NGINX Plus vs NetScaler comparison

NetScaler and F5 are both solutions in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category. NetScaler is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.2, while F5 is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.3. NetScaler holds a 15.5% mindshare in ADC, compared to F5’s 8.4% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of NetScaler users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of F5 users who would recommend it.

NetScaler

Read 107 NetScaler reviews

8,253 Views
5,977 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

NGINX Plus

Read 31 NGINX Plus reviews

4,382 Views
3,571 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

NetScaler

NGINX Plus

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

NetScaler and NGINX Plus compete in the load balancing market. Based on available features, NetScaler seems to have the upper hand with its advanced enterprise capabilities.

Features: NetScaler provides features like SSL offloading, web application firewall, and integration with Citrix products, ideal for virtual desktops and enterprise application delivery. NGINX Plus is favored for its ease of configuration, high-efficiency routing, and modular setup, with capabilities such as caching and authentication.

Room for Improvement: NetScaler users highlight the need for better alert management, a more intuitive GUI, and enhanced customization options. Improvements in support and flexible licensing are also requested. NGINX Plus could benefit from a refined GUI, real-time alert integration, and simpler pricing and licensing.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NetScaler is primarily deployed on-premises with a strong hybrid cloud presence, offering robust technical support. NGINX Plus supports diverse deployment environments, including on-premises and public cloud, but its customer service reputation suggests room for improvement.

Pricing and ROI: NetScaler is perceived as more expensive but offers substantial ROI with its stability and feature set, appealing to organizations needing comprehensive delivery solutions. NGINX Plus provides a cost-effective option, particularly attractive for simpler needs or budget constraints, despite additional costs for premium features.

To learn more, read our detailed NGINX Plus vs. NetScaler Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

NGINX Plus vs. NetScaler

January 2025

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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

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)

NGINX Plus

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

5th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Infrastructure (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of NetScaler is 15.5%, up from 14.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NGINX Plus is 8.4%, down from 9.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

Featured Reviews

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.

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Ritesh-Bakhru

Major Account Manager at Check Point Software

Quick installation and very easy to manage while doing orchestration or automation

NGINX cannot be a replacement for your traditional load balancer with what we use in the network today. However, with applications going toward microservices, NGINX is definitely a way forward. F5 has many traditional load balancing features, so they still need to bring some of those features to NGINX. NGINX is a very basic load balancer and cannot do as many customizations as F5. I think F5 is trying to implement those features in NGINX so they can improve the balancing on NGINX, but I think that will take some time. With the traditional F5 set up, the same OS can do load balancing, firewalls, and even policy enforcement. If we are able to bring some of those capabilities to NGINX, I think it would become a versatile solution and usage would definitely increase.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"HTTP analysis and action. We have a lot of custom web applications that sometimes require custom header insertions. Some of these custom apps are external and, via the content switching, we can use one IP and leverage various back-end web app servers."

"Enables a Web service that offers persistent client-server connections, IP restriction, URL rewrite (such as remove "/assets/" path from client-side URL path), and cache for CSS or JS files... You can easily use the GUI to set up all these requirements on the same network device within 20-30 minutes. (If you do the same steps on CLI, it might take less time.)"

"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."

"The feature that I have found most valuable is its load balancing."

"Provides resiliency for applications that reside on servers, as well as connectivity to remote applications."

"When our primary link goes down I can still get to my Cisco devices and the NetScaler devices on-prem because of the SDN solution. If the internet connection at one of the branches goes down, we can still route them, they still get internet based on the SDN solution through one of the other sites. They can carry on working."

"Citrix Web App API Protection allows you to enable a blocking mode"

"I find all of it to be valuable, because of the flexibility that is built into this product."

More NetScaler pros

"The product is resilient."

"The web proxy and the database proxy are excellent."

"Nginx is extremely efficient in terms of the connection rate to the CPU cycles ratio, and in terms of the bandwidth to CPU cycles."

"NGINX Plus' most valuable feature is the ingress controller."

"Application Gateway with application-level firewall tool and load distributor and balancer (also serves for A/B testing)."

"The product is lightweight and fast."

"NGINX provides a cost advantage, value addition, and effective support."

"The robust software architecture allows for it to be scalable and very stable."

More NGINX Plus pros

Cons

"I think the documentation should be improved."

"We would like the licensing model for this product to be improved, as it isn't currently very transparent. There isn't a standard package available, and each extra feature creates an additional cost."

"It was challenging explaining to customers that it's no longer NetScaler but ADC, and now it's not just ADC but also the rebranding from NetScaler."

"The technical support could be improved. They do not respond or assist customers in a timely manner."

"The setup for Citrix NetScaler has room for improvement. It could be easier."

"Citrix ADC can improve if it provides a more user-friendly interface and clear working protocols. Citrix is not working with classic RFC, it is working with Citrix RFC, which is not common in the world. If engineers of Citrix can provide us with more information on working with the classic IP networks it would be a benefit."

"The technical support could be better. Whenever I contacted support, I rarely got the solution that we needed. And most of the time, I finished fixing the problem by looking on the internet or by finding documents about the problem on Google."

"Improvements are needed to address the issue of machines becoming unregistered, ensuring stability for end users. Troubleshooting with Citrix support can be challenging, so clearer diagnostics would be beneficial. As for global server load balancing, it works well on-premises, depending on user volume and service stability. Overall, it's satisfactory for us."

More NetScaler cons

"I would like to see the Grafana integration in NGINX which is already present in HAProxy. Grafana integration will help the solution visualize all the data analytics on the dashboard which is currently not present."

"It would be great if there was even more automation to make it even easier to maintain."

"The solution's GUI is an area with certain shortcomings that need improvement."

"I would like the configuration process to be more simplified."

"One area of improvement could be that NGINX could provide a means to generate self-signed SSL certificates."

"If NGINX brings some features for health check in the open source version, it would be better. "

"Only improvement needed that I would point to is scalability. With it, I mean clusterized organisation on a low level. At the moment, the best alternative is RHEL HA."

"The solution needs to be easier to setup and deploy."

More NGINX Plus cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We get value for money. Its price is fair. I don't think it is overpriced."

"The pricing could be lower."

"We have been evaluating F5, Citrix, and other ADC products. Citrix is the most expense of all of them."

"You get the value for your money. There aren't any hidden fees."

"Citrix NetScaler VPX is not the cheapest solution out there, but you get what you pay for."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight or nine out of ten."

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

"The solution is undoubtedly very good, but it is expensive."

More NetScaler pricing and cost advice

"It's an open source solution, so it's free."

"Compared to other similar solutions on the market, I think it's over-priced."

"The solution is free, but you can spend a lot of money with a complex solution."

"NGINX Plus is worth it, if you need it. If you do not need the features or support, the free and open source package is more than capable. "

"There's an open-source version of NGINX that is free."

"NGINX is a free tool in Brazil. There are some companies which do support it."

"NGINX Plus is an open-source solution with limited additional features. When you try to get additional features in the solution, then you need to pay an extra amount to NGINX Plus."

"You pay for each feature that you want."

More NGINX Plus pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

17%

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

17%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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.

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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.

See all answers

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 ...

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Which is better - IIS or NGINX Plus?

IIS is a flexible, secure, and manageable web server to host anything on the web. IIS’s scalable and open architecture can handle the most demanding tasks. From media streaming to web applications,...

See all answers

What do you like most about NGINX Plus?

It performs very well. That's one of the primary reasons we use NGINX.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NGINX Plus?

My use case involves using the free and open-source version of NGINX, making it cost-effective as I haven't incurred any costs.

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs NetScaler

Compared 14% of the time

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

Compared 13% of the time

HAProxy vs NetScaler

Compared 11% of the time

Fortinet FortiADC vs NetScaler

Compared 10% of the time

Radware Alteon vs NetScaler

Compared 5% of the time

More NetScaler Competitors

IIS vs NGINX Plus

Compared 19% of the time

HAProxy vs NGINX Plus

Compared 18% of the time

Kemp LoadMaster vs NGINX Plus

Compared 13% of the time

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

Compared 10% of the time

Apache Web Server vs NGINX Plus

Compared 8% of the time

More NGINX Plus Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

NetScaler

December 2024

Download NetScaler product report

Buyer's Guide

NGINX Plus

December 2024

Download NGINX Plus product report

Also Known As

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

NGINX

Learn More

NetScaler

Overview

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.

NGINX Plus is a versatile solution that offers load balancing, caching, proxying, and API deployment capabilities. It can be deployed on private or public clouds and is ideal for building CDN solutions. The solution can also be used to secure web applications and replace web services like Apache.

NGINX has helped organizations improve functioning, reduce downtimes, and offer a DevOps-friendly solution. Its community support and documentation are highly regarded, and its configuration is more straightforward, making it a recommended choice over HAProxy.

Sample Customers

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

Locaweb, AppNexus, Wix, Reliam, Montana Interactive, MuleSoft, Warpwire, Discovery Education, InkaBinka, WordPress.com, Gogo, GOV.UK, NASA

Buyer's Guide

NGINX Plus vs. NetScaler

January 2025

Free Report: NGINX Plus vs. NetScaler

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