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F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

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)
Imperva SecureSphere Databa...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Database Security (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) and Imperva SecureSphere Database Security aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is designed for Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) and holds a mindshare of 15.7%, up 15.7% compared to last year.
Imperva SecureSphere Database Security, on the other hand, focuses on Database Security, holds 30.4% mindshare, down 32.1% since last year.
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
Database Security
 

Q&A Highlights

MK
May 11, 2020
 

Featured Reviews

Mahmoud-Yassin - PeerSpot reviewer
You can fully automate disaster recovery
LTM's cloud capabilities could be improved. Cloud providers all offer load balancing, but you can't get the same level of security. F5's cloud service is still not on par with its on-prem service. F5 acquired multiple companies a few years ago, but they still haven't integrated those solutions. For example, F5 acquired Shape Security, which had an excellent solution for detecting bots and automated login attacks, but F5 offers the solution in an inflexible way. It is only available as a cloud-based solution. It isn't zone-based. Some companies are restricted from sending financial data outside the country because of GDPR in Europe or other national regulations. Here in the UAE, we can't send host data out.
Andrew_Kampolo - PeerSpot reviewer
The fine-grained auditing available on the platform makes life easier and helps explain anything happening in your database
Imperva's most valuable features are ease of use and log correlation. I also like the ability to trace activity from the host machine to the server access, the user details, and the exact query that they executed. If a database administrator or application process executes a query on the database, people know exactly what was executed, including all the variables. For example, it will tell you how many rows they were trying to select on which table, and you get the OS information, network details, IPs, and the user. That fine-grained auditing available on the platform makes life easier and helps explain anything happening in your database.

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 I found is iRules."
"It is an easy way to build application policies (graphical)."
"The most valuable features are DNS, APM, and ASM. Additionally, it is easy to use and you have a lot of flexibility to use the solution within a network."
"It has helped a lot to protect our organization from external attacks, especially XSS or XSRF types of attacks."
"The most valuable feature is the F5 LTM (Local Traffic Manager). This is the part of the product most organisations will be using most. It provides the core functionality to be able to load balance services and the means and the intelligence to be able to load balance based on advanced logic, e.g., TCL scripting."
"The Local Traffic Manager (LTM) provides a simple low balance and SSL decryption, in addition to some TCP parameters, for incoming and outgoing traffic to redirect appropriate traffic patterns to appropriate servers."
"It is stable."
"It integrates with AWS WAF, which makes it easy to deploy without changes to your infrastructure."
"The solution provides significant benefits such as compliance and security. Its data risk analytics tool helps reduce numerous events to more manageable incidents."
"It has a very user-friendly interface that's very detailed."
"The cyber intelligence feature is the most valuable."
"The most valuable features of Imperva SecureSphere Database Security are vulnerability assessment, enrichment security policy, and security"
"The company focuses on and has a passion for security."
"Database reporting features are valuable to us."
"The product’s most valuable feature is real-time highlights."
"Flexible reporting allows for customization that keeps the admins from having to interact with system automation."
 

Cons

"For a future release, I would like to see more features in the cloud."
"The solution is scalable."
"I wouldn't recommend the tool to small companies, considering its high price and the infrastructure needs of small businesses."
"An area for improvement in F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is that it's a high-priced product."
"The solution's hardware quality needs improvement."
"We need best-practice information. They have something called DevCentral and a blog. But we want something from F5 itself regarding how to tackle the false-positive configurations. If you go into detail with so many configurations it will find so many false positives from the moment it is enabled that it will quickly impact your applications, and it will not work."
"I would like them to have more flexible models."
"Native support for containers should be added to future releases, as this is the future of load balancing."
"The GUI is bad."
"It is quite expensive. I would prefer a lower price."
"Improvements can be made in data enrichment and enhancing the GUI (Graphical User Interface) for a better user experience."
"Imperva SecureSphere Database Security could improve the database defense feature called camouflage. This feature was responsible for the data mask but now it does not work well and we need another solution. All our banks have teams that are regarded with care and they need to mask sensitive data in order to provide testing to developers."
"Imperva needs to improve their cloud capabilities."
"There is sometimes lost communication and it can take a lot of troubleshooting to solve."
"The updates could be better."
"Performance can be slow under heavy loads, but this should be adjusted by scaling."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing pricing seems relatively easy enough to get your head around. I would advise anyone to ensure that you have a conversation with an F5 consultant before purchasing, as you would with most products."
"It is a little pricey. I wish the pricing was cheaper, but I wish the pricing was cheaper for everything."
"Security should be involved in any base license. When you bring on F5, you only have default license. Then, the ASM product license has to be purchased. It would be great if F5 could include the ASM in the base license."
"Though functionality is high, its cost can be considered slightly higher than its competitors​."
"F5 is more expensive than other solutions, so you have to be sure F5 is the best solution to fit the requirements."
"There are no additional fees to the standard licensing fee; everything is paid once."
"The cost is high for this product, so it's not suitable for small customers, e.g. those with small environments."
"It is the best solution, but that comes with an increased price."
"Its pricing could be cheaper for the African countries or developing economies. The British pound is valued way more than the currency of most African countries. A better or cheaper pricing model for Nigerian and African customers would be better. It has a per-year subscription model. You pay exactly for what you need. That's all. You don't have to buy what you don't need."
"The pricing is reasonable and competitive."
"This is an expensive solution and the price should be reduced."
"The product’s price is reasonable compared to other products."
"The product is expensive."
"Imperva SecureSphere Database Security was quite expensive several years ago, but now they provide a subscription plan for licensing. It is available now for smaller and medium-sized companies, not only large enterprises."
"It is quite expensive. We wanted it in my former organization, but the price was very high. So, we couldn't purchase it. I moved to a different organization, and this organization has purchased it."
"We have all the licenses, which we pay for annually. The price is a little high, but the product is good."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
29%
Computer Software Company
14%
Insurance Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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.
How does IBM Guardium Data Protection compare with Imperva SecureSphere Database Security?
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is a solution for database security from IBM that gives complete visibility, control, and analysis to secure sensitive data and comply with regulations. IBM S...
What do you like most about Imperva SecureSphere Database Security?
The tool's pricing is flexible and affordable for small and medium enterprises.
 

Also Known As

F5 BIG-IP, BIG-IP LTM, F5 ASM, Viprion, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition , Crescendo Networks Application Delivery Controller, BIG IP
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc.
BlueCross BlueShield, eHarmony, EMF Broadcasting, GE Healthcare, Metro Bank, The Motley Fool, Siemens
Find out what your peers are saying about NetScaler, F5, HAProxy and others in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC). Updated: March 2025.
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