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

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

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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

4.5

Portnox improves network security with efficient cloud-based management, reducing maintenance needs and offering quick policy control advantages.

No quotes available

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

If I compare this to an on-premises environment using Cisco ISE or Aruba ClearPass, it would require phenomenally large teams for infrastructure management.

reviewer9216065

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

If you were moving from a traditional on-premise NAC that was 100% managed by the IT department, there would be great savings in going to a cloud-based NAC with Portnox.

Jim Marx

IT Infrastructure Manager at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees

Most customers feel value immediately upon deployment.

Maurice Mwaura

Product Manager at Applied Principles Limited

For more quotes and insights, download the Portnox 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

6.9

Portnox's customer service is praised for responsiveness and helpfulness, though some suggest improvements in local services and partner training.

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

The main area needing improvement is the technical knowledge of support staff.

reviewer57439213

Senior Network Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For very high severity issues where the entire office is non-functional, response time is within 30 minutes.

reviewer9216065

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

They respond very immediately and provide detailed, amazing support.

Mueen Patel

Systems Analyst at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Portnox report

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

7.7

Portnox effectively scales for multiple deployments, supports thousands of endpoints, and adjusts easily, though large environments may need tweaks.

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

We have never had any challenge based on a customer who has 1,000 devices versus a customer who has 30,000 devices; the feel is the same.

Maurice Mwaura

Product Manager at Applied Principles Limited

They ensure the backend can support it and do the provisioning while maintaining headroom and elasticity.

reviewer9216065

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

I rate scalability a ten; you simply pay and you get more.

reviewer5943182

Network And Security Engineer at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Portnox 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

7.4

Portnox is generally reliable, with high stability ratings, but experiences occasional glitches and recommends improved update communication.

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

The product itself is available and its uptime is 100%.

Mueen Patel

Systems Analyst at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees

In the four years that I used Portnox, if it crashed or the server crashed, that would not have been more than once.

Raphael Egbue

Information Technology System Administrator at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

If there is a version one and another version, the communication between the organization using it and Portnox should be firm so they can coordinate effectively.

reviewer2760114

Windows Server Administrator/ IT Support Officer at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Portnox report

Room For Improvement

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

Portnox users seek better integration, interface improvements, flexible configuration, enhanced reporting, and reduced cloud reliance for on-premises solutions.

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

Ideally, we should be able to search for any MAC address in the database, regardless of its authentication status, to see all its associated groups and potential conflicts.

Scott Kerr

President at TrackerSoft

When I reach the technical support, they give solutions that do not help me much, so I try to search the internet for other users' experiences to find solutions.

Mohammad Shadid

IT Project Manager at Xpress technologies

When I'm doing filtering at times, it doesn't filter the items properly.

Mueen Patel

Systems Analyst at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Portnox report

SÜ

Setup Cost

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

Portnox offers competitive, transparent pricing under $20 per device annually, though opinions on affordability vary among users.

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

If you compare Portnox with all other well-known standard products, it is the cheapest.

Gopal Mehrotra

IT Network Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees

The pricing is a bit high, possibly due to the cloud features and running instances across regions like the US, Asia, and Europe.

Scott Kerr

President at TrackerSoft

You are charged according to the number of users.

reviewer57439213

Senior Network Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Portnox report

Valuable Features

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

Portnox provides agentless, scalable network visibility and security with easy management and integration, streamlining access control and operational efficiency.

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

It's notable how Portnox has improved operational efficiency.

Gopal Mehrotra

IT Network Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees

It is a very robust application because three teams use that part: the network team, the security team, and the support people.

reviewer2760114

Windows Server Administrator/ IT Support Officer at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

It is possible to find the MAC address in the switch, but in Portnox, it is very useful to see the status of those ports, and that increases our security.

Bruno Jose

Assistant System Engineer at Tata Consultancy

For more quotes and insights, download the Portnox report

Categories and Ranking

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Man...

Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (13th), SSL VPN (5th), Remote Access (11th), Access Management (11th)

Portnox

Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)

6th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

ZTNA (8th), Passwordless Authentication (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is 1.4%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Portnox is 5.4%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Portnox	5.4%
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)	1.4%
Other	93.2%

Network Access Control (NAC)

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.

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Maurice Mwaura

Product Manager at Applied Principles Limited

Unified access control has improved compliance visibility and simplified passwordless access

There is work to be done when it comes to making the solution more seamless. For example, when a user is denied access, they would need a way to maybe self-resolve themselves, perhaps a way to generate a ticket on their own, something around resolutions. When it comes to users using the product, that is where good products are differentiated from products that are a bit of a challenge. Portnox has much to do in terms of their reporting. The generated reports need improvement. Things that other tools would say are normal are usually not present. For example, there is a page called NAS devices or NAS network that is able to show the switches that have been managed. Currently, there is no way of generating an easy report or an easy way of just generating something to tell the customer what they have been able to achieve so far. This is not done yet and is still very manual. I think there is work to be done there. More integrations around the various products being used would be beneficial. So far I have not encountered any major challenge. Where there was a challenge, I think support came in and helped us resolve. In fact, most of the challenges are not with the product; they are with the customer environment. I think that is just to update their documentation where they have come across a new vendor for easier integrations in the future.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

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	15
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	9

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Portnox Clear?

Portnox's pricing is very conservative and offers great value for money. If I compare it with any other solution, pricing is definitely at the top of the list because it is very affordable. Pricing...

What needs improvement with Portnox Clear?

In Portnox, the area that has room for improvement is that older data is not fetching correctly. For an older switch, for example, a six-month-old switch that we just added, it does not happen to e...

What is your primary use case for Portnox Clear?

My use case for Portnox is for whitelisting ports and adding policies. We are using two modes: enforce mode and monitoring mode. For monitoring, we are using some smaller switches, just some busine...

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Compared 13% of the time

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Product Reports

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

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

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) report

Portnox

Download Portnox product report

Also Known As

F5 Access Policy Manager

Access Layers Portnox, Portnox CLEAR

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Portnox Security

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.

Portnox provides advanced network visibility and proactive security without complexity, ensuring easy setup and scalability. Its agentless nature and intuitive design enable seamless device management and system integration, promoting efficient network operations and endpoint security.

Portnox is known for offering comprehensive network access control, providing firms with vital tools for managing authentication and securing endpoint devices. It's praised for ease of use in integrating with systems such as RADIUS servers and offering detailed analytical capabilities to ensure compliance and control unauthorized access. While users appreciate the intuitive interface and device management, improvements have been suggested in the areas of better GUI, integration with firewalls, and enhanced configuration methods. Portnox aids in handling dynamic VLAN assignments and securing access in both wired and wireless networks, proving particularly valuable for on-premises and remote environments.

What are the key features of Portnox?

Network Visibility: Offers comprehensive oversight of network activities.
Agentless Setup: Ensures easy implementation with minimal disruption.
Compliance Checks: Provides tools for compliance verification and incident reporting.
Integration: Seamlessly connects with existing IT systems for efficient management.

What benefits should users look for?

Enhanced Security: Prioritizes proactive measures to secure endpoints.
Easy Management: Facilitates straightforward device handling and network control.
Efficiency: Streamlines network operations for better performance.
Scalability: Adapts to organizational growth without complexities.

In industries where network security is paramount, such as finance and healthcare, Portnox is implemented to fortify access control and manage endpoint connections effectively. Its ability to secure both on-premises and remote environments makes it a versatile choice across sectors that require stringent access management, particularly where unauthorized device connections pose significant risks.

Portnox Security

Sample Customers

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

Data Realty, Royal London, Wales Millennium Centre, McLaren Construction Group, EL AL Israeli Airlines,

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