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A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) vs Symantec SSL Visibility Appliance 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...
Ranking in SSL/TLS Decryption
3rd
Average Rating
9.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Symantec SSL Visibility App...
Ranking in SSL/TLS Decryption
1st
Average Rating
7.6
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the SSL/TLS Decryption category, the mindshare of A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) is 28.3%, up from 22.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec SSL Visibility Appliance is 25.0%, down from 34.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
SSL/TLS Decryption
 

Featured Reviews

CH
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.
cto543714 - PeerSpot reviewer
Feature-rich, works as advertised, and sends decrypted traffic at close-to-line speed to products that can't decrypt
The ability to do SSL chaining is most valuable. It provides the ability to send decrypted traffic at close-to-line speed to products that can't decrypt. So, it can take the decrypted traffic and send it to your IPS or your other tools to be able to see what's inside of that traffic for DLP or malicious content detection. That's the whole beauty of it. It was probably the elephant in the room for the longest in terms of SSL decryption. It can get the high band, especially for places that had a lot of decryption to do, such as big finance companies, big telcos, etc. It is a really good product. It has different features and things built into it. Feature-wise, they're the elephant in the room.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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 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."
"The ability to do SSL chaining is most valuable. It provides the ability to send decrypted traffic at close-to-line speed to products that can't decrypt. So, it can take the decrypted traffic and send it to your IPS or your other tools to be able to see what's inside of that traffic for DLP or malicious content detection. That's the whole beauty of it. It was probably the elephant in the room for the longest in terms of SSL decryption. It can get the high band, especially for places that had a lot of decryption to do, such as big finance companies, big telcos, etc."
"The most valuable feature is the Fail-to-Network (FTN) option, which means that if for any reason the appliance goes down then there is no interruption in traffic."
"The most valuable feature is the Fail-to-Network (FTN) option, which means that if for any reason the appliance goes down then there is no interruption in traffic."
"One of the most valuable aspects of this solution is that it's easy to deploy without a lot of complications."
 

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."
"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 them to have a better UI (better universal design)."
"Technical support needs to be improved."
"They're working on being able to handle more traffic. They're working on bigger boxes full of throughput because now networks are going to 40 gigs and 100 gigs. So, trying to keep up with the bandwidth demands is where things are being pushed."
"From the operations perspective, they have to come up with easier ways so that the operational guys can easily manage it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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..."
"When you purchase the equipment, you purchase the licensing and warranty. It's all fairly standard. We haven't been caught with anything surprising."
"Licensing fees are billed annually and we purchased a three-year license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Recreational Facilities/Services Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
No data available
 

Also Known As

Thunder SSLi
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Klein Independent School District
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) vs. Symantec SSL Visibility Appliance and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,140 professionals have used our research since 2012.