Amazon Elastic Load Balancing vs Citrix NetScaler comparison

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Amazon Web Services (AWS) Logo
1,584 views|1,000 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
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8,953 views|6,844 comparisons
91% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Amazon Elastic Load Balancing and Citrix NetScaler based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Amazon Elastic Load Balancing vs. Citrix NetScaler Report (Updated: March 2024).
768,578 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Security and monitoring for high-performance applications are some of the top features.""The solution is very well integrated into Amazon's services.""It is a very scalable solution in which you can add more servers instantly.""It is straightforward to deploy.""Amazon Elastic Load Balancing transfers the data securely from servers to users and splits the traffic based on peak times.""The feature that I like the most is the scalability. The solutions I build often have many pieces, which are very complicated. If a client comes to me with a design, my developer has made this as a template or a cloud formation script. It's a design on paper, and I want it executed a certain way. I can do that quickly and repeatedly with AWS. That is a considerable advantage because I can take that template and do it five times in different zones. That is an excellent feature based on a template, et cetera.""It has very good features. It is very configurable. Security with TLS, et cetera is also very easy.""The most valuable feature of Amazon Elastic Load Balancing is scaling."

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"This solution allows the user to easily scale out application delivery, and provides secure remote access.""Citrix Director has been great. It gives us one pane of glass to be able to monitor what's going on with the user sessions as well as to keep on top of the virtual desktops, any servers that may be offline or behaving suspiciously, or any troublesome spots like disconnections. We also use Citrix Studio for maintaining the actual servers that are hosting these applications. We use it for delivery groups in case we need to modify delivery groups in regards to which groups have access to which applications. It has been very helpful.""The NetScaler appliance has provided a lot of customers with greater high availability for their enterprise applications within a single site and across multiple locations.""The most valuable features of Citrix ADC are load balancing and application firewall.""This solution increases the backend network service performance, which is one of the things that we like the most.""For NetScaler, our major use cases are database load balancing, PowerVPN VPN access gateway, WAF (Web Application Firewall), and content switching.""What I like most about Citrix NetScaler is its stability, and I didn't see a lot of issues with it.""The flexibility in configuration options is impressive."

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Cons
"One issue that we faced with ALB was that leaf-level certificate validation was not happening. It is not that user-friendly in that aspect.""The product's stability is an area with a slight shortcoming, which can be improved.""They should improve the solution's pricing.""The solution needs to guarantee stability because multiple loads behind a load balancer can cause service unavailability.""The reporting could be simplified so that the client sees a report of what they cached at the end of the month and the number of hits. It should have metrics above and beyond their Google analytics, etc. You can't do that with the solutions from AWS. You have to build sophisticated cloud trails, reports, dashboards, etc. The setup is significant, and it's hard to manage. You'll need to hire someone or pay a consultant on a regular basis to manage it, and it's not for the faint of heart.""The machines created by Amazon Elastic Load Balancing have different IP addresses, which we are not able to whitelist or predict.""We faced some issues with the health check.""It would be good if we had a product that integrates well with third-party vendors. Some of our customers want a multi-cloud solution. They don't want to be tied up to or be in just one cloud."

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"I feel that Citrix NetScaler's customer support needs to improve.""We had some bugs in the previous firmware. These were not big issues, but more testing on the firmware would be key to happier customers.""The technical support has room for improvement.""Citrix ADC is a complex product, and it takes time to understand these things. But the documentation is poor, and the deployment is difficult. Integration could also be better because what I find is that you cannot easily integrate the panel in the second sector. What I have found is that in the last index, there is a limitation when getting validated. Technical support could also be better.""I would like to see them make it easier to do some of the more complex things. For example, a web re-direct requires two pieces to it. You have two ports and when people want to go to a web page, they just type in the webpage that on the backend it will redirect them to a secure link. The initial setup of that is cumbersome because you have to do it twice. There are things that can be replicated. The IP address, for example, is the same. This change would go a long way. Don't make me do it twice and don't make me have to read tons of documentation to figure out how to do it. Ease of configuration for some of the more complex processes would be a good improvement.""The solution could be more secure.""I will try to migrate all the tools to the cloud because there is more lab and more VPN scalability available in the cloud. It is not available on-premises.""The customization has always been a key area where some improvements are required. In the beginning, everything was for customizing the outer shell of it. You had to use the command-based utility and you had to do a lot of manual work. They have improved it a little bit and now there are some GUI-based functionalities that can be used. However, more can be done that doesn't require a lot of intervention. Right now there are some features, there are some customizations that can be done, but it's still very tedious, very cumbersome, a lot of work. So that could be simplified."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "There is a yearly license."
  • "The solution is expensive."
  • "The licensing fees are based on the number of connections one uses. It is a free tool for a certain amount of connections, which runs into thousands, and after that, there is a certain amount to be paid to Amazon."
  • "The product is not cheap."
  • "The solution's pricing is $30 per month."
  • More Amazon Elastic Load Balancing Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "It's not for startups or SOHO."
  • "Costly product and complicated licensing."
  • "It all depends on the features that will be used and the number of accesses."
  • "It is true that it is a bit pricey compared to newer technologies coming to the market. For example, A10 is a load balancer that does everything that Citrix can and it does a lot more than what NetScaler does when it comes to the security space, and their prices are so cheap. Every box comes with its own license and support built into it. When you compare that with NetScaler, you have to buy licenses separately, you have to buy a support agreement that is going to be separate. A small NetScaler, even if it is a VPX which is a virtual server, could cost you close to $150,000 to $200,000 dollars. So the pricing is really high."
  • "We have been evaluating F5, Citrix, and other ADC products. Citrix is the most expense of all of them."
  • "We are quite happy with price. It's not too high."
  • "I do not have any experience with the pricing of the product."
  • "You get the value for your money. There aren't any hidden fees."
  • More Citrix NetScaler Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Amazon Elastic Load Balancing transfers the data securely from servers to users and splits the traffic based on peak times.
    Top Answer:We faced some issues with the health check. I had to check the EC2 instances and ELB. It worked properly after that. Auto Scaling must be improved.
    Top Answer:We use the solution in our application deployment by configuring the server with the customer's specific port.
    Top Answer:The most valuable feature for us is the application firewalling in Citrix NetScaler, ensuring only valid traffic enters our environment.
    Top Answer:After deployment, Citrix Netscaler shifted to a subscription-based license scheme for support, which is slightly more expensive.
    Top Answer:Citrix NetScaler is a robust product, but mastering it requires significant learning and training due to its complexity. While it could be easier to manage, it is like transitioning from driving a car… more »
    Ranking
    Views
    1,584
    Comparisons
    1,000
    Reviews
    8
    Average Words per Review
    404
    Rating
    8.5
    Views
    8,953
    Comparisons
    6,844
    Reviews
    26
    Average Words per Review
    384
    Rating
    8.3
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Citrix ADC, NetScaler, Citrix NetScaler VPX
    Learn More
    Overview

    Elastic Load Balancing automatically distributes incoming application traffic across multiple targets, such as Amazon EC2 instances, containers, IP addresses, and Lambda functions. It can handle the varying load of your application traffic in a single Availability Zone or across multiple Availability Zones. Elastic Load Balancing offers three types of load balancers that all feature the high availability, automatic scaling, and robust security necessary to make your applications fault tolerant.

    Citrix NetScaler is an application delivery controller (ADC) and load-balancing solution for multi-cloud environments. Because its software and hardware form factors are all built on a single code base, Citrix NetScaler provides operational and feature consistency with comprehensive security for monolithic and microservices-based applications on-premises and in the cloud. The solution is designed to optimize, manage, and secure network traffic. Switching features, security and protection features, and network integration efficiency capabilities are all part of its feature set.

    Citrix NetScaler Features

    Citrix NetScaler has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Citrix Gateway
    • Secure Access
    • Layer 7 content switching
    • Database load balancing
    • Triscale clustering
    • E-based policy enforcement
    • Surge protection and priority queuing
    • Application acceleration
    • Application security, including DoS attack defense, content rewriting and response control, SSL encryption, and more.
    • Network Integration

    Citrix NetScaler Benefits

    There are many benefits to implementing Citrix NetScaler. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Improved Application Performance: Citrix NetScaler optimizes the delivery of applications, reducing latency and improving the user experience.
    • Scalability: The solution can scale to handle large amounts of traffic, ensuring that applications are available even during periods of high demand.
    • Advanced Security: Citrix NetScaler includes a range of security features, such as SSL offloading, to help secure applications and protect against threats.
    • Availability: Load balancing and failover capabilities ensure that applications are always available, even in the event of a failure.
    • Good user experience: The solution’s Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) ensures that users are directed to the nearest available application, reducing latency and improving the user experience.
    • Reduced costs: By improving application performance and reducing downtime, Citrix NetScaler can help organizations reduce costs associated with application delivery.
    • Agility: Citrix NetScaler makes it easier for organizations to deploy and manage applications, helping to increase the speed and efficiency of IT operations.
    • Analytics and monitoring: Provides insight into network and application performance, helping organizations to identify and resolve issues quickly.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Citrix NetScaler is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are that it is easy to use, is robust, and has good load balancing.

    A Senior Citrix Engineer at Troye, says, “The web application firewalling component is probably the most powerful feature as it can identify attacks on the network at an application level which is quite important. There is also good functionality where we use IP reputation and geofencing to mitigate threats from the outside world.”

    “The feature that I have found most valuable is its load balancing,” explains a Security Consultant at a tech services company.

    Timur G., Team Head of Network Security at DOM.RF, writes, “The most valuable feature of Citrix ADC is its ease of use.” 

    Another PeerSpot reviewer, Nirav S., Technical Solutions Architect at MindTree, mentions, "Compared to other solutions, Citrix ADC is much more robust in terms of the native integration to cloud platforms. It is far more robust from an operational point of view as well."

    Sample Customers
    Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
    ABB Schweiz, Aer Lingus, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Amnet Technology Solutions, Aramex International, Ascenty, Atos, Autodesk
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization57%
    Computer Software Company8%
    Financial Services Firm4%
    Manufacturing Company4%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company26%
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Healthcare Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Government9%
    Healthcare Company5%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business40%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise40%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business12%
    Midsize Enterprise63%
    Large Enterprise25%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise45%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise63%
    Buyer's Guide
    Amazon Elastic Load Balancing vs. Citrix NetScaler
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Elastic Load Balancing vs. Citrix NetScaler and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    768,578 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Amazon Elastic Load Balancing is ranked 11th in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) with 9 reviews while Citrix NetScaler is ranked 2nd in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) with 85 reviews. Amazon Elastic Load Balancing is rated 8.4, while Citrix NetScaler is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Amazon Elastic Load Balancing writes "A tool that offers its users resiliency, high availability, and a great scalability". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Citrix NetScaler writes "Optimizing application delivery and ensuring robust network performance with its excellent stability and comprehensive load-balancing capabilities". Amazon Elastic Load Balancing is most compared with Microsoft Azure Application Gateway, HAProxy and NGINX Plus, whereas Citrix NetScaler is most compared with F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM), Microsoft Azure Application Gateway, Fortinet FortiADC, HAProxy and Radware Alteon. See our Amazon Elastic Load Balancing vs. Citrix NetScaler report.

    See our list of best Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) vendors.

    We monitor all Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.