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F5 BIG-IQ vs vCenter Orchestrator comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

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-IQ
Ranking in Process Automation
23rd
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
vCenter Orchestrator
Ranking in Process Automation
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IQ is 0.2%, down from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vCenter Orchestrator is 0.2%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Process Automation
 

Featured Reviews

AshutoshMalik - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamless migration enhances user management for data center administrators
The product is excellent. It is easily manageable and user-friendly for administrators working on both the GUI and CLI. The best part is the seamless migration of the configuration from one box to another, even when hardware changes. This is particularly beneficial during migrations from old boxes to new ones. While other vendors might have issues, F5 BIG-IQ ( /products/f5-big-iq-reviews ) provides a smooth transition.
David Villota - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides automatic monitoring capabilities that save time for users
In my company's IT environment, we use the tool to deploy production environments for products, including live manufacturing systems. The product improves my company's IT automation processes since we can use fewer resources currently. In my company, we need to spend less time considering that vCenter Orchestrator monitors everything. In general, we don't have to be present in our company to do active monitoring. Automatic monitoring is available for everything with vCenter Orchestrator, so we have proactive alerts in our company. The most valuable feature of the product in streamlining our company's workflow stems from the fact that we need to spend fewer resources and less time in general. Our company can spend time on more effective tasks like working with the plans to improve processes and so on, instead of taking care of the systems. The benefits of the product's integration capabilities were useful for HPE. My company has HPE infrastructure, and we are keen to integrate everything into the host, VMware ESXi. It is really important to have an easy integration method that allows for everything to be installed easily in a matter of minutes. I was not involved in the product's setup process. My colleague took care of the product's setup process. From what I know, I can say that the product's setup phase was straightforward. Some custom setups were to be done manually in the tool, but everything was well documented. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. One of the benefits of the product is that it is a low-cost and stable solution that offers a lot of resources. I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The customer service is great."
"Scalability: To move from larger boxes to smaller boxes, along with virtualization. So, we are not locked into a particular size."
"F5 BIG-IQ reduces the propensity for error."
"We use this solution on a daily basis, and it is very stable."
"The product is excellent."
"The backup, monitoring and logging are the best features."
"It is quite good in a large environment where I have multiple devices; it is easy to manage the devices."
"The GUI is fine, at least from an engineer's perspective."
"vCenter Orchestrator is easy to use."
"The implementation phase for vCenter Orchestrator was easy."
"I find that managing all my vCenters from one console is the most valuable feature."
"The most valuable feature for us is the performance stability of vCenter Orchestrator, especially in complex situations, making it excellent for managing virtual machines."
"The DRS feature from VMware is very valuable to us because it balances workloads."
"Technical support is helpful."
"The solution is stable."
"The most valuable feature is that it's simple and very ergonomic to use the product compared to other virtualizing product. Out of Microsoft, Red Hat, and IBM, we found VMware to be the best one."
 

Cons

"F5 BIG-IQ should improve by being a complete certificate management solution because currently, it is only for Venafi. Other automation platforms, should be added."
"There are a lot of scripts available on the internet for people who know how to use them, but with a graphical interface, it would be easier for new users."
"The shell, kernel, or Linux has something like a delay, especially with the Virtual Edition, when you are trying to implement it in the cloud and you want to access it remotely with web management. It would be great if they could improve their kernel. It was difficult for me, especially when I got started with BIG-IP. I was struggling to find which commands work with it. If you want to work with it, you have to be a Linux guy."
"I had trouble with high availability deployment in my environment."
"They could use YAML or JSON if they wanted to make it a little bit easier for us."
"F5 BIG-IQ is a complex solution, and it cannot manage everything related to BIG-IPs."
"Sometimes the solution does not work."
"The solution should improve pricing. It's expensive in comparison to other American solutions."
"The scalability option provided by the solution is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"Its technical support team takes a long time to escalate the issues."
"I would like to see, from within the Web Console, being able to define the project and custom templates per user; almost like how CloudSpec has approached the solution."
"It is too expensive. One of the main issues is the price."
"I believe vCenter Orchestrator should be part of VMware vSphere's basic bundle. As a product, vCenter Orchestrator should not be licensed at all because the world has progressed way beyond what it can offer."
"This is an expensive solution."
"There are no good manuals or guidelines on integrations. Hence, you need to be asking someone."
"It is practically difficult at this stage to really comment on the improvisations of V central. But more tech events and PoC cases would help the EA to design better solutions and utilization."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"F5 BIG-IQ is a cheap solution."
"Users have to pay an annual subscription fee for the solution's iSeries."
"I would like the product to be cheaper."
"There is only one licensing fee for F5 BIG-IQ and everything is included in the price."
"The price is reasonable, and one of the reasons that this product was selected."
"The product is expensive."
"vCenter Orchestrator could be more affordable."
"My organization didn't have to pay extra for vCenter Orchestrator. It was already included, so it's basically free. Even VMware regular support is included."
"The licensing module is somewhat complex. Calculating the cost is complicated. Many of our clients are unclear about the billing system and the traffic metering."
"vCenter Orchestrator is a very expensive solution."
"vCenter Orchestrator is an expensive solution."
"My company needs to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
23%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Government
12%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about F5 BIG-IQ?
F5 BIG-IQ is a central management system for the BIG-IP.
What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IQ?
The product is really good with no significant downsides. However, better and simpler integration with ACI could improve the product.
What do you like most about vCenter Orchestrator?
The stability of the product is very good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vCenter Orchestrator?
We're running a low-profile budget. This is not our main focus on investment technology, so we're trying to reduce costs due to the change from perpetual to subscription licenses.
What needs improvement with vCenter Orchestrator?
After the change from perpetual licensing to subscriptions, the cost model changed. We are considering alternatives since we lost the perpetual aspect, and support is changing.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Beiersdorf Shared Services
Find out what your peers are saying about F5 BIG-IQ vs. vCenter Orchestrator and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,671 professionals have used our research since 2012.