F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager and NetScaler are competitors in the application delivery controller market. F5 BIG-IP appears to have the upper hand due to its extensive customization and integration capabilities alongside its hardware performance, making it preferable for complex environments.
Features: F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager stands out with advanced functionalities like iRules, iControl, and iApps, ensuring high customization for complex applications and impressive hardware performance for load balancing. In comparison, NetScaler is valued for its flexible deployment models, strong SSL offload capabilities, and detailed application reporting.
Room for Improvement: Users of F5 BIG-IP note the high cost and complicated configurations, requesting more straightforward licensing and better support for low-end platforms. NetScaler, while offering cost-effective scalability, faces criticism for its pricing and lack of flexibility in advanced customizations, although its underlying architecture is well-regarded.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: F5 BIG-IP provides robust support with a comprehensive community network, but its complex configuration often requires skilled partners. NetScaler is noted for its ease of use in deploying network architectures, though its customer service occasionally lacks the quick expertise available with F5.
Pricing and ROI: F5 BIG-IP is considered expensive, but its feature set justifies the cost for large enterprises, delivering significant ROI by enhancing security and performance. NetScaler, though cheaper than F5, faces criticism for pricing, with a need for competitive pricing to better align with its ROI and feature value.
The major return on investment is the security of our data.
I would rate the technical support of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) nine out of ten.
Overall, my experience with F5 is very good compared to Radware.
The pricing of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is on the higher side compared to competitors, but it is worth it.
The product is costly.
The impact of SSL offloading on reducing server load and latency is very much positive because whatever traffic we receive, we encrypt at our F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) level, which has definitely reduced the additional load and SSL decryption load on the servers, so it has very much helped us and it is very smooth; it will not take much time and will not impact our regular traffic.
One of the most beneficial features of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is its ability to identify compromised traffic and its capabilities in authentication.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| NetScaler | 13.2% |
| F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) | 15.3% |
| Other | 71.5% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 62 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 32 |
| Large Enterprise | 85 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 45 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 23 |
| Large Enterprise | 57 |
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.
NetScaler is an advanced application delivery controller providing load balancing, SSL offloading, and enhanced network performance. Users benefit from its robust security features, seamless Citrix integrations, and cost-effective infrastructure.
Designed to optimize and secure application delivery, NetScaler offers high availability and supports data centers with its load balancing and reverse proxy capabilities. It ensures effective traffic management and provides valuable insights into network health while integrating easily with Citrix products. Users appreciate its centralized management via ADM and flexible deployment options tailored to their infrastructure needs. However, there is room for improvement in its management tools, interface, and documentation, alongside a need for security enhancements and better licensing flexibility.
What are the most important features of NetScaler?NetScaler is implemented across sectors like healthcare, finance, and education to guarantee secure remote access, enhance application network management, and support virtual desktops. Its application gateways and VPN access capabilities make it ideal for industries needing secure and efficient connectivity solutions.
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