F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs Kemp LoadMaster vs NetScaler comparison

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...

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Kemp LoadMaster

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM), Kemp LoadMaster, and NetScaler based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about F5, NetScaler, HAProxy and others in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC).

To learn more, read our detailed Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Report (Updated: August 2024).

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

August 2024

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Helped 805,335 peers since 2012

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2024, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is 15.3%, down from 16.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kemp LoadMaster is 7.3%, down from 7.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetScaler is 16.1%, up from 12.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

Featured Reviews

reviewer2407128

Information Security Consultant-Risk at a computer retailer with 11-50 employees

Jun 3, 2024

Policies and machine learning are one of a kind, efficient, and provide minimal disturbance to the servers

From an ASM perspective, the most valuable feature was the DOS protection, SQL injection protection, bot protection, bot URLs, and many other features. There were a lot of good features. The most beneficial for maintaining server health included the algorithms for the virtual IP, which segment traffic between servers, authentication profiles, and many other things. The load-balancing capabilities have increased efficiency because servers can handle connection requests one at a time. There are no dropped connections, and the server health is always under the threshold. Moreover, AI enhances LTM's performance in network management. It made it much more secure and efficient by understanding normal traffic patterns and learning the behavior of traffic within the environment. Any suspicious traffic is captured and flagged.

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reviewer1486944

Systems Administrator II at Lincoln Land Community College

Jan 13, 2021

Easy to set up, reliable, provides seamless failover, and the powerful load balancing capabilities save us money

We use an on-premises Skype for Business Server VoIP service that utilizes the Kemp LoadMaster LM-2400 for service resiliency. This allows our three front-end servers to seamlessly support our service. We never miss a call and our chat service is always ready as a result. Kemp has a pre-made…

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Eseoghene Charles-Adeoye

Head, Network Design at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees

Oct 19, 2020

A robust and easy-to-use solution for load balancing and context switching

We use it for load balancing The load balancing feature and the fact that you can do context switching in the WAF are the most valuable. We majorly use it for load balancing, but we also use it for context switching in the WAF. It is also robust and very easy to work with and manage. They can…

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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 scalable solution."

"We have found the consistency of the application always being the way it is supposed to be as its most valuable feature."

"The support from F5 BIG-IP LTM is good."

"We have multiple solutions we can deploy through the F5."

"The initial setup is easy."

"One of the best features of the solution is the operating system."

"If I were to choose one key feature in particular, perhaps it would be the iRule feature. It’s a really versatile tool."

"Tech support has been very quick to respond to all of the needs that we've had. If you want ad-hoc support. They also provide professional services that you can purchase as well."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) pros

"Managing and maintaining multiple servers is done in a single place."

"I like the way this solution handles multiple SSLs in different domains while still load balancing."

"The most valuable feature so far has been the high-availability options that allowed us to add an additional Kemp LoadMaster VLM virtual appliance into our VMware vSphere environment, to provide failover for our existing LoadMaster."

"I like that this is a Network Load Balancer that can be used practically with any application in the backend. They have how-to guides on how to set up Kemp NLB with Exchange, but you can use it as well for Sharepoint, RDS, or any other back end server."

"Persistence is very valuable. This holds the connection information of the source and that connection is important to RDP and our APO calls. The connection has to be persisted to the original source to operate properly. We also use the subsections for sub-services to create services inside our services for our API resources, this is most awesome. We would not be able to do this without Kemp and offer this type of sub-service to route based on an API instance. It routes the traffic properly based on the sub-service type."

"We really like the performance of this solution."

"It has been functional. We don't have any outages."

"The most valuable features for us are the Load Balancing and Web Application Firewall, as we have a lot of web applications."

More Kemp LoadMaster pros

"Its customer support service is good."

"We appreciate that this solution facilitates our access to Citrix internet."

"The most valuable feature for us is the application firewalling in Citrix NetScaler, ensuring only valid traffic enters our environment."

"I can turn on features without actually owning a license. I can test them out, I can use them for a while, and then I can be licensed up. That's awesome. I don't have to have a license immediately before I can start to deploy things rapidly, rapid deployment is a plus."

"The most valuable feature of Citrix NetScaler was the seamless integration. Additionally, the UI is good."

"The solution was very easy to deploy."

"We use the solution's IP Reputation and bot protection features."

"Global load balancing between data centers."

More NetScaler pros

Cons

"The solution could improve the ease of use, the management could be simplified. Other solutions are easier to use."

"The SharePoint SSO part has some room for improvement."

"The pricing could always be better. It's a bit expensive."

"Lacking in free training to help users understand the product more, so they would know how to correctly use it. Like other vendors and their products, becoming more proactive is an area for improvement."

"Its scalability and deployment should be better. It should be more scalable, and it should be easier to deploy."

"Technical support could be improved."

"It is a hardware load balancer, and its installation procedure is more complex than a software load balancer. There are pros and cons of using hardware load balancing. You have to have specific hardware deployed in your data center to activate this load balancer. They never came up with any software-based load balancing solution. It is all hardware-based."

"A lot of functions that are attributed to iRules can actually be simple profile changes. iRules do have a certain performance impact. Therefore, instead of writing simple iRules, they can create certain profiles for classes that will perform the same function."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) cons

"In the web interface, there are a lot of settings in the different menus and it would be helpful if there were an interactive help system or tooltips to help the administrators find and configure the right settings."

"In the next release, Kemp should include the ability for LoadMaster to create different DNS record types."

"It would be very helpful to get all the http/https session logs by default in the log monitor without activating debugging mode like an apache web sever natively does"

"When we go serverless, we may again have to revisit this because the configuration needs to be changed. With this change, we can run into a lot of other configurations that we haven't got into, which involve additional expenses. It would be challenging to convince management to buy at that price point. It would be a balancing act of justifying that expense and the value, that is, how it is going to save a bit of time and make our platform secure. It can have better configuration ability. A lot of iterations happen when we have multiple servers pointing to the same domain. If we do not orchestrate carefully, it gets into a loop, which takes away the precious time of the user who is trying to subscribe to a service. It takes a little longer time to realize services as well as web pages."

"I want to have the ability to pull a particular server. The DevOps portion was challenging for me, like if I needed to redirect from one IP to another URL. I needed to look that up, and the knowledge base is not well organized. When I look for information about Kemp on the Internet, I don't find many articles or something like that."

"The cost of the GEO upgrade is not cost-prohibitive but it's something that would be a nice add-in, out of the box."

"It lacks an officially supported, well-written SCOM Management Pack."

"The auth website of ESP is really lacking. It’s not responsive (mobile friendly) and the procedure of changing the website is difficult. We tend to avoid using pre-auth for that reason."

More Kemp LoadMaster cons

"Manageability and adaptability can also be challenging for end customers."

"Technical support could be improved."

"The main areas for improvement would be around documentation and support. If a feature can be used in two or three ways, show that feature being used in all of those ways. Documentation seems to only cover the primary use case and leaves you to either run through trial and error or consult the user community. In terms of support, I have never actually had them solve any of my issues. I have always solved them myself and then provided the resolution to support."

"Too many bugs in the software and it's always difficult when you need to update."

"There are some features which are missing."

"In terms of what could be improved, I would say the user interface because sometimes it can be complicated."

"Citrix should improve the documentation. It is not really clear how to set up many features to our advantage. When we setup Citrix NetScaler ADC, we have to figure it out by ourselves without a lot of documentation."

"Scripting and writing expressions need to be improved by putting logic behind the rules and improve policies involving some of the scripting part, which is a tedious task to do."

More NetScaler cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is a high-priced tool. We pay for its license yearly."

"It is a little pricey. I wish the pricing was cheaper, but I wish the pricing was cheaper for everything."

"If you are planning to use security features, better to go for strong hardware and the best bundle license, which is great for web security."

"It could be priced a little less, especially on the virtual side. It gets a bit expensive, but you get what you pay."

"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."

"They are expensive."

"It is sort of a commodity product. A load balancer is a load balancer. What will be, at the end of the day, the cheapest option or have the best performance, that is what it will come down to."

"There are additional costs depending on what modules or what functionality is required."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) pricing and cost advice

"At $2,500 USD, this is absolutely a fantastic buy for the money!"

"It is well-priced and licensing is very flexible."

"KEMP gives away free trials for 30 days. This can be stretched if you want. During the test, you will have access to KEMP support."

"From a cost perspective, Kemp is very competitive and is not hard to justify by any means."

"This product has good value and features for the money."

"The pricing is alright and we pay a monthly licensing fee"

"The product definitely provides what the organization needs and its cost is reasonable considering the value it brings."

"It has a great price for the solution they offer."

More Kemp LoadMaster pricing and cost advice

"It all depends on the features that will be used and the number of accesses."

"Costly product and complicated licensing."

"We are quite happy with price. It's not too high."

"The licensing costs for this solution vary depending on which model is being used."

"You get the value for your money. There aren't any hidden fees."

"The licenses for this product are payable as a yearly subscription, and carry a high price-point. The subscription scheme is quite complicated, and costs will increase with each additional feature that is required, outside of the basic setup."

"It's an expensive product but it works well."

"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."

More NetScaler pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) solutions are best for your needs.

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805,335 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

62%

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about F5 BIG-IP?

The support from F5 BIG-IP LTM is good.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 BIG-IP?

There are a few licensing options available for F5 BIG-IP LTM. You can have a perpetual license which is a lifetime l...

What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP?

In the LTM solution, it would be beneficial to have more algorithms for traffic segmentation or the ability to create...

What do you like most about Kemp LoadMaster?

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten...I rate the technical support a ten out of ten...The initial ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kemp LoadMaster?

LoadMaster is cheaper than some other solutions. It has a perpetual license, so it's a one-time cost.

What needs improvement with Kemp LoadMaster?

My company is really happy with Kemp LoadMaster as a product. My company is also happy with the support we receive fr...

What do you like most about Citrix ADC?

The most valuable feature for us is the application firewalling in Citrix NetScaler, ensuring only valid traffic ente...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix ADC?

After deployment, Citrix Netscaler shifted to a subscription-based license scheme for support, which is slightly more...

What needs improvement with Citrix ADC?

Citrix NetScaler is a robust product, but mastering it requires significant learning and training due to its complexi...

Fortinet FortiADC vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Comparisons

Compared 17% of the time

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 8% of the time

HAProxy vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 7% of the time

NGINX Plus vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 6% of the time

Barracuda Load Balancer ADC vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 2% of the time

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) Competitors

HAProxy vs Kemp LoadMaster

Compared 25% of the time

NGINX Plus vs Kemp LoadMaster

Compared 22% of the time

Fortinet FortiADC vs Kemp LoadMaster

Compared 13% of the time

A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs Kemp LoadMaster

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs Kemp LoadMaster

Compared 5% of the time

More Kemp LoadMaster Competitors

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs NetScaler

Compared 19% of the time

Fortinet FortiADC vs NetScaler

Compared 12% of the time

HAProxy vs NetScaler

Compared 11% of the time

VMWare Avi Load Balancer vs NetScaler

Compared 7% of the time

Amazon Elastic Load Balancing vs NetScaler

Compared 4% of the time

More NetScaler Competitors

Product Reports

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

September 2024

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) report

Download F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) product report

Download Kemp LoadMaster product report

Kemp LoadMaster

September 2024

Download NetScaler product report

August 2024

Also Known As

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

LoadMaster Load Balancer

Citrix ADC, Citrix NetScaler VPX

Learn More

Progress Software

Overview

F5 BIG-IP LTM optimizes the speed and reliability of your apps via both network and application layers. Using real-time protocol and traffic management decisions based on app and server and connection management conditions, and TCP and content offloading, BIG-IP LTM dramatically improves application and infrastructure responsiveness. BIG-IP LTM's architecture includes protocol awareness to control traffic for the most important applications. BIG-IP LTM tracks the dynamic performance levels of servers and delivers SSL performance and visibility for inbound and outbound traffic, to protect the user experience by encrypting everything from the client to the server.

BIG-IP LTM provides enterprise-class Application Delivery Controller (ADC). You get granular layer 7 control, SSL offloading and acceleration capabilities, and advanced scaling technologies that deliver performance and reliability on-demand. The highly optimized TCP/IP stack combines TCP/IP techniques and improvements in the latest RFCs with extensions to minimize the effect of congestion and packet loss and recovery. Independent testing tools and customer experiences show LTM's TCP stack delivers up to a 2x performance gain for users and a 4x increase in bandwidth efficiency.

Kemp LoadMaster is a powerful load balancing solution that also serves as a web application firewall. Its primary use case is load balancing and application load balancing, making it an ideal solution for organizations that must distribute traffic across multiple servers. Kemp's integration with an active directory for ESP usage, hosting/deployment of SSL certificates, and pricing are some of its most valuable features.

Using Kemp has helped organizations mitigate cross-scripting vulnerabilities, cookie-related issues, and content security policy issues. It has also allowed them to handle everything with Kemp instead of working on each application individually.

One platform for a consistent application delivery and security experience because nobody has time to learn multiple systems to manage ADC deployments. NetScaler is built with a single code base using a software-based architecture, so no matter which ADC form factor you choose — hardware, virtual machine, bare metal, or container — the behavior will be the same.

Sample Customers

Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc.

Kent County Council, KEMP, SMA Solar Technology AG, RT Player , Victrix (Quebec, Canada), Texas A&M, Macmillan Cancer Support, Cisco, Austin Bank

ABB Schweiz, Aer Lingus, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Amnet Technology Solutions, Aramex International, Ascenty, Atos, Autodesk