Cisco AnyConnect vs. F5 BIG-IP

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco AnyConnect
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Cisco offers an SSL VPN solution via AnyConnect.N/A
F5 BIG-IP
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
F5 BIG-IP software from Seattle-based F5 Networks is a load balancing and application protection solution suite available on cloud or via virtual editions, on a subscription or perpetual licensing basis.N/A
Pricing
Cisco AnyConnectF5 BIG-IP
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco AnyConnectF5 BIG-IP
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco AnyConnectF5 BIG-IP
Features
Cisco AnyConnectF5 BIG-IP
Virtual Private Network
Comparison of Virtual Private Network features of Product A and Product B
Cisco AnyConnect
8.7
Ratings
4% below category average
F5 BIG-IP
-
Ratings
AES 256-bit Encryption9.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Kill Switch8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-Platform Support9.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Split Tunneling9.50 Ratings00 Ratings
IP Address Masking8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
No-Logs Policy8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple Server Locations8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Automatic Wi-Fi Protection9.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Simultaneous Connections7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Customer Support Services8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
User Ratings
Cisco AnyConnectF5 BIG-IP
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.9
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(0 ratings)
5.2
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco AnyConnectF5 BIG-IP
Likelihood to Recommend
It is well suited for mid sized and large sized organizations having hybrid work model. It will help their employees to work seamlessly from home, office, other branches. It will also help their employees to access corporate applications anytime even after office hours so they can maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Read full review
Definitely in larger environments, more mature organizations that obviously have the budget to spend and want best in class. Where it struggles is those organizations that don't have the funding and money to spend on it and need more basic functionality. So I'd say that's smaller customers we've worked with and kind of mid-market. They tend to get scared when they get the quotes. Also we've had some struggles with account team consistency. So for the sales team, just a lot of turnover and a lot of missteps on customer calls.
Read full review
Pros
  • Any Connect is building a stable VPN connection across any different kinds of networks. So it gives me the assumption that I will be sitting in the office and work locally on my workplace, but I get this assumption nearly from everywhere.
Read full review
  • The great thing is the IP address management that's happening. When you set up the network it's very easy and you don't have to keep on configuring everything together. Again, it's very streamlined and it's one of the biggest players there in the market for this work.
Read full review
Cons
  • Sometimes when the number of users is large for a VPN service, the connection fails, and the client doesn't give a proper error.
  • It should have better support for Linux. It is difficult to set up on Linux, and the interface for settings is not at all user-friendly.
  • A few times, the internet becomes slow after connecting to the VPN server through AnyConnect. It should be able to find the best and the optimal server while connecting.
Read full review
  • Well, not necessarily the features. I find that we have to change our processes in order to kind of match what F5 BIG-IP does. And it's not a bad thing, it's just that a lot of my engineers want to do it their way, not they F5 BIG-IP way.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
It is perhaps the second most functional tool we have, it will definitely be renewed every year. Our network is stable, which ensures that there is less for our technicians to troubleshoot, which frees them up to ensure other parts of the company are maintained. This keeps our costs low and our downtime at a minimum.
Read full review
We have been using F5 for the last 25 years and there is no way we will leave F5 for any other load balancers.
Read full review
Usability
It has many advantages and uses other than other common VPNs but it's very important to understand the problems and issues which till not solved yet. The major issue is there is no support system or no body is doing hypercare for clients or client organizations. Speed is good, but making a connection is worse, and nobody cares about it.
Read full review
It's not difficult to understand the parts of application configurations and features. Setting up new virtual servers with multiple profiles, certificates, and nodes is easy for new users through the web interface, which also translates to programability in scripts, DevOps, or other configuration management use-cases. Users from different backgrounds such as networking and infrastructure can use F5 BIG-IP, while users who are familiar with API calls can easily configure objects without needing to understand the platform at all.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
I have been using Cisco AnyConnect for past two years and thus I can say very firmly that I have never seen the outage from the Cisco AnyConnect services either It is VPN, System Scans or the Network Connectivity. Talking about the errors likewise major errors I have faced throughout my period of use.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Performance
Absolutely no speed issues, and I see no evidence of slowdowns across any of the multiple platforms I use daily. It's operation is completely invisible most of the time, except where there is a loss of connection due to server issues or a loss of power. Everything loads quickly and accurately.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Because whenever I log the case with Cisco support, yes they have come back with valid technical data. So this is what has happened and we could fix it in this way. That support will detail what happened and how to get it overcome very quickly. That's what I like. The support level we get is really good for the product
Read full review
On the occasions when we've had to engage f5 support, they have been great. They have always resolved our issues quickly and been easy to work with and professional. The reason I give them a 10 out of 10, however, is because when we've had issues that have crossed over between the f5 BIG-IP, our Cisco switches, and our Microsoft IIS server the f5 support representatives have been extremely knowledgeable about every product and device involved and have been able to troubleshoot end-to-end without having to engage other vendors.
Read full review
In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
Practical cases and hands on , many hours of training with tipical cases
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Implementation was fairly straight forward and quick. I would recommend leveraging the initial configuration QuickStart guides, as these detail options of implementing the software with the most common configurations. There may also still be an option to obtain a temporary emergency AnyConnect license to assist users with implementing RAVPN on Cisco devices.
Read full review
implementation is fine
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
I have worked with Palo Alto GlobalProtect and Fortinet's FortiClient. While in use, GlobalProtect boasted of some merits, such as great security features that may be superior to those of Cisco AnyConnect; the interface was not quite smooth. I selected Cisco AnyConnect because, while it is very secure, it may provide easy access to connectivity and is highly suitable for ensuring reliable communication on multiple digital marketing campaigns.
Read full review
We are recently not evaluating, but we have started the deployment for WAF and we're using GTM, LTM, you name it. F5, we are using all of them.
Read full review
Scalability
Cisco AnyConnect has been a speedy, reliable, and efficient tool for the creation of your own VPN whatever location that you've brought your laptop. Customer support is consistently top-notch, coming up with quick fixes to whatever difficulties are thrown your way. I would not hesitate to reccommend Cisco AnyConnect to any business that needs connected employees throught the world.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Having the possibility to access the systems and the necessary data from any place can be a major benefit of implementing flexible working conditions.
  • Through the implementation of a strong encrypted connection and the capabilities in authentication, our risk of a data breach on this site has been minimized.
  • The features offered by Cisco AnyConnect streamlined regulations that our industry requires and released much of the burden of implementing procedures on me.
Read full review
  • I would say from a security perspective, because I manage security, availability is sort of the key area for us and making sure that is properly handled through BIG-IP, that is the biggest business success, I would say from the product perspective.
Read full review
ScreenShots