F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs Microsoft Azure Application Gateway comparison

F5 and Microsoft are both solutions in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category. F5 is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.6, while Microsoft is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.2. F5 holds a 15.4% mindshare in ADC, compared to Microsoft’s 8.2% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of F5 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 78% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...

Read 120 F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) reviews

7,233 Views
6,005 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure Application...

Read 47 Microsoft Azure Application Gateway reviews

4,422 Views
3,804 Comparison Views

78% willing to recommend

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...

Microsoft Azure Application...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager and Microsoft Azure Application Gateway compete in the load balancing and traffic management category. While F5 offers superior performance for enterprise environments, Azure's flexibility and cloud integration give it an edge in cloud-centric settings.

Features: F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager provides robust load balancing and customization with iRules, superior hardware performance for handling complex networks, and support for demanding enterprise environments. Microsoft Azure Application Gateway offers easy deployment in cloud environments, integrated security features, and essential capabilities for cloud-based applications.

Room for Improvement: F5 BIG-IP LTM users seek enhanced custom roles and permissions, better active-standby configurations, and improved pricing models. They also desire advancements in reporting and GUI interfaces. Azure Application Gateway users suggest enhancements in DDoS protection, UI customization, and additional protocol support, along with pricing adjustments and faster updates to keep pace with evolving security needs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: F5 BIG-IP LTM is favored for on-premises and hybrid cloud deployments, offering strong technical support and comprehensive documentation, though initial setups may be complex. Azure Application Gateway excels in public cloud environments with straightforward deployment in Azure ecosystems. Its integration within the Microsoft ecosystem enhances deployment and support for users seeking cloud-native solutions.

Pricing and ROI: F5 BIG-IP LTM is generally more expensive with costs varying based on features and modules, potentially impacting smaller clients despite its robust capabilities. Azure Application Gateway's pay-as-you-go model offers cost efficiency and scalability, making it attractive for cloud-focused businesses, though usage can lead to increased costs. Both products offer visible ROI benefits, with Azure's pricing flexibility potentially more accessible for businesses focused on the cloud.

To learn more, read our detailed F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs. Microsoft Azure Application Gateway Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs. Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

January 2025

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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

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

120

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Microsoft Azure Application...

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

4th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Web Application Firewall (WAF) (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is 15.4%, down from 15.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Application Gateway is 8.2%, down from 11.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

Featured Reviews

Mahmoud-Yassin

Head of IT Infrastructure and Security Operations at United Arab Bank

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.

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Shehzad Ali

Information Security and Compliance Officer at Carnation

Offers time and cost savings with integration, but user interface needs improvement

We are using it for our internal application development. We are testing those features of application gateways. We are integrating it with our solutions, application, Azure Application Gateway Microsoft has a vast variety of tools, and it blends very well. It provides a range of services, so it…

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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

"Our experience has been very good, in terms of performance, and securing our application infrastructure."

"The most helpful thing is that it's open-source. It's very easy to program and customize."

"The product is very stable. We put a decent amount of stress on it given our load."

"It improves the overall performance of applications by decreasing the burden on servers associated with managing and maintaining applications and network sessions, as well as by performing application-specific tasks."

"Initial setup was straightforward. We were up and running in three hours."

"This is a solution that does what it's supposed to do at the price point."

"There were a lot of good features. The most beneficial for maintaining server health included the algorithms for the virtual IP, which segment traffic between servers, authentication profiles, and many other things."

"F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is very easy to use, from SSL Management to enabling, disabling loads, applications, systems, and monitoring. Overall the solution keeps our application functional from a client's perspective 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) pros

"Microsoft has a vast variety of tools, and it blends very well."

"Good customization; able to report and take action on alerts."

"The most valuable features of Microsoft Azure Application Gateway are the policies, the data store they are using, and the cloud platform it operates on."

"We can control what rules should be used and what should be disabled."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the web application firewall (WAF)."

"The pricing is quite good."

"Using policies to link and manage these URL-based routing configurations is also valuable."

"The most valuable feature is WAF."

More Microsoft Azure Application Gateway pros

Cons

"It requires a particular skill or training before being able to manage it."

"BIG-IP LTM is taking a long time to mature in cloud environments. They plan to improve cloud integration in the next version, but it isn't out yet. It's essential because more companies are moving to the cloud these days and using things like Kubernetes or microservices. F5 needs to improve in that direction, and they are."

"The solution's hardware quality needs improvement."

"If we decide to migrate to the cloud, I don't think that BIG-IP is a good solution and we probably won't use it."

"The auto logout feature after three minutes is terrible. I wish they would make that longer, since it is not a feature that we can change."

"Internet and cloud support could be improved."

"If one virtual portion is unavailable, it can cause issues."

"This is a very expensive solution."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) cons

"Application Gateway’s limitation is that the private and the public endpoint cannot use the same port."

"Microsoft Azure Application Gateway could improve by allowing features to use more third-party tools."

"The solution has many limitations. You cannot upgrade the VPN to the application gateway. So I started with version one, which has limited capabilities, and they provided version two. And unfortunately, I cannot upgrade from v one to v two like other services. So I have to decommission the version one and create a new one with version two. Also the version one was complex with the certificates uploading the SQL certificates."

"We faced some downtime while validating CNAME."

"The support provided for the solution has certain shortcomings that need improvement, especially when it comes to the response time from the support team."

"One of the challenges we faced was the solution does not support any other PCP protocols apart from HTTP and HTTPS."

"The product's performance should be better."

"Microsoft Azure Application Gateway is harder to manage than Imperva. It is not intuitive and stable compared to other products."

More Microsoft Azure Application Gateway cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"The licensing model of F5 BIG-IP LTM is highly complex. The operation cost of the solution is high. The overall cost is high."

"I am not aware of the exact cost of the product. However, it is expensive."

"This product is costly from a licensing perspective considering its competitors."

"Our company pays for the licensing cost on a yearly basis. Also, there are no extra costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"We are on an annual license to use the solution."

"The price of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is too high."

"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."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) pricing and cost advice

"Microsoft Azure Application Gateway has less price than other application gateway solutions."

"The pricing is based on how much you use the solution."

"Between v1 and v2, there is a lot of change in the pricing. It is very costly compared to AWS."

"I rate the price of Microsoft Azure Application Gateway an eight out of ten."

"Microsoft Azure Application Gateway is a pretty affordable product. My company needs to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs of the solution. The additional costs apart from the licensing costs of the solution vary."

"Microsoft Azure Application Gateway is expensive."

"Every solution comes with a license and cost. Microsoft provides the license and the total cost is for the maintenance every year."

"The tool's pricing model is pay-as-you-go."

More Microsoft Azure Application Gateway pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

Manufacturing Company

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What do you like most about F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)?

The solution is robust and reliable.

See all answers

What's the difference between Azure Front Door and Application Gateway?

We found Azure Front Door to be easily scaled and very stable. The implementation is very fast and Microsoft provides excellent support. Azure Front Door can quickly detect abnormalities before the...

See all answers

How does AWS WAF compare to Microsoft Azure Application Gateway?

Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether Amazon’s Web Service Web Application Firewall or Microsoft Azure Application Gateway web application firewall software was the better fit ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Application Gateway?

Application Gateway automatically redirects unwanted users and takes care of the security aspect. It also handles the performance side of things, which is why we use it.

See all answers

Comparisons

Fortinet FortiADC vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 19% of the time

NetScaler vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 10% of the time

VMWare Avi Load Balancer vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 7% of the time

HAProxy vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 7% of the time

Radware Alteon vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 6% of the time

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) Competitors

F5 Advanced WAF vs Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

Compared 12% of the time

Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

Compared 12% of the time

AWS WAF vs Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

Compared 10% of the time

HAProxy vs Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

Compared 9% of the time

Akamai App and API Protector vs Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

Compared 6% of the time

More Microsoft Azure Application Gateway Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

February 2025

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) report

Download F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

February 2025

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway report

Download Microsoft Azure Application Gateway product report

Also Known As

F5 BIG-IP, BIG-IP LTM, F5 ASM, Viprion, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition , Crescendo Networks Application Delivery Controller, BIG IP

Azure Application Gateway, MS Azure Application Gateway

Overview

F5 BIG-IP LTM optimizes the speed and reliability of your apps via both network and application layers. Using real-time protocol and traffic management decisions based on app and server and connection management conditions, and TCP and content offloading, BIG-IP LTM dramatically improves application and infrastructure responsiveness. BIG-IP LTM's architecture includes protocol awareness to control traffic for the most important applications. BIG-IP LTM tracks the dynamic performance levels of servers and delivers SSL performance and visibility for inbound and outbound traffic, to protect the user experience by encrypting everything from the client to the server.

BIG-IP LTM provides enterprise-class Application Delivery Controller (ADC). You get granular layer 7 control, SSL offloading and acceleration capabilities, and advanced scaling technologies that deliver performance and reliability on-demand. The highly optimized TCP/IP stack combines TCP/IP techniques and improvements in the latest RFCs with extensions to minimize the effect of congestion and packet loss and recovery. Independent testing tools and customer experiences show LTM's TCP stack delivers up to a 2x performance gain for users and a 4x increase in bandwidth efficiency.

Azure Application Gateway is a web traffic load balancer that enables you to manage traffic to your web applications. Traditional load balancers operate at the transport layer (OSI layer 4 - TCP and UDP) and route traffic based on source IP address and port, to a destination IP address and port.

To learn more about our solution, ask questions, and share feedback, join our Microsoft Security, Compliance and Identity Community.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc.

Lilly, AccuWeather, AIRFRANCE, Honeywell

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs. Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

January 2025

Free Report: F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs. Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

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