F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs ForgeRock comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) and ForgeRock based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Access Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. ForgeRock Report (Updated: March 2024).
767,847 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The product allows us to create customized portals for your users.""F5 BIG-IP APM is relatively easy to use.""Stickiness is the most valuable feature of the product.""The most valuable feature is the virtual IP creation. It's our most frequently used feature.""We have seen a return on investment from F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager. It provided access at a time when we didn't have it.""The solution is stable and reliable.""The load balancing features are valuable.""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."

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"ForgeRock is an extensive product with many functionalities and capabilities, much more than many other tools combined.""The solution's most valuable feature is the authentication for the consumers. The integration with other third-party applications is excellent.""The solution integrates well and it is important for them to keep up with the current trends in the market quickly enough, and they have been doing a good job at it.""Even though we have very small business interests with them today, they see that we plan on growing drastically over the next two years. Therefore, we have excellent support and we are now at a point where we are not calling tech support. We pick up a phone and call the Account Manager and they'll get everything resolved for us. We don't have to queue along with everybody else and go through a long process.""Installation and configuration are pretty easy for ForgeRock OpenIDM.""Easy to navigate, handle and manage the applications.""We have found the identity and access management tools in the solution to be particularly useful for our organization.""The solution is very scalable. We have a lot of users that have been increasing over the years that we have been using it. We have approximately 20,000 users."

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Cons
"In my opinion, the GUI side needs some improvement based on my usage. Sometimes, it doesn't work as efficiently as the CLI side.""We do not have knowledgeable support teams locally.""The operational deployment is not great.""The solution’s GUI looks very old.""The price of this product can be improved.""F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager has room for improvement in integration with other products.""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.""The technical support’s response time must be improved."

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"The product's support services in the French language are not free.""The solution could improve by adding more advertising and marketing.""They should improve the solution by include reporting.""The solution's deployment should be made easier.""The only problem with ForgeRock is that it is derived from an open-source product, so sometimes it's a bit unstable.""The identity management model needs a bit of improvement.""I find that it's quite expensive for just an open-source system. Support is quite expensive.""I think the upgrade process is sometimes a little complicated and there are failures that occur."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Recently, they have simplified the licensing"
  • "The product is very expensive."
  • "The tool is a little bit expensive."
  • More F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "It's a bit pricey and could be more competitive."
  • "We have multiple clients we are looking at right now. We are at a very small number, however, the idea and the goal is to grow. We are looking at about $100,000 and $50,000 a minimum a month cost. That'd be minimum maybe in a couple of years."
  • "Its price is comparable to other products in the market."
  • "Its licensing is on a yearly basis, but it also depends on the contract that you have with the vendor. They have multiple types of contracts. There are additional costs to the standard licensing fees. If you need some of the features, you have to pay more."
  • "The license is purchased annually per user. However, you can negotiate if you are signing for a longer period of time. When comparing this solution to others on the market it is priced fair, it is not at the top of the price range or at the bottom end."
  • "The pricing of the solution is fair but I do not have the full details."
  • "ForgeRock's pricing is more competitive than other products."
  • "ForgeRock is an expensive solution."
  • More ForgeRock Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:The most valuable feature is the virtual IP creation. It's our most frequently used feature.
    Top Answer:The tool is a little bit expensive. I rate the pricing a six out of ten.
    Top Answer:In my opinion, the GUI side needs some improvement based on my usage. Sometimes, it doesn't work as efficiently as the CLI side. Feature-wise, sometimes when I log in to the GUI and want to see the… more »
    Top Answer:The most valuable features of ForgeRock are social login and data protection.
    Top Answer:The solution's deployment should be made easier.
    Ranking
    9th
    out of 37 in Access Management
    Views
    1,356
    Comparisons
    1,117
    Reviews
    9
    Average Words per Review
    348
    Rating
    8.1
    4th
    out of 37 in Access Management
    Views
    3,231
    Comparisons
    2,186
    Reviews
    10
    Average Words per Review
    481
    Rating
    8.4
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    F5 Access Policy Manager
    ForgeRock Identity Platform, ForgeRock OpenIDM
    Learn More
    Overview

    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:

    • Ease of use
    • Flexibility
    • Ability to integrate with other systems
    • Security features
    • Granular access control
    • Responsive and helpful support team

    BIG-IP APM Features:

    • Support for Identity Aware Proxy (IAP) enabling Zero Trust application access
    • Context-based authorization with dynamic L4/L7 ACLs
    • Integration with third-party MFA solutions
    • DTLS 2.0 mode for delivering and securing applications
    • SAML 2.0 identity federation support
    • Support for OAuth 2.0 authorization protocol
    • SSO support for classic authentication (Kerberos, header- based, etc.), credential caching, OAuth 2.0, SAML 2.0, and FIDO2 (U2F)
    • AAA server authentication and high-availability
    • Integration with leading IAM vendor products (Microsoft, Okta, Ping Identity)
    • BIG IP Edge Client and F5 Access integrate with VMware Horizon ONE (AirWatch), Microsoft Intune and IBM MaaS360
    • Risk-based access leveraging third-party UEBA and risk engines (HTTP Connector)

    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 LivingstonSenior Process Specialist at Telstra, says that BIG-IP APM is "Easy to use, useful access remotely, but lacking stability."

    Chris LamSenior Solution Consultant at Macroview Telecom Limited, states that BIG-IP APM is "Useful for remote access VPN and VPI integration with VMware.

    ForgeRock is a comprehensive open-source identity and access management solution designed to meet the unique needs of your users and workforce. With ForgeRock you can orchestrate, manage, and secure the complete lifecycle of identities in any cloud or hybrid environment. ForgeRock allows you to set up bot detection, identity proofing, and risk-based authentication.

    With ForgeRock, you can define access policies and automate the management of the identity lifecycle all from a central, easy to use, and graphical dashboard. ForgeRock Access Management allows you to build safe authentication using options like passwordless and usernameless logins, single sign-on, biometrics, contextual analytics, and behavioral authentication. When threats appear, you can swiftly change how your users access your most sensitive applications and provide users with secure access to the applications, systems, and resources they need on demand.

    ForgeRock Benefits and Key Features

    • Elevate your security and efficiency: Consolidating your legacy systems under one single platform provides reliable, unified control over all your user identities and access-related policies. ForgeRock Access Management also supports scaling existing policies for application onto new setups.

    • Passwordless authentication: Implementing passwordless authentication is simple with ForgeRock Access Management. You can easily replace user-selected passwords with other options, such as easy multi-factor authentication, biometrics, and SSO.

    • Identity governance: ForgeRock Identity Governance is a modern, AI-driven identity governance solution. By leveraging ForgeRock generated analysis reports, you can identify and apply appropriate user access, automate high-confidence access approvals, recommend certification for low-risk accounts, and review high-risk and inappropriate user access privileges. In addition, you can grant and enforce access to systems, applications, and infrastructure according to established policies.

    Reviews from Real Users

    ForgeRock stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its robust identity and access tools and its being easy to manage and scale with one central dashboard.

    PeerSpot users note the effectiveness of these features. A technology solutions leader at an outsourcing company writes, “We need it for multiple clients, multiple implementations. Not all of them are necessarily a multi-tenant solution. We need a very versatile solution that can do a lot of work, but from a single instance that we can centralize authentications and we don't duplicate the efforts and that's where ForgeRock seems to do better.”

    Mohamed B., a cyber security consultant at a tech company, writes, "Their access management solution, OpenAM, is most valuable because it meets the needs of a lot of users. ForgeRock secured our system so that it is accessed only by authorized people, and it implemented the SSO."

    Sample Customers
    City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office
    Geico, Thomson Reuters, Salesforce, McKesson, Trinet, SKY, BNP Paribas, Deloitte, Capgemini, North Western University
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider27%
    Media Company18%
    Computer Software Company18%
    Financial Services Firm18%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Government11%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm27%
    Media Company9%
    Legal Firm9%
    Outsourcing Company9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm22%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Government7%
    Insurance Company7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business46%
    Large Enterprise54%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business17%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise69%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business37%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise48%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business17%
    Midsize Enterprise9%
    Large Enterprise73%
    Buyer's Guide
    F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. ForgeRock
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. ForgeRock and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    767,847 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is ranked 9th in Access Management with 13 reviews while ForgeRock is ranked 4th in Access Management with 27 reviews. F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is rated 8.2, while ForgeRock is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) writes " Facilitates packet inspection, modification, and offloading and offers visibility and troubleshooting capabilities, allowing for pre-production server testing". On the other hand, the top reviewer of ForgeRock writes "Governance and access management solution used for multi-factor authentication that is outdated with an unresponsive UI". F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is most compared with Citrix Gateway, CyberArk Privileged Access Manager, Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine), Microsoft Remote Desktop Services and Ivanti Connect Secure, whereas ForgeRock is most compared with SailPoint IdentityIQ, PingID, Microsoft Entra ID, Auth0 and Symantec Siteminder. See our F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. ForgeRock report.

    See our list of best Access Management vendors.

    We monitor all Access Management 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.