F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs IBM Security Verify Access comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Man...
Ranking in Access Management
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (16th), Network Access Control (NAC) (6th), SSL VPN (4th), Remote Access (10th)
IBM Security Verify Access
Ranking in Access Management
12th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (15th), Identity Management (IM) (17th), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (13th)
 

Market share comparison

As of June 2024, in the Access Management category, the market share of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is 3.0% and it decreased by 17.0% compared to the previous year. The market share of IBM Security Verify Access is 2.3% and it decreased by 38.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Access Management
Unique Categories:
Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
0.4%
Network Access Control (NAC)
1.2%
Single Sign-On (SSO)
1.3%
Identity Management (IM)
1.4%
 

Featured Reviews

Ashish Kumar Rai - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 18, 2024
Offers remote access control, good GUI and easy to configure
The use case depends entirely on the client's specific requirements. We configure the APM accordingly. For instance, in some scenarios, we've used F5 for VPN purposes. In others, we've deployed F5 BIG-IP primarily as a load balancer. The choice depends on the enterprise's needs. They might want…
Gaurav Gaurav - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 1, 2022
Supports on-prem and cloud environments, has good integration capabilities, and is easy to adopt
They can improve the single sign-on configuration for OIDC and OAuth. That is not very mature in this product, and they can improve it in this particular area. OIDC is a third-party integration that we do with the cloud platforms, and OAuth is an authorization mechanism for allowing a user having an account with Google or any other provider to access an application. Organizations these days are looking for just-in-time provisioning use cases, but IBM Security Access Manager is not very mature for such use cases. There are only a few applications that can be integrated, and this is where this product is lagging. However, in terms of configuration and single sign-on mechanisms, it is a great product.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"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."
"The most valuable feature is the virtual IP creation. It's our most frequently used feature."
"F5 BIG-IP APM is relatively easy to use."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"The product allows us to create customized portals for your users."
"The portal access was very good."
"Stickiness is the most valuable feature of the product."
"The performance of the solution is valuable."
"I have found this solution to be really practical and when a user wants to log in, it is effortless and runs smooth."
"The tool provides a password vault, single sign-on, and multifactor authentication. It offers various authentication methods like fingerprint integration, one-time passwords, or tokens sent via email or SMS. This ensures secure access to your accounts by providing multiple authentication options."
"It's a good solution for identification and access management."
"The solution has powerful authentification and authorization. It offers a good way to increase security."
"Its stability and UI are most valuable."
"From the integration point of view, it supports SAML, OIDC, and OAuth. For legacy applications that don't have support for SAML and other new protocols, it provides single sign-on access to end-users. From the integration compatibility point of view, it is highly capable."
"The most valuable feature of IBM Security Access Manager, at least for my company, is multi-factor authentication. That's the only feature my company is using. The solution works well and has no glitches. IBM Security Access Manager is a very good solution, so my company is still using it."
 

Cons

"The price of this product can be improved."
"Integrating identity providers and single sign-on solutions can simplify user authentication and access control."
"The solution’s GUI looks very old."
"The operational deployment is not great."
"We do not have knowledgeable support teams locally."
"The technical support’s response time must be improved."
"The initial setup was complex."
"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."
"They can improve the single sign-on configuration for OIDC and OAuth. That is not very mature in this product, and they can improve it in this particular area. OIDC is a third-party integration that we do with the cloud platforms, and OAuth is an authorization mechanism for allowing a user having an account with Google or any other provider to access an application. Organizations these days are looking for just-in-time provisioning use cases, but IBM Security Access Manager is not very mature for such use cases. There are only a few applications that can be integrated, and this is where this product is lagging. However, in terms of configuration and single sign-on mechanisms, it is a great product."
"The solution could be classified as a hilt system. There are a lot of resources being used and it is suitable for very large enterprises or the public sector."
"The user interface needs to be simplified, it's complex and not user-friendly."
"Configuration could be simplified for the end-user."
"What we'd like improved in IBM Security Access Manager is its onboarding process as it's complex, particularly when onboarding new applications. We need to be very, very careful during the onboarding. We have no issues with IBM Security Access Manager because the solution works fine, apart from the onboarding process and IBM's involvement in onboarding issues. If we need support related to the onboarding, we've noticed a pattern where support isn't available, or they don't have much experience, or we're not getting a response from them. We're facing the same issue with IBM Guardium. As we're just focusing on the multi-factor authentication feature of IBM Security Access Manager and we didn't explore any other features, we don't have additional features to suggest for the next release of the solution, but we're in discussion about exploring ID management and access management features, but those are just possibilities because right now, we're focused on exploring our domain."
"The user interface for users and administrators could be improved to make it easier. Automating some functions could also be beneficial."
"There are a lot of areas that can be improved, but the main area is the lack of customization. You cannot easily customize anything in the product. It is not easy to tweak the functionality. It is challenging to change the out-of-the-box functionality."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is very expensive."
"Recently, they have simplified the licensing"
"The tool is a little bit expensive."
"The license and costs depend on the amount range of users you have. For just approximately 2,000 users, the price is practical and fair. However, when you have 20,000 users, it starts to become really expensive, and the discount per user is not attractive enough to go ahead and purchase."
"It costs about 300K AED for a year. Its pricing is a bit on the higher end, but in comparison to other products in the market, its price is still better. There are lots of other products that are very costly."
"The product is not expensive. It depends on the number of users."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
26%
Insurance Company
18%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?
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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?
The tool is a little bit expensive. I rate the pricing a six out of ten.
What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?
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 AP...
What do you like most about IBM Security Access Manager?
The tool provides a password vault, single sign-on, and multifactor authentication. It offers various authentication methods like fingerprint integration, one-time passwords, or tokens sent via ema...
What needs improvement with IBM Security Access Manager?
The user interface for users and administrators could be improved to make it easier. Automating some functions could also be beneficial.
What is your primary use case for IBM Security Access Manager?
Currently, we're using IBM Security Access Manager for multi-factor authentication.
 

Also Known As

F5 Access Policy Manager
IBM Security Verify Access (SVA), IBM Security Access Manager, ISAM
 

Learn More

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office
POST Luxembourg
Find out what your peers are saying about F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. IBM Security Verify Access and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
787,061 professionals have used our research since 2012.