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A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs NGINX Plus 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)
18th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NGINX Plus
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (4th)
 

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 NGINX Plus is 7.5%, down from 8.3% 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.
Michael Olayemi - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables public access and secure configurations through reverse proxy
The primary valuable feature of NGINX for me is its ability to provide a reverse proxy. I have found that this feature supports our local server, and I am able to connect through our DNS system, making it accessible publicly. Additionally, the integration with SSL certificates and the configuration capabilities make it a valuable solution for my use case. Without NGINX, users would not be able to access our application, which means there is positive ROI from using NGINX as it is crucial for the functioning of my organization.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"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's lightweight software that can handle heavy loads efficiently."
"​Zero Downtime has always been a strength in recommending infrastructure web services. NGINX allows me to execute such infrastructure with less complications and the ability to switch from server to server easily.​"
"I receive very good support."
"NGINX works much better than HAProxy in our current hardware and architecture for HTTP/HTTPS load balancing. ​​"
"When you use NGINX, you have more options and power."
"Nginx is simple to configure, very stable in a highly utilized environment and very modular, allowing DevOps to create it's own modules for interactive use with Nginx."
"I need to highlight that the number one thing about NGINX is that it is free."
"NGINX provides a cost advantage, value addition, and effective support."
 

Cons

"We would like to see some improvement in the rapidity with which we can customize security facts within the solution."
"The support from A10 should be improved."
"A10 documentation is not as open and accessible as AWS and Azure documentation is."
"One area of improvement could be that NGINX could provide a means to generate self-signed SSL certificates."
"I would like to see the Grafana integration in NGINX which is already present in HAProxy. Grafana integration will help the solution visualize all the data analytics on the dashboard which is currently not present."
"I would suggest adding GUI-based configuration panels to NGINX Plus to simplify setup and management tasks."
"It would be great if there was even more automation to make it even easier to maintain."
"The scaling should be built into the software rather than configured from an outside source."
"One area of improvement could be that NGINX could provide a means to generate self-signed SSL certificates."
"The user interface could be improved."
"Our most challenging part was to run an older PHP website reverse-proxied through NGINX. That was not fun."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"I am not so happy with their pricing policy, but this is not the worse thing in my life. I can tolerate it."
"Compared to other similar solutions on the market, I think it's over-priced."
"The price is the cost to contract support with a specialized company, usually during consulting hours.​"
"​NGINX Plus is worth it, if you need it. If you do not need the features or support, the free and open source package is more than capable. ​"
"It's an open source solution, so it's free."
"The cost is reasonable."
"There's an open-source version of NGINX that is free."
"You pay for each feature that you want."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
Which is better - IIS or NGINX Plus?
IIS is a flexible, secure, and manageable web server to host anything on the web. IIS’s scalable and open architecture can handle the most demanding tasks. From media streaming to web applications,...
What do you like most about NGINX Plus?
It performs very well. That's one of the primary reasons we use NGINX.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NGINX Plus?
My use case involves using the free and open-source version of NGINX, making it cost-effective as I haven't incurred any costs.
 

Also Known As

Lightning ADS
NGINX
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Handle Financial
Locaweb, AppNexus, Wix, Reliam, Montana Interactive, MuleSoft, Warpwire, Discovery Education, InkaBinka, WordPress.com, Gogo, GOV.UK, NASA
Find out what your peers are saying about A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. NGINX Plus and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.