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Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) 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

Cisco IOS SSL VPN
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.2
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (4th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (9th)
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
121
Ranking in other categories
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco IOS SSL VPN and F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco IOS SSL VPN is designed for SSL VPN and holds a mindshare of 9.6%, down 10.6% compared to last year.
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM), on the other hand, focuses on Application Delivery Controllers (ADC), holds 15.4% mindshare, down 15.9% since last year.
SSL VPN
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
 

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.
Bonieber  Orofeo - PeerSpot reviewer
Identifying compromised traffic and securing data has been a significant advantage
One of the most beneficial features of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) ( /products/f5-big-ip-local-traffic-manager-ltm-reviews ) is its ability to identify compromised traffic and its capabilities in authentication. Additionally, the security aspect of it provides a significant advantage as it helps us secure our data, which is a major investment and benefit for us. Before using this system, we had difficulties in storing our data and managing the traffic that comes in and out.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is a stable solution. In my company, we haven't faced any issues related to the product's stability. I rate the product's stability a ten out of ten."
"A reliable and stable solution for remote network access."
"The product's most valuable features are security, stability, and troubleshooting capabilities."
"The solution's environment is stable and doesn't get disconnected every now and then."
"I like to work with the CMD command line because it's easy and it doesn't take very long to configure."
"The feature I find most valuable, is the management portal."
"The platform provides value and benefits to our organization through efficient and effective communication."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN is very stable. We never experience issues with it."
"The solution has good load balancing capabilities."
"BIG-IP can do anything. It's like a Swiss Army knife."
"The iRule feature is very useful for inspecting HTTP. Sometimes, we use it for modifying the headers of the HTTP."
"It has so many features. ​First of all, it has a full proxy architecture, it has multiple modules. The best feature is the WAF, the web application firewall module. It also has cashing type capabilities. It has all kinds of load-balancing algorithms based on your IT requirements."
"Initial setup is easy and pretty standard."
"The configuration and integration into the AWS environment was pretty easy."
"It makes the publishing of applications to the Internet safer."
"Stable and scalable network traffic management solution for applications. It has good performance."
 

Cons

"I would like for it to have support for the Dutch language. I typically use English in 99% of our communications but for some people, it matters."
"The company sets the policies for the default location, and destination, which the VPN connects. If there is a problem with one of those locations, which happens sometimes when I travel I need to have an option to select a different available location. Currently, I am unable to see that from a user's point of view."
"It would be nice if we could use this not just on mobile, but on laptops and desktops as well."
"The solution takes some time to log in because of some unavoidable security barriers, but it would be better if that could happen faster."
"The solution does not give us options if the connectivity to one server is not available."
"When many people are using the internet at home, which is usually right after dinner, this type of service is a little bit hard to use. The internet becomes quite slow, and sometimes, I have to stop using this application. I am not sure if this issue is because of the application or my internet provider."
"The pricing needs to be better."
"Compatibility can sometimes be a challenge. There have been issues with operating systems where newer updates cause problems with backward compatibility."
"The SharePoint SSO part has some room for improvement."
"BIG-IP LTM's sandboxing integration could be improved."
"The pricing of the product is a bit too high."
"The license terms for "non-commercial" will be a challenge for us."
"I would like to see improvement in the manageability and easier setup."
"One improvement could be updating the user interface (UI)."
"Initial setup is tricky, if you do not understand the design of this product."
"Not everything is intuitive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Price flexibility could be improved in comparison to other vendors."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN comes with a cost-effective subscription."
"The product costs less."
"The tool is expensive."
"My company makes payments on a quarterly basis to the vendor to cover the licensing costs attached to the product. Cisco IOS SSL VPN is an expensive product. There are no additional costs apart from the licensing costs attached to the product."
"There are no pricing programs for non-profit organizations and the product is otherwise expensive by comparison."
"Users have to pay a yearly licensing fee for Cisco IOS SSL VPN."
"Cisco IOS SSL VPN is more expensive than the Aruba VPN, but it is worth the money."
"LTM is a good product, but it's expensive. They should make it more competitive because cloud providers offer free load balancing. Cloud providers can't cover all the security aspects of F5, but you get a decent amount of security. Cloud environments are becoming the norm across the IT industry. Many of the larger companies that previously used on-prem infrastructure are switching to the cloud, so companies like Fortinet and Palo Alto are reducing their prices. Otherwise, they can't compete in the cloud."
"It's not a cheap product, but there are no other replacements for what we do with it."
"Security should be involved in any base license. When you bring on F5, you only have default license. Then, the ASM product license has to be purchased. It would be great if F5 could include the ASM in the base license."
"In my view, the cost is somewhat on the higher side. There are discounts available, but I wouldn't say it's overpriced. It's not cheap either, and the value for money is a bit higher from that perspective."
"F5 is more expensive than other solutions, so you have to be sure F5 is the best solution to fit the requirements."
"The price should be reduced because it is expensive when compared to the competition."
"F5 pricing is too high, compared to Citrix."
"F5 BIG-IP is a stable solution. It is quite mature and does not have many concerns."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
23%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Educational Organization
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco IOS SSL VPN?
The pricing for Cisco IOS SSL VPN is based on per user. For more than one hundred users, it costs about $60 per seat.
What needs improvement with Cisco IOS SSL VPN?
Compatibility can sometimes be a challenge. There have been issues with operating systems where newer updates cause problems with backward compatibility. For instance, Windows 11 ( /products/window...
What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP?
The price needs improvement as it is quite costly.
What is your primary use case for F5 BIG-IP?
We're using F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) ( /products/f5-big-ip-local-traffic-manager-ltm-reviews ) for our applications and for managing our incoming and outgoing traffic.
 

Also Known As

Cisco SSL VPN
F5 BIG-IP, BIG-IP LTM, F5 ASM, Viprion, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition , Crescendo Networks Application Delivery Controller, BIG IP
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

MST Systems
Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs. F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) and other solutions. Updated: March 2020.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.