A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs Kemp LoadMaster comparison

A10 Networks and Progress Software are both solutions in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category. A10 Networks is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.0, while Progress Software is ranked #8 with an average rating of 9.0. A10 Networks holds a 5.0% mindshare in ADC, compared to Progress Software’s 7.6% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of A10 Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Progress Software users who would recommend it.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Read 22 A10 Networks Thunder ADC reviews

2,443 Views
1,754 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Kemp LoadMaster

Read 49 Kemp LoadMaster reviews

4,812 Views
2,674 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Kemp LoadMaster

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

A10 Networks Thunder ADC and Kemp LoadMaster both compete in the application delivery controller category. A10 Networks Thunder ADC appears to have an upper hand due to its comprehensive feature set and cost-effectiveness.

Features: A10 Networks Thunder ADC is noted for its all-inclusive licensing model which simplifies budget management, advanced DDoS mitigation, and SSL offloading. These features make it ideal for enterprises handling mixed traffic across on-premise and cloud resources. Kemp LoadMaster is recognized for ease of deployment, stability, and a competitive cost-to-feature ratio, making it suitable for straightforward ADC needs lacking advanced security measures.

Room for Improvement: A10 Networks Thunder ADC could improve its third-party integration options and address regional support discrepancies causing delays. Resolving legal issues with Brocade and enhancing immediacy in support could also benefit users. Kemp LoadMaster might enhance security features and GUI usability, and integrate modern visualization tools and better certificate management. Users suggest more comprehensive documentation and intuitive updates for advanced configurations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: A10 Networks Thunder ADC is often deployed on-premises, but users report delays in support during emergencies, and highlight a need for improved first-call resolutions and better training resources. Kemp LoadMaster is praised for its straightforward setup and reliable third-party support across varied deployments, with customer service improving satisfaction despite a call for more proactive support.

Pricing and ROI: A10 Networks Thunder ADC is perceived as cost-effective, offering a solid return on investment by simplifying configuration and saving on support contracts. It competes well with more expensive solutions like F5. Kemp LoadMaster's competitive pricing and trial options make it attractive for clients seeking cost-effective ADC solutions, with licensing flexibility enhancing its appeal against pricier alternatives.

To learn more, read our detailed A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs. Kemp LoadMaster Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs. Kemp LoadMaster

March 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

10th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Kemp LoadMaster

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

8th

Average Rating

9.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of A10 Networks Thunder ADC is 5.0%, up from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kemp LoadMaster is 7.6%, up from 7.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

Featured Reviews

SatishBabu

Vice President at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Known for its load balancing capabilities, the WAF features need to be improved

The solution's initial setup process was easy. For the installation, it takes around five minutes. One person can do the maintenance since it is not required much. So, it's a one-time solution, and its maintenance is fine. The number of people required for maintenance depends on the clients as well. One or two engineers are fine to serve around a hundred clients. If you have a number of devices, more people are needed for their maintenance because of the patching it requires during regular operations. Only for the maintenance, one engineer's fine. However, for regular operations, we need multiple people.

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PeterForster

Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

A highly stable and scalable load-balancing software that offers great technical support

My company is really happy with Kemp LoadMaster as a product. My company is also happy with the support we receive from Kemp LoadMaster. I want Kemp LoadMaster to provide users with better reporting capabilities in relation to TCP packets. In general, the connections that are present in the system require improvement. Feature-wise, Kemp LoadMaster has everything that our company's customers require. Kemp LoadMaster also has features that have supported our company's past projects.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Being a public entity and having a public website which is highly visible with a lot of traffic, we are a target for DDoS. Within the last year, we have had a couple of DDoS attacks which could have affected our web traffic and taken down certain parts of our website. This did not happen because the A10 was able to mitigate the attacks using rate limiting that can be configured for DDoS mitigation on the box."

"The SLB and GSLB load balancing are the most valuable features. They meet our need to do server-side load balancing and global site load balancing so we can distribute traffic, not only intra-data center, but inter-data center."

"It helps with the efficiency of application deployments and data security."

"The solution is user-friendly and the CLA troubleshooting is easier compared to other solutions."

"The Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) is simple to use."

"Compared to F5, which I used about six years ago, the A10 is much easier when routing. You don't have to use the wildcard bits to route it between the different segments. It's much less troublesome to configure."

"We can control access based on the specific application. If other devices are attempting to directly access the servers, you can block them. Additionally, you can balance the load among servers to optimize performance. For example, utilizing caching can make the application run faster."

"The ease of use is very good. It's very robust. It just sits and works."

More A10 Networks Thunder ADC pros

"There is a simplicity to the setup and configuration."

"The feature I find most valuable is load balancing with different algorithms."

"The most valuable feature that I found is the load balancing feature, it is the core function of the product."

"I like that this is a Network Load Balancer that can be used practically with any application in the backend. They have how-to guides on how to set up Kemp NLB with Exchange, but you can use it as well for Sharepoint, RDS, or any other back end server."

"The base feature of Kemp LoadMaster load balancing ticks all the boxes but the most valuable features would be the security features Intrusion Prevention (IPS) and Web Application Firewall (WAF)."

"Failover is seamless and our services are rock solid."

"Managing and maintaining multiple servers is done in a single place."

"The most valuable feature so far has been the high-availability options that allowed us to add an additional Kemp LoadMaster VLM virtual appliance into our VMware vSphere environment, to provide failover for our existing LoadMaster."

More Kemp LoadMaster pros

Cons

"There is room for improvement in the upgrading process. Sometimes we have to contact A10 for verification of some stuff."

"A graphical dashboard for analyzing performance is needed."

"The user interface is not as pretty as it could be."

"They need to make the user interface (GUI) a bit more usable and intuitive. Some features can be a little difficult to find at times. Sometimes, the workflow in the GUI doesn't match the workflow of an actual workflow. E.g., if I want to create a load balancer application, sometimes you've got to do things a bit out of order in the GUI in order to make it work right."

"In my opinion, they need to improve their cloud support. There is support for cloud, but not all functions are there, such as high-availability."

"There is two-factor authentication built-in, but it could be more robust."

"The user interface is what people complain about most of the time, particularly if they don't use it very often. Then they complain that it's a bit clunky."

"Currently, the solution's WAF features are fewer. They should consider increasing their WAF features."

More A10 Networks Thunder ADC cons

"They were still in the process of development, and for example, we set it up in a cluster. So it was one logistical unit built out of two physical devices. And the expected behavior, which I know from other devices, will be formed into a logic cluster. It's that you configure one unit. Then you bring the second unit into this cluster with the already configured primary unit. So the secondary box pulls all the configured ones from its neighbor, does everything automatically, and then synchronizes with this primary neighbor. And then it works, like, one logical unit. And this didn't work with the Kemp's initially, where they caused a lot of issues when building up a cluster, so there were some specials on how to set this up. When we built or set them up for the first time and the months afterward with no new software releases, there were a couple of problems, but in the end, they worked fine. So, they developed a lot and learned from what they've responded to, what we responded to them, and what needs fixing."

"In the web interface, there are a lot of settings in the different menus and it would be helpful if there were an interactive help system or tooltips to help the administrators find and configure the right settings."

"Overall, the Kemp LoadMaster has been an all-rounder great product and stable. The free trial and virtual edition make it a breeze for any potential customer to give it a spin before actually deciding to put it on the infrastructure or even talk to the CFO."

"SNMP and/or RESTCONF management, in order to collect many counters, for plotting in a central application need to be improved."

"The only thing I have struggled with is setting up automatic backups."

"The cost of the GEO upgrade is not cost-prohibitive but it's something that would be a nice add-in, out of the box."

"In the next release, they can introduce 360 views in the same dashboard to make it easier for users to view. The graphical information should be displayed on the dashboard."

"Hardware version needs a dual power solution."

More Kemp LoadMaster cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is fine, considering the features they are providing. If you are an individual user, they'll price the product differently compared to how they price the product that is sold to an organization."

"The price of A10 Networks Thunder ADC depends on capacity and the customer's requirement. They have several offerings. They have different price models and options to choose from. Additionally, you need to subscribe to support for the hardware appliances."

"Pricing is one of the features of the product that influence customers to use the product."

"We did try out the solution’s Harmony analytics and visibility controller for its one-year trial. Due to the cost, we chose not to keep it onsite."

"We just pay for support in addition to our licensing."

"You get a lot more for your dollar with A10."

"There were budgetary constraints that keep us from investing in the single pane of glass traffic management feature. We saw a demo of this feature about a year to a year and a half ago."

"The solution costs less than its competitors."

More A10 Networks Thunder ADC pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is alright and we pay a monthly licensing fee"

"They have multiple tiers of licensing and you can upgrade it easily."

"Currently, no cost is involved with a virtual load balancer. They have used open source. We did not pay for software. We paid for the expertise. We are only paying the consulting charges, which are very reasonable, that is, around a thousand dollars."

"The product definitely provides what the organization needs and its cost is reasonable considering the value it brings."

"Pricing for the perpetual licensing was fair to us for the features and ease of use we received."

"The price is great and the value is definitely there."

"KEMP gives away free trials for 30 days. This can be stretched if you want. During the test, you will have access to KEMP support."

"The Kemp LoadMaster is a tremendous value."

More Kemp LoadMaster pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

13%

University

Government

Educational Organization

63%

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?

I would recommend A10 Networks due that it delivers high performance in a small form factor to reduce OPEX with significantly lower power usage, rack space, and cooling requirements compared to oth...

See all answers

Do you recommend A10 Networks Thunder ADC?

I do recommend A10 Networks Thunder ADC. It's very user-friendly, easy to configure, and flexible. It is a very useful solution - especially now, when a lot of employees are working remotely. I hav...

See all answers

What do you like most about A10 Networks Thunder ADC?

A10 Networks Thunder ADC is an easy-to-use and flexible solution.

See all answers

What do you like most about Kemp LoadMaster?

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten...I rate the technical support a ten out of ten...The initial setup of Kemp LoadMaster is very simple.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kemp LoadMaster?

LoadMaster is cheaper than some other solutions. It has a perpetual license, so it's a one-time cost.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Kemp LoadMaster?

There are some challenges with updates on certain models that don't have a few features. The support team often takes a lot of time to provide resolutions for issues. Also, I could see more capabil...

See all answers

Comparisons

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Compared 24% of the time

Fortinet FortiADC vs A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Compared 16% of the time

NetScaler vs A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Compared 15% of the time

Radware Alteon vs A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Compared 10% of the time

NGINX Plus vs A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Compared 6% of the time

More A10 Networks Thunder ADC Competitors

HAProxy vs Kemp LoadMaster

Compared 20% of the time

NGINX Plus vs Kemp LoadMaster

Compared 16% of the time

Fortinet FortiADC vs Kemp LoadMaster

Compared 15% of the time

NetScaler vs Kemp LoadMaster

Compared 10% of the time

Barracuda Web Application Firewall vs Kemp LoadMaster

Compared 5% of the time

More Kemp LoadMaster Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

A10 Networks Thunder ADC

March 2025

Download A10 Networks Thunder ADC product report

Buyer's Guide

Kemp LoadMaster

March 2025

Download Kemp LoadMaster product report

Also Known As

Thunder ADC, AX Series

LoadMaster Load Balancer

Overview

A10 Networks Thunder ADC is a dynamic application delivery controller and advanced load balancer. Thunder ADC is a value-added solution provided by A10 Networks specializing in robust, trusted, scalable application services for cloud, hybrid, edge cloud, and on-premise environments focused on improving business processes and keeping infrastructures safe. The solution consistently provides server availability, improves content delivery, and protects at-risk applications. A10 Networks Thunder ADC easily controls hybrid and multi-cloud deployments using a Polynimbus strategy to minimize difficulties and costs for IT processes, facilitating overall improved business results.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC is effective for small to medium businesses (SMBs) to large enterprises. Service providers and cloud operators are all using A10 Network ADC to manage their large and fast-growing group of business-critical applications.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC supplies L4-7 load balancing with numerous layers of security using DNS and web app firewalls, comprehensive support for advanced encryption, single sign-on (SSO) authentication, and high-performance Perfect Forward Secrecy and Error Correction Code (PFS/ECC). Thunder ADC is designed upon A10 Networks Advanced Core Operating System (ACOS®) platform to provide consistent, efficient application performance and trusted security for any environment.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC Benefits

Consistently accessible: A10 Networks Thunder ADC employs numerous load balancing protocols to evenly distribute workloads to all servers and works to ensure constant application functionality. User requests are monitored to ensure loads are directed to the appropriate server so that there is always a proper response delivery to content. This process ensures the applications are consistently available.
Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB): To ensure business processes are fully optimized at all times, A10 Networks Thunder ADC employs a dynamic Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) process to augment server load balancing capabilities throughout global data centers for high availability and improved user experience and application tolerance.
Fast content delivery: A10 Networks Thunder ADC conquers the general WAN latencies, chatty policies, and redundant software programs to ensure quick and responsive service. Employees receive a fast, excellent end-user experience while the organization's business leaders get exceeded SLA mandates and increased productivity with teams working remotely and a step up on the competition.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC Features

Detailed Analytics: When deployed with A10 Networks Harmony Controller, Thunder ADC delivers a large selection of detailed aggregate and per-request reports in real time. The reports include popular URLs, error and health indicators, latencies, and end-to-end response times. The data is further dissected to deliver per-app reporting, availability alerts, and performance.
API Coverage: Thunder ADC utilizes A10 Networks REST-based aXAPIs to structure all features with 100 percent API coverage. The resulting interface is then used to seamlessly integrate custom or third-party management solutions, such as VMware or other SDN platforms, OpenStack, Microsoft SCVMM, or other cloud orchestration systems. There are also software plug-ins available for private clouds utilizing VMware’s vRealize Orchestrator.
Comprehensive Management Controls: Thunder ADC is fully supported by A10 Networks Harmony Controller and can be deployed in software or as a software-as-a-service (SaaS). This controller functions as a native management platform that organizes and distributes application-centric service protocols and configuration data to numerous Thunder appliances and device cluster infrastructures throughout numerous multi-cloud environments. Users can instantly identify, audit and track every appliance using critical operational metrics, such as CPU, disk usage, device partitions, and end users. The A10 Networks Harmony Controller will also complete configuration backups and restore operations, and will schedule regular software upgrades.

A10 Networks

Kemp LoadMaster is a powerful load balancing solution that also serves as a web application firewall. Its primary use case is load balancing and application load balancing, making it an ideal solution for organizations that must distribute traffic across multiple servers. Kemp's integration with an active directory for ESP usage, hosting/deployment of SSL certificates, and pricing are some of its most valuable features.

Using Kemp has helped organizations mitigate cross-scripting vulnerabilities, cookie-related issues, and content security policy issues. It has also allowed them to handle everything with Kemp instead of working on each application individually.

Progress Software

Sample Customers

123inkt.nl, Bentley University, Box, Brainshark, Buienradar, Capgemini, CGN/LSN & NAT64, Chengdu Telecom, Club One, Code Ready, CRC Health Group, Cyso, Deutsche Telekom, Earth Class Mail, Excite, FFF Enterprises, Florence County, Framingham State University, From30

Kent County Council, KEMP, SMA Solar Technology AG, RT Player , Victrix (Quebec, Canada), Texas A&M, Macmillan Cancer Support, Cisco, Austin Bank

Buyer's Guide

A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs. Kemp LoadMaster

March 2025

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