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Check Point Harmony Browse vs F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

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

iboss
Sponsored
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Internet Security (3rd), Web Content Filtering (1st), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (7th), ZTNA as a Service (8th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (8th)
Check Point Harmony Browse
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
12th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Browsers (4th)
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Man...
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
15th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (7th), SSL VPN (5th), Remote Access (10th), Access Management (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.1%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Check Point Harmony Browse is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is 1.4%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
 

Featured Reviews

Matt Crockford - PeerSpot reviewer
It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless
One aspect we value about iboss is its simplicity. Their customer service is brilliant, and they are super responsive and knowledgeable. It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless. We were impressed by the solution's mental health function, which can detect if someone needs help. It scans what users are browsing and flags warning signs so we can check to see if they are okay. We've had to use it a couple of times. The user interface is highly intuitive. Our IT team picked it up with minimal training. It's arranged so that it's easy to find where things are. Another advantage is the single pane of glass console, which gives you visibility into what's happening. We're not fully there yet because we haven't implemented zero trust, but we're excited about the possibilities from the demos we've seen. We launched a POC of iboss' ChatGPT Risk Protection feature two weeks ago. AI is a great tool, but you need to be careful what you put into it. My biggest fear is employees inputting sensitive corporate information or customer PII data into one of these chatbots. I was impressed by our trial of the feature. It's exactly what we wanted. Now, when a user goes to ChatGPT, there's a banner warning them not to share information, and we can block conversations containing customer data like bank details and email addresses. I don't want to stop people from using it, but we need visibility. We've only tried it on a test group of 15 people. You can configure it to look for specific keywords or integrate it with your DLP policy if you have that configured
AndreiBosinceanu - PeerSpot reviewer
Real-time threat intelligence enhances security and user confidence
At this point, I do not have any suggestions for improvements to Check Point Harmony Browse because I haven't encountered anything that would need changing. If a solution is installed correctly, it usually won't fail. It's hard to suggest new features for Check Point Harmony Browse because it's a sub-component of a larger Harmony Endpoint Security solution, which is handled separately under specific situations, and while it has many options, it already scans and delivers files efficiently. Regarding the scanning of large files in Check Point Harmony Browse, the process typically involves sending the file to Check Point cloud for scanning and returning the clean file to the user, which is inherently complex and I do not see how it could be optimized to be faster.
Ashish Kumar Rai - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers remote access control, good GUI and easy to configure
I'd suggest improved documentation integration directly within the GUI. Right now, finding comprehensive documentation often requires going to external websites like the community portal. In the APM interface itself, they could add direct hyperlinks to relevant online documentation. This would provide easy access to admin guides and other resources when working within the GUI.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Iboss is a solution that prevents advanced persistent threats, and has a zero tolerance for attacks."
"Because of iboss, I did not have to assign web filtering tasks to my techs on a daily basis."
"It was a very easy product to install. It can be deployed very fast."
"From a use-case scenario, what I like the most is the plug-in. I like the fact that we can do the filtering of these devices offsite independent of the network they are connected to, and we do not have to have traffic coming back inside our network."
"Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss."
"The iboss system is highly reliable. The false positive rates are small compared to some other systems we've experienced through other partner agencies who use competing solutions."
"We were impressed by the solution's mental health function, which can detect if someone needs help. It scans what users are browsing and flags warning signs so we can check to see if they are okay. We've had to use it a couple of times."
"iboss is easy to use despite its complexity. Multiple engineers manage it, but it's significantly more straightforward to administer than traditional VPNs and web proxies."
"This solution has improved my organization by providing enhanced web security."
"The installation process is simple. Once initiated, the process is quite straightforward and seamless, making it easy to complete."
"This tool installs a very small agent in browsers. It does not cause performance problems on the host computer, which makes it less annoying for users."
"The downloaded protection as it scans and emulates the files on a browser level is great."
"The real-time Threat Intelligence feature powered by Check Point's ThreatCloud is impressive because ThreatCloud integrates and correlates all malicious data from Check Point installations globally, collecting and analyzing this data with AI and machine learning to help prevent zero-day attacks effectively."
"Check Point Harmony Browse has positively impacted my organization by providing great enterprise-class security to our customers."
"Its potential features of Threat Detection and Threat Emulation have helped businesses to browse securely hassle-free without any tension."
"It gives our customers a sense of security they might not have found anywhere else."
"The performance of the solution is valuable."
"On a scale from one to ten for stability, I would rate F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) a ten."
"The most valuable feature is the virtual IP creation. It's our most frequently used feature."
"I recommend F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) to others due to its reliability, and it is perceived as critical to security infrastructure."
"The product allows us to create customized portals for your users."
"Our organization is small - a college with about 3,500 students. We use F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager to protect our site, especially from the Iranian attacks we faced last year. We restrict access to only inside the country."
"In my opinion, the GUI is perfect with the configuration options provided. F5 BIG-IP has given customization options and policy configuration tools in the GUI. It's good and good enough to work."
"Our customers have never complained about the stability"
 

Cons

"To scale up, a new iboss Node Blade Chassis must be purchased."
"For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company ExxonMobil."
"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."
"The solution could be stronger on the integration side and offer more cloud applications like G Suite or Oracle."
"File integrity monitoring would be very advantageous as an additional feature."
"Their on-premise hardware's network interface is capped at one gigabit, which is sort of a problem. If you stand a filter up where all traffic flows through that, according to them, in order to go above a gigabit, you have to have multiple devices, which in today's IT seems a little bit silly. They could easily put in an SFP port into their device that could accommodate 10 gigs or at least offer a box."
"Iboss is growing so fast that it is often hard for them to keep up with the challenges."
"If they could implement an extra security layer preventing access to iboss from the open internet, it would be great."
"The documentation of the most current applications is sometimes not so clear, and it is difficult to understand."
"While it is effective, the management portal could use some refinement. For instance, we would like to see more advanced filtering options and clearer reporting for policy violations."
"It seems to us that the performance in some opportunities of Check Point Infinity and the administration web portal is slow."
"The URL filtering database should be improved."
"In terms of improvements for Check Point Harmony Browse, we felt that it could have more customizable integration, especially with non-Check Point products, because in some environments, they are not 100% Check Point."
"The pricing for Check Point Harmony Browse can be a bit pricey sometimes, depending on the project."
"More focus and emphasis is required on customization and real-time notification and alert system."
"There is always scope for improvement for Check Point Harmony Browse, particularly in the user interface and adding the IOC checklist or feature modifications."
"F5 BIG-IP APM disconnects when you leave it for long enough, but that is natural for IT solutions to do. That's a little bit frustrating."
"F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager has room for improvement in integration with other products."
"The technical support’s response time must be improved."
"The initial setup was complex."
"The price of this product can be improved."
"I have had a lot of issues in the past few months with the agents, which was disappointing."
"Integrating identity providers and single sign-on solutions can simplify user authentication and access control."
"The main improvement needed for F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is to integrate into the cloud-delivered services from F5."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."
"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."
"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."
"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."
"We had the cost of purchasing a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs. However, the following year, the cost of just licensing was similar to what was paid the previous year for a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs."
"It is not expensive, and it is also not cheap. iboss is priced right in the sweet spot for the number of features it offers."
"The product has a reasonable pricing."
"The price is not very expensive for our organisation, but for others, it might be a little expensive."
"The tool is a little bit expensive."
"Recently, they have simplified the licensing"
"The product is very expensive."
"I rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Computer Software Company
31%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Security Firm
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?
For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company Exxon...
What is your primary use case for iboss?
Previously when I used iboss, we did the POC for iboss for ExxonMobil. Four or five people wanted to move from our ol...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?
Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern. There are cheaper alte...
What needs improvement with Check Point Harmony Browse?
In terms of improvements for Check Point Harmony Browse, we felt that it could have more customizable integration, es...
What is your primary use case for Check Point Harmony Browse?
We wanted to provide users secure access to their applications. Currently, we are not in the live environment but in ...
What do you like most about F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?
In my opinion, the GUI is perfect with the configuration options provided. F5 BIG-IP has given customization options ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?
F5 products are more expensive than other solutions but are valued for their quality and reliability, akin to purchas...
What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM ( /categories/application-performance-monitoring-apm-and-observability )) does n...
 

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform
No data available
F5 Access Policy Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.
Information Not Available
City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Harmony Browse vs. F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.