Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway and F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager compete in the security solutions category. Forcepoint shows an advantage in data security features and integration, whereas F5 BIG-IP APM is more effective in performance and load balancing capabilities.
Features: Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway provides comprehensive real-time analytics, deep URL categorization, and robust data security features. It integrates seamlessly with other Forcepoint solutions, enhancing its utility in environments demanding intense filtering and security. F5 BIG-IP APM stands out for its powerful load balancing and performance enhancements, particularly in complex network environments. It features virtual IP creation, allowing seamless traffic handling and portal customization for tailored user experiences.
Room for Improvement: Forcepoint users note complex setup processes, a need for better integration, and sometimes inadequate support resolution times. Documentation can be dense, and upgrades are often problematic. F5 BIG-IP APM is considered costly, with an intricate initial setup. Users seek improved technology integration and simpler reporting features.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway and F5 BIG-IP APM support on-premises and hybrid cloud models. Forcepoint offers flexible deployment options, though technical support reviews are mixed, with slow initial responses cited. F5 BIG-IP APM is praised for its customer service capabilities, with technical engineers providing proficient support.
Pricing and ROI: Forcepoint is generally competitively priced but costly for smaller setups, with user-based licensing that becomes economical at scale. F5 BIG-IP APM presents simplified licensing and demonstrates robust ROI, with its comprehensive features justifying the initial expense despite high costs.
Most of the technical support is managed in-house due to our extensive experience with F5 products.
If there is a solution, they don't always communicate it.
F5 technical support is responsive and helpful.
There are instances where both the response time and technical support quality need improvement.
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.
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.
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.
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) does not have a direction for SaaS.
They need to enhance their CASB solutions since currently, the cloud index support is low compared to competitors.
F5 products are more expensive than other solutions but are valued for their quality and reliability.
It's really expensive.
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.
A lot of features are useful to me, including mostly the authentication, SAML, or SSO, with no sign-on.
As organizations move away from legacy applications and data centers, the SASE architecture and ZTNA-based operations become essential.
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is an access management proxy solution for managing global access to the enterprise networks, cloud providers, applications, and application programming interfaces (APIs). Through a single management interface, BIG-IP APM consolidates remote, mobile, network, virtual, and web access.
BIG-IP APM can also serve as a bridge between modern and classic authentication and authorization protocols and methods. For applications which are unable to support modern authentication and authorization protocols, like SAML and OAuth with OIDC, but which do support classic authentication methods, BIG-IP APM converts user credentials to the appropriate authentication standard supported by the application.
BIG-IP APM Benefits:
BIG-IP APM Features:
Reviews from Real Users
Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by BIG-IP APM users.
Mahmmoud Rabie, Senior Site Reliability Engineer, writes that BIG-IP APM is "A highly stable solution for load balancing, but the initial setup is complex."
Clyde Livingston, Senior Process Specialist at Telstra, says that BIG-IP APM is "Easy to use, useful access remotely, but lacking stability."
Chris Lam, Senior Solution Consultant at Macroview Telecom Limited, states that BIG-IP APM is "Useful for remote access VPN and VPI integration with VMware.
Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is a secure web gateway (SWG) tool that provides multiple forms of protection against malware, including blocking categories of websites, inline scanning of downloaded files, and zero trust-based advanced threat protection. The solution monitors and controls any interaction with any website, including blocking access to websites based on category and risk score, blocking download of malware, blocking upload of sensitive data to personal file sharing accounts, and detecting shadow IT.
Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway Features
Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:
Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway Benefits
There are many benefits to implementing Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:
Reviews from Real Users
Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are that it has strong reporting capabilities, good URL filtering, and can retrieve and analyze lost data when necessary.
Shipra G., Service Delivery Manager at Paramount Computer Systems, says, “The reporting part of it is pretty awesome. With the reporting, you can drill down effectively. It gives us a lot of power to really look into what we are looking for. That is one very crucial feature. In the remote filtering part, the agent that they have on Forcepoint is pretty light. That also is a very, very good feature that we look into and sell.”
Mohammed S., Security Engineer at Futuretec, writes, "The most valuable feature for me in Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is URL filtering, though all other features of the product are okay as well."
Arvind K., Director at Foresight Software Solutions Pvt Ltd., says, “They have well-integrated web security. They have the enterprise DLP included in the cloud as well.”
An Ict Help Desk Administrator Individual Contributor at a transportation company states, “The most valuable feature of Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is the ability to retrieve and analyze lost data. It also allows us to detect and prevent the release of all messages and to take appropriate actions in consequence.”
We monitor all Secure Web Gateways (SWG) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
