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A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs Fortinet FortiADC comparison

A10 Networks and Fortinet are both solutions in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category. A10 Networks is ranked #18, while Fortinet is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.4. A10 Networks holds a 0.5% mindshare in ADC, compared to Fortinet’s 9.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of A10 Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 86% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.
A10 Networks Lightning ADC
Read 3 A10 Networks Lightning ADC reviews
  • 207 Views
  • 201 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
Fortinet FortiADC
Read 24 Fortinet FortiADC reviews
  • 4,297 Views
  • 3,094 Comparison Views
86% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Fortinet FortiADC and A10 Networks Lightning ADC are prominent in the application delivery controller market. Fortinet FortiADC gains the advantage with its competitive pricing and strong support, whereas A10 Networks Lightning ADC is notable for its advanced features, offering innovative solutions at a higher cost.

Features: Fortinet FortiADC provides comprehensive traffic management and advanced threat protection, enhancing security. A10 Networks Lightning ADC excels in cloud-native performance, application acceleration, and traffic analytics, ensuring superior cloud compatibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortinet FortiADC offers a simplified deployment process accompanied by excellent customer support for smooth integration. A10 Networks Lightning ADC supports flexible deployment options, slightly more complex, but backed by responsive customer service particularly beneficial for environments requiring cloud-native solutions.

Pricing and ROI: Fortinet FortiADC is characterized by lower setup costs and efficient return on investment, appealing to organizations mindful of budget. A10 Networks Lightning ADC requires a higher initial investment but delivers significant ROI through advanced capabilities, making it worthwhile for enterprises pursuing cutting-edge technology.

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To learn more, read our detailed A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. Fortinet FortiADC Report (Updated: July 2025).
Buyer's Guide
A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. Fortinet FortiADC
July 2025
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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)
18th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiADC
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of A10 Networks Lightning ADC is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiADC is 9.6%, up from 8.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
 

Featured Reviews

RONALDO DE MELO - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Read full review
OusaidAbaz - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrates load balancing efficiently within existing technology environments
FortiADC provides load-balancing capabilities needed for integration with other Fortinet platforms. It allows for the creation of virtual IPs and applying various algorithms for traffic management. Although it offers fewer algorithms than competing platforms like F5, its capability to manage load balancing makes it valuable. The security features depend on the environment, relying on firewalls like FortiGate.
Read full review

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 appreciate that this is a security enabled solution."
"I like the solution's load balance with DNS intelligence."
"The product has flexible and interesting licensing options."
"I use load balancing technology like Round Robin or low weight to maintain session-based connections. This ensures that clients can connect to their applications without interruption."
"It helps with defining server load balancing tasks and managing SSL certificates, ensuring the communication flow through the Fortinet gateway."
"The most valuable feature is the SSL offloading capacity."
"FortiADC provides load-balancing capabilities needed for integration with other Fortinet platforms."
"We can do patches offline without causing customers outages. The web application firewall features, especially those related to the OWASP Top Ten, provide automated protections. This allows more flexibility in patching the backend applications. Additionally, it offers visibility into the requests being made to the applications, and you can't protect what you can't see."
"The main feature that we use is GSLB (Global Server Load Balancing). GSLB makes the customer's network more reliable by scaling applications across multiple datacenters. GSLB as a disaster recovery solution can direct traffic based on site availability."
More Fortinet FortiADC pros
 

Cons

"We would like to see some improvement in the rapidity with which we can customize security facts within the solution."
"A10 documentation is not as open and accessible as AWS and Azure documentation is."
"The support from A10 should be improved."
"I had a terrible experience with Fortinet support. I only used support once when I bought the solution. I got no response for two days. However, I believe that it's no longer the case. Fortinet solutions have problems when they're launched. For example, we had issues with Fortinet's authenticator when it came out. We also had trouble with FortiNAC in the beginning."
"When the FortiADC is part of a platform with components like FortiManager and FortiGate, automation and pushing configuration are very inconvenient."
"Setup could be easier. The company's homework is to redesign those menus to configure with the smallest number of steps."
"Fortinet has some drawbacks, and it can be a bit challenging to scale."
"FortiADC is complex to configure so the interface should be improved."
"The solution should improve finding false positives and false negatives. There are a lot of false positives."
"Because it is so generic, the documentation requires special attention. A person who has not worked on Fortinet FortiADC or a similar product will struggle to understand what the document is trying to say. The documentation could be more specific, and more detailed."
"The solution needs to integrate sFlow. sFlow provides better visualization of the bandwidth and types of traffic passing through the device. When used in the traffic path, this information can be really useful."
More Fortinet FortiADC cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The product has average pricing. I rate its pricing a five out of ten."
"The product has affordable pricing."
"The solution's pricing is an issue and should be improved."
"The price is competitive"
"Our basic license excludes features such as antivirus and IDS. Due to license limitations, some functionalities are not configured."
"Compared to F5, FortiADC pricing is better."
"I believe the price is good. It's fair. There are no extra costs."
"I rate Fortinet FortiADC's pricing one out of ten. It is fixed."
More Fortinet FortiADC pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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Is Citrix ADC (formerly Netscaler) the best ADC to use and if not why?
For ADC, any ADC can do a good job. But in case if you want to add WAF functionality to the same ADC hardware you have to look for other ADC's like F5, Imperva, Radware, Fortinet, etc.
See all answers
Do you recommend Fortinet FortiADC?
I recommend Fortinet FortiADC. My experience with Fortinet has been very positive. Our company has been using it for around five years. We mainly use FortiADC for the load balancing of application ...
See all answers
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiADC?
The user interface is very easy and integrates with Sandbox easily.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

LoadBalancer Enterprise vs A10 Networks Lightning ADC Logo
LoadBalancer Enterprise vs A10 Networks Lightning ADC
Compared 36% of the time
NetScaler vs A10 Networks Lightning ADC Logo
NetScaler vs A10 Networks Lightning ADC
Compared 33% of the time
More A10 Networks Lightning ADC Competitors
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs Fortinet FortiADC Logo
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs Fortinet FortiADC
Compared 28% of the time
Fortinet FortiWeb vs Fortinet FortiADC Logo
Fortinet FortiWeb vs Fortinet FortiADC
Compared 23% of the time
NetScaler vs Fortinet FortiADC Logo
NetScaler vs Fortinet FortiADC
Compared 13% of the time
Kemp LoadMaster vs Fortinet FortiADC Logo
Kemp LoadMaster vs Fortinet FortiADC
Compared 8% of the time
LoadBalancer Enterprise vs Fortinet FortiADC Logo
LoadBalancer Enterprise vs Fortinet FortiADC
Compared 5% of the time
More Fortinet FortiADC Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
July 2025
A10 Networks Lightning ADC reportDownload A10 Networks Lightning ADC product report
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiADC
August 2025
Fortinet FortiADC reportDownload Fortinet FortiADC product report
 

Also Known As

Lightning ADS
FortiADC Application Delivery Controller, FortiADC
 

Overview

A cloud-native, software-defined solution that provides integrated advanced load-balancing, performance optimization, application security and per-application analytics to increase operational agility and application performance.

A10 Networks

Fortinet FortiADC is a robust application delivery controller (ADC) that delivers application optimization, application security, and application availability. FortiADC is a valued offering from Fortinet, which is widely recognized as a trusted supplier of dynamic security solutions worldwide. FortiADC offers dynamic security functions (AV, DDoS, and WAF) in addition to advanced application connectors for a simplified deployment and complete transparency to an organization's networks and applications. FortiADC offers three primary deployment options: physical machine, virtual machine, (VM) and cloud solution options.

Fortinet FortiADC Benefits

  • FortiADC security protocol: FortiADC integrates with FortiSandbox to improve the overall antivirus security protections where every file is scanned for known and unknown malicious risks. If a file is identified as malicious or problematic, it will be blocked in the future.

  • SSL protocol: FortiADC securely uses the most up-to-date cryptography to provide exceptional encryption and decryption using a hardware-based SSL ASIC. FortiADC offers complete transparency to inspect all traffic for threats, improves server response time, and reduces backend server load, SSL inspection and SSL offloading. FortiADC integrates seamlessly with Gemalto’s SafeNet Hardware Security Module (HSM).

  • FortiADC connectors: FortiADC Fabric Connectors offer open API-based integration and coordination with numerous software-defined networks (SDNs), third-party partners, and cloud management providers. Fortinet Fabric Connectors provide deep open and turnkey integration with recognized third-party vendors such as AWS, K8s, OCI, and SAP, in multi-vendor solutions, improving scalability, simplified management, and automation.

  • Business stability: FortiADC load balancing for on-premise global server load balancing (GSBL) and in the cloud (FortiGSBL Cloud) will ensure users can maintain a reliable and available network by improving the ability of scaling applications throughout numerous data centers to reduce application response times and enhance disaster recovery. Users are able to define protocols based on network latency concerns, overall data performance, and site availability.

Fortinet FortiADC Features

  • Application availability

    • 4-7 application load balancing: DNS, HTTPS, RTMP, RADIUS, MySQL and more

    • External fabric connectors: Splunk Integration, AWS/OCI Connector, Kubernetes Service.

    • Security fabric connectors: FortiSIEM, Fortigate BanIP Integration, FortiAnalyzer, and more.

    • Deployment modes: High availability (AA/AP Failover), Router mode, transparent mode (switch), one-arm mode (proxy with X-forwarded for support.

  • Web application firewall (WAF)

    • Security services: Captcha support, cookie support, HTTP header security, XML/SOAP/JSON validation, CSRF protection, API gateway, and more.

    • Application security: Web attack signature, bot detection, web vulnerability scanner, OWASP Top-10 Wizard, API protection and more.
  • Application enhancement

    • HTTP and TCP improvement: TCP buffering, HTTP compressions/decompression, HTTP caching (dynamic and static objects), Bandwidth monitoring using quality of service (QoS), TCP buffering, and more.

    • Authentication offloading: Two-factor authentication (Fortitoken/Fortitoken Cloud and Google Authentication), NTLM, AUTH2.0, SAML 2.0 (SP and Idp) RADIUS, LDAP, Kerbos, and local.

    • Networking: Integration with Ansible, Cisco ACI, OpenStack and Nutanix, NVGRE and VXLAN support, VLAN and port trunking support, IPv6 Support (SLB, firewall, routing and interfaces), Dynamic NAT, Hide NAT, Static NAT for added scalability and flexibility.

    • Management: Syslog support, SNMP using private MIBs with threshold-based traps. REST APIs, VDOMS, data analytics, real-time monitoring graphs, role-based monitoring, intuitive reporting, FortiView integration, and more.

Fortinet
 

Sample Customers

Handle Financial
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Buyer's Guide
A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. Fortinet FortiADC
July 2025
Free Report: A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. Fortinet FortiADC
Find out what your peers are saying about A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. Fortinet FortiADC and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
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