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

F5 and SAP are both solutions in the Access Management category. F5 is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.3, while SAP is ranked #28. F5 holds a 2.0% mindshare in AM, compared to SAP’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of F5 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of SAP 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

SAP Access Control

Read 2 SAP Access Control reviews

288 Views
259 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Man...

SAP Access Control

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

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

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Okta, Ping Identity and others in Access Management.

To learn more, read our detailed Access Management Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Access Management

January 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:

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)

SAP Access Control

Ranking in Access Management

28th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

3.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

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 SAP Access Control is 0.7%, 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%
SAP Access Control	0.7%
Other	97.3%

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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reviewer2129061

Sap Its Workstream Manager at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Centralized access control has improved risk detection and streamlined multi-system user provisioning

Having one tool to populate many systems for one user is one of the most beneficial aspects of the product, along with the audit part. When using Firefighter, we could have information about what a user modified or did in production because we sometimes have to use an SU01 transaction, so in that case, we use Firefighter. The main benefit for me is that it is a global system to manage the user in many systems, and also the assessment of risk with GRC. We are using Access Request to onboard people. I see some potential improvements for stability because sometimes we do not know why the approval workflow of GRC stops in the middle. When we have a look in GRC, we see that the validation is finished, but that is not the case. Sometimes, we have to check and relaunch GRC. It helps in risk detection. The benefits of SAP Access Control's user permissions management are measured through the reports in GRC. Time savings are obvious. In one request, we are able to create a user in a different system, so it is a time saving. It is a money saving as well because the access manager spends less time creating a user in a different system.

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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

"Our organization is small - a college with about 3,500 students. We use F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager to protect our site, especially from the Iranian attacks we faced last year. We restrict access to only inside the country."

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

"The tool is reliable and easy to configure."

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

"Our customers have never complained about the stability"

"The load balancing features are valuable."

"The portal access was very good."

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

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

"It is an SAP product, so it integrates very well with other SAP products."

"Having one tool to populate many systems for one user is one of the most beneficial aspects of the product, along with the audit part."

Cons

"The initial setup was complex."

"We do not have knowledgeable support teams locally."

"The solution is quite costly."

"F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) does not have a direction for SaaS."

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

"The solution’s GUI looks very old."

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

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

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

"Because it took time to get advice on a tricky issue, the support from SAP could be better."

"It would be better if we could also manage other systems with it. Currently, you have to purchase plugins for it to work with other non-SAP systems. It would be good if there is an easy way to integrate SAP Access Control with other non-SAP systems."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is very expensive."

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

"Recently, they have simplified the licensing"

"The tool is a little bit expensive."

"It is a part of our package with SAP. There is no extra cost in addition to the license."

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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...

See all answers

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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

Cloudflare One vs SAP Access Control

Compared 67% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs SAP Access Control

Compared 33% of the time

More SAP Access Control 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

Access Management

January 2026

Download SAP Access Control product report

Also Known As

F5 Access Policy Manager

No data available

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.

As you begin your digital transformation journey, you need robust access governance technologies to bring digital services and applications to em-ployees and business partners without exposing sensitive information to the wrong eyes. Using the SAP Access Control application as the back-bone of access governance, you can automate and accelerate administration of user access while securing your applications, processes, and data against the risk of unauthorized use.

SAP

Sample Customers

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

Information Not Available

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Okta, Ping Identity and others in Access Management. Updated: January 2026.

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