NetScaler vs VMWare Avi Load Balancer comparison

NetScaler and VMware are both solutions in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category. NetScaler is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.4, while VMware is ranked #12 with an average rating of 9.3. NetScaler holds a 16.1% mindshare in ADC, compared to VMware’s 3.5% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of NetScaler users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 71% of VMware users who would recommend it.

NetScaler

Read 85 NetScaler reviews

8,363 Views
6,374 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Read 8 VMWare Avi Load Balancer reviews

2,618 Views
1,687 Comparison Views

71% willing to recommend

NetScaler

VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between NetScaler and VMWare Avi Load Balancer based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed NetScaler vs. VMWare Avi Load Balancer Report (Updated: September 2024).

Buyer's Guide

NetScaler vs. VMWare Avi Load Balancer

September 2024

Download the complete report

Helped 800,688 peers since 2012

Categories and Ranking

NetScaler

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

12th

Average Rating

8.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2024, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of NetScaler is 16.1%, up from 12.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMWare Avi Load Balancer is 3.5%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

Featured Reviews

Mohammed Shamseldin Hassan

Manager - Cybersecurity & Cloud Solutions at Paramount Computer Systems

Dec 11, 2022

Easy to manage and affordable with good security, performance, and high availability

It has many use cases. It is used for the high availability of the service and for connecting local sites or geolocation sites called GSNP. We are selling all of its models. Citrix ADC can be deployed on the cloud or on-premises Citrix ADC has increased the productivity of the staff by keeping…

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AANKITGUPTAA

Consultant at Pi DATACENTERS

Oct 14, 2022

Reliable, robust, and easily expandable

Avi Load Balancer is the next-generation load balancer, which VMware provides. Earlier, we used a traditional type of load balancer. Due to the limitation of this traditional load balancer, we deployed this next-generation load balancer. This has very advanced capabilities like a web application…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is load balancing."

"Content Switching provides flexibility for routing traffic as desired to designated real servers. It also provides good geo capabilities through its GSLB feature."

"Provides resiliency for applications that reside on servers, as well as connectivity to remote applications."

"Unified Gateway allows me to provide secure external access to applications for suppliers and customers while requiring Multi-Factor Authentication."

"This solution allows the user to easily scale out application delivery, and provides secure remote access."

"My clients use it for load balancing."

"We use the solution's IP Reputation and bot protection features."

"This solution increases the backend network service performance, which is one of the things that we like the most."

More NetScaler pros

"The solution has simplified our network infrastructure management."

"The friendly user interface is valuable."

"What's most valuable in Avi Networks Software Load Balancer is its deployment capability, the ability to deploy in a dispersed service, with the service engines that can disperse and have a single control plane that can control the load balancing services across any available platform, wherever needed. The analytics of Avi Networks Software Load Balancer and flexibility of deployment are its most valuable features and the reasons why many people buy it."

"The WAF - the web application firewall itself - is great."

"The solution is stable."

"The interface and software features are the most valuable aspects of this solution."

"Its visibility and login mechanism are the best parts. In addition to the great visibility it has a great dashboard and an easy to configure graphic user interface, a beautiful GUI."

"The most valuable feature of the solution for my organization is its UI since it allows us to see the clusters while providing a very specific and good overall understanding."

Cons

"We would like to see some fairly large scale improvement in the configuration process for this solution."

"Citrix ADC can improve if it provides a more user-friendly interface and clear working protocols. Citrix is not working with classic RFC, it is working with Citrix RFC, which is not common in the world. If engineers of Citrix can provide us with more information on working with the classic IP networks it would be a benefit."

"Too many bugs in the software and it's always difficult when you need to update."

"Overall the price of Citrix ADC could be more competitive."

"We face challenges with the solution's firmware upgrades frequently."

"I will try to migrate all the tools to the cloud because there is more lab and more VPN scalability available in the cloud. It is not available on-premises."

"We had some bugs in the previous firmware. These were not big issues, but more testing on the firmware would be key to happier customers."

"The interface needs to be improved because the competition is coming up with ones that are more eye-catching, straightforward, and sophisticated."

More NetScaler cons

"IDS and IPS sites need to be more progressive."

"Avi Networks Software Load Balancer needs to improve its documentation."

"The network analytics and monitoring features are not effective."

"In terms of improvement, the pricing and documentation need improvement. We have had problems getting the documents."

"The initial setup is a bit complex."

"One struggle with Avi Networks Software Load Balancer is its integration with other VMware products. Integration could be improved in the solution so that you have a more unified control plane with it and other data center security and networking products that VMware sells. There has been a bit of a lag on the roadmap of new features that have come out there recently, but better interoperability with the hyperscale environments such as the AWS, Azure, GCPs of the world, and simpler deployment and interoperability with those existing tools, are areas that are receiving attention and could use additional attention today. These are the areas for improvement in Avi Networks Software Load Balancer."

"It doesn't match the development structure or user community of our existing product. It pales in comparison to that."

"I did not go with it because their APM module is a different product altogether. It's a common thing that companies do. They sell something and then they add on top of it as a different product. It is a type of marketing strategy. But when it comes to the overall management, it takes a lot of time to really look into it."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Citrix NetScaler VPX is not the cheapest solution out there, but you get what you pay for."

"It all depends on the features that will be used and the number of accesses."

"It is very pricey, but we get it. If you need the best, money shouldn't be a problem."

"I do not have any experience with the pricing of the product."

"Its price is comparable to others and affordable."

"We have been evaluating F5, Citrix, and other ADC products. Citrix is the most expense of all of them."

"This product is more expensive than some of the competitors."

"It is an enterprise solution. Thus, its costs are reasonable."

More NetScaler pricing and cost advice

"The tool is expensive."

"I rate the solution price a four to five on a scale of one to ten, where one is low, and ten is high, since it is an affordable tool."

"The licensing costs for Avi Networks Software Load Balancer are really variable. The product can be sold from a bandwidth utilization perspective. It can be sold from a per CPU perspective, depending on if you're looking at on-premises or hyperscale environments. Licensing costs vary quite a bit if you're familiar with the AWS Calculator, where you can see that it can widely vary per licensing model. On a scale of one to five, with one being not very good value for the money and five being great, I would rate the pricing for Avi Networks Software Load Balancer a five because its pricing is extremely competitive. Not all features are included with the license, for example, there's single licensing."

"With Avi Networks, you can buy a 10-Gig license and, if your primary data center goes down, in the flick of a switch you can move that license to your backup data center and it will generate the traffic... there are a lot of cost-effective measures."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) solutions are best for your needs.

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800,688 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

23%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Citrix ADC?

The most valuable feature for us is the application firewalling in Citrix NetScaler, ensuring only valid traffic enters our environment.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix ADC?

After deployment, Citrix Netscaler shifted to a subscription-based license scheme for support, which is slightly more expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Citrix ADC?

Citrix NetScaler is a robust product, but mastering it requires significant learning and training due to its complexity. While it could be easier to manage, it is like transitioning from driving a ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Avi Networks Software Load Balancer?

The solution has simplified our network infrastructure management.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Avi Networks Software Load Balancer?

The tool is expensive. It is not cheap. The product must be cheaper.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Avi Networks Software Load Balancer?

The network analytics and monitoring features are not effective. The product does not provide deep troubleshooting features. The solution must provide public IP features. F5 provides such features.

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs NetScaler

Compared 20% of the time

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs NetScaler

Compared 17% of the time

Fortinet FortiADC vs NetScaler

Compared 12% of the time

HAProxy vs NetScaler

Compared 11% of the time

Loadbalancer.org vs NetScaler

Compared 6% of the time

More NetScaler Competitors

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Compared 32% of the time

HAProxy vs VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Compared 9% of the time

NGINX Plus vs VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Compared 8% of the time

Kemp LoadMaster vs VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Compared 5% of the time

Radware Alteon vs VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Compared 4% of the time

More VMWare Avi Load Balancer Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

NetScaler

August 2024

Download NetScaler product report

Buyer's Guide

VMWare Avi Load Balancer

August 2024

Download VMWare Avi Load Balancer product report

Also Known As

Citrix ADC, Citrix NetScaler VPX

Avi Software Load Balancer

Learn More

NetScaler

VMware

Overview

One platform for a consistent application delivery and security experience because nobody has time to learn multiple systems to manage ADC deployments. NetScaler is built with a single code base using a software-based architecture, so no matter which ADC form factor you choose — hardware, virtual machine, bare metal, or container — the behavior will be the same.

Avi Networks Software Load Balancer is an application delivery controller (ADC) platform. The solution provides scalable application delivery across any infrastructure and allows your organization to deliver multi-cloud application services, such as load balancing, autoscaling, application security, container networking, and web application firewall. It is designed with 100% software load balancing to ensure a fast and secure application experience. Additionally, Avi Networks Software Load Balancer offers elasticity and delivers intelligence across any environment.

The Avi Networks Software Load Balancer is unique because

It can scale from 0 to 1 million SSL transactions per second in minutes.
It can achieve 90% faster provisioning and 50% lower TCO than a traditional appliance-based approach.

Avi Networks Software Load Balancer Product Highlights

Troubleshoots application issues in less than a minute.
Alerts you of potential risks with SSL certificates and TLS versions used.
End-to-end timing for each transaction to help solve end-user experience issues.

Avi Networks Software Load Balancer Features

Avi Networks Software Load Balancer has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Automated application delivery
Seamless integration with the CI/CD
Built-in analytics
End-to-end visibility
Actionable insights
Security
“Network DVR”-like capability to record and replay specific transactions
Google-like search filters transactions based on device, location, errors, etc.

Avi Networks Software Load Balancer Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Avi Networks Software Load Balancer. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Multi-cloud application services: Avi Networks Software Load Balancer provides consistent, enterprise-grade application services, including load balancing, WAF, and container networking across heterogeneous environments. The multi-cloud application services can be deployed on bare metal, VMs, or containers in any data center or public cloud environments.

Faster application provisioning: With this solution, you gain automation with 100% REST APIs and self-service like public cloud.

Better business decisions: Avi Networks Software Load Balancer uses analytics to deliver application insights and help you drive more intelligent decisions.

Containerized applications: Avi Networks Software Load Balancer is a proven solution to deploy container-based workloads in production environments using Kubernetes/OpenShift/Tanzu clusters. It includes multi-cluster, multi-site support for containerized applications.

Lower TCO: The solution is 100% software, and does not require any proprietary hardware. In addition, because it offers on-demand autoscaling, there is no over-provisioning. Lastly, point-and-click application troubleshooting means there is no need for a black box.

Software-defined architecture: Avi Networks Software Load Balancer is designed with a software-defined architecture with a centralized control plane (Avi Controller) and distributed data plane (Avi Service Engine). Because of this, elastic autoscaling is made easy.

Better end-user visibility: The solution gives you granular visibility into end-user experiences and server response in real time. It also empowers application owners with end-user stats to optimize and improve apps.

Application health score: Avi Networks Software Load Balancer summarizes analytics information into a helpful health score that provides a quick snapshot of the overall applications. The health score it provides is determined by server response time, resource usage, anomalous traffic, and security posture.

Sample Customers

ABB Schweiz, Aer Lingus, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Amnet Technology Solutions, Aramex International, Ascenty, Atos, Autodesk

Palo Alto Networks, DGDean, Swisslos

Buyer's Guide

NetScaler vs. VMWare Avi Load Balancer

September 2024

Free Report: NetScaler vs. VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Find out what your peers are saying about NetScaler vs. VMWare Avi Load Balancer and other solutions. Updated: September 2024.

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