F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs Safe-T Secure Application Access comparison

F5 and Safe-T are both solutions in the Access Management category. F5 is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.3, while Safe-T is ranked #29. F5 holds a 2.0% mindshare in AM, compared to Safe-T’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of F5 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Safe-T users who would recommend it.

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Man...

Read 18 F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) reviews

2,814 Views
619 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Safe-T Secure Application A...

Read 8 Safe-T Secure Application Access reviews

668 Views
214 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Man...

Safe-T Secure Application A...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 2024

Safe-T Secure Application Access and F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) are compared based on features, areas for improvement, ease of deployment and customer service, and pricing and ROI. F5 BIG-IP APM is considered superior in terms of advanced features and user satisfaction, while Safe-T is commended for competitive pricing and support.

Features: Safe-T Secure Application Access is praised for strong secure access capabilities, ease of integration, and competitive pricing. F5 BIG-IP APM stands out with comprehensive policy enforcement, flexibility, and extensive functionalities.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest Safe-T Secure Application Access could benefit from better scalability options, enhanced performance, and additional features. F5 BIG-IP APM receives feedback for complexity, a high level of expertise required for efficient use, and a steep learning curve.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Safe-T Secure Application Access is noted for its straightforward deployment process and responsive customer service. F5 BIG-IP APM offers robust customer support but is seen as more complex to deploy.

Pricing and ROI: Safe-T Secure Application Access is recognized for its cost-effective setup and potential for high ROI. F5 BIG-IP APM is viewed as more expensive but justified by its feature set, with users finding the investment worthwhile due to its rich performance benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. Safe-T Secure Application Access Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. Safe-T Secure Application Access

December 2025

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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:

Categories and Ranking

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Man...

Ranking in Access Management

9th

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)

Safe-T Secure Application A...

Ranking in Access Management

29th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (44th), ZTNA (20th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Access Management category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is 2.0%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Safe-T Secure Application Access is 0.9%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Access Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)	2.0%
Safe-T Secure Application Access	0.9%
Other	97.1%

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.

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it_user787671

Network and Security Engineer

Needs to be easier to configure and to display logs more simply

We use only it for scanning files for viruses. That's the only feature we use in this product It needs to be easier to configure, it should be something that's working well with other sources. It should be something that allows me to see the logs simply. One to three years. Sometimes it doesn't…

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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

"The performance of the solution is valuable."

"The product allows us to create customized portals for your users."

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

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

"F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) provides excellent WAF and bot defense solutions."

"Stickiness is the most valuable feature of the product."

"The solution is stable and reliable."

"F5 BIG-IP APM is relatively easy to use."

More F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) pros

"If you want a very flexible system that you can easily integrate, and develop interfaces for it or plug-ins to other application environments, it's probably the most flexible"

"Safe-T is very good for users because it has plug-in for Outlook."

"It's easy to use over the web. A user who is not in the office can use it and securely insert files."

"the security level is very high. After we tested it and checked all the security aspects of the product, we found that it's highly secure."

Cons

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

"F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager has room for improvement in integration with other products."

"I'd suggest improved documentation integration directly within the GUI. Right now, finding comprehensive documentation often requires going to external websites like the community portal."

"Integrating identity providers and single sign-on solutions can simplify user authentication and access control."

"The technical support’s response time must be improved."

"F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is not user-friendly and operates slowly."

"The price of this product can be improved."

"Regarding price, I'm not directly involved in purchasing, but our CIO thinks the product is very expensive. He's considering moving from the tool to Citrix NetScaler WAF because it's cheaper, and we already have Citrix for VDI. We got NetScaler almost free as part of our VDI deal. Three years ago, I convinced him to use the solution because it's better, but now, with budget constraints, he may want to switch."

More F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) cons

"One important thing that we haven't found in this product is the ability to provide a read-only view for documents. Also, the ability for the customer to add annotations to these documents."

"The Outlook agent is not working well for installing it in the entire office."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is very expensive."

"The tool is a little bit expensive."

"Recently, they have simplified the licensing"

"I rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten."

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

Computer Software Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

No data available

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

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Comparisons

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

Compared 6% of the time

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

Compared 5% of the time

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

Compared 5% of the time

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

Compared 5% of the time

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Compared 4% of the time

More F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) Competitors

CyberArk Identity vs Safe-T Secure Application Access

Compared 32% of the time

Okta Platform vs Safe-T Secure Application Access

Compared 20% of the time

GoAnywhere MFT vs Safe-T Secure Application Access

Compared 14% of the time

IBM Sterling File Gateway vs Safe-T Secure Application Access

Compared 12% of the time

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs Safe-T Secure Application Access

Compared 11% of the time

More Safe-T Secure Application Access Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

January 2026

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) report

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

Buyer's Guide

Safe-T Secure Application Access

January 2026

Download Safe-T Secure Application Access product report

Also Known As

F5 Access Policy Manager

Safe-T SDA, Safe-T, Safe-T Software-Defined Access

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.

Safe-T is a provider of Zero Trust Access solutions which mitigate attacks on enterprises’ business-critical services and sensitive data, while ensuring uninterrupted business continuity.

Safe-T’s cloud and on-premises solutions ensure that an organization’s access use cases, whether into the organization or from the organization out to the internet, are secured according to the “validate first, access later” philosophy of Zero Trust.

This means that no one is trusted by default from inside or outside the network, and verification is required from everyone trying to gain access to resources on the network or in the cloud.

Safe-T’s wide range of access solutions reduce organizations’ attack surface and improve their ability to defend against modern cyberthreats. As an additional layer of security, our integrated business-grade global proxy solution cloud service enables smooth and efficient traffic flow, interruption-free service, unlimited concurrent connections, instant scaling and simple integration with our services.

With Safe-T’s patented reverse-access technology and proprietary routing technology, organizations of all size and type can secure their data, services and networks against internal and external threats.

At Safe-T, we empower enterprises to safely migrate to the cloud and enable digital transformation.

Safe-T

Sample Customers

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

Government of Israel, eviCore Healthcore, Glen Imaging, Sarin, LBG, Rollomatic, Boegli-Gravures SA, Banque Heritage, Groupe Minoteries, Temenos, ZEK, RLM Finsbury, Harel Insurance, Meitav Dash

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. Safe-T Secure Application Access

December 2025

Free Report: F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. Safe-T Secure Application Access

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