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

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

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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

Microsoft Intune

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Remote Access category, the mindshare of Microsoft Intune is 9.5%, down from 11.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is 1.4%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Parallels Access is 2.2%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Remote Access

Featured Reviews

Joseph Merusi

Collaborations engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Everything has worked better since we started using it

Sometimes the syncing is inconsistent. I'm confident that the devices are checking in every eight hours, but sometimes the devices aren't picking up the settings as quickly as I would expect. Some features haven't been updated in a while, and Microsoft doesn't seem interested in developing them. Unless you talk to an engineer, you don't know whether there will be an update. There are communication issues, so you might start working with a feature without knowing if it will be deprecated six months from now. Some reporting areas still need development. For example, I noticed that the reporting for driver updates is still confusing.

Read full review

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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Binish Parikh

Vice President at ARK Infosolutions Pvt Ltd

Easy-to-deploy and good for small as well as large setups

There is room for improvement in the pricing policy. The price point is pretty aggressive. Since it is not very resource hungry, it doesn't require dedicated servers like high-end solutions do, so it's easier for customers to integrate it into their own solutions. In future releases, maybe more support for Macs and Unix so that customers with setups on those platforms can also benefit from the solutions.

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

"At the moment, Autopilot is the most valuable feature."

"I would rate the stability of Microsoft Intune nine out of ten."

"Intune makes our organization more secure and flexible. We can onboard new employees faster and more securely. We are a governmental organization with strict regulations, and Intune helps us comply with those requirements."

"The dashboards, the security, and the customization capabilities work very well for us."

"One of the most valuable aspects of Microsoft Intune is its seamless integration with Azure Active Directory, offering capabilities akin to Group Policy Objects."

"Users can make screenshots, and devices only need the minimal version of iOS."

"Microsoft Endpoint Manager is not expensive overall, especially for small environments."

"The most valuable feature of Intune is the central dashboard for compliance and policy management."

More Microsoft Intune pros

"The portal access was very good."

"The load balancing features are valuable."

"The most valuable feature is the virtual IP creation. It's our most frequently used feature."

"Our customers have never complained about the stability"

"The performance of the solution is valuable."

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

"Our organization is small - a college with about 3,500 students. We use F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager to protect our site, especially from the Iranian attacks we faced last year. We restrict access to only inside the country."

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

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

"It's got a very easy-to-use interface."

"Parallels Access has flexible licensing policies, which is beneficial for customers who have intermittent usage or users who are on and off the system."

"It's great that the total deployment can happen completely remotely."

"We don't have problems with stability. Everything is good."

"Parallels Access gives me full access and control of the computer, and I can do anything I want remotely."

Cons

"There are some issues using the solution with macOS and iOS, and it offers limited granular control with them. Intune works better on Windows and Android."

"Reporting in Microsoft solutions is pathetic. With Intune, I'm getting a free inventory tool, but I don't get a reporting tool. When I go to Intune, I can see one machine's entire data in terms of the hardware and the software running on it, but I cannot generate a report for all the machines in the organization. The reporting is the only feature holding back the functionality that is already there."

"Customer service used to be better, but as we are nearing the end of the contract, the focus on investing in us as a customer has diminished. It is what one would expect in such a situation."

"We haven't really gone through all the features of Intune. We are just discovering them. Every day, we see a new feature that we want to apply, but what will be great for Intune is to be able to deploy apps in a simple fashion. We should be able to easily install various apps on the Windows platform, iOS, and Android. Currently, we have to write some scripts. It's not as straightforward as we would like it to be. It should be simplified so that we can do it just with three clicks—next, next, finish—without needing to write a script."

"Intune's privilege management feature, while beneficial, is less intuitive than other Intune features, making it challenging to use."

"It's the granularity: 'Is your firewall on? Is BitLocker on?' It's not amazing granularity. But I've looked into other products, like Duo, and they're all similar."

"The reporting part needs improvement, and it would be beneficial if it could integrate with third-party tools instead of just Power BI."

"The feature that allows us to import the business application from the configuration manager to Intune is not very good at this time."

More Microsoft Intune cons

"The price of this product can be improved."

"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."

"The operational deployment is not great."

"The solution’s GUI looks very old."

"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."

"F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) does not have a direction for SaaS."

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

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

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

"There is room for improvement in the pricing policy. The price point is pretty aggressive."

"The solution may not scale well for enterprises."

"When you want to transfer a file from your iPad or remote device to the computer, the copy-and-paste feature doesn't always work."

"One challenge we do notice is that the application is limited to Windows servers only. If a customer has a Linux server, things get complicated. They should open it up a bit to be more compatible with different types of servers."

"They could improve the reporting."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you're ever going to buy an Office 365 environment, then pricing is reasonable given all that it does, but if you're not, then you might find the pricing expensive."

"The price is reasonable, but they should lower it a bit to make it more competitive. It's cheaper than AirWatch and other products, but I still feel like Microsoft can make a base version or with Exchange online or a la carte only Intune version which will be useful. A customer who doesn't want to go full-fledged E3 or E5 can take out or consume an Intune solution only for their purpose, and we want to target that customer."

"Microsoft Intune is moderately priced. There is a monthly license required to use the solution and it is approximately eight dollars per month."

"Intune's pricing is competitive. For example, the license of Blackberry's Enterprise Mobility Suite was costly, but Intune is affordable. It is included as an additional feature when you buy security enhancements for your organization. For example, let's say I have fifty users in my organization and all of them are using Microsoft cloud services, like Teams, Office 365, and OneDrive."

"Intune is available as an individual product, but it also comes with Office 365 Premium or an Enterprise license, and the price varies for each version."

"Intune comes with the licensing that is common for large organizations. However, Microsoft has recently released many add-ons that are very expensive, especially for large organizations or corporations."

"In terms of the product price and licensing costs, my company finds the product to be reasonably priced."

"The pricing is good because customers are not complaining about it."

More Microsoft Intune 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."

"The licensing costs are about $100 per user."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

22%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

10%

Computer Software Company

13%

University

13%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?

Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes ...

What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Intune?

Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of...

How does Google Cloud Identity compare with Microsoft Intune?

Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also ...

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 ...

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

F5 products are more expensive than other solutions but are valued for their quality and reliability, akin to purchas...

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

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM ( /categories/application-performance-monitoring-apm-and-observability )) does n...

What do you like most about Parallels Access?

Parallels Access gives me full access and control of the computer, and I can do anything I want remotely.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Parallels Access?

It's around $125 per user per year. It is a one-time charge for installation and implementation, which is a small cos...

What needs improvement with Parallels Access?

When you want to transfer a file from your iPad or remote device to the computer, the copy-and-paste feature doesn't ...

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Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 63% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Microsoft Intune

Download Microsoft Intune product report

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

April 2025

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) report

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

Remote Access

Download Parallels Access product report

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager

F5 Access Policy Manager

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Intune provides centralized management of mobile devices and applications, ensuring security, compliance, and productivity through integration with Microsoft services like Microsoft 365 and Azure Active Directory.

Organizations use Intune for managing mobile devices and applications, enhancing security and compliance across platforms. With features like single sign-on, conditional access, and zero-touch deployment via Autopilot, it facilitates efficient operations. Intune's scalability, easy enrollment, and capabilities such as remote wipe support diverse device management, offering robust data protection and efficient operation. Despite its features, improvement areas include reporting, compatibility with non-Microsoft devices, and better support for macOS and Linux devices.

What are the key features of Microsoft Intune?

Seamless Integration: Works with Microsoft 365, Azure Active Directory, and System Center for streamlined management.
Conditional Access: Enhances security with policies that restrict access based on conditions.
Autopilot: Provides zero-touch deployment for setting up new devices efficiently.
Mobile Device Management: Enables control over both personal and corporate devices.
Application Deployment: Facilitates app delivery across a range of devices.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Centralized Management: Reduces complexity by managing devices and applications in one place.
Security Enhancement: Protects data with features like remote wipe and compliance monitoring.
Improved Productivity: Enhances efficiency with seamless integration and automation features.
Device Scalability: Supports diverse device management for growing business needs.

In industries such as finance, healthcare, and education, Microsoft Intune is implemented to ensure secure and compliant device management. Companies leverage its capabilities to deploy security policies and manage both corporate-owned and BYOD environments, facilitating a unified approach to data protection and compliance.

Microsoft

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.

Parallels Access provides an efficient solution for remote computer access, catering to organizations seeking hardware resource conservation and centralized management. Enhanced productivity is achieved through seamless connectivity, particularly beneficial for CAD and ERP application remote access.

Utilized by businesses and academic institutions, Parallels Access offers robust remote access capabilities. The platform's publishing features enable application use without VPN, delivering high stability and usability for desktop mobile publishing. It supports Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, making it valuable for those needing remote control of computers via devices such as iPads and enhancing productivity for those unable to access their devices directly. System integrators and channel partners align with companies to provide comprehensive technical support for users requiring remote connectivity.

What are Parallels Access's features?

Ease of Use: Simplifies remote deployment and access.
Publishing Features: Access applications without needing a VPN.
Scalability: Start with 15 users and grow as needed.
Remote Control: Offers full computer access for users with physical limitations.

What benefits does Parallels Access offer?

Enhanced Productivity: Increased access for productive use away from physical device locations.
Resource Management: Optimal utilization of hardware resources.
Convenient Access: Stable and reliable functionality for direct application use.
Improved Collaboration: Technical support partnerships ensure smooth operations.

Parallels Access is implemented across industries like automotive and education, emphasizing remote access to specialized applications such as CAD. Due to its ease of use, it supports centralized management for businesses working with ERP systems. Challenges include improving compatibility with Linux, Macs, and Unix servers, tackling aggressive pricing, addressing scaling issues, and enhancing reporting for user satisfaction.

Parallels

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway

City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office

Gilt Groupe K.K.

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