CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between CyberArk Privileged Access Manager and F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Access Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"It is a scalable product.""With CyberArk, you can be fully confident that your existing accounts are secure. You will be 100 percent""This is a complete solution that can detect cyber attacks well.""There are no issues with scalability. Our clients are very happy to use the product.""Increased our insight into how privileged accounts are being used and distributed within our footprint.""CyberArk has resulted in a massive increase in our security footprint.""CyberArk Privileged Access Manager's main benefit is it provides secure access to our servers. There are features to capture the user activity, it provides video recording processing. If the users are logged in to the server, we can see what activities they are performing. It's a very nice tool for Privileged Access Management. They have plenty of useful services and the solution has fulfilled our needs.""CyberArk has helped us to identify, store, protect, and monitor the usage of privileged accounts."

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"The most valuable feature is the virtual IP creation. It's our most frequently used feature.""The product allows us to create customized portals for your users.""We have seen a return on investment from F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager. It provided access at a time when we didn't have it.""Our customers have never complained about the stability""F5 BIG-IP APM is relatively easy to use.""The tool is reliable and easy to configure.""This is a product that is easy to install and integrate, and it is simple to use.""The performance of the solution is valuable."

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Cons
"I think having a distributed architecture would certainly help this solution.""Areas the product could be improved are in some of the reporting capabilities and how the reports are configured.""Stability is a huge concern right now. We are on a version which is very unstable. We have to upgrade to stabilize it. It is fine, but the problem is we have to hire CyberArk to do the upgrade. This costs money, and it is their bug.""We would like to expand the usage of the auto discovery accounts feed, then on our end, tie in the REST API for automation.""It is easily customized, and that customization makes it very easy to start trying to shoehorn the solution into roles it was never intended to fill.""This is probably a common thing, but they do ask for a lot of log files, a lot of information. They ask you to provide a lot of information to them before they're willing to give you anything at all upfront. It would be better if they were a little more give-and-take upfront: "Why don't you try these couple of things while we take your log files and stuff and go research them?" A little bit of that might be more helpful.""The greatest area of improvement is with the user interface of the Password Vault Web Access component.""The initial setup was somewhat complex."

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"The initial setup was complex.""In my opinion, the GUI side needs some improvement based on my usage. Sometimes, it doesn't work as efficiently as the CLI side.""Integrating identity providers and single sign-on solutions can simplify user authentication and access control.""The solution is quite costly.""The price of this product can be improved.""Cloud services are something that F5 Access Policy Manager could do better""F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager has room for improvement in integration with other products.""The operational deployment is not great."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Pricing and licensing depend on the environment."
  • "It is not a cheap solution. It is expensive as compared with other solutions. However, it is one of the best solutions in their domain."
  • "It can be an expensive product."
  • "Cost efficiency is the number one thing that can be improved in my mind. This would change lots of companies minds on purchasing the product."
  • "The cost is high compared to other products."
  • "CyberArk provides all the features bundled. This is compared to other vendors who provide them as a different license for each functionality."
  • "Our risk is definitely significantly lower. Also, our resources are low."
  • "If you are looking at implementing this solution, buy the training and go to it."
  • More CyberArk Privileged Access Manager Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Recently, they have simplified the licensing"
  • "The product is very expensive."
  • "The tool is a little bit expensive."
  • More F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:We evaluated Sailpoint IdentityIQ before ultimately choosing CyberArk. Sailpoint Identity Platform is a solution to manage risks in cloud enterprise environments. It automates and streamlines the… more »
    Top Answer:The most valuable features of the solution are control and analytics.
    Top Answer:The product is expensive. I rate the product’s pricing a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
    Top Answer:In my opinion, the GUI is perfect with the configuration options provided. F5 BIG-IP has given customization options and policy configuration tools in the GUI. It's good and good enough to work.
    Top Answer:The tool is a little bit expensive. I rate the pricing a six out of ten.
    Top Answer:I'd suggest improved documentation integration directly within the GUI. Right now, finding comprehensive documentation often requires going to external websites like the community portal. In the APM… more »
    Ranking
    Views
    10,944
    Comparisons
    6,238
    Reviews
    33
    Average Words per Review
    626
    Rating
    8.9
    6th
    out of 37 in Access Management
    Views
    1,340
    Comparisons
    1,094
    Reviews
    10
    Average Words per Review
    372
    Rating
    8.1
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    CyberArk Privileged Access Security
    F5 Access Policy Manager
    Learn More
    Overview

    CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is a next-generation solution that allows users to secure both their applications and their confidential corporate information. It is extremely flexible and can be implemented across a variety of environments. This program runs with equal efficiency in a fully cloud-based, hybrid, or on-premises environment. Users can now protect their critical infrastructure and access it in any way that best meets their needs.

    CyberArk Privileged Access Manager possesses a simplified and unified user interface. Users are able to manage the solution from one place. The UI allows users to view and manage all of the information and controls that administrators need to be able to easily access. Very often, management UIs do not have all of the controls and information streamlined in a single location. This platform provides a level of visibility that ensures users will be able to view all of their system’s most critical information at any time that they wish.

    Benefits of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager

    Some of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager’s benefits include:

    • The ability to manage IDs and permissions across a cloud environment. In a world where being able to work remotely is becoming increasingly important, CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is a very valuable tool. Administrators do not need to worry about infrastructure security when they are away from the office. They can assign and manage security credentials from anywhere in the world.
    • The ability to manage the program from a single centralized UI. CyberArk Privileged Access Manager’s UI contains all of the system controls and information. Users now have the ability to view and use all of their system’s most critical information and controls from one place.
    • The ability to automate user management tasks. Administrators can save valuable time by assigning certain management tasks to be fulfilled by the system itself. Users can now reserve their time for tasks that are most pressing. It can also allow for the system to simplify the management process by having the platform perform the most complex functions.

    Reviews from Real Users

    CyberArk Privileged Access Manager’s software stands out among its competitors for one very fundamental reason. CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is an all-in-one solution. Users are given the ability to accomplish with a single platform what might usually only be accomplished with multiple solutions.

    PeerSpot users note the truly all-in-one nature of this solution. Mateusz K., IT Manager at a financial services firm, wrote, "It improves security in our company. We have more than 10,000 accounts that we manage in CyberArk. We use these accounts for SQLs, Windows Server, and Unix. Therefore, keeping these passwords up-to-date in another solution or software would be impossible. Now, we have some sort of a platform to manage passwords, distribute the inflow, and manage IT teams as well as making regular changes to it according to the internal security policies in our bank."

    Hichem T.-B., CDO & Co-Founder at ELYTIK, noted that “This is a complete solution that can detect cyber attacks well. I have found the proxy features most valuable for fast password web access.”

    F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is an access management proxy solution for managing global access to the enterprise networks, cloud providers, applications, and application programming interfaces (APIs). Through a single management interface, BIG-IP APM consolidates remote, mobile, network, virtual, and web access. 

    BIG-IP APM can also serve as a bridge between modern and classic authentication and authorization protocols and methods. For applications which are unable to support modern authentication and authorization protocols, like SAML and OAuth with OIDC, but which do support classic authentication methods, BIG-IP APM converts user credentials to the appropriate authentication standard supported by the application.

    BIG-IP APM Benefits:

    • Ease of use
    • Flexibility
    • Ability to integrate with other systems
    • Security features
    • Granular access control
    • Responsive and helpful support team

    BIG-IP APM Features:

    • Support for Identity Aware Proxy (IAP) enabling Zero Trust application access
    • Context-based authorization with dynamic L4/L7 ACLs
    • Integration with third-party MFA solutions
    • DTLS 2.0 mode for delivering and securing applications
    • SAML 2.0 identity federation support
    • Support for OAuth 2.0 authorization protocol
    • SSO support for classic authentication (Kerberos, header- based, etc.), credential caching, OAuth 2.0, SAML 2.0, and FIDO2 (U2F)
    • AAA server authentication and high-availability
    • Integration with leading IAM vendor products (Microsoft, Okta, Ping Identity)
    • BIG IP Edge Client and F5 Access integrate with VMware Horizon ONE (AirWatch), Microsoft Intune and IBM MaaS360
    • Risk-based access leveraging third-party UEBA and risk engines (HTTP Connector)

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by BIG-IP APM users.

    Mahmmoud Rabie, Senior Site Reliability Engineer, writes that BIG-IP APM is "A highly stable solution for load balancing, but the initial setup is complex."

    Clyde LivingstonSenior Process Specialist at Telstra, says that BIG-IP APM is "Easy to use, useful access remotely, but lacking stability."

    Chris LamSenior Solution Consultant at Macroview Telecom Limited, states that BIG-IP APM is "Useful for remote access VPN and VPI integration with VMware.

    Sample Customers
    Rockwell Automation
    City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm23%
    Insurance Company13%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Healthcare Company9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization30%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Manufacturing Company5%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider27%
    Media Company18%
    Computer Software Company18%
    Financial Services Firm18%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm12%
    Computer Software Company11%
    Government11%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise66%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise38%
    Large Enterprise47%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business50%
    Large Enterprise50%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business17%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise69%
    Buyer's Guide
    CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs. F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs. F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is ranked 1st in Privileged Access Management (PAM) with 144 reviews while F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is ranked 6th in Access Management with 13 reviews. CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is rated 8.8, while F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager writes "Lets you ensure relevant, compliant access in good time and with an audit trail, yet lacks clarity on MITRE ATT&CK". On the other hand, the top reviewer of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) writes " Facilitates packet inspection, modification, and offloading and offers visibility and troubleshooting capabilities, allowing for pre-production server testing". CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is most compared with Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine), Microsoft Entra ID, Delinea Secret Server, WALLIX Bastion and BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access, whereas F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is most compared with Citrix Gateway, Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine), Ivanti Connect Secure, Microsoft Remote Desktop Services and Microsoft Entra ID. See our CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs. F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) report.

    See our list of best Access Management vendors.

    We monitor all Access Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.