rules
• Load balancing algorithms and active health checks for backend pools
• TLS termination and modern HTTPS features (including HTTP/2 support)
• High availability options, including multi-process support and state synchronization features
• Rich observability via detailed logs, statistics, and runtime control interfaces
• Extensibility via Lua scripting and advanced traffic processing mechanisms

Use Cases

• Reverse proxy in front of web apps and microservices with TLS termination
• High-availability load balancer for clustered services and databases exposing TCP
• Traffic shaping, access control, and DDoS resilience at the edge

Limitations and Considerations

• Configuration is powerful but can be complex for advanced Layer 7 routing policies
• Some advanced features are version-dependent; production setups typically follow stable branches

HAProxy is a proven choice for performance-critical traffic management, combining efficient proxying with mature load-balancing capabilities. It fits well as a core component in both homelab and enterprise edge architectures where reliability and control are priorities.

Varnish Cache is a high-performance HTTP accelerator commonly deployed in front of web servers to cache content and reduce backend load and latency. It operates as a reverse proxy and is tuned for high throughput, with flexible request handling and caching behavior.

Key Features

• HTTP reverse proxy caching to speed up websites and APIs
• Flexible request routing and cache logic via VCL (Varnish Configuration Language)
• Advanced cache controls (TTL, grace/saint modes, cache invalidation patterns)
• Detailed shared-memory logging (VSL) and runtime metrics for troubleshooting
• Supports cache purging/ban mechanisms to invalidate cached objects
• Designed for performance and efficient resource usage under heavy traffic

Use Cases

• Accelerating content-heavy sites and CMS-backed pages by caching responses
• Protecting origin servers from traffic spikes and reducing infrastructure cost
• Serving as an edge caching layer in front of load balancers or web servers

Limitations and Considerations

• Primarily targets HTTP caching; it is not a general-purpose L4 load balancer
• Effective configuration often requires understanding VCL and HTTP caching semantics

Varnish Cache is a mature, widely used choice for organizations that need fast HTTP caching and fine-grained control over request handling. It fits well as an edge or mid-tier caching layer where performance and observability are critical.

UUSEC WAF is a web application firewall (WAF) and WAAP-style API security gateway designed to protect websites and HTTP APIs by running as a reverse proxy in front of upstream services. It combines semantic detection engines with a flexible rule system and a management UI for configuring sites, certificates, and protections.

Key Features

• Reverse-proxy protection for websites and APIs (traffic-layer defense)
• Semantic detection engines targeting common web attacks (including SQLi and XSS)
• Deep decoding of request content to reduce bypass techniques
• Rule engine with immediate effect after publishing, without restarting services
• Management console for adding protected sites and configuring policies
• TLS certificate management, including automated issuance/renewal via Let’s Encrypt
• Extensible advanced rules via Lua scripting for custom protections

Use Cases

• Protect internet-facing web applications from common OWASP-style attacks
• Front multiple backend services with a single security and TLS termination layer
• Add centrally managed security rules for legacy apps without code changes

Limitations and Considerations

• Typically requires control of ports 80/443 on the host due to reverse-proxy deployment
• Best suited to Linux x86_64 environments per project guidance

UUSEC WAF fits teams that want a self-managed WAF/WAAP layer with a UI, certificate automation, and flexible rule authoring. It is especially useful when you need protective controls without modifying application code.

NetGoat is a self-hostable reverse proxy engine and traffic manager designed to provide Cloudflare-like controls for routing, security, and performance. It aims to help homelabs and teams manage inbound web traffic with an integrated UI and rule-based behavior.

Key Features

• Reverse proxy for HTTP traffic, including WebSocket support
• TLS termination with automated certificate handling
• WAF-style request filtering and anti-abuse protections
• Rate limiting and request queuing to protect APIs and apps
• Load balancing and failover for multi-node routing
• Per-domain configuration with wildcard/regex support
• Dynamic rules engine for custom routing and filtering logic
• Metrics dashboard for traffic and error visibility
• Optional integration targeting Cloudflare workflows (such as tunnels)

Use Cases

• Fronting multiple self-hosted services with a single security and routing layer
• Adding rate limiting and basic WAF protections to APIs and web apps
• Managing multi-service homelab ingress with per-domain policies and monitoring

Limitations and Considerations

• Project is explicitly work-in-progress; features and stability may change significantly
• Some advertised capabilities may be incomplete depending on the current release state

NetGoat is best suited for users who want a centralized, UI-driven reverse proxy with security-focused controls and extensibility. As it matures, it can serve as a flexible edge layer for both homelab and small-team deployments.

Squid is a widely used caching proxy server that optimizes web traffic by storing and reusing frequently requested content. It supports multiple protocols and is commonly deployed both as a forward proxy for users and as a reverse proxy (server accelerator) in front of web services.

Key Features

• Caching proxy for web traffic to reduce bandwidth usage and improve response times
• Supports HTTP and HTTPS proxying, plus FTP and additional protocols
• Extensive access controls for controlling and filtering client access
• Can act as a server accelerator (reverse proxy) to reduce origin load
• Flexible request routing to build cache hierarchies and content clusters
• SSL/TLS features for HTTPS handling (including interception modes in supported setups)

Use Cases

• ISP and enterprise forward proxy to optimize outbound web access and control usage
• Reverse proxy cache to accelerate websites and APIs and reduce backend load
• Hierarchical caching deployments to improve throughput across multiple networks

Limitations and Considerations

• HTTPS interception/"bumping" requires careful certificate management and has significant privacy and compliance implications
• Configuration is powerful but can be complex for advanced routing and policy setups

Squid is a mature and performance-focused proxy cache with strong policy controls and deployment flexibility. It is best suited for environments that need bandwidth savings, improved latency, and fine-grained traffic control at the proxy layer.