Cisco AnyConnect vs. F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

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 Access Policy Manager (APM)
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
F5 Networks provides BIG-IP Access Policy Manager as an identity and access solution which can be deployed as a standalone solution or as an add-on to F5 Networks' flagship BIG-IP TLM or F5 Advanced WAF applications.N/A
Pricing
Cisco AnyConnectF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco AnyConnectF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
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 Access Policy Manager (APM)
Features
Cisco AnyConnectF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
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 Access Policy Manager (APM)
9.2
Ratings
2% above category average
AES 256-bit Encryption9.50 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Kill Switch8.10 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Multi-Platform Support9.80 Ratings10.00 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 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Customer Support Services8.40 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco AnyConnectF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
Small Businesses
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Score 7.0 out of 10
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Score 7.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
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Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Score 9.6 out of 10
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Score 9.6 out of 10
Enterprises
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Score 9.6 out of 10
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Score 9.6 out of 10
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User Ratings
Cisco AnyConnectF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(0 ratings)
8.6
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(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 Access Policy Manager (APM)
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.
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In the current digital world we are moving into, I would recommend F5 for all SMB to enterprise organizations. There are various models to pick from. This helps secure the environment and make the network robust to any sort of attacks. I am not able to think of any reason why one should not deploy or this device is less appropriate because nowadays every small company has application / ERPs. It is also worthwhile to note in case if all your apps are being deployed in the cloud by another service provider who provides you SAAS access, in that case, you can be at ease as securing these app falls on to the provider. However, should the budget be available I would recommend deploy this and enhancing your security.
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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.
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  • Source and destination IP Base policy
  • Source and application base policy
  • Ssl VPN with load balancing and fail over policy working fine.
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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.
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  • CCU Licenses are limited by device and are not shared between APM devices
  • User sessions are not stored globally, so persistence can be an issue with users all over the world
  • Configuration can get complicated when split up between multiple sites
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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.
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Integration with F5 BIG-IP systems that we plan to keep using for a while.
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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.
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If F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager usability is fine it's not hard to use if you read the documentation but it does feel dated and could use a responsive design update to modernize user interface to current standards.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager integrates extremely well with the rest of our F5 infrastructure which is a big plus and provides us with a familiar user interface, but it isn't as scalable in its current iteration as something like Zscaler Private Access.
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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.
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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.
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  • Positive is that due to how much F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager can do, the F5 is the landing spot in our environment for MFA authentication.
  • It has allowed a technology the company originally bought for load balancing to be used for multiple purposes.
  • F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager has made the environment more trusting of F5 as a MFA.
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ScreenShots