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F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs Security Onion 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 Virtual Edition
Ranking in AWS Marketplace
12th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Security Onion
Ranking in AWS Marketplace
5th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (18th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the AWS Marketplace category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is 0.5%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Security Onion is 1.3%, down from 6.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
AWS Marketplace
 

Featured Reviews

Kodanda Ramji C.S - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers easy-to-use integration capabilities
It is a scalable solution. In F5 BIG-IP i5800, if you have assigned a single CPU and memory for a virtual instance and if it increases, you can just add a CPU and memory to the existing vCMP. What you have to do is spin one more virtual instance with the two CPUs and double the memory, like eight GB memory, for example. You can't just increase the existing VirtualBox. You have to create another VirtualBox parallel, download the configurations, and import it. My company provides one banking application to around ten customers. My company has around seven virtual instances and seven applications, each application having around 70 customers running on one F5 BIG-IP i5800. My company has created seven VirtualBox.
Jörg Kippe - PeerSpot reviewer
A mature and affordable solution that is easy to install and easy to update
The product takes time to learn, it's not that easy. In the beginning we had a lot of questions. If you want to use such a tool in an real (industrial) environment, you have to ask how to get the network data. Can we do a full packet capture? Can we provide agents to our end systems? There are no simple solutions to these questions. It's a general problem when running such systems in an industrial environment.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The features that I like include LTM and Global Traffic Manager (GTM)."
"The integration capabilities of the product are easy to use, and there is no complexity involved in it."
"It's easy to use, and they have good support."
"It has DoS layer 7 protection, which not many vendors have."
"I have a specific issue with the network interface connector, the NIC. We're limited to a maximum of two NICs in a virtualized environment. It's a limitation of the tool."
"The tool's investment is less than a physical device."
"Security Onion is the most mature solution in the market."
"We use Security Onion for internal vulnerability assessment."
"The most valuable feature of Security Onion for security monitoring is its ability to find infected ports."
 

Cons

"I have a specific issue with the network interface connector, the NIC. We're limited to a maximum of two NICs in a virtualized environment. It's a limitation of the tool."
"On-the-go upgrades are an option that the tool currently lacks, making it an area where improvements are required."
"BIG-IP could improve in supporting microservices, for example, in Docker and Kubernetes environments."
"The tool has limitations with respect to code and RAM."
"It's expensive and could be cheaper."
"F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is a heavy system that needs a lot of CPU, memory, and hard disk."
"The product is not easy to learn."
"Security Onion's user interface could be improved."
"The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My company's customers need to make payments for the licensing charges attached to the product. It is an expensive product."
"I would rate the pricing a three out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"The pricing is standard."
"F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is an expensive solution, but it's worth the price."
"Security Onion is a free solution."
"It is an open-source solution."
"Security Onion is an open-source solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
9%
Retailer
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
12%
University
11%
Government
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition?
The integration capabilities of the product are easy to use, and there is no complexity involved in it.
What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition?
It's expensive and could be cheaper. At the moment, I can't think of anything to improve.
What advice do you have for others considering F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition?
The solution is very good. I would rate the solution maybe ten out of ten.
What do you like most about Security Onion?
The most valuable feature of Security Onion for security monitoring is its ability to find infected ports.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Security Onion?
Security Onion is an open-source solution. On a scale from one to ten, where ten is expensive and one is cheap, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten.
What needs improvement with Security Onion?
The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult.
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. Security Onion and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
846,617 professionals have used our research since 2012.