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

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
15th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (19th), Network Access Control (NAC) (11th), SSL VPN (7th), Remote Access (18th)
SAP Access Control
Ranking in Access Management
20th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
3.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Access Management category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is 2.6%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Access Control is 0.9%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Access Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)2.6%
SAP Access Control0.9%
Other96.5%
Access Management
 

Featured Reviews

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.
reviewer2129061 - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I recommend F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) to others due to its reliability, and it is perceived as critical to security infrastructure."
"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."
"F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) provides excellent WAF and bot defense solutions."
"This is a product that is easy to install and integrate, and it is simple to use."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"F5 is great for handling complex issues, and most of our big customers, including banks and insurance companies, like it because it's such a robust platform that enables them to do almost anything."
"The most valuable feature is the virtual IP creation. It's our most frequently used feature."
"The product allows us to create customized portals for your users."
"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 operational deployment is not great and can be improved."
"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."
"I have had a lot of issues in the past few months with the agents, which was disappointing."
"The solution is quite costly."
"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."
"F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) does not have a direction for SaaS."
"If I could copy and paste objects instead of picking and configuring them from scratch each time, it would be great."
"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."
"Because it took time to get advice on a tricky issue, the support from SAP could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is very expensive."
"I rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten."
"The tool is a little bit expensive."
"Recently, they have simplified the licensing"
"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
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
8%
Construction Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise9
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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 primary use case for F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?
I am using F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) along with Bot Management, API Gateway, API Security, and F5 Cloud. I am using F5 Advanced WAF, but I switch between ZTNA solutions such as FortiSAS...
What needs improvement with SAP Access Control?
SAP Access Control is quite complex. The complexity arises because we need a GRC specialist to set up the connection between GRC and the other system. We also spend time doing some specific configu...
What is your primary use case for SAP Access Control?
The major use case for SAP Access Control is to create an end-user account, and the second purpose is to check the Separation of Duties risk and the risk on our roles and authorizations. Having one...
What advice do you have for others considering SAP Access Control?
We do work with some other SAP products. We are using SAP Access Control with the GRC Access Control product. We are also using the module for Separation of Duties and the Firefighter module. It is...
 

Also Known As

F5 Access Policy Manager
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. SAP Access Control and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.