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Citrix Gateway vs F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
8.5
Citrix Gateway enhances ROI by offering strong security, efficient task performance, and significant financial savings through threat prevention.
Sentiment score
8.4
Organizations report 100% return on F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager, noting its effectiveness in saving time, money, and generating benefits.
Citrix Gateway secures our environment from potential threats, which can save substantial financial resources, especially in preventing data breaches or ransomware attacks.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
Citrix Gateway support is responsive but faces delays, communication issues, and needs improvements in staff expertise and training.
Sentiment score
7.3
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager receives mixed reviews for support, with timely solutions and communication being key concerns.
If there is a solution, they don't always communicate it.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Citrix Gateway is versatile and scalable, accommodating diverse needs with excellent integration, but may require additional components post-updates.
Sentiment score
8.0
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager offers scalable, adaptable access solutions for enterprises, supporting easy upgrades and minimal staff requirements.
I believe that the scalability of Citrix Gateway depends on the project's requirements, as it can vary from simple load balancing to extensive Web Application Firewall implementations.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Users rate Citrix Gateway highly for stability and performance, despite minor setup issues and past update concerns.
Sentiment score
7.8
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager is praised for stability and reliability, though some users note issues with LTM-related failovers.
I find Citrix products to be very stable.
Sometimes, the logs are not quite informational or easy to understand.
 

Room For Improvement

Citrix Gateway needs improved usability, integration, security, cost-effectiveness, speed, support, cloud capabilities, dashboards, automation, and logging.
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager requires enhanced cloud integration, improved usability, better support, and advanced reporting and automation features.
If I could copy and paste objects instead of picking and configuring them from scratch each time, it would be great.
 

Setup Cost

Citrix Gateway is viewed as a premium product with versatile licensing but high pricing concerns among enterprise buyers.
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager is perceived as expensive, with simplified licensing but uncertain cloud pricing and extra fees.
I consider Citrix Gateway to be an expensive solution, generally ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 yearly, depending on the model.
 

Valuable Features

Citrix Gateway offers secure, scalable connectivity with strong security features, remote access, and seamless integration, valued for stability and usability.
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager is valued for its robust security, scalability, customization, and user-friendly interface in infrastructure protection.
The product effectively helps me protect the organization's network from potential threats, thereby securing our environment from hackers and ransomware attacks.
A lot of features are useful to me, including mostly the authentication, SAML, or SSO, with no sign-on.
 

Categories and Ranking

Citrix Gateway
Ranking in SSL VPN
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
Universal Access Gateways (1st), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (12th)
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Man...
Ranking in SSL VPN
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (19th), Network Access Control (NAC) (8th), Remote Access (11th), Access Management (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of Citrix Gateway is 15.6%, down from 22.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is 14.6%, down from 16.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
SSL VPN
 

Featured Reviews

VivekKumar10 - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables secure remote access and load balancing with enhanced protection features
I find Citrix Gateway valuable for its capabilities as a reverse proxy, providing security to applications exposed to the Internet. Key features include load balancing, dual-factor authentication, clientless VPN, and Web Application Firewall (WAF). The product effectively helps me protect the organization's network from potential threats, thereby securing our environment from hackers and ransomware attacks.
Ashish Kumar Rai - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers remote access control, good GUI and easy to configure
I'd suggest improved documentation integration directly within the GUI. Right now, finding comprehensive documentation often requires going to external websites like the community portal. In the APM interface itself, they could add direct hyperlinks to relevant online documentation. This would provide easy access to admin guides and other resources when working within the GUI.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
48%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
5%
Healthcare Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Citrix Gateway?
We can maintain our systems using the solution.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix Gateway?
In the past, the pricing was a good point, but at this moment, the pricing is a bit high because the price has increased a lot. In many cases, companies don't want to renew their Citrix Gateway sol...
What needs improvement with Citrix Gateway?
The pricing could be better. In many cases, our customers are thinking of migrating to other products in the market, like F5 BIG-IP. In many cases, companies are looking to migrate their entire sol...
What do you like most about F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?
In my opinion, the GUI is perfect with the configuration options provided. F5 BIG-IP has given customization options and policy configuration tools in the GUI. It's good and good enough to work.
What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?
Sometimes, if I erase or add a new agent in the policy, I can't go backwards, even if I haven't saved the access policy. I want the option to delete it, however, there's no option. I need to create...
 

Also Known As

Citrix NetScaler Unified Gateway
F5 Access Policy Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aeronamic, Avianca, Bechtel Corporation, Betfair UK, Catholic University Leuven (K.U. Leuven), Centene Corporation, Cerner, Charityshare, City of High Point, Clark Builders
City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office
Find out what your peers are saying about Citrix Gateway vs. F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.