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A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 SSL In...
Average Rating
9.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
SSL/TLS Decryption (2nd)
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
123
Ranking in other categories
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) and F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) is designed for SSL/TLS Decryption and holds a mindshare of 32.6%, up 22.8% compared to last year.
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM), on the other hand, focuses on Application Delivery Controllers (ADC), holds 15.4% mindshare, up 15.2% since last year.
SSL/TLS Decryption Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi)32.6%
GigaSMART24.1%
Symantec SSL Visibility Appliance22.8%
Other20.5%
SSL/TLS Decryption
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)15.4%
NetScaler13.8%
HAProxy10.4%
Other60.4%
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
 

Featured Reviews

CH
Enterprise Security Manager at a mining and metals company with 5,001-10,000 employees
We used to have to bypass on the firewall, proxy, and IPS; now we can do it in one place
For us, it would be great if it supported SSL operations according to Active Directory users. For example, if we want to bypass one of the servers or a client's internet access for SSL interception, we have to do it according to the IP address. It would be better if we could do it according to the Active Directory username. A10 says they kind of support that but we haven't tested it. Another thing is SNI. A10 intercepts all the traffic according to the SNI, the server name indicator. It would be better if it intercepted traffic according to the IP addresses. A10 can only understand that a website is within the banking category or the website is in the social media category, according to the SNI. Without SNI, there is no way to understand it; there is no bypass operation. It would be better if worked without SNI as well. Also, the solution comes with web categories like banking and social media. There are suspicious URLs, malicious URLs, etc. It would be better if it had an application category as well. For example, it would be helpful if we had the chance to bypass all Office 365 applications: OneDrive, Skype, Outlook, etc. According to Microsoft, we need to bypass SSL for all Office 365 applications but we need to create custom categories and put all the Microsoft URLs in them and then we can bypass. It would be great if an application category could recognize Dropbox, for example. For now, we have to put the Dropbox URLs in one custom category and bypass them. Application categories could be very useful.
Bonieber  Orofeo - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We have several proxies in our environment, so we localized internet traffic between these proxies. Instead of getting a really huge proxy box, according to our size, we can use three boxes and share the traffic with A10's load-balancer feature."
"Its most valuable feature is its ability to do its job accurately, effectively, and very quickly. The amount of traffic that we have going through our system is astounding... The delay with the SSL decryption turned on is almost unnoticeable."
"With the Thunder SSLi, we're better protected. We can stop use of VPN and proxies. We are better protected against dirty traffic coming back to our schools. Having a secure decrypt zone with the equipment lowers the chances that our security infrastructure could possibly miss an attack."
"We enjoy its overall ease of use."
"The configuration and integration into the AWS environment was pretty easy."
"It integrates with AWS WAF, which makes it easy to deploy without changes to your infrastructure."
"Features such as SSL offloading, various balancing methods, and the ability to work with HTTP, HTTPS, or TCP protocols are beneficial."
"It has so many features. ​First of all, it has a full proxy architecture, it has multiple modules. The best feature is the WAF, the web application firewall module. It also has cashing type capabilities. It has all kinds of load-balancing algorithms based on your IT requirements."
"The combination of ADC and WAN is good."
"I have Big-IP change and control manager, which give me the roll back option. Therefore, I can view the last things which happened on the device."
"The setup is pretty easy."
 

Cons

"It would be great if it supported SSL operations according to Active Directory users. For example, if we want to bypass one of the servers or a client's internet access for SSL interception, we have to do it according to the IP address. It would be better if we could do it according to the Active Directory username. A10 says they kind of support that but we haven't tested it."
"I would like them to have a better UI (better universal design)."
"There is one thing I would like to see changed. In their features for setting things up, there is a templating system that would normally assist clients. However, we had a better time setting up the device either through the command line or through the interface and not using the templates that were pre-installed. So there is room for improvement to the templates for initial installation."
"I would like to see better integration."
"There is a need for a more modular version to concentrate on the current monolithic structure of both the virtual and hardware versions."
"They need to develop the reporting tools further."
"Right now, there are a lot of products within F5's portfolio. They acquired a couple of companies like NGINX and Volterra. Some features and technologies overlapped when this acquisition occurred. They need to refine it and come up with a single, proper solution. F5 should focus more on zero trust network access (ZTNA).They should be more focused on that framework because the industry is moving towards that. Everyone is talking about SASE and zero trust."
"F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager is sometimes a bit cumbersome to deal with some builds, although that's gotten significantly better over the years."
"The synchronization does works fairly well. However, if I were to make changes, I would make it easier to start the sync process."
"Needs to provide a visual interface to follow a customer's activity (from client to BIG-IP to SNAT IP to the chosen server, then back). Today, we are still performing packet captures."
"The solution's hardware quality needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When you purchase the equipment, you purchase the licensing and warranty. It's all fairly standard. We haven't been caught with anything surprising."
"We always pay for support. Any organization of our size who doesn't is asking for problems."
"Our licensing costs, yearly, are just under $15,000. Your initial cost of acquisition is obviously going to be more than $15,000..."
"The price should be reduced because it is expensive when compared to the competition."
"It's not a cheap product, but there are no other replacements for what we do with it."
"Security should be involved in any base license. When you bring on F5, you only have default license. Then, the ASM product license has to be purchased. It would be great if F5 could include the ASM in the base license."
"Great product for the money. But they can get really expensive, so get what meets your needs."
"There are additional costs depending on what modules or what functionality is required."
"F5 BIG-IP can be expensive, although there are trial versions available which are helpful to find out if the solution is right for your company."
"It could be priced a little less, especially on the virtual side. It gets a bit expensive, but you get what you pay."
"Try to negotiate all the software features that you require upfront."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Recreational Facilities/Services Company
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business62
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise85
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP?
The pricing of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is on the higher side compared to competitors, but it is worth it.
What is your primary use case for F5 BIG-IP?
Our main use cases involve multiple applications, so we are using F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) services, and we are using WAF and ASM services to secure those applications and load balance...
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Klein Independent School District
Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about Broadcom, A10 Networks, Fidelis Security and others in SSL/TLS Decryption. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.