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

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. Okta Platform

February 2026

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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

6.8

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager offers cost savings, quick ROI, and enhances security by ensuring crucial access and reducing costs.

Sentiment score

5.7

Okta Platform centralizes identity management, enhancing productivity, security, and efficiency while reducing costs and simplifying processes for users.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) report

We have our dashboard to log in via Okta Workforce Identity.

SumitMundik

Lead Admin Systems at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

It has saved approximately 50 to 80 percent of our time.

Purva

Application development senior analyst at Accenture

We have seen a 60% reduction in password reset help desk tickets.

BasilJiji

System Engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Okta Platform report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.8

F5 BIG-IP APM customer service receives mixed reviews, with some praising responsiveness and others citing delays and communication issues.

Sentiment score

6.8

Okta Platform's support is praised for responsiveness and expertise, though some users prefer relying on internal and online resources.

Even if they respond, they don't update me with the process or what's going on.

Professional Services Specialist at a security firm with 51-200 employees

Most of the technical support is managed in-house due to our extensive experience with F5 products.

Business Development Manager at Pylones

F5 technical support is responsive and helpful.

For more quotes and insights, download the F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) report

Solutions Manager at Macroview Telecom Limited

They are very supportive; they just open a ticket, and they support us very professionally.

Bernard Samontanes

Staff Infrastructure & Security Engineer at Mozn Systems

We had an issue a couple of years ago that was swiftly resolved by the support team, showing their efficiency.

For more quotes and insights, download the Okta Platform report

IT Manager at Clear Channel

We had an issue with the Okta Workforce Identity dashboard once in 2023 when we had an outage, but it recovered in a few minutes.

reviewer2716083

Business Intelligence Developer at a consultancy with 51-200 employees

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.3

F5 BIG-IP APM scales for diverse deployments, offering flexibility and effective tools, though hardware limitations might challenge scalability.

Sentiment score

7.2

Okta Platform efficiently scales across diverse enterprises, ensuring high availability and seamless integration, though minor implementation challenges exist.

The product's flexibility and company culture contribute to resolving these challenges.

Business Development Manager at Pylones

I would rate the scalability of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) between seven and eight.

For more quotes and insights, download the F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) report

Solutions Manager at Macroview Telecom Limited

Scalability is handled because Okta Platform is a SaaS solution, so it is infinitely scalable.

reviewer9216065

Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

The scalability part of Okta Customer Identity is fine, there is no blocker and we can upgrade whenever we need.

Chetanya Sharma

IT Administrator at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Okta Platform report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.9

F5 BIG-IP APM is praised for reliability, performance, and minimal bugs, with minor suggestions for log clarity improvement.

Sentiment score

7.9

Okta Platform offers exceptional reliability with minimal downtime, achieving high uptime and user satisfaction due to responsive support.

On a scale from one to ten for stability, I would rate F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) a ten.

Solutions Manager at Macroview Telecom Limited

Sometimes, the logs are not quite informational or easy to understand.

For more quotes and insights, download the F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) report

Professional Services Specialist at a security firm with 51-200 employees

Okta Workforce Identity is a stable product.

reviewer2716083

Business Intelligence Developer at a consultancy with 51-200 employees

There are no doubts regarding the stability of Okta Customer Identity.

Reena Bhardwaj

Senior Quality Analyst at YASH Technologies

When you are doing basic things, it is straightforward, but if you are going to be doing workflows, other things, or recon and trust, then there is effort involved, and that is where it gets convoluted.

Vince Husenajr

CISO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Okta Platform report

Room For Improvement

F5 BIG-IP APM requires improvements in pricing, cloud integration, user interface, documentation, support, and additional features for enhanced performance.

Okta Platform needs better integration, UI, documentation, competitive pricing, on-prem options, security enhancements, provisioning, reporting, and support.

If I could copy and paste objects instead of picking and configuring them from scratch each time, it would be great.

Professional Services Specialist at a security firm with 51-200 employees

The main improvement needed for F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is to integrate into the cloud-delivered services from F5.

For more quotes and insights, download the F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) report

Business Development Manager at Pylones

The ability to run the Anycast feature would be valuable, as the current solution only operates on-premises.

SalihUcpinar

Senior Cyber Security Consultant at KoçSistem

If there was a fingerprint option, then only the person who has already added their fingerprint on their mobile phone could access it.

SumitMundik

Lead Admin Systems at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Since we started using it in 2019, we have observed numerous enhancements to increase security.

For more quotes and insights, download the Okta Platform report

IT Manager at Clear Channel

Integration with Active Directory servers, Cisco routers, and switches is not currently available.

reviewer1359222

Managing Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

SÜ

Setup Cost

F5 BIG-IP APM is costly but valued for high performance, with unpredictable cloud pricing and additional fees for features.

Okta Platform offers scalable per-user pricing, valued by large enterprises but can be costly for smaller companies and add-ons increase price.

F5 products are more expensive than other solutions but are valued for their quality and reliability.

For more quotes and insights, download the F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) report

Business Development Manager at Pylones

Despite the cost, it's cheaper than the potential financial loss from a security breach.

For more quotes and insights, download the Okta Platform report

IT Manager at Clear Channel

It is certainly not cheap, but the features that you get, the functionality that you get, and whatever use cases that you have, it definitely satisfies those.

reviewer9216065

Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Okta Customer Identity is considered cheaper compared to other tools in the market, such as IBM and CyberArk products.

reviewer1359222

Managing Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Valuable Features

F5 BIG-IP APM offers secure remote access with SSL VPN, multi-factor authentication, and comprehensive integration and security features.

Okta Platform enhances efficiency with user-friendly security, seamless access management, and integration, reducing IT overhead and infrastructure concerns.

APM is quite flexible for customers to use, providing secure remote access through various host-checking conditions for both machines and users.

Solutions Manager at Macroview Telecom Limited

It provides robust security and offers integration with multi-factor authentication systems, which is crucial for an organization's security policy.

Business Development Manager at Pylones

A lot of features are useful to me, including mostly the authentication, SAML, or SSO, with no sign-on.

For more quotes and insights, download the F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) report

Professional Services Specialist at a security firm with 51-200 employees

One of its most valuable features is its easy integration with various applications through its extensive application directory, offering hundreds or thousands of applications ready to configure.

For more quotes and insights, download the Okta Platform report

IT Manager at Clear Channel

It offers around eight thousand five hundred out-of-the-box connectors, providing an edge over other tools.

reviewer1359222

Managing Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

For the end user, it is beneficial as they do not have to remember a password or keep the password on a post-it for different applications; they just authenticate once to access several services and service providers.

reviewer2161110

Technical Team Lead at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Categories and Ranking

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Man...

Ranking in Access Management

10th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (15th), Network Access Control (NAC) (7th), SSL VPN (5th), Remote Access (10th)

Okta Platform

Ranking in Access Management

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Single Sign-On (SSO) (2nd), Authentication Systems (5th), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (5th), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (2nd), ZTNA as a Service (3rd), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (1st), AI IT Support (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Access Management category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is 2.1%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Okta Platform is 10.2%, down from 10.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Access Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Okta Platform	10.2%
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)	2.1%
Other	87.7%

Access Management

Featured Reviews

SÜ

SalihUcpinar

Senior Cyber Security Consultant at KoçSistem

Has provided reliable policy controls and secure web access for large enterprises

I consider Cloudflare when evaluating centralized access control features; Cloudflare utilizes multi-factor authentication and full API support, while F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) needs to enhance its API support. I recommend F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) for large companies such as Tüpraş and Ford. Tüpraş is one of the biggest companies in Turkey, along with other customers such as Tofaş, Euroko, Koç Holding, and more. For on-premises deployment, I would rate it a 10. For cloud deployment, I would rate it a seven. I primarily use it on-premises. I rate F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) eight out of ten.

Read full review

reviewer9216065

Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Centralized identity has streamlined zero trust access and automated user lifecycles

Okta Platform does what it promises that it does. It is certainly all cloud-based as a SaaS solution. For enterprises which really prefer to have their own identity within their own perimeter, Okta Platform might not be the solution they might look for. Of course, there are ways you can get your dedicated tenant, especially for governments and federal agencies and all of those things. I have not tried those use cases. I think Okta Platform is the best of the class and appears consistently at the top of the Gartner report and other research. Based on the use cases I had, I was fairly happy with it. The PAM capabilities and attribute-based access controls, ABAC, represent a new paradigm. How practical that is for enterprises to deploy largely depends upon the use cases. There is always room for improvement, and it is not just for Okta Platform but typically for every single customer identity provider. There are a lot of other things the biometric and FIDO and all of those which can certainly be improved. However, that is more of a technological constraint rather than the vendor itself.

Read full review

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882,260 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	9

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	41
Midsize Enterprise	21
Large Enterprise	44

Questions from the Community

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) is not user-friendly and operates slowly. Additional features for architecture such as Anycast would be beneficial. The ability to run the Anycast feature woul...

What do you like most about Okta Workforce Identity?

Okta has introduced the Universal Directory. It has custom attribute capability and user permissions to read/write on their profiles or hide them. Profile sources and identity profile sourcing are ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Okta Workforce Identity?

Pricing for Okta is reasonably not that much, however, I don't have access to the commercial aspect.

What needs improvement with Okta Workforce Identity?

Currently, in Okta Workforce Identity we get the two-digit authentication code. Instead of getting the two-digit authentication code, if we had an option to do fingerprint verification, that would ...

Ivanti Connect Secure vs F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Comparisons

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Fortinet FortiGate vs F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Compared 5% of the time

CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Compared 5% of the time

Citrix Gateway vs F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Compared 4% of the time

Symantec Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) vs F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Compared 4% of the time

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SailPoint Identity Security Cloud vs Okta Platform

Compared 7% of the time

Auth0 Platform vs Okta Platform

Compared 4% of the time

Saviynt Identity Cloud vs Okta Platform

Compared 4% of the time

Google Cloud Identity vs Okta Platform

Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

February 2026

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) report

Download F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) product report

Download Okta Platform product report

Okta Platform

January 2026

Also Known As

F5 Access Policy Manager

Okta Customer Identity, Workforce Identity

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 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.

Okta Platform provides comprehensive identity and access management, featuring Active Directory Sync, user management, and app auto-provisioning. It ensures security through single sign-on and adaptive multi-factor authentication.

Okta Platform offers advanced integration capabilities, allowing seamless connection with in-house and cloud applications. Security features are robust, incorporating multi-factor authentication and SSO to prevent unauthorized access. Users benefit from its ease of use and the ability to integrate and manage numerous applications effectively. While generally praised, users note areas for improvement, such as high costs and complex setups. Better integrations with on-premises systems and third-party tools are desired along with enhanced error logging and reporting features.

What are Okta's key features?

Active Directory Sync: Simplifies app management by synchronizing user directories.
Single Sign-On: Provides desktop SSO for easier access to multiple apps.
Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication: Offers robust security options for different scenarios.
Universal Directory: Supports flexible identity management and configuration.
Integration Capability: Enables connections with both in-house and SaaS applications.

What benefits do organizations find in Okta?

Enhanced Security: Multi-layered authentication to prevent unauthorized access.
Improved Efficiency: Streamlines user provisioning and app assignments.
Increased Compliance: Ensures secure access management aligning with IT policies.
Seamless Integration: Facilitates connections with various applications enhancing operational workflows.

Companies across industries implement Okta to secure user authentication and streamline onboarding processes. It supports access management for both on-premises and cloud applications, synchronizing directories and facilitating SaaS services. Organizations benefit from reduced credential management complexity and improved IT infrastructure compliance.

Okta

Sample Customers

City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office

FedEx, Zoom, Takeda, Lululemon Athletica, GrunHub, jetBlue, McKensson, Bain & Company, Engie, Peloton, Sonos, T-Mobile, Hewlett Packard, MGM Resorts, Ally Financial, Priceline, Albertsons, Itercom, Classy, FICO, Kensho, Live Nation, Drata, Rotary, and others.