What's the Difference Between AWS Shield and AWS WAF?

Compare AWS Shield and AWS WAF side by side — features, pricing, and ideal use cases to help you choose the right product.

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Compare side-by-side

Comparisons	AWS Shield	AWS WAF
Category	Security, Network / app protection	Security, Network / app protection
Description	Managed DDoS protection for web applications	Web application firewall that helps protect your web applications from common web exploits.
Best for	DDoS protection Application availability Cost protection Attack visibility	Bot control SQL injection protection XSS protection Rate limiting IP reputation
Key features	Always-on detection Automatic mitigation DDoS Response Team Cost protection Real-time visibility	Managed rules Custom rules Bot Control Account takeover prevention Fraud Control
Pricing model	Standard: free; Advanced: $3,000/month	Pay per web ACL + rules + requests
Free tier	Yes	No
Expert take	“Shield Standard is automatic and free; it handles most network-layer DDoS. Shield Advanced adds the DDoS Response Team, cost protection (AWS credits back DDoS-induced scaling costs), and application-layer visibility. Worth it for internet-facing production workloads where downtime has real revenue impact.” — Didier Durand, re:Post Top Contributor [profile]	“Start with AWS Managed Rules for the Core Rule Set and Known Bad Inputs; they cover OWASP Top 10 without custom logic. Add rate-based rules for DDoS at the application layer, and Bot Control to block scrapers and credential stuffers. Always deploy in Count mode first before switching to Block.” — Oleksii Bebych, re:Post Top Contributor [profile]
Product page	Learn more about AWS Shield »	Learn more about AWS WAF »

When to use AWS Shield or AWS WAF

Use AWS Shield when:

DDoS protection
Application availability
Cost protection
Attack visibility

Learn more about AWS Shield »

Use AWS WAF when:

Bot control
SQL injection protection
XSS protection
Rate limiting
IP reputation

Learn more about AWS WAF »

Next steps with AWS for Security

Create a free account

Start building with AWS Shield and AWS WAF on the AWS Free Tier.

Get started with AWS Shield

Managed DDoS protection for web applications

Go to AWS Shield

Get started with AWS WAF

Web application firewall that helps protect your web applications from common web exploits.

AWS product comparisons

What's the difference between Amazon Aurora and Amazon RDS?

Both are fully managed relational database services on AWS, but Aurora is a cloud-native engine built for higher performance and availability, while RDS gives you familiar open-source and commercial engines with less operational overhead than self-managed.

What's the difference between Amazon DynamoDB and Amazon RDS?

DynamoDB is a serverless NoSQL database for applications with well-defined access patterns that need consistent single-digit millisecond performance. RDS is a managed relational database for applications that need SQL, joins, and transactional integrity across multiple engines.

What's the difference between Amazon DynamoDB and Amazon Keyspaces?

Both are fully managed, serverless-capable NoSQL databases on AWS. DynamoDB is AWS-native with its own API and data model; Keyspaces is Apache Cassandra-compatible, letting you use existing Cassandra drivers, tools, and expertise.

What are the differences between Amazon DynamoDB and Amazon DocumentDB?

Both are fully managed NoSQL databases on AWS, but they serve different data models. DynamoDB is a key-value store optimized for known access patterns at massive scale; DocumentDB is a document database for flexible JSON schemas with MongoDB compatibility.

What's the difference between Amazon DocumentDB and Amazon Neptune?

Both handle semi-structured data, but they're optimized for different query patterns. DocumentDB stores and queries JSON documents; Neptune stores and traverses relationships between entities.

What's the difference between Amazon Aurora and Amazon RDS?

Both are fully managed relational database services on AWS, but Aurora is a cloud-native engine built for higher performance and availability, while RDS gives you familiar open-source and commercial engines with less operational overhead than self-managed.

What's the difference between Amazon Aurora and Amazon Neptune?

Both are purpose-built, fully managed AWS databases, but they solve fundamentally different problems. Aurora handles structured relational data with SQL; Neptune handles highly connected data where relationships between entities are the primary query pattern.

What's the difference between Amazon Aurora and Amazon DynamoDB?

Both are fully managed AWS database services, but they serve fundamentally different data models and access patterns. Aurora is a relational database for structured data with relationships; DynamoDB is a NoSQL key-value store built for single-digit millisecond performance at any scale.

What's the difference between Amazon RDS and Amazon Redshift?

Both run SQL queries, but they're optimized for fundamentally different workloads. RDS handles transactional operations (inserts, updates, lookups) for your application. Redshift handles analytical queries (aggregations, scans, joins across billions of rows) for your data team.

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