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

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

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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

Citrix Gateway

Ranking in SSL VPN

2nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

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

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (19th), Network Access Control (NAC) (8th), Remote Access (13th), Access Management (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of Citrix Gateway is 16.9%, down from 22.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is 14.6%, down from 16.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

SSL VPN

Featured Reviews

Mohit-Jain

Senior Software engeneer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Smooth, easy to use, and reliable

I'm basically a user and not from a technical side. We've been using Citrix Database for all the automation systems scattered across most of the organizations for accessing development. I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using. I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. As a user, I can recommend the solution. However, from technical insights, like what are the other options available in the market or how does it cost and how effective the support is, I can't speak to how the solution is. That said, Citrix is quite a big draw. The tool has been used by many organizations. Definitely, it will be a good choice to check out.

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Ashish Kumar Rai

Associate Network Engineer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees

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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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Its ease of use and how everybody can easily work through it are the most valuable features."

"It adds great security to your outfacing information."

"For our use case, it was scalable. There were at least 25 end users using this solution from remote locations. And once the connection was established, there weren't any complaints."

"The technical support is very responsive and fast"

"The most valuable feature is that it is secure."

"It is easy to set up and is stable. It is scalable as well, depending on the model."

"The solution is stable."

"The solution is scalable."

More Citrix Gateway pros

"The solution is stable and reliable."

"The tool is reliable and easy to configure."

"F5 BIG-IP APM is relatively easy to use."

"The performance of the solution is valuable."

"This is a product that is easy to install and integrate, and it is simple to use."

"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."

"We have seen a return on investment from F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager. It provided access at a time when we didn't have it."

"The product allows us to create customized portals for your users."

More F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) pros

Cons

"We have experienced issues relating to multi-factor authentication"

"The solution has unnecessary limitations."

"Their VAS product should be more productive because right now, we are using other VAS solutions but not using this one."

"The first level support is very poor."

"When it comes to the VDA environment, making it additionally stable is important."

"As an organization, our initiative is to move to the cloud, Citrix Gateway needs to improve its cloud capabilities and make the cloud solution more robust."

"We are currently looking at automation. It would be good if there is some way to automate it in a fast way. It should be easy to automate. It also has some security issues."

"The initial setup could be made easier."

More Citrix Gateway cons

"Cloud services are something that F5 Access Policy Manager could do better"

"In my opinion, the GUI side needs some improvement based on my usage. Sometimes, it doesn't work as efficiently as the CLI side."

"The solution is quite costly."

"The technical support’s response time must be improved."

"The price of this product can be improved."

"F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager has room for improvement in integration with other products."

"Regarding price, I'm not directly involved in purchasing, but our CIO thinks the product is very expensive. He's considering moving from the tool to Citrix NetScaler WAF because it's cheaper, and we already have Citrix for VDI. We got NetScaler almost free as part of our VDI deal. Three years ago, I convinced him to use the solution because it's better, but now, with budget constraints, he may want to switch."

"The initial setup was complex."

More F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price could be lower."

"There are two or three different models, but you can actually have a CapEx where you purchase the unit outright and then there's a yearly maintenance cost on top for years two and three, and four, or you can actually do a subscription purchase through Citrix cloud and you pay on a monthly basis, or you can have a three-year subscription contract as well. I give the solution a six out of ten for its cost."

"Pricing is very high if you do a comparison with what is available in the market."

"Citrix is quite expensive."

"It costs about 4,000 a year."

"Usually with Citrix the issue is the pricing, especially for the African region. We believe it's really expensive."

"The solution has a yearly licensing fee."

"There is a need to make yearly payments for licensing purposes. Also, it is not an expensive one."

More Citrix Gateway pricing and cost advice

"The product is very expensive."

"I rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten."

"Recently, they have simplified the licensing"

"The tool is a little bit expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

49%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

10%

Computer Software Company

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?

I rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten.

What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?

Regarding price, I'm not directly involved in purchasing, but our CIO thinks the product is very expensive. He's considering moving from the tool to Citrix NetScaler WAF because it's cheaper, and w...

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Product Reports

Citrix Gateway

Download Citrix Gateway product report

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Download F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) product report

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) report

Also Known As

Citrix NetScaler Unified Gateway

F5 Access Policy Manager

Learn More

Citrix

Overview

Citrix Gateway is a customer-managed solution that can be deployed on premises or on any public cloud, such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform. Citrix Gateway provides users with secure access and single sign-on to all the virtual, SaaS and web applications they need to be productive.

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is an access management proxy solution for managing global access to the enterprise networks, cloud providers, applications, and application programming interfaces (APIs). Through a single management interface, BIG-IP APM consolidates remote, mobile, network, virtual, and web access.

BIG-IP APM can also serve as a bridge between modern and classic authentication and authorization protocols and methods. For applications which are unable to support modern authentication and authorization protocols, like SAML and OAuth with OIDC, but which do support classic authentication methods, BIG-IP APM converts user credentials to the appropriate authentication standard supported by the application.

BIG-IP APM Benefits:

Ease of use
Flexibility
Ability to integrate with other systems
Security features
Granular access control
Responsive and helpful support team

BIG-IP APM Features:

Support for Identity Aware Proxy (IAP) enabling Zero Trust application access
Context-based authorization with dynamic L4/L7 ACLs
Integration with third-party MFA solutions
DTLS 2.0 mode for delivering and securing applications
SAML 2.0 identity federation support
Support for OAuth 2.0 authorization protocol
SSO support for classic authentication (Kerberos, header- based, etc.), credential caching, OAuth 2.0, SAML 2.0, and FIDO2 (U2F)
AAA server authentication and high-availability
Integration with leading IAM vendor products (Microsoft, Okta, Ping Identity)
BIG IP Edge Client and F5 Access integrate with VMware Horizon ONE (AirWatch), Microsoft Intune and IBM MaaS360
Risk-based access leveraging third-party UEBA and risk engines (HTTP Connector)

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by BIG-IP APM users.

Mahmmoud Rabie, Senior Site Reliability Engineer, writes that BIG-IP APM is "A highly stable solution for load balancing, but the initial setup is complex."

Clyde Livingston, Senior Process Specialist at Telstra, says that BIG-IP APM is "Easy to use, useful access remotely, but lacking stability."

Chris Lam, Senior Solution Consultant at Macroview Telecom Limited, states that BIG-IP APM is "Useful for remote access VPN and VPI integration with VMware.

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

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