F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security comparison

The compared F5 and Imperva solutions aren't in the same category. F5 is ranked #2 in ADC , with an average rating of 8.6, and holds a 15.4% mindshare in the category. Imperva is ranked #2 in DS , with an average rating of 7.7, and holds a 30.7% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of F5 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Imperva users who would recommend it.

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...

Read 121 F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) reviews

6,644 Views
5,506 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Imperva SecureSphere Databa...

Read 55 Imperva SecureSphere Database Security reviews

3,730 Views
2,382 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...

Imperva SecureSphere Databa...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) and Imperva SecureSphere Database Security based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about NetScaler, F5, HAProxy and others in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC).

To learn more, read our detailed Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

April 2025

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Helped 849,686 peers since 2012

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 Local Traffic Man...

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

121

Ranking in other categories

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (2nd)

Imperva SecureSphere Databa...

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Database Security (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) and Imperva SecureSphere Database Security aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is designed for Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) and holds a mindshare of 15.4%, down 15.9% compared to last year.
Imperva SecureSphere Database Security, on the other hand, focuses on Database Security, holds 30.7% mindshare, down 32.4% since last year.

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

Database Security

Q&A Highlights

Madhav Karki

Network/System Engineer at NA

May 11, 2020

What is the performance parameter of Imperva X10K versus BIG-IP i2600?

Performance parameters if of Imperva X10K and BIG-IP i2600 may be checked in the following links: https://www.imperva.com/resources/datasheets/Imperva-DS-SECURESPHERE-APPLIANCE-Web092118-1.pdf https://www.f5.com/pdf/products/big-ip-platforms-datasheet.pdf One of the most important parameters being checked for both is their throughput and mutually they have 10G throughput.

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Featured Reviews

Bonieber Orofeo

Information Security Manager at Chong Hua Hospital

Identifying compromised traffic and securing data has been a significant advantage

One of the most beneficial features of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) ( /products/f5-big-ip-local-traffic-manager-ltm-reviews ) is its ability to identify compromised traffic and its capabilities in authentication. Additionally, the security aspect of it provides a significant advantage as it helps us secure our data, which is a major investment and benefit for us. Before using this system, we had difficulties in storing our data and managing the traffic that comes in and out.

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Andrew_Kampolo

Senior Manager at Zamtel (Zambia Telecommunications Company Limited)

The fine-grained auditing available on the platform makes life easier and helps explain anything happening in your database

Imperva's most valuable features are ease of use and log correlation. I also like the ability to trace activity from the host machine to the server access, the user details, and the exact query that they executed. If a database administrator or application process executes a query on the database, people know exactly what was executed, including all the variables. For example, it will tell you how many rows they were trying to select on which table, and you get the OS information, network details, IPs, and the user. That fine-grained auditing available on the platform makes life easier and helps explain anything happening in your database.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Initial setup was straightforward. We were up and running in three hours."

"The product is quite flexible."

"If I were to choose one key feature in particular, perhaps it would be the iRule feature. It’s a really versatile tool."

"The most valuable features of the solution are in the area of DDoS and WAF."

"There is a lot of documentation available."

"F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) improves the resilience and quality of the application itself, the speed and the user experience for the application. The data that the users need from the application is actually acquired faster. So, it provides faster data acquisition."

"I think F5's tech support may be better than Citrix's because they mainly focus on the ADC product, but Citrix support covers Hypervisor, XenMobile, FAS, and ADC. And from my experience, sometimes, we face some issues that Citrix cannot handle."

"F5 BIG-IP is used with good applications and functions as an application firewall with additional features. We will not use any feature or any service unless there is a business case and there is a need for implementation."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) pros

"This is a stable product."

"The discovery module provides good visibility."

"The beauty of it is that it provides segregation of duties. Typically, in the traditional environment, DBAs administer the database, and they have too much access. We are in the process of implementing other Oracle solutions, and it brings some kind of segregation. Just because someone is a DBA does not mean that he or she should have access to all of the data. Some of the data can be masked so that privacy and security are enhanced, especially when it is customer data for an institution like a bank."

"The initial setup is very simple."

"The most valuable feature is the automatic reports on new databases, which gives us up-to-date inventory management."

"The performance of the solution is good."

"It has a user-friendly interface. It is a stable and scalable product."

"The most valuable features of Imperva SecureSphere Database Security are vulnerability assessment, enrichment security policy, and security"

More Imperva SecureSphere Database Security pros

Cons

"For a future release, I would like to see more features in the cloud."

"I would like to see F-5 implement a regular routing like in other Linux-based devices. When we try and integrate in some complex networks, we have to use some additional routing scenarios from a Layer 3 perspective, then we have some problems. It would be great if this were fixed somehow."

"The price needs improvement as it is quite costly."

"There are some aspects of F5 BIG-IP that could be improved, the main one being virtual machine support. We have seen that even with the virtual editions, there are some things that we would like to do that are currently not possible with virtual machines."

"I wouldn't recommend the tool to small companies, considering its high price and the infrastructure needs of small businesses."

"The analytics should provide insight into latency across various traffic routes and virtual servers."

"It is a hardware load balancer, and its installation procedure is more complex than a software load balancer. There are pros and cons of using hardware load balancing. You have to have specific hardware deployed in your data center to activate this load balancer. They never came up with any software-based load balancing solution. It is all hardware-based."

"The GUI needs improvement."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) cons

"Reporting could be improved."

"The solution is expensive."

"Technical support for this solution needs improvement."

"There is sometimes lost communication and it can take a lot of troubleshooting to solve."

"Imperva SecureSphere Database Security can improve something in all the versions I have used."

"The interface is not user-friendly."

"Once we read the activity logs on the platform, we cannot open them anywhere else as they are stored in a proprietary format."

"Some cloud versions are not supported by the agent."

More Imperva SecureSphere Database Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It was probably a one-time purchase and then you have maintenance, but I don't have the details on that. We bought what they called the Best bundle at the time, which pretty much included all of the modules. There was probably no additional cost afterward."

"Our company pays for the licensing cost on a yearly basis. Also, there are no extra costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"I would recommend that the cost be lowered."

"It is a little pricey. I wish the pricing was cheaper, but I wish the pricing was cheaper for everything."

"If your IT budget is good, go for it."

"It could be priced a little less, especially on the virtual side. It gets a bit expensive, but you get what you pay."

"The price is high."

"Unless the price difference is large, this is not the primary concern for the product. The performance and product-related issues (secure for VPN, multi-function for network device, etc.) are the keys."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) pricing and cost advice

"This is an expensive solution and the price should be reduced."

"The pricing over-all depends on the entry level. For example, if support and maintenance are about $20,000 - $25,000, the initial cost can be five times more. It is less expensive for the company to maintain the client than to make the deployment."

"It is very expensive."

"It is quite expensive. We wanted it in my former organization, but the price was very high. So, we couldn't purchase it. I moved to a different organization, and this organization has purchased it."

"Licensing fees are on a yearly basis, and it is a good value for the money."

"The pricing is reasonable and competitive."

"The product’s price is reasonable compared to other products."

"The product is expensive."

More Imperva SecureSphere Database Security pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

28%

Computer Software Company

15%

Insurance Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP?

The price needs improvement as it is quite costly.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for F5 BIG-IP?

We're using F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) ( /products/f5-big-ip-local-traffic-manager-ltm-reviews ) for our applications and for managing our incoming and outgoing traffic.

See all answers

What do you like most about F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)?

The solution is robust and reliable.

See all answers

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?

My recommendation is Imperva.

See all answers

How does IBM Guardium Data Protection compare with Imperva SecureSphere Database Security?

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is a solution for database security from IBM that gives complete visibility, control, and analysis to secure sensitive data and comply with regulations. IBM S...

See all answers

What do you like most about Imperva SecureSphere Database Security?

The tool's pricing is flexible and affordable for small and medium enterprises.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 20% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 8% of the time

NetScaler vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 8% of the time

HAProxy vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 8% of the time

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IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

Compared 62% of the time

Oracle Audit Vault vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

Compared 20% of the time

DataSunrise Database Security vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

Compared 8% of the time

Trustwave DbProtect vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

Compared 5% of the time

jSonar vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

Compared 2% of the time

More Imperva SecureSphere Database Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

April 2025

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) report

Download F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) product report

Buyer's Guide

Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

April 2025

Imperva SecureSphere Database Security report

Download Imperva SecureSphere Database Security product report

Also Known As

F5 BIG-IP, BIG-IP LTM, F5 ASM, Viprion, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition , Crescendo Networks Application Delivery Controller, BIG IP

No data available

Overview

F5 BIG-IP LTM optimizes the speed and reliability of your apps via both network and application layers. Using real-time protocol and traffic management decisions based on app and server and connection management conditions, and TCP and content offloading, BIG-IP LTM dramatically improves application and infrastructure responsiveness. BIG-IP LTM's architecture includes protocol awareness to control traffic for the most important applications. BIG-IP LTM tracks the dynamic performance levels of servers and delivers SSL performance and visibility for inbound and outbound traffic, to protect the user experience by encrypting everything from the client to the server.

BIG-IP LTM provides enterprise-class Application Delivery Controller (ADC). You get granular layer 7 control, SSL offloading and acceleration capabilities, and advanced scaling technologies that deliver performance and reliability on-demand. The highly optimized TCP/IP stack combines TCP/IP techniques and improvements in the latest RFCs with extensions to minimize the effect of congestion and packet loss and recovery. Independent testing tools and customer experiences show LTM's TCP stack delivers up to a 2x performance gain for users and a 4x increase in bandwidth efficiency.

Imperva SecureSphere Database Security:

Audits all access to sensitive data.
Alerts or blocks database attacks and unauthorized activities, in real time.
Detects and virtually patches database vulnerabilities.
Identifies excessive user rights and dormant users, and enables a complete rights review cycle.
Accelerates incident response and forensics investigations with advanced analytics.

Imperva

Sample Customers

Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc.

BlueCross BlueShield, eHarmony, EMF Broadcasting, GE Healthcare, Metro Bank, The Motley Fool, Siemens

Buyer's Guide

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

April 2025

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