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

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...

Read 107 NetScaler reviews

8,253 Views
5,977 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

F5 BIG-IP LTM and NetScaler are two prominent competitors in the ADC category. F5 BIG-IP seems to have the upper hand in hardware performance and advanced features, while NetScaler is praised for its flexible deployment.

Features: F5 BIG-IP LTM is recognized for advanced traffic management, SSL offloading, and iRules for customization. It also delivers robust hardware performance and comprehensive security with its WAF. Meanwhile, NetScaler offers flexible deployment models, SSL offloading, global server load balancing, and NetScaler Gateway for secure remote access.

Room for Improvement: F5 BIG-IP LTM users suggest improvement in its high upfront costs, lack of a flexible licensing model, and its interface. Users of NetScaler point to its complicated licensing and the need for improved customization, support response, and more straightforward integration processes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: F5 BIG-IP LTM supports multiple deployment environments including hybrid and cloud, with generally well-received customer service, although consistency can be an issue. NetScaler, praised for its customer service, also offers versatile deployment options but faces some complexity issues during integration.

Pricing and ROI: F5 BIG-IP LTM is considered more expensive than its competitors, though its feature set often justifies the cost for many users. Its licensing system adds complexity. NetScaler, while also pricey, offers a competitive feature set and a promising ROI when its strengths are capitalized on.

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

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

Download the complete report

Helped 831,158 peers since 2012

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

NetScaler

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

107

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (4th), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (11th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is 15.3%, down from 15.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetScaler is 15.5%, up from 14.4% 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.

Read full review

DEMİRHAN ÇAVUŞOĞLU

Cloud Consultant at Migros Ticaret A.Ş.

A tool for centralized management including inventory and sales tracking

Citrix ADM has the ability to implement policies to tighten security. For instance, you can restrict access to your network from outsiders or lack necessary security measures such as antivirus programs. Additionally, there's the Delivery Controller, which allows for comprehensive monitoring and management tasks such as remote restarts, maintenance, and registration. Another essential component is the Director, which provides detailed insights into sessions, including identifying session failures, connection issues, user lockouts, etc. It presents a list of problems to address, enabling you to click on them and resolve them efficiently.

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

"We're able to do load balancing and global load balancing. When you marry those two products together, you can do a lot more. We're able to deliver our applications more securely and faster. It has improved our deliverability where we have more service across the shared data centers. We can intelligently reach all of those client connections across all of the servers and do it fairly quickly. It has helped improve our application delivery and performance."

"The web application firewall feature is the most valuable and useful feature. It is a leading industry product when it comes to load balancing. Its user interface is very simple. There isn't a steep learning curve. When we initiate someone to F5, they start using it quickly."

"The setup is pretty easy."

"I have found F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) to be stable."

"We are fond of the load balancing feature for DNS and servers."

"It is a stable product from a stable company. Recently, they have been more focused on security as well."

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"The v11 clustering is a new technology they have brought in that does not require improvement. They are the leader in it."

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

"The solution can scale."

"I like the solution's simplicity compared to Citrix's on-prem solutions."

"This solution allows the user to easily scale out application delivery, and provides secure remote access."

"The program is easy to install and to set up."

"The solution can be configured very granularly and has good control over security."

"One feature that works really well is the SSL VPN. It's very easy to set up and you can go very granular with it. You can define what user groups get what kind of access and the management overhead is very low."

"We use the product for load balancing and as a reverse proxy solution."

"SSL Offload"

More NetScaler pros

Cons

"It reaches a point where scaling is no longer possible."

"The license terms for "non-commercial" will are challenging for us."

"The product is expensive."

"The price for F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager is very high. This aspect could be improved."

"The solution's initial setup process was quite complex. I"

"Technical support is somewhat slow and could be improved."

"Native support for containers should be added to future releases, as this is the future of load balancing."

"An area for improvement in F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is that it's a high-priced product."

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

"Integration with other third party providers and third party applications could be better because it can be a bit complex at present."

"In every release - and it doesn't matter if it's a minor release or a major release - they keep moving things around and they keep changing the mechanism. So certain things can work in one version one way, and everything works really well, then when you upgrade it to the next version, it breaks everything because they have a new way of doing it."

"The solution could be more secure."

"Citrix NetScaler has been recently acquired by another company and the support has been negatively impacted, the solution is at its end of life. The support for the solution could improve. The sales team needs to be improved."

"They can improve the scalability and the multi-tenancy feature. We recently tried to configure an authentication, and we ran into some issues while using the web-based GUI. It was very slow when you log in with your credentials in the web-based GUI. Each time we clicked on the menu, it tried to do the authentication. It works properly in the console."

"Getting to use some of the advanced tools, even with the assistance of Citrix support, can be challenging."

"The interface needs to be improved because the competition is coming up with ones that are more eye-catching, straightforward, and sophisticated."

"There are certain features that are very useful and Citrix makes you pay a bit more for them."

More NetScaler cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is sort of a commodity product. A load balancer is a load balancer. What will be, at the end of the day, the cheapest option or have the best performance, that is what it will come down to."

"There are additional costs depending on what modules or what functionality is required."

"The price of F5 BIG-IP LTM could improve."

"LTM is a good product, but it's expensive. They should make it more competitive because cloud providers offer free load balancing. Cloud providers can't cover all the security aspects of F5, but you get a decent amount of security. Cloud environments are becoming the norm across the IT industry. Many of the larger companies that previously used on-prem infrastructure are switching to the cloud, so companies like Fortinet and Palo Alto are reducing their prices. Otherwise, they can't compete in the cloud."

"It's not a cheap product, but there are no other replacements for what we do with it."

"I use a yearly subscription, which is the most expensive one now compared to its competitors."

"The licensing strategy for F5 is good."

"Try to negotiate all the software features that you require upfront."

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

"The price for Citrix ADC here in Mexico was good, when you compare it with F5 and Radware."

"It's an expensive product but it works well."

"The solution's pricing is very high compared to its competitors."

"The license for Citrix NetScaler is on an annual basis and it is reasonably priced."

"The solution is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"I give the price of the solution a seven out of ten."

"Costly product and complicated licensing."

"I rate the pricing an eight out of ten since it is expensive."

More NetScaler pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

17%

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

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.

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

The solution is robust and reliable.

What do you like most about Citrix ADC?

The most valuable feature for us is the application firewalling in Citrix NetScaler, ensuring only valid traffic enters our environment.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix ADC?

After deployment, Citrix Netscaler shifted to a subscription-based license scheme for support, which is slightly more expensive.

What needs improvement with Citrix ADC?

Citrix NetScaler is a robust product, but mastering it requires significant learning and training due to its complexity. While it could be easier to manage, it is like transitioning from driving a ...

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

Comparisons

Compared 18% of the time

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

Compared 8% 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

NGINX Plus vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 6% of the time

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

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs NetScaler

Compared 14% of the time

HAProxy vs NetScaler

Compared 11% of the time

Fortinet FortiADC vs NetScaler

Compared 10% of the time

VMWare Avi Load Balancer vs NetScaler

Compared 7% of the time

NGINX Plus vs NetScaler

Compared 6% of the time

More NetScaler Competitors

Product Reports

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

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

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) report

Download NetScaler 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

Citrix ADC, Citrix NetScaler VPX, NetScaler Console, NetScaler Web Application Firewall

Learn More

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.

One platform for a consistent application delivery and security experience because nobody has time to learn multiple systems to manage ADC deployments. NetScaler is built with a single code base using a software-based architecture, so no matter which ADC form factor you choose — hardware, virtual machine, bare metal, or container — the behavior will be the same.

Sample Customers

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

ABB Schweiz, Aer Lingus, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Amnet Technology Solutions, Aramex International, Ascenty, Atos, Autodesk

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