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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    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

    NetScaler

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/ANetScaler ADC is an application delivery controller.N/A
    Pricing
    F5 BIG-IPNetScaler
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    F5 BIG-IPNetScaler
    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
    F5 BIG-IPNetScaler
    Considered Both Products
    F5
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    I hate NetScaler
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    F5 BIG-IP is Much better than NetScaler ADC. Flexibility of iRules and great user base make it customizable and easy to configure
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    F5 BIG-IP is years ahead in terms of features, support, etc compared to NetScaler ADC.
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    We use a significant number of the virtual edition F5s, and a few physicals. We also have netscalers in a few places, but the netscalers we use are pretty much only used for Citrix Traffic where the F5s give us a ton of flexibility and can handle pretty much anything we throw …
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    versatility in terms of customizing the application specific parameters, as well as security features
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    I prefer F5 BIG-IP over Netscalers. Newspapers don't have the customizations or available options that F5 provides.
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    F5 BIG-IP has better health capabilities and easier to manage.
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    BIG-IP provides more completeness of technology than its competitors.
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    F5 interface is better and more user friendly and the technology is just better. F5 WAF is better and easier to integrate than Imperva WAF which I have seen introduce latency.
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    F5 BIG-IP's iRules are way superior and robust
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    F5 BIG-IP is hands down better, easier to use, configure etc. It is easy to pick up and learn.
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    A10 was great because it was all inclusive, but F5 BIG-IP was more familiar.
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    As a partner we had a better commercial undestading and a better experience with the product that the competitor, but, sill customer service have the improve.
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    SSLVPN on F5 works much better than IPSec on ASA. From the user's side, no configuration is required - the user can just install the VPN client, input the URL, and the F5 client does the rest. For ASA, profile installation or configuration is required, so the user must go to …
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    Netscaler and F5 Big-IP are very similar. I liked the Netscaler GUI a little better, but they both basically serve the same purpose quite well. Both are more advanced than the cheap/free software-based alternatives out there. Both can be clustered to avoid having a single point …
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    We decided to go with F5 BIG-IP over the competitors because F5 BIG-IP has the features we need at an acceptable price point for our organization. The ease of use, administration, set up, and quality of support was better than the competition. Also, the ability to link several …
    Incentivized
    Chose F5 BIG-IP
    In the application delivery controller space, there are a lot of players - established players like F5, Barracuda and Citrix all the way to new kids on the block such as A10.

    Any of these companies can sell you a load balancer / application firewall device. Any of these will …
    Incentivized
    Citrix
    Chose NetScaler
    Our organization replaced 5 BIG-IP appliances with Citrix ADC, both are comparable products. The largest advantage for our organization switching to Citrix ADC is the shared code base and reduction of the number of vendors in an implemented solution chain from end to end.
    Incentivized
    Chose NetScaler
    Netscaler has more features than F5 BIG-IP APM product and easier to manage with friendlier user interface for network admins. It was more cost efficient as well and if you have a Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop environment, it is more compatible with those products as well. Our …
    Incentivized
    Chose NetScaler
    We chose Citrix ADC over Kemp and F5 due to additional integrations with various products such as Citrix/Horizon/Monitoring tools. We additionally chose ADC due to better ease of use and ability to have the appliances be virtual or physical, with the configuration being a …
    Incentivized
    Chose NetScaler
    Our company uses both Citrix ADC and F5 BigIP. This is mostly due to team preference. F5 seems to require the use of separate types of devices to do multi-site load balancing while Citrix ADC functionality is the same software on all devices you implement.
    Incentivized
    Chose NetScaler
    The Citrix NetScaler is the competitor to the f5 BigIP LTM/GTM. I've used both products extensively and the both have pros and cons against each other. F5 has better support and better documentation, and is purpose built for load balancing applications. The NetScaler has a more …
    Incentivized
    Chose NetScaler
    Citrix NetScaler seems to be a beast right away. Once you start testing and getting used to the logic that is in place, it becomes the obvious choice for selecting such appliance to be used in an enterprise setting.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    99%
    Would buy again
    195 Answers
    93%
    Would buy again
    13 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    158 Answers
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    13 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    194 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    14 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    132 Answers
    92%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    11 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    148 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    13 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    F5 BIG-IPNetScaler
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    Azure Application Gateway
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    Azure Application Gateway
    Score8.8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    F5 BIG-IPNetScaler
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.2
    (129 ratings)
    8.7
    (25 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.2
    (5 ratings)
    Support Rating
    5.2
    (6 ratings)
    7.3
    (4 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    F5 BIG-IPNetScaler
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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
    Citrix
    Citrix Netscaler can be a powerful network appliance for environments that are fully committed and open to utilizing a network appliance that isn't made by a traditional network vendor. Administrator user experience has improved over the years and will continue to improve with the flexibility of virtual and physical appliances available for medium and large enterprises.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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
    Citrix
    • Flexibility. NetScaler assumes its admins know a bit about networking and in-depth details surrounding the applications they are configuring access for/to. This being so, the range of configuration options is very broad allowing various versions' combinations of protocol patterns, expressions, rules etc., all to the benefit of the admin.
    • Granularity. Having such a broad range of configuration options available, while still allowing simple options to be configured simply. The GUI is well-stylized and navigation has a good flow.
    • Ease of control. For load-balancing of simple services right out of the box, NetScaler makes it pretty easy, compared to the range of options available in the surrounding GUI and under the hood.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    Citrix
    • The documentation could use an overhaul with specific examples related to the command line as well as GUI. Explanations in the documentation would also be helpful.
    • Being able to have more than just one routing table would allow the ability to leverage security.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    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
    Citrix
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    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
    Read full review
    Citrix
    I gave the NetScaler a 7 here because the system once configured and deployed is very easy to use. However, if you did not deploy the system and do not have the fundamental background knowledge then you will have trouble using the product in general. Overall it is a great product and service but does typically require professional services to be deployed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    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
    Citrix
    Overall, our organization's experience with Citrix support is that support can be hit or miss. Oftentimes it takes multiple attempts and much longer than desirable to obtain a viable solution for issues experienced with their products. It would be great to see Citrix invest time, effort, and almighty dollars into improving their support and bug fix process across the board.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    F5
    Practical cases and hands on , many hours of training with tipical cases
    Incentivized
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    Citrix
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    F5
    implementation is fine
    Incentivized
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    Citrix
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    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
    Read full review
    Citrix
    easy to use and setup and reliable. Once the configuration was setup and running this has been really useful and easy to maintain. The other solutions seemed overly complicated and difficult to configure and get up and running with the security that we required
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    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
    Citrix
    • We had this set up before COVID and it saved us. We just added user licenses and scaled out our citrix farm and IT sat back and just monitored users from home.
    • Scales up and out with ease
    • Challenging to find NetScaler experts for advanced features you want to enable and use
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots