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Arbor DDoS vs F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.2
Arbor DDoS ensures 100% uptime, cuts risks, reduces costs, and boosts profitability, protecting revenue and customer trust.
Sentiment score
7.2
F5 BIG-IP AFM offers ROI and cost efficiency when integrated, but standalone ROI is below average, despite perceived value.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.7
Arbor DDoS support is knowledgeable and effective, with varied response times; regional experiences affect user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
6.5
F5 BIG-IP AFM support is praised for professionalism but needs faster ticket resolution and improved recommendation accuracy.
Support for Arbor DDoS deserves a rating of 10 because when there is a problem with implementation, the people I work with are the best.
The technical support team is very effective in resolving issues.
Although the team is good, they are not fast, and they lack the skills to manage dynamic attackers.
The responses are generally fast and effective.
The customer service is excellent, and I rate it ten out of ten.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Arbor DDoS excels in scalability, managing large attacks in telecom and banking, though pricing and planning affect deployment.
Sentiment score
7.3
F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager offers scalable, efficient management for hybrid setups, supporting organizational growth and cloud migration.
This would enhance the knowledge about scalability options available for Arbor DDoS, making it more accessible and useful for users.
At all locations where there is an Internet gateway, there is Arbor TMS that needs to perform that protection role from DDoS attacks.
I find Arbor DDoS to be very scalable.
The solution is highly scalable, allowing me to add or remove nodes and manage traffic without interruption, which is essential for meeting application demands.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Arbor DDoS is highly stable, reliable, often rated 8-10, but feature configuration during maintenance can be challenging.
Sentiment score
8.4
F5 BIG-IP AFM is lauded for its stability and reliability, with high user ratings and minimal operational issues.
 

Room For Improvement

Arbor DDoS requires improvements in auto-mitigation, scalability, integration, pricing, support, reporting, and compatibility with older systems.
F5 BIG-IP AFM is costly, complex, needs dashboard improvements, enhanced features, better integration, and concerns over CPU and support.
Enhancing the handshakes between Arbor DDoS and third-party solutions is essential for obtaining better and real-time data that supports any organization’s support team effectively.
I would like to see an option to decrypt the traffic with Arbor DDoS, as some clients are interested in this, particularly for application layer attacks on port 443.
The licensing is subscription-based.
The appliance and features could be enhanced further, especially in terms of security.
Having advanced technology similar to other vendors like Palo Alto for zero-day attack prevention would be valuable.
 

Setup Cost

Arbor DDoS pricing is high, but its superior protection and flexible licensing options justify the cost for enterprise buyers.
F5 BIG-IP AFM is costly but justified by its features, with pricing for licenses and potential extra feature fees.
From our sales department, they discuss that prices are very high.
For some customers, the cost is expensive, but for enterprises looking to protect their services, it is affordable.
The standard license is reasonably priced, but additional features like the WAF can be more expensive.
If considering a one-stop solution that provides load balancing, DNS security, AAA authentication, and firewalling on the same hardware, the cost is reasonable.
 

Valuable Features

Arbor DDoS offers user-friendly, effective mitigation with hybrid integration, rapid detection, AI capabilities, and reduced false positives.
F5 BIG-IP AFM offers robust network security, ease of use, and supports cloud migration with AI-driven features.
That is an attack over 10 gigabit per second, and if an attack enters the telecommunication network, that will be a disaster for their customer, their services, and so on.
The feature I find most valuable is the packet capture, which beautifully shows the communication between the client and the server, identifying potential malicious activity.
The most valuable feature was the ability to detect attacks within two seconds and gain visibility of all the traffic.
The solution provides behavioral analysis via AI to detect malicious traffic.
The most valuable features for me are stability, availability, and security, along with the ability to manage multiple features to secure my applications.
 

Categories and Ranking

Arbor DDoS
Ranking in Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall...
Ranking in Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection category, the mindshare of Arbor DDoS is 13.7%, up from 13.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) is 1.3%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection
 

Featured Reviews

Leandro Di Maria - PeerSpot reviewer
Rapid attack detection and traffic visibility improve security management
The solution was intended for the big clients of Telefonica to clean their internet pipe. We deployed the service to clean the pipe. In some clients' data centers, we implemented a solution that detects and mitigates attacks using Arbor DDoS, our data center solution For me, the most valuable…
Pawel Augustyn - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides outstanding resource management and application security across multiple geographies
The most valuable features for me are stability, availability, and security, along with the ability to manage multiple features to secure my applications. The solution also monitors and blocks unconventional requests and maintains security efficiently. The scalability feature also allows me to manage and allocate resources dynamically without disrupting production traffic.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
18%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?
I would say if it’s an ISP that will build a scrubbing center, Netscout/Arbor is a good solution. In all other solutions, Imperva is a great choice.
Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?
Arbor would be the best bid, apart from Arbor, Palo Alto and Fortinet have good solutions. As this is an ISP, I would prefer Arbor.
What do you like most about Arbor DDoS?
The quality of the technical support provided by Arbor DDoS is premium.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 Advanced Firewall Manager?
The standard license is reasonably priced, but additional features like the WAF can be more expensive. There are plenty of technical documents and a supportive community available, which helps mana...
What needs improvement with F5 Advanced Firewall Manager?
The appliance and features could be enhanced further, especially in terms of security. Some features like the WAF ( /categories/web-application-firewall-waf ) firewall may seem expensive compared t...
 

Also Known As

Arbor Networks SP, Arbor Networks TMS, Arbor Cloud for ENT
F5 AFM, F5 Advanced Firewall Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Xtel Communications
City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office
Find out what your peers are saying about Arbor DDoS vs. F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.