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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
25th
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
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IQ is 0.2%, down from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vCenter Orchestrator is 0.3%, down from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Process Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Ravindra-Mali - PeerSpot reviewer
Key features like SSL uploading strengthen file handling
From the study material point of view, there are multiple certifications available. The challenge is there is hardly any study material available that can be referred to or used as a study material. Of course, from the knowledge perspective, multiple courses and details are available. However, from a hands-on experience perspective, more resources should be available on the Internet, like labs and lab preparations.
Gerhard Gmelch - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhance automation efficiency with cost-effective graphical workflow design
I use vCenter Orchestrator for automation purposes, specifically to run automation workbooks The most valuable features are the graphical UI for designing the workflows and the interfaces that come out of the box. Additionally, it is included in the VMware Vitalization Stack, which means there…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features are load balancing and WAF."
"F5 BIG-IQ has always provided us with great support."
"The reporting feature is quite good."
"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."
"The product is excellent."
"The customer service is great."
"The backup, monitoring and logging are the best features."
"I am impressed with the tool's easiness to work with VMware solutions."
"We can manage and relocate resources easily."
"The hardware abstraction layer, being able to make the VMs portable when moving to a different platform or over a WAN."
"The positive impact I have seen from using vCenter Orchestrator includes benefits such as cluster and versioning, frequent updates, and updates on the Dell side."
"I find that managing all my vCenters from one console is the most valuable feature."
"It is the most cost-effective method for moving data between machines."
"The DRS feature from VMware is very valuable to us because it balances workloads."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the workflow creation."
 

Cons

"A bug caused me to lose all the configuration."
"Sometimes the solution does not work."
"I had trouble with high availability deployment in my environment."
"F5 BIG-IQ is a complex solution, and it cannot manage everything related to BIG-IPs."
"They could use YAML or JSON if they wanted to make it a little bit easier for us."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"There are no good manuals or guidelines on integrations. Hence, you need to be asking someone."
"The GUI should be enhanced in the future."
"The snapshot technology of VMware is not good compared to other solutions in the market, like Nutanix."
"vCenter Orchestrator's debugging capacity could be improved."
"A feature to review and setup tasks should be added."
"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."
"There can be compatibility issues."
"It could be integrated with third-party hypervisors."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Users have to pay an annual subscription fee for the solution's iSeries."
"F5 BIG-IQ is a cheap solution."
"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 solution is a bit expensive."
"vCenter Orchestrator is a very expensive solution."
"The concept of hyper-convergence is smart. I don't know if it can be applied with less cost to be more affordable for small or medium-sized companies. The cost is a very important factor for it. We are currently depending on SAN storage. However, the hyper-converged solutions are depending on the storage within the hosts, such as vSAN in the VMware. It is a smart solution."
"My company needs to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product."
"We renew the solution's license every one or two years."
"vCenter Orchestrator is an expensive solution."
"The price is reasonable, and one of the reasons that this product was selected."
"We pay a yearly fee, based on our entries."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
21%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

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: July 2025.
861,524 professionals have used our research since 2012.