A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) comparison

A10 Networks and F5 are both solutions in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category. A10 Networks is ranked #10 with an average rating of 9.0, while F5 is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.7. A10 Networks holds a 4.8% mindshare in ADC, compared to F5’s 16.1% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of A10 Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of F5 users who would recommend it.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Read 23 A10 Networks Thunder ADC reviews

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1,727 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...

Read 122 F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) reviews

6,912 Views
5,115 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

A10 Networks Thunder ADC

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

A10 Networks Thunder ADC and F5 BIG-IP LTM compete in the application delivery and load balancing category. Thunder ADC seems to have the upper hand with its cost-effective licensing system and ease of deployment, while F5 BIG-IP LTM stands out in robust performance and feature set for complex environments.

Features: A10 Networks Thunder ADC offers an all-inclusive licensing system reducing costs, high-performance traffic management, and comprehensive security features like DDoS protection and SSL offloading. It supports virtualization across cloud environments and straightforward setup. F5 BIG-IP LTM provides advanced load balancing, iRules for flexible traffic management, and modular features for complex environments with robust hardware performance.

Room for Improvement: A10 Networks Thunder ADC users highlight concerns about legal issues, limited U.S. support, and challenges with third-party integrations. Improvements are suggested for its web acceleration support, GUI, and support articles. F5 BIG-IP LTM is criticized for high costs and complexity, with requests for flexible pricing, better documentation, and improvements in cloud support and AI-driven reporting.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: A10 Networks Thunder ADC is praised for stability in hybrid cloud environments with consistent support, though users seek faster response times. F5 BIG-IP LTM, mainly deployed on-premises, is lauded for comprehensive support but requires expertise for full utilization, with support regarded as satisfactory but costly.

Pricing and ROI: A10 Networks Thunder ADC offers budget-friendly pricing with embedded licensing that reduces total costs, providing a significant ROI due to efficient management. F5 BIG-IP LTM, although more expensive, offers robust features and performance justifying its cost, with users seeking a clearer and flexible pricing structure, achieving adequate ROI when its features are fully leveraged.

To learn more, read our detailed A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs. F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs. F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

September 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 Thunder ADC

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

10th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

122

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of A10 Networks Thunder ADC is 4.8%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is 16.1%, up from 15.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)	16.1%
A10 Networks Thunder ADC	4.8%
Other	79.1%

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

Featured Reviews

RonaldoDE Melo

Sales Account Executive at L8 Group

Protects connection and servers from direct access with control access feature

The initial setup is very simple. The issue is that it achieves high output across all its features, specifically the output ports. This affects the customer's solution because sometimes, the customer is even aware of the user's activity on certain servers. If you have all the necessary information, we can quickly deploy the solution within two to three days. The size of the Thunder ADC depends on its configuration. For example, the cache converter typically includes more than two rack units, often requiring at least three rack units for adequate space. I rate it a ten out of ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.

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Bonieber Orofeo

IT Manager at Chong Hua Hospital

Identifying compromised traffic and securing data has been a significant advantage

One of the most beneficial features of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is its ability to identify compromised traffic and its capabilities in authentication. Additionally, the security aspect of it provides a significant advantage as it helps us secure our data, which is a major investment and benefit for us. Before using this system, we had difficulties in storing our data and managing the traffic that comes in and out.

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

"It helps with the efficiency of application deployments and data security."

"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."

"A10 Networks Thunder ADC is an easy-to-use and flexible solution."

"We do have the option of creating virtual chassis, so that gives it a bit more security. If we find an application which is not going to play well in the main pool, we can easily create a virtual chassis and have that application in that virtual chassis. With the virtual chassis we can also create system partitions and have a test system for test applications, and have the others elsewhere."

"A10 explained why the latency dropped significantly on a site that we have."

"The ease of use is very good. It's very robust. It just sits and works."

"We have two appliances and I'm able to move my application from one appliance to another. I don't have to move my whole A10 to be active on the other side or to be passive on the other side. If an application is having a problem, I can just move it using a command."

"Being a public entity and having a public website which is highly visible with a lot of traffic, we are a target for DDoS. Within the last year, we have had a couple of DDoS attacks which could have affected our web traffic and taken down certain parts of our website. This did not happen because the A10 was able to mitigate the attacks using rate limiting that can be configured for DDoS mitigation on the box."

More A10 Networks Thunder ADC pros

"BIG-IP LTM is completely stable, and its performance is good."

"It can determine if the system is going down, then route the traffic somewhere else."

"Our experience has been very good, in terms of performance, and securing our application infrastructure."

"F5 has many capabilities for load balancing and web application firewall features."

"The occasion in which we needed technical support, we didn't have problems with them, because they always answered our questions without any trouble."

"Bandwidth optimization and capacity awareness of the bandwidth are valuable features. Its video streaming capabilities are also very useful."

"The solution is very easy to use and easy to understand. It's quite an intuitive system."

"F5's attack signatures and automation are the most valuable features. The disaster recovery capabilities are also excellent. You don't need to do anything. It has automatic failover from production."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) pros

Cons

"The user interface is not as pretty as it could be."

"The solution does logging, but the logging capacity is really small. Because we have a bunch of traffic here, we usually get a logging-side warning that "This many logs were lost because of the heavy traffic." If the logging was better, that would be very good."

"The setup depends on certain situations. In certain scenarios, it may be more complex than others. For example, while the initial configuration may be easy, the environment itself may be complex and that may limit the ease of deployment. It is easy for those who understand their environment."

"A graphical dashboard for analyzing performance is needed."

"We are starting to do a lot with containers and how the solution hooks into Kubernetes that we haven't explored. I'm hoping that they have a lot of hooks into Kubernetes. That would be the part for improvement: Marketing use cases with containers."

"There is two-factor authentication built-in, but it could be more robust."

"The documentation should be better, as it is missing user scenarios; some features are not documented very well, leading to difficulties understanding some straightforward features."

"The user interface is what people complain about most of the time, particularly if they don't use it very often. Then they complain that it's a bit clunky."

More A10 Networks Thunder ADC cons

"F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager is expensive. Pricing needs to be improved."

"Its GUI could be a bit better. Other than that, it's already pretty good. We don't use it in a high-performance environment. So, we don't really care so much about too many features."

"I would like to see F-5 implement a regular routing like in other Linux-based devices. When we try and integrate in some complex networks, we have to use some additional routing scenarios from a Layer 3 perspective, then we have some problems. It would be great if this were fixed somehow."

"LTM would be improved with the inclusion of signature-based blocking."

"Implementing whitepapers with a lot more applications could easily be added."

"A more hybrid approach would be beneficial for users."

"Cloud native integration should be provided."

"Lacking in free training to help users understand the product more, so they would know how to correctly use it. Like other vendors and their products, becoming more proactive is an area for improvement."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is a third of the price of the F5 competition."

"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."

"We just pay for support in addition to our licensing."

"For the hardware and license, we paid $35,000 per box, which was a one-time cost. Then, for the Gold Support on the two boxes, we pay $9400 annually."

"The price is good they are very comparative."

"The solution costs less than its competitors."

"We previously had F5 and switched because of costs."

"The pricing is fine, considering the features they are providing. If you are an individual user, they'll price the product differently compared to how they price the product that is sold to an organization."

More A10 Networks Thunder ADC pricing and cost advice

"Great product for the money. But they can get really expensive, so get what meets your needs."

"The solution is quite expensive if we compare it with the competition."

"Our company pays for the licensing cost on a yearly basis. Also, there are no extra costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"This is a high-priced tool. We pay for its license yearly."

"F5 is expensive."

"The price of the solution is sometimes expensive."

"It was probably a one-time purchase and then you have maintenance, but I don't have the details on that. We bought what they called the Best bundle at the time, which pretty much included all of the modules. There was probably no additional cost afterward."

"If you are planning to use security features, better to go for strong hardware and the best bundle license, which is great for web security."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	11

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	62
Midsize Enterprise	31
Large Enterprise	84

Questions from the Community

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...

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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...

See all answers

What do you like most about A10 Networks Thunder ADC?

A10 Networks Thunder ADC is an easy-to-use and flexible solution.

See all answers

What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP?

The GUI of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) could be improved. It's not something regarding how it processes or blocks, as that's perfect. However, it still feels a bit legacy regarding the GU...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for F5 BIG-IP?

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is a perfect product for load balancing and WAF, and I would recommend it far more than any other product. The load balancing capabilities of F5 BIG-IP Local T...

See all answers

What do you like most about F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)?

The solution is robust and reliable.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 21% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

Kemp LoadMaster vs A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Compared 8% of the time

NGINX Plus vs A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 18% of the time

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 8% of the time

VMWare Avi Load Balancer vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 8% of the time

HAProxy vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 8% of the time

NGINX Plus vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 5% of the time

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

A10 Networks Thunder ADC

October 2025

Download A10 Networks Thunder ADC product report

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

October 2025

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) report

Download F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) product report

Also Known As

Thunder ADC, AX Series

F5 BIG-IP, BIG-IP LTM, F5 ASM, Viprion, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition , Crescendo Networks Application Delivery Controller, BIG IP

Overview

A10 Networks Thunder ADC is a dynamic application delivery controller and advanced load balancer. Thunder ADC is a value-added solution provided by A10 Networks specializing in robust, trusted, scalable application services for cloud, hybrid, edge cloud, and on-premise environments focused on improving business processes and keeping infrastructures safe. The solution consistently provides server availability, improves content delivery, and protects at-risk applications. A10 Networks Thunder ADC easily controls hybrid and multi-cloud deployments using a Polynimbus strategy to minimize difficulties and costs for IT processes, facilitating overall improved business results.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC is effective for small to medium businesses (SMBs) to large enterprises. Service providers and cloud operators are all using A10 Network ADC to manage their large and fast-growing group of business-critical applications.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC supplies L4-7 load balancing with numerous layers of security using DNS and web app firewalls, comprehensive support for advanced encryption, single sign-on (SSO) authentication, and high-performance Perfect Forward Secrecy and Error Correction Code (PFS/ECC). Thunder ADC is designed upon A10 Networks Advanced Core Operating System (ACOS®) platform to provide consistent, efficient application performance and trusted security for any environment.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC Benefits

Consistently accessible: A10 Networks Thunder ADC employs numerous load balancing protocols to evenly distribute workloads to all servers and works to ensure constant application functionality. User requests are monitored to ensure loads are directed to the appropriate server so that there is always a proper response delivery to content. This process ensures the applications are consistently available.
Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB): To ensure business processes are fully optimized at all times, A10 Networks Thunder ADC employs a dynamic Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) process to augment server load balancing capabilities throughout global data centers for high availability and improved user experience and application tolerance.
Fast content delivery: A10 Networks Thunder ADC conquers the general WAN latencies, chatty policies, and redundant software programs to ensure quick and responsive service. Employees receive a fast, excellent end-user experience while the organization's business leaders get exceeded SLA mandates and increased productivity with teams working remotely and a step up on the competition.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC Features

Detailed Analytics: When deployed with A10 Networks Harmony Controller, Thunder ADC delivers a large selection of detailed aggregate and per-request reports in real time. The reports include popular URLs, error and health indicators, latencies, and end-to-end response times. The data is further dissected to deliver per-app reporting, availability alerts, and performance.
API Coverage: Thunder ADC utilizes A10 Networks REST-based aXAPIs to structure all features with 100 percent API coverage. The resulting interface is then used to seamlessly integrate custom or third-party management solutions, such as VMware or other SDN platforms, OpenStack, Microsoft SCVMM, or other cloud orchestration systems. There are also software plug-ins available for private clouds utilizing VMware’s vRealize Orchestrator.
Comprehensive Management Controls: Thunder ADC is fully supported by A10 Networks Harmony Controller and can be deployed in software or as a software-as-a-service (SaaS). This controller functions as a native management platform that organizes and distributes application-centric service protocols and configuration data to numerous Thunder appliances and device cluster infrastructures throughout numerous multi-cloud environments. Users can instantly identify, audit and track every appliance using critical operational metrics, such as CPU, disk usage, device partitions, and end users. The A10 Networks Harmony Controller will also complete configuration backups and restore operations, and will schedule regular software upgrades.

A10 Networks

F5 BIG-IP LTM optimizes the speed and reliability of your apps via both network and application layers. Using real-time protocol and traffic management decisions based on app and server and connection management conditions, and TCP and content offloading, BIG-IP LTM dramatically improves application and infrastructure responsiveness. BIG-IP LTM's architecture includes protocol awareness to control traffic for the most important applications. BIG-IP LTM tracks the dynamic performance levels of servers and delivers SSL performance and visibility for inbound and outbound traffic, to protect the user experience by encrypting everything from the client to the server.

BIG-IP LTM provides enterprise-class Application Delivery Controller (ADC). You get granular layer 7 control, SSL offloading and acceleration capabilities, and advanced scaling technologies that deliver performance and reliability on-demand. The highly optimized TCP/IP stack combines TCP/IP techniques and improvements in the latest RFCs with extensions to minimize the effect of congestion and packet loss and recovery. Independent testing tools and customer experiences show LTM's TCP stack delivers up to a 2x performance gain for users and a 4x increase in bandwidth efficiency.

Sample Customers

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

Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc.

Buyer's Guide

A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs. F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

September 2025

Free Report: A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs. F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

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