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

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

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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 SSL VPN

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (17th), Network Access Control (NAC) (8th), Remote Access (10th), Access Management (10th)

SonicWall SMA

Ranking in SSL VPN

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

8.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Universal Access Gateways (2nd), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (20th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the SSL VPN category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is 12.8%, down from 16.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall SMA is 5.1%, up from 3.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

SSL VPN

Featured Reviews

Ashish Kumar Rai

Associate Network Engineer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees

Offers remote access control, good GUI and easy to configure

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. In the APM interface itself, they could add direct hyperlinks to relevant online documentation. This would provide easy access to admin guides and other resources when working within the GUI.

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Maheshbabu T

Project Manager at CGG

It allows us to provide CML-based access to any user, but the reporting could be better

I rate SonicWall SMA seven out of 10. If you're planning to implement this solution, I suggest checking the version to ensure it's compatible with your other technology. I say go for it if it's suitable for your use case. Multifactor authentication technologies are built into the product, whereas some products lack multifactor authentication. We need only one or two. They provide authentication, gateway integration, OTP integration, etc.

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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

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

"The solution is stable and reliable."

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

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

"The performance of the solution is valuable."

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

"The load balancing features are valuable."

"I rate the overall solution nine out of ten."

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

"I think they ask for a fair price."

"Blocklisting and allowlisting are the most beneficial features for network security."

"This solution has many options for remote desktop and access."

"I like the load balancing capability."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is they have IT consultants that know SonicWall."

"SonicWall SMA allows us to provide CML-based access to any user."

"I am very satisfied with the technical support."

"What I like best about SonicWall SMA is the relationship between its features and its price, because the solution is both affordable and functional."

More SonicWall SMA pros

Cons

"The operational deployment is not great."

"The solution is quite costly."

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

"I have had a lot of issues in the past few months with the agents, which was disappointing."

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

"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."

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

"Cloud services are something that F5 Access Policy Manager could do better"

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

"Enhancing live tracking capabilities could improve the product, particularly in monitoring user activity and request statuses in real-time on the web interface."

"SonicWall's reporting isn't good. Reports should be part of a data plan. The login mechanism should be improved. It would be helpful if the client could use an agent to log in. An agent-server model would improve the performance of the RDB, which consumes a lot of bandwidth."

"The overall menu is not very user-friendly and it could be easier."

"The only thing that they could try to improve is the support for enterprise customers. Normally enterprises and SMBs can create a ticket, but for enterprises, SonicWall SMA needs to provide a global view, and this is what's currently missing. It's not even a question of timing. It's a question of the global vision because currently, it's lacking. They concentrate on the topic, but not on the means and not on the global picture. In most cases, there's something wrong with the integration of SonicWall SMA with other products, so that could also be improved."

"The solution could integrate better with other platforms."

"The product itself is very good, but Dell needs to work on product visibility in their advertising."

"I'd like to see the product maybe polish keyboards in Bookmark."

"The problem is that when combined with what the client already has, there are two different logins and two different management systems, and these should be consolidated into a single interface."

More SonicWall SMA cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Recently, they have simplified the licensing"

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

"The product is very expensive."

"The tool is a little bit expensive."

"This solution is priced well and we currently have the maximum number of licenses allowed."

"The cost of the licensing is based on the maximum number of concurrent users, and it costs a lot to add them."

"All the costs are included in a bundled license."

"The platform has medium pricing."

"Our licenses are stackable and can be anywhere from five users to a million users."

"I don't know about the pricing of the SSL-VPN box. I know the SSL-VPN software is free. Global VPN client, by comparison, is licensed for around $150 or something like that. But the SSL-VPN software is free. It is already built-in with the box."

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849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

10%

Computer Software Company

18%

Construction Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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 ( /categories/application-performance-monitoring-apm-and-observability )) does not have a direction for SaaS. Most solutions focus more on remote access and acc...

What do you like most about SonicWall SMA?

Blocklisting and allowlisting are the most beneficial features for network security.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall SMA?

The platform has medium pricing.

What needs improvement with SonicWall SMA?

Enhancing live tracking capabilities could improve the product, particularly in monitoring user activity and request statuses in real-time on the web interface.

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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

SonicWall SMA

Download SonicWall SMA product report

Also Known As

F5 Access Policy Manager

SonicWall Aventail, SonicWall SMA SSL-VPN, SonicWall Secure Mobile 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.

SonicWall SMA is a unified secure access gateway that enables organizations to provide anytime, anywhere and any device access to mission critical corporate resources. SMA's granular access control policy engine, context aware device authorization, application level VPN and advanced authentication with single sign-on empowers organizations to embrace BYOD and mobility in a hybrid IT environment.

SonicWall

Sample Customers

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

UnitedStack, Newport City Homes, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, PRIME aerostructures GmbH, Celtic Manor Resort

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