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Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

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
6.7
Cisco IOS SSL VPN is highly rated for its security, ease of use, and minimal impact on performance.
Sentiment score
6.8
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager offers cost savings, quick ROI, and enhances security by ensuring crucial access and reducing costs.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco IOS SSL VPN users praise the effective customer support, highlighting timely service, comprehensive documentation, and strong local assistance.
Sentiment score
6.8
F5 BIG-IP APM customer service receives mixed reviews, with some praising responsiveness and others citing delays and communication issues.
When Cisco first took over, it was a bit more difficult to get support, but they now integrate it without differentiating the support for Linksys versus full-blown Cisco switches.
We contact support regularly, especially for deployments, and they are very responsive.
Most of the technical support is managed in-house due to our extensive experience with F5 products.
Even if they respond, they don't update me with the process or what's going on.
F5 technical support is responsive and helpful.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Cisco IOS SSL VPN is scalable and efficient, supporting diverse user bases with flexible licensing and expandability.
Sentiment score
7.3
F5 BIG-IP APM scales for diverse deployments, offering flexibility and effective tools, though hardware limitations might challenge scalability.
It integrates well with Cisco's ecosystem, providing flexibility and options to connect to diverse environments.
The product's flexibility and company culture contribute to resolving these challenges.
I would rate the scalability of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) between seven and eight.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Cisco IOS SSL VPN is highly stable and reliable, with users experiencing minimal issues and continuous service even during power failures.
Sentiment score
7.9
F5 BIG-IP APM is praised for reliability, performance, and minimal bugs, with minor suggestions for log clarity improvement.
Linksys can be fairly stable for easy environments, but in more complex network environments, Cisco is definitely a lot more stable.
Cisco IOS SSL VPN is extremely stable.
On a scale from one to ten for stability, I would rate F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) a ten.
Sometimes, the logs are not quite informational or easy to understand.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco IOS SSL VPN requires improvements in language support, pricing, GUI, compatibility, deployment processes, and enhanced remote access options.
F5 BIG-IP APM requires improvements in pricing, cloud integration, user interface, documentation, support, and additional features for enhanced performance.
There have been issues with operating systems where newer updates cause problems with backward compatibility.
I believe Cisco could support easier configuration and having tools that allow for easier management and configuration.
The ability to run the Anycast feature would be valuable, as the current solution only operates on-premises.
If I could copy and paste objects instead of picking and configuring them from scratch each time, it would be great.
The main improvement needed for F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is to integrate into the cloud-delivered services from F5.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco IOS SSL VPN is costly compared to FortiGate and Aruba, though discounts exist and pricing reflects its stability.
F5 BIG-IP APM is costly but valued for high performance, with unpredictable cloud pricing and additional fees for features.
For more than one hundred users, it costs about $60 per seat.
F5 products are more expensive than other solutions but are valued for their quality and reliability.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco IOS SSL VPN provides secure, user-friendly remote access with strong encryption, seamless integration, and efficient management, ensuring high user satisfaction.
F5 BIG-IP APM offers secure remote access with SSL VPN, multi-factor authentication, and comprehensive integration and security features.
The solution is also very scalable, offering up to one hundred licenses for free, and can integrate well with Cisco's ecosystem, such as Cisco ISE and NAC.
Configuring QoS on Linksys is pretty easy, especially compared to Cisco QoS, which I am certified in, as it helps ensure that the bandwidth for voice or other applications doesn't bleed over into the data links.
The valuable features of Cisco IOS SSL VPN are the ease of use and the speed.
APM is quite flexible for customers to use, providing secure remote access through various host-checking conditions for both machines and users.
It provides robust security and offers integration with multi-factor authentication systems, which is crucial for an organization's security policy.
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) provides excellent WAF and bot defense solutions.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco IOS SSL VPN
Ranking in SSL VPN
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (8th)
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Man...
Ranking in SSL VPN
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (15th), Network Access Control (NAC) (7th), Remote Access (10th), Access Management (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of Cisco IOS SSL VPN is 9.1%, down from 9.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is 11.0%, down from 16.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
SSL VPN Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco IOS SSL VPN9.1%
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)11.0%
Other79.9%
SSL VPN
 

Featured Reviews

Rupesh Kolhapurkar - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers easy setup phase but needs to improve connectivity
For our company's remote workforce connectivity, the tool was very useful during the COVID-19 situation. In general, the VPN functionality offered by the product was very useful during the COVID-19 situation. In terms of the product's ability to secure third-party access, the tool works very well. The most valuable feature of the product in terms of network security stems from the fact that the tool provides access to the whole network, and even if users give access to some special applications, it is still really helpful. The clientless access feature is not available for clients. My company installed the product for its clients. If the product offers a clientless access feature, then it is okay and can be very helpful for our company. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. Cisco IOS SSL VPN is a reliable product. The product is very helpful for a work-from-home setup as the tool can be used to access our company's internal network, which Falls outside the network of our organization. I rate the tool a seven to eight out of ten.
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
22%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise24
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cisco IOS SSL VPN?
I have not found any areas that could be improved so far. I am not sure how Cisco IOS SSL VPN can continue their improvements for the future, but I think it is a great product. To stay on top, they...
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 and policy configuration tools in the GUI. It's good and good enough to work.
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 purchasing a Bentley as opposed to an Audi.
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 not have a direction for SaaS. Most solutions focus more on remote access and acc...
 

Also Known As

Cisco SSL VPN
F5 Access Policy Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

MST Systems
City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs. F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.