Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs Ivanti Connect Secure 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 Local Traffic Man...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
124
Ranking in other categories
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (1st)
Ivanti Connect Secure
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (3rd), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) and Ivanti Connect Secure 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 14.3%, down 15.6% compared to last year.
Ivanti Connect Secure, on the other hand, focuses on SSL VPN, holds 16.5% mindshare, down 24.0% since last year.
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)14.3%
NetScaler12.7%
Fortinet FortiADC9.7%
Other63.3%
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
SSL VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Ivanti Connect Secure16.5%
Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect)11.2%
Citrix Gateway11.0%
Other61.3%
SSL VPN
 

Featured Reviews

edshyaa - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at Stryker
Load balancing has improved traffic distribution and currently supports high availability upgrades
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) offers effective load balancing methods that help distribute traffic across our servers, whether we have two or several. This load balancing feature stands out as it is the fundamental work we do with F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM). While I recognize there are many features, such as iRules, which I have not explored yet, we primarily work on VIPs, pool members, and traffic distribution. The load balancing algorithms' flexibility makes them very useful for our team, enabling us to choose different servers and manage load effectively. We use various methods based on user or application requirements, making the algorithms set up by F5 in the backend quite helpful. F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) positively impacts our organization primarily through its load balancing capabilities. We avoid traffic overload on individual servers by placing backend servers behind F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) VIP. This load balancing helps us manage traffic effectively. Since the configuration of the I-series, we have had smooth performance, and with the recent migration to the R-series, it is working faster than before, providing positive outcomes for our operations. Since moving to the R-series, I notice improved performance; it is user-friendly and handles traffic efficiently. The upgrading process is different as we create tenants and a main host. R-series has better CPU and memory, leading to higher throughput with minimal downtime, making it a significant improvement over the I-series.
Kaushlendra Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager - IT Infrastructure and Network at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Provides secure and simple remote access but needs improved reporting capabilities
Ivanti Connect Secure is simple and secure, making it valuable for our organization. Ivanti Connect Secure's access control feature provides global protect, which allows country-wise blocking. There are many access controls available, and policies can be created on a host basis and on the MAC address of assets that will connect. Firewall versions and OS versions can be defined, and only devices meeting these criteria can connect to the VPN. These features are effective, along with MFA. Ivanti Connect Secure is a client-based, agent-based solution, so if the agent is installed, users are able to connect to the network. Ivanti Connect Secure utilizes identity-based LDAP authentication. Ivanti Connect Secure is very effective for remote access for remote workers.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Global DNS, Link Controller, and Server Load Balancer provide our company service with high availability."
"I've worked a little bit with iRules and it is amazing."
"Users can see a remarkable performance difference from a qualitative sense."
"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."
"It is the centerpiece of a lot of the solutions that we build, and it has integrated with everything that we have needed it to."
"The most valuable feature is the proxy."
"The impact of SSL offloading on reducing server load and latency is very much positive because whatever traffic we receive, we encrypt at our F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) level, which has definitely reduced the additional load and SSL decryption load on the servers, so it has very much helped us and it is very smooth; it will not take much time and will not impact our regular traffic."
"The occasion in which we needed technical support, we didn't have problems with them, because they always answered our questions without any trouble."
"We can now provide remote access to home users."
"The new UI that they are providing right now is very good."
"The flexibility in their management is great."
"It's quite stable."
"This solution enables secure connections for our engineers to work from home or other locations."
"For us, there was no other product better than that."
"Ivanti Connect Secure provides the feature to check and ensure that employee devices are compliant before allowing them to access the VPN."
"The solution helps with principal decisions. It also helps with the security and configuration of many technologies."
 

Cons

"If they made it easier for engineers to get F5 training then it would be better."
"They need to improve the interface and some of the functionalities."
"One improvement could be updating the user interface (UI)."
"From a cost perspective, I agreed to analyze the standards in terms of load balancing. However, the cost that they have with AWS are almost prohibitive."
"Technical support could be improved."
"When WAF is enabled, you can see a decrease in performance."
"Scaling up is complex. It's expensive."
"Technical support could be improved."
"The user experience has room for improvement."
"It could be more user-friendly and not as complicated as it is right now."
"Pulse Connect Secure could improve the speed at which it connects. It is slow at the moment."
"An area for improvement in Pulse Connect Secure is the concurrent connections, particularly needing a license if you want to use Pulse Connect Secure with your Microsoft or Windows machine."
"Currently, I'm not aware of a new or additional feature that's needed in Pulse Connect Secure, but it would be good if the team could look at how the speed of connection could be increased."
"Connection-wise, Pulse Connect Secure could be faster, and this is its area for improvement."
"Pulse Connect Secure could improve the reporting, it is lacking in detail and should take the report automatically."
"The stability could be better. There are sometimes bugs in the system."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When we purchased additional licenses for our other locations, we received a discount of between 20% and 25%."
"BIG-IP LTM is considered a premium product, so it's quite expensive and isn't affordable for all customers."
"I am a fan of using AWS natively. It is much cheaper."
"The licensing model of F5 BIG-IP LTM is highly complex. The operation cost of the solution is high. The overall cost is high."
"If your IT budget is good, go for it."
"In my view, the cost is somewhat on the higher side. There are discounts available, but I wouldn't say it's overpriced. It's not cheap either, and the value for money is a bit higher from that perspective."
"Security should be involved in any base license. When you bring on F5, you only have default license. Then, the ASM product license has to be purchased. It would be great if F5 could include the ASM in the base license."
"The licensing strategy for F5 is good."
"The cost of the product is high, but worth it because of the utility and great product support."
"Pulse Connect Secure is relatively cost-effective."
"A license is required for you to use Pulse Connect Secure, but I'm not aware of how much it costs."
"The pricing for Pulse Connect Secure is not low and not high, so it's good. It's a six out of ten for me, price-wise."
"The pricing is quite nominal. We pay on a yearly basis."
"The price of Pulse Connect Secure is expensive."
"I rate the product price a six to seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) solutions are best for your needs.
884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business62
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise86
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise19
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP?
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) could improve file upload speeds when opening cases and attaching files; sometimes, downloading files like QKView takes time, depending on size. I expect faste...
What is your primary use case for F5 BIG-IP?
My main use case for F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is placing our applications on F5 and the backend servers on the pool. We also regularly renew SSL certificates before they expire, usuall...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pulse Connect Secure?
Ivanti has always been known to be pricey, making it a rather high-cost solution.
What needs improvement with Pulse Connect Secure?
The reporting capabilities of Ivanti Connect Secure are not strong; the format is simple, and obtaining a detailed report is difficult and requires manual work. Regarding points for improvement, th...
What is your primary use case for Pulse Connect Secure?
Ivanti Connect Secure is used for both applications and for the RDP of our server.
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc.
Axcient, Baloise Group, Cygate, Catholic University of America, Datec Inc, Revlon, Santa Monica Networks, 7-Eleven
Find out what your peers are saying about F5, NetScaler, HAProxy and others in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC). Updated: March 2026.
884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.