For years, Cloudflare’s WAF has been my go-to solution for protecting web applications. It’s easy to use, has strong threat intelligence, and offers features like rate limiting, bot mitigation, and challenge pages. However, it’s not without downsides—especially for those of us who prefer control, transparency, or simply want to avoid recurring costs.
Recently, I set out to find a self-hosted alternative that could meet my needs without compromising on protection. After testing several options, I discovered SafeLine, a powerful, open-source Web Application Firewall that has now fully replaced Cloudflare WAF in my stack.
Here’s how and why.
Why Move Away from Cloudflare WAF?
Cloudflare is great, but:
- Advanced WAF features are locked behind paywalls, for example, number of rules.
- It depends on third-party infrastructure, which isn’t ideal for privacy-focused or sensitive applications.
- Customization is limited, especially for complex or self-hosted app environments.
I wanted something:
- Self-hosted and open source.
- With comparable security features.
- That works well even behind NAT or in air-gapped environments.
- That lets me define exactly how traffic is filtered and logged.
Meet SafeLine: The Open Source WAF You’ve Never Heard Of — But Should
SafeLine is an open-source Web Application Firewall developed by Chaitin Tech, and it's quickly gaining traction in the global web sec community.
Why I chose SafeLine:
- ✅ Free and open source (Personal Edition).
- ✅ Powerful detection engine using semantic-based analysis.
- ✅ Supports anti-bot challenges, rate limiting, and waiting rooms.
- ✅ Native authentication features like username/password, GitHub, OIDC, LDAP, and even SSO.
- ✅ Clean and intuitive web UI (plus API support).
- ✅ Easy to deploy via Docker.
- ✅ Handles multiple applications across different ports.
Setup Experience
I installed SafeLine on a VPS running Ubuntu 22.04 using the official Docker image. Setup was smooth and took less than 10 minutes.
What impressed me most was how feature-rich the free edition is. I didn’t need to pay for Pro to get started with:
- Attack blocking with real-time logs.
- Authenticated access for certain paths.
- Challenge-based bot protection.
- Intelligent rate limiting with custom rules.
Compared to Cloudflare’s free tier, I now had more visibility, more control, and no monthly bill.
What SafeLine Replaces from Cloudflare WAF
| Cloudflare Feature | SafeLine Equivalent |
|---|---|
| Basic WAF Rules | Semantic Rule Engine |
| Rate Limiting | Per-path and per-user customizable limits |
| Bot Management | Anti-bot challenge with adjustable delay |
| Waiting Room | Native feature in SafeLine |
| Access Control | Auth system with 3rd-party integration |
| Firewall Rules & Audit Logs | Full traffic logs, dashboard, and filters |
Any Downsides?
SafeLine is still under active development, and while the English documentation is improving, it’s not as mature as Cloudflare’s global support ecosystem.
However, I found their Discord community(https://discord.gg/dy3JT7dkmY) to be responsive, and the product team actively gathers feedback.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for a Cloudflare WAF alternative that you can self-host, SafeLine is an exceptional option. It may not be a one-size-fits-all for large-scale enterprise deployments (yet), but for developers, startups, homelabers, and privacy-conscious users — it’s a hidden gem.
Try it out: https://ly.safepoint.cloud/ShZAy9x
GitHub: https://docs.waf.chaitin.com/en/home
TL;DR
SafeLine is a powerful open-source WAF with features you'd expect only in commercial products. It gave me Cloudflare-grade protection — on my own terms.
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