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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Akamai CDN

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AAkamai Technologies, headquartered in Boston, offers Akamai Connected Cloud, a content delivery network (CDN) with a variety of services used to guarantee application, API, and media delivery.N/A

    F5 BIG-IP

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/AF5 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
    Akamai CDNF5 BIG-IP
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Akamai CDNF5 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
    Akamai CDNF5 BIG-IP
    Considered Both Products
    Akamai
    No answer on this topic
    F5
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    All of the products listed are used in tangence with F5 BIG-IP.
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    A number of licenses.
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    The big IP VPN needs to improve when the connection is lost. Sometimes it`s hard to establish a new VPN request when the connection is lost.
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    We select BIG-IP because it is so robust and F5 is a company that can support our business
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    6 Answers
    99%
    Would buy again
    195 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    6 Answers
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    158 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    6 Answers
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    194 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    132 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    148 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Akamai CDNF5 BIG-IP
    Small Businesses
    Amazon CloudFront
    Score6.9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Google Cloud CDN
    Score7.6 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    Azure CDN
    Score7.1 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Akamai CDNF5 BIG-IP
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.3
    (16 ratings)
    9.2
    (129 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.5
    (2 ratings)
    5.2
    (6 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Akamai CDNF5 BIG-IP
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Akamai
    Akamai is a well-established brand name with a great product. It meets and many time exceeds the needs for global content delivery and security management layer at the edge. Fine grain security tuning seems cumbersome as the definition of the app keeps changing. It also requires an investment of time for the setup which doesn't necessarily make sense for smaller scale scenarios. Some products offered by AWS, Azure or the Google Cloud can be more tightly integrated with cloud provider offerings thus easier to configure.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    F5
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Akamai
    • Content offloading - once rules are set up within Akamai you don't need to even think about how many images or large JavaScript or CSS files (for example) are being served from your own estate, Akamai takes care of it all via rules that are quick, easy and flexible.
    • Page caching - for pages that don't change very often Akamai allows you to set up rules, quickly and easily, to serve up your page content for you, which takes even more load away from your origin servers.
    • Quick rollback - the Akamai system allows easy testing of rules and changes via a staging system, and also offers a quick rollback option, which is perfect for the rare occasions when something has been set up incorrectly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    F5
    • I mean from a basic level, it actually satisfies all the use cases we have, which is basically to have multiple web servers for the front end and then you want that to be equally split across. The traffic comes in from all over the world. We use DRA protection and everything, but then we also internally want to make sure all the servers are being utilized and we provide much more availability across all servers. We just make sure BIG-IP sits in between and handles the traffic accordingly. And it's pretty basic and it comes to drawing traffic. It's pretty easy to configure and set it up and then forget.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Akamai
    • The interface in their control centre could be a bit more user-friendly with some of the settings in places that you wouldn't expect them to be. The search offsets this problem to an extent but it's still sometimes slower than you'd like to find what you are looking for.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    F5
    • Recently we have been deploying F5 web application firewall and we have started the deployment. We have already moved applications out there, but we are not yet to the point wherein I could comment any positive feedback or any negative feedback because we are still going through it, right. But as far as I'm concerned, I don't see any drawbacks or any shortcomings on the F5 product lineup.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Akamai
    No answers on this topic
    F5
    So far experience with F5 BIG-IP has been good, but we are only 6 months into the deployment and will depend on how things run over time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Akamai
    No answers on this topic
    F5
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Akamai
    Their support documents are excellent and provide a lot of useful information for all their services. The only reason I didn't give them a 10 is that the time it takes for them to respond to an issue could be slightly faster.
    Incentivized
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    F5
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Akamai
    No answers on this topic
    F5
    Practical cases and hands on , many hours of training with tipical cases
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Akamai
    No answers on this topic
    F5
    implementation is fine
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Akamai
    We've used -- and considered -- a whole number of CDN offerings. The good news is that almost all of the CDN products on the market are terrific, and will pay for themselves via increased customer satisfaction and lower monthly hosting bills. For some cases, we're still more likely to suggest CloudFlare (which has a free tier) or an integrated offering from a cloud provider, like Cloudfront.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    F5
    That's the one thing that really stood out. It was a lot easier to use from an administrator standpoint, so I think that's the one thing that really made our team decide to go with this product versus another competitor. Just ease of use.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Akamai
    • Akamai RoI improved over a period of times since it comes with heavy costs, however global deliveries in over 100 counties and global web platforms usage helps improve RoI
    • With the complex UI challenges, ROI could be impacted negatively when you have to invest in operations and time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    F5
    • F5 BIG-IP has a highly positive impact on the customers. The main impact is on the security of the web applications.
    • F5 BIG-IP provides an easy and safe way to connect employees to assets and applications that reside in an on-premises environment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots