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A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs A10 Networks Thunder ADC comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

A10 Networks Lightning ADC
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
19th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
A10 Networks Thunder ADC
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of A10 Networks Lightning ADC is 2.0%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of A10 Networks Thunder ADC is 6.0%, up from 5.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
A10 Networks Thunder ADC6.0%
A10 Networks Lightning ADC2.0%
Other92.0%
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
 

Featured Reviews

RONALDO DE MELO - PeerSpot reviewer
Sales Account Executive at l8
Efficient application security while optimizing connections
The initial setup is simple; it is not complex. The configuration itself is simple and can be done in a couple of hours. However, the migration of the system to A10 Networks takes longer due to critical applications. Clients prefer to move them one by one, which is why it takes a significant amount of time. The configuration itself is simple, especially for this application.
NC
Head Of Technical And Network Security at Connex Information Technologies
Global load balancing has improved reliability and currently reduces latency across multi-cloud
I have experience with AWS, and I also have experience with both AWS and Azure, and sometimes GCP as well. We utilize multi-cloud support with A10 Networks Thunder ADC. We have customers utilizing A10 Networks Thunder ADC in the public cloud as well. I didn't technically involve myself with analytics in A10 Networks Thunder ADC because I haven't been involved in that part in the past few years. According to my team, the analytics tools are quite prominent, so there are no issues there. We have a distributorship with A10 Networks and are considered a partner. I would rate this review 9 out of 10.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"What I like about Lightning ADC, is that instead of having a big appliance sitting in front of the Kubernetes cluster, Lightning can pretty much go inside of Kubernetes."
"It allows you to secure the application while balancing the connections for many other customers, reducing CPU usage and server load."
"Our clients have reported an increase in revenue by around 5% on a year to year basis, since this solution was implemented."
"Our clients appreciate that this is a security enabled solution."
"The scalability is really good; you can easily unify many devices at once, ADCs are simple to configure and each device is powerful, and we have two engineers managing and monitoring multiple systems and it works well for us."
"The advanced load balancing plus SSL offloading in A10 Networks Thunder ADC directly improves application uptime, speed, scalability, server efficiency, and user experience."
"Compared to F5, which I used about six years ago, the A10 is much easier when routing. You don't have to use the wildcard bits to route it between the different segments. It's much less troublesome to configure."
"With A10, we have a very robust load balancing solution that is capable, like F5, of iRule or aFleX scripting."
"Beyond the standard ADC feature, what really stands out to me about A10 Networks Thunder ADC is how customizable, performant, and automated the platform is."
"A10 Networks Thunder ADC is a very natural solution in the industry; when compared to the other vendors, it's easier to use, more user-friendly, and more mature."
"A10 Networks Thunder ADC is an easy-to-use and flexible solution."
"The support we receive from the team is quite excellent, and nothing directly comes to mind regarding improvements for A10 Networks Thunder ADC at the moment."
 

Cons

"A10 documentation is not as open and accessible as AWS and Azure documentation is."
"The documentation is pretty much closed and I think A10 crashes sometimes because initially, I was not able to set up Lightning ADC."
"The support from A10 should be improved."
"We would like to see some improvement in the rapidity with which we can customize security facts within the solution."
"Maybe one concrete thing that they can improve on is their two-factor authentication."
"There is room for improvement in the GUI. I just migrated from the 2.7 software train to the 4.1, and there are still people on 2.7. The latter is a very old GUI if you compare it to F5. It's not as easy to use and a lot of things are missing. They've made a lot of improvements in the 4.1 step, but compared to the ease of use of F5, it's still quite difficult. For people who haven't got a lot of experience, the GUI can be quite challenging."
"The interface and integrated custom applications can be a bit difficult."
"There is two-factor authentication built-in, but it could be more robust."
"I chose a rating of eight or nine instead of a perfect ten because there are a few areas that could be improved for A10 Networks Thunder ADC."
"The tool's load-balancing feature should improve."
"There are competitors that have more features."
"It's not easy to use (mediocre at best). It's difficult for administrators to maneuver through the web user interface."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"You get a lot more for your dollar with A10."
"We did try out the solution’s Harmony analytics and visibility controller for its one-year trial. Due to the cost, we chose not to keep it onsite."
"The price is good they are very comparative."
"One of the main reasons for switching away from Cisco was the licensing model. A10 gives you global server load balancing for free, while Cisco charged a significant licensing fee for that."
"Pricing is one of the features of the product that influence customers to use the product."
"The pricing is a third of the price of the F5 competition."
"There were budgetary constraints that keep us from investing in the single pane of glass traffic management feature. We saw a demo of this feature about a year to a year and a half ago."
"The solution costs less than its competitors."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Outsourcing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise18
 

Questions from the Community

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Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?
I would recommend A10 Networks due that it delivers high performance in a small form factor to reduce OPEX with significantly lower power usage, rack space, and cooling requirements compared to oth...
Do you recommend A10 Networks Thunder ADC?
I do recommend A10 Networks Thunder ADC. It's very user-friendly, easy to configure, and flexible. It is a very useful solution - especially now, when a lot of employees are working remotely. I hav...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for A10 Networks Thunder ADC?
The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for A10 Networks Thunder ADC is a question for another department, not for me.
 

Also Known As

Lightning ADS
Thunder ADC, AX Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Handle Financial
123inkt.nl, Bentley University, Box, Brainshark, Buienradar, Capgemini, CGN/LSN & NAT64, Chengdu Telecom, Club One, Code Ready, CRC Health Group, Cyso, Deutsche Telekom, Earth Class Mail, Excite, FFF Enterprises, Florence County, Framingham State University, From30
Find out what your peers are saying about A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. A10 Networks Thunder ADC and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
914,322 professionals have used our research since 2012.