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Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Secure Client (includ...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
70
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (4th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (5th), ZTNA as a Service (11th), Cisco Security Portfolio (7th)
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
120
Ranking in other categories
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) and F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) is designed for SSL VPN and holds a mindshare of 15.2%, up 12.5% compared to last year.
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM), on the other hand, focuses on Application Delivery Controllers (ADC), holds 15.1% mindshare, down 16.0% since last year.
SSL VPN
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
 

Featured Reviews

VinaySingh - PeerSpot reviewer
Connect securely from any location with reliable and easy multifactor authentication
Whenever I am away from the office, I use Cisco Secure Client to connect to the office network, accessing the secure network to place calls to our secure servers that are built on-premise. It is used across our domain, including telecom and app networks, primarily for IT connectivity across the…
Richard Polyak - PeerSpot reviewer
Reduces maintenance downtime and has a strong user community
The advice I would give to others who are looking to implement F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager is this: look at their user knowledge base first to see if the solution truly fits what you need. On a scale of one to 10, I would give F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager a nine.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution provides secure and easy access to corporate network resources."
"The installation process is not difficult."
"The most valuable feature is AnyConnect's reliability."
"It is reliable and easy to configure, and the Cisco Firewall can last for many years."
"The multifactor authentication enhances security posture, and integrating our internal application for authentication was easy."
"It is stable. We haven't had issues so far."
"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client provides a secure way for users to access our systems remotely."
"What I like most about Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client is that it's easy to use, and that is its main advantage. You can use it without the need for any setup because it's centrally pre-installed, so you just need to log in with your username and password. I didn't experience any problems with the solution in terms of losing connectivity. It works very well every time."
"BIG-IP can do anything. It's like a Swiss Army knife."
"It is a fast and available solution."
"The F5 interface is easy to use."
"I think F5's tech support may be better than Citrix's because they mainly focus on the ADC product, but Citrix support covers Hypervisor, XenMobile, FAS, and ADC. And from my experience, sometimes, we face some issues that Citrix cannot handle."
"The product is very stable. We put a decent amount of stress on it given our load."
"F5 BIG-IP is used with good applications and functions as an application firewall with additional features. We will not use any feature or any service unless there is a business case and there is a need for implementation."
"Valuable features include Link Controller and Server Load Balancer."
"I have Big-IP change and control manager, which give me the roll back option. Therefore, I can view the last things which happened on the device."
 

Cons

"Sometimes when you disconnect or switch from one wireless network to another, it's necessary to re-login."
"Improvements could be made in terms of pricing and ease of setup."
"The solution should not rely on tokens from the mobile application for logins."
"I would like to see improvements in regards to the connectivity speed."
"Even when your internet speed is good, once you connect to the VPN the speed gets automatically reduced, which is worrisome."
"The configuration from the client-side would be useful. Right now, it's not centralized. There should be a lock so that it can only be configured from one place."
"It should autodetect or monitor it, when I am in the office it goes to the network in the office, or when I'm not at the office, it automatically activates my VPN connection."
"The cost could always be a bit less."
"The initial setup can take a long time."
"Currently, the product offers everything we need. I can't recall any features that may be lacking."
"Right now, there are a lot of products within F5's portfolio. They acquired a couple of companies like NGINX and Volterra. Some features and technologies overlapped when this acquisition occurred. They need to refine it and come up with a single, proper solution. F5 should focus more on zero trust network access (ZTNA).They should be more focused on that framework because the industry is moving towards that. Everyone is talking about SASE and zero trust."
"The GUI needs improvement."
"Not everything is intuitive."
"BIG-IP LTM's sandboxing integration could be improved."
"The pricing of the product is a bit too high."
"The initial setup can be complex - it's quite flexible in terms of configuration, but the person configuring it needs to understand the application side, the network side, and the server."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My company has a three-year or a four-year license. In scenarios attached to a solution where the product may be reaching an end-of-support or end-of-life phase, Cisco provides OS support in such environments."
"The solution is reasonably priced and costs $600 for a five-year license in our scenario."
"We pay for an annual subscription. Additionally to the subscription, we thought in order to connect this solution to the Active Directory we had to purchase a Cisco ACS, Access Control System. It turns out we did not actually need it."
"The price is okay."
"Sometimes there is a problem with the number of licenses for the end-user. The number of concurrent users is limited due to a valid license."
"The initial cost is the ASA and other items, but after that, it is relatively inexpensive."
"There is a license needed to use this solution. There are different licensing models available, such as a three-year license."
"I am using a paid version of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client."
"Purchasing through the AWS Marketplace was very simple. The main reason that we went this way was the simplicity of buying it there. It is maintained and upgraded for us, and this makes it easy to stay current."
"It's not a cheap product, but there are no other replacements for what we do with it."
"The price should be reduced because it is expensive when compared to the competition."
"It was probably a one-time purchase and then you have maintenance, but I don't have the details on that. We bought what they called the Best bundle at the time, which pretty much included all of the modules. There was probably no additional cost afterward."
"We purchased through the AWS Marketplace because it was a popular way to go, and we were intrigued. The price of this product is not an issue. They have good pricing and licensing."
"I found F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) an expensive product. The costs would depend on the appliance and infrastructure size. However, my company didn't have to pay extra to use additional features."
"The price of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is too high."
"The tool is a bit expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
49%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Government
4%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
The tool is user-friendly, robust and easy to use in any environment.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
My company has a three-year or a four-year license. In scenarios attached to a solution where the product may be reaching an end-of-support or end-of-life phase, Cisco provides OS support in such e...
What needs improvement with Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client?
The security of the product has certain shortcomings, making it an area where improvements are required.
What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP?
There are no specific areas for improvement as it is already well-resolved and doesn't require further enhancements.
What is your primary use case for F5 BIG-IP?
The primary use case includes load balancing to serve application servers and basic web application firewall solutions. Our customers use it for that purpose.
 

Also Known As

Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client
F5 BIG-IP, BIG-IP LTM, F5 ASM, Viprion, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition , Crescendo Networks Application Delivery Controller, BIG IP
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

MST, Molina Healthcare, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, Arup, New South Wales Rural FireService
Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about Ivanti, Citrix, Cisco and others in SSL VPN. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.