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A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs Kemp LoadMaster comparison

 

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)
17th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Kemp LoadMaster
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
8th
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of A10 Networks Lightning ADC is 0.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kemp LoadMaster is 7.5%, up from 7.0% 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.
PeterForster - PeerSpot reviewer
A highly stable and scalable load-balancing software that offers great technical support
My company is really happy with Kemp LoadMaster as a product. My company is also happy with the support we receive from Kemp LoadMaster. I want Kemp LoadMaster to provide users with better reporting capabilities in relation to TCP packets. In general, the connections that are present in the system require improvement. Feature-wise, Kemp LoadMaster has everything that our company's customers require. Kemp LoadMaster also has features that have supported our company's past projects.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Our clients appreciate that this is a security enabled solution."
"It allows you to secure the application while balancing the connections for many other customers, reducing CPU usage and server load."
"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."
"Failover is seamless and our services are rock solid."
"LoadMaster is easy to deploy and understand."
"The pricing of the solution is valuable."
"We are most impressed with the ease of use and great support."
"The Global WAF has saved us more than one time from unwanted traffic."
"Persistence is very valuable. This holds the connection information of the source and that connection is important to RDP and our APO calls. The connection has to be persisted to the original source to operate properly. We also use the subsections for sub-services to create services inside our services for our API resources, this is most awesome. We would not be able to do this without Kemp and offer this type of sub-service to route based on an API instance. It routes the traffic properly based on the sub-service type."
"The solution is easy to configure when changing the load balancing method to Round Robin or least connection."
"We really like the performance of this solution."
 

Cons

"A10 documentation is not as open and accessible as AWS and Azure documentation is."
"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."
"Over the last several major versions, the GUI has remained virtually unchanged and still seems lacking."
"In the next release, Kemp should include the ability for LoadMaster to create different DNS record types."
"It has all types of logs and they are very detailed, but it's a little bit hard to search for a single event."
"The cost of the GEO upgrade is not cost-prohibitive but it's something that would be a nice add-in, out of the box."
"There is room for improvement in the stability of the solution."
"The GUI is rather technical and complex, so it could be improved by making it simpler and more user-friendly."
"The product is really good as-is out of the box. If there is one thing I would change is to have the license file not be coupled with the MAC address of the device. This is actually not really useful in a virtual environment where if you have a single VM with KEMP LoadMaster and you have not set up static MAC Address, if you, for example, recreate the VM and just load the disk file on a new VM it will get new MAC address and the NLB will not work as it will not see a proper license."
"Although Kemp is very user-friendly, it lacks a more custom configuration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Download Kemp's VLM trial and take it for a test drive; you will be impressed."
"The license varies according to the number of megabits."
"The setup cost and pricing plan is reasonable and will ultimately give you a worthy return."
"From a cost perspective, Kemp is very competitive and is not hard to justify by any means."
"Licensing is yearly and I am going to guess that it is CAN $2000.00."
"The costs for the Kemp Load Balancer solution are okay because, for a good product, you have to spend money."
"Currently, no cost is involved with a virtual load balancer. They have used open source. We did not pay for software. We paid for the expertise. We are only paying the consulting charges, which are very reasonable, that is, around a thousand dollars."
"The price of the solution is cheap."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Educational Organization
57%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Government
3%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about A10 Networks Lightning ADC?
It allows you to secure the application while balancing the connections for many other customers, reducing CPU usage and server load.
What needs improvement with A10 Networks Lightning ADC?
There is room for improvement in the customer service and support team. The support from A10 should be improved.
What is your primary use case for A10 Networks Lightning ADC?
We sell a couple of boxes to Comodo Federal and Bank of Brazil, which are the biggest banks here in Brazil. They also have a F5 tool.
What do you like most about Kemp LoadMaster?
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten...I rate the technical support a ten out of ten...The initial setup of Kemp LoadMaster is very simple.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kemp LoadMaster?
LoadMaster is cheaper than some other solutions. It has a perpetual license, so it's a one-time cost.
What needs improvement with Kemp LoadMaster?
There are some challenges with updates on certain models that don't have a few features. The support team often takes a lot of time to provide resolutions for issues. Also, I could see more capabil...
 

Also Known As

Lightning ADS
LoadMaster Load Balancer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Handle Financial
Kent County Council, KEMP, SMA Solar Technology AG, RT€ Player , Victrix (Quebec, Canada), Texas A&M, Macmillan Cancer Support, Cisco, Austin Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. Kemp LoadMaster and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.