F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs SonicWall SMA comparison

The compared F5 and SonicWall solutions aren't in the same category. F5 is ranked #2 in ADC , with an average rating of 8.7, and holds a 16.1% mindshare in the category. SonicWall is ranked #2 in UAG , with an average rating of 9.5, and holds a 47.7% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of F5 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...

Read 122 F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) reviews

6,912 Views
5,115 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

SonicWall SMA

Read 15 SonicWall SMA reviews

988 Views
69 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...

SonicWall SMA

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) and SonicWall SMA based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs. SonicWall SMA Report (Updated: March 2020).

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs. SonicWall SMA

March 2020

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Helped 871,408 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

122

Ranking in other categories

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (2nd)

SonicWall SMA

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Universal Access Gateways (2nd), SSL VPN (6th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (17th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is designed for Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) and holds a mindshare of 16.1%, up 15.2% compared to last year.
SonicWall SMA, on the other hand, focuses on Universal Access Gateways, holds 47.7% mindshare, up 42.1% since last year.

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)	16.1%
NetScaler	14.3%
HAProxy	11.1%
Other	58.5%

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

Universal Access Gateways Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
SonicWall SMA	47.7%
Citrix Gateway	47.7%
Other	4.599999999999994%

Universal Access Gateways

Featured Reviews

Bonieber Orofeo

IT 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) 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.

Read full review

Mayur_Patel

Chief Commercial Officer at InnovAge Home Care

Easy-to-manage product with efficient features for network security

SonicWall SMA facilitates and protects remote workforce access to corporate resources from any location Enhancing live tracking capabilities could improve the product, particularly in monitoring user activity and request statuses in real-time on the web interface. We have been using SonicWall…

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

"We like is how they integrate nicely with the Oracle PeopleSoft application."

"I was able to simply and quickly set up the WAF rules and security, and also set up easily complex policies and rules which gave me some great features to redirect."

"Load balancing generally brings high availability and a bigger ability to scale out. In some cases, it brings security, depending on how it is configured."

"The detail that you have available when setting up iRules."

"F5 Big-IP Local Traffic Manager has better modular features especially LTM, which according to the clients, is very beneficial. Most of the users opt for a combination of big IP LTM and WAF which helps them to leverage application load balancing and enhance application security many-fold."

"NetFlow balancing and traffic balancing are good features."

"It is a fast and available solution."

"I have found F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) to be stable."

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

"I think they ask for a fair price."

"The management and the dashboard are the solution's most valuable features."

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

"I like the load balancing capability."

"Secure Mobile Access (SMA) is easy to configure and the deployment is straightforward. However, this is mostly because of the AWS setup."

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

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

"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

"BIG-IP LTM is taking a long time to mature in cloud environments. They plan to improve cloud integration in the next version, but it isn't out yet. It's essential because more companies are moving to the cloud these days and using things like Kubernetes or microservices. F5 needs to improve in that direction, and they are."

"LTM's cloud capabilities could be improved. Cloud providers all offer load balancing, but you can't get the same level of security. F5's cloud service is still not on par with its on-prem service."

"An area for improvement in F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is that it's a high-priced product."

"Lacking in free training to help users understand the product more, so they would know how to correctly use it. Like other vendors and their products, becoming more proactive is an area for improvement."

"Right now, there are a lot of products within F5's portfolio. They acquired a couple of companies like NGINX and Volterra. Some features and technologies overlapped when this acquisition occurred. They need to refine it and come up with a single, proper solution. F5 should focus more on zero trust network access (ZTNA).They should be more focused on that framework because the industry is moving towards that. Everyone is talking about SASE and zero trust."

"The management interface is unclear, complex, and not concise. I would like a better user interface."

"The GUI needs improvement."

"Reporting could be improved and configuration made easier."

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

"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 solution could integrate better with other platforms."

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

"The product's technical support services could be improved."

"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."

"SonicWall SMA is difficult to use and it does not provide easy access to different parts of the network."

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

More SonicWall SMA cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"There are a few licensing options available for F5 BIG-IP LTM. You can have a perpetual license which is a lifetime license. You then only need to renew the support, if you choose to open a ticket with the support."

"The licensing model of F5 BIG-IP LTM is highly complex. The operation cost of the solution is high. The overall cost is high."

"The price is little bit on higher side compared to the cost of NGINX."

"This product is costly from a licensing perspective considering its competitors."

"I use a yearly subscription, which is the most expensive one now compared to its competitors."

"F5 is more expensive than other solutions, so you have to be sure F5 is the best solution to fit the requirements."

"You can buy it on a yearly basis, or you can go for a subscription. For on-premise boxes, it is just the RMA."

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

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

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

"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."

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

"The platform has medium pricing."

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	62
Midsize Enterprise	31
Large Enterprise	84

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP?

The GUI of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) could be improved. It's not something regarding how it processes or blocks, as that's perfect. However, it still feels a bit legacy regarding the GU...

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

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is a perfect product for load balancing and WAF, and I would recommend it far more than any other product. The load balancing capabilities of F5 BIG-IP Local T...

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

What do you like most about SonicWall SMA?

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

See all answers

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

The pricing for the solution could be a lot less.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SonicWall SMA?

I haven't utilized the high availability and scalability features of SonicWall SMA yet because I've never had a need to. I don't know where they can focus their energy on continuous improvements, a...

See all answers

Comparisons

Fortinet FortiADC vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 18% of the time

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

Compared 8% of the time

VMWare Avi Load Balancer 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

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

Compared 7% of the time

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

SonicWall Netextender vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 23% of the time

Peplink SpeedFusion vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 14% of the time

Ivanti Connect Secure vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 12% of the time

Citrix Gateway vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 11% of the time

OpenVPN Access Server vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 10% of the time

More SonicWall SMA Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

October 2025

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) report

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

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall SMA

September 2025

Download SonicWall SMA 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

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

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.

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

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

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

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs. SonicWall SMA

March 2020

Free Report: F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs. SonicWall SMA

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See our F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs. SonicWall SMA report.

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