F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs LoadBalancer Enterprise comparison

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. LoadBalancer Enterprise

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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 Virtual Edition

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

12th

Average Rating

8.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

LoadBalancer Enterprise

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

13th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

Lilian Blaitt

IT Specialist at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Virtual deployment boosts efficiency and support is quick

In my company, we use NGINX. I don't work with NGINX. For us, it is better to have the virtual solution because we have more virtual VJPs on fewer machines. This is the reason we are using it today It's easy to use, and they have good support. When we open tickets, they are answered quickly, and…

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Roger Seelaender

UCaaS Engineering Manager at EarthLink

Great WAF - low-maintenance solution that performs as advertised

The solution can be improved with the development of a SIP engine because it is difficult to manage SBCs. All SBCs are really tough to write rules for. If we could put this in front of an SBC to have the right rules to possibly block the traffic, that would be very helpful. The solution can also improve the relationship between Loadbalancer.org and Metaswitch, or now, Microsoft because Metaswitch was purchased by Microsoft. They both position themselves as certified but don't always talk to each other. I wish there would be closer integration between the solution and the vendors when either release new upgrades to their product line. Often we find issues on either end post upgrades.

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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

"The features that I like include LTM and Global Traffic Manager (GTM)."

"The tool's investment is less than a physical device."

"The integration capabilities of the product are easy to use, and there is no complexity involved in it."

"I have a specific issue with the network interface connector, the NIC. We're limited to a maximum of two NICs in a virtualized environment. It's a limitation of the tool."

"It has DoS layer 7 protection, which not many vendors have."

"It's easy to use, and they have good support."

"The support we have received from Loadbalancer.org has been good."

"We now get notifications when pool members go down, and we eliminate our downtime by not sending traffic to downed pool members."

"The load balancers have an easy installation and a relatively simple, easy user interface to use."

"The performance is good."

"I found scalability in Loadbalancer.org valuable."

"It's pretty much a Swiss Army knife for managing all the load balancing techniques."

"It helps us to route the traffic to the available servers. If we didn't have Loadbalancer we would fail to set the end-user and it would cause a failure in the cluster."

"The SSL Layer 7 load balancing is valuable."

More LoadBalancer Enterprise pros

Cons

"F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is a heavy system that needs a lot of CPU, memory, and hard disk."

"The tool has limitations with respect to code and RAM."

"I have a specific issue with the network interface connector, the NIC. We're limited to a maximum of two NICs in a virtualized environment. It's a limitation of the tool."

"It's expensive and could be cheaper."

"BIG-IP could improve in supporting microservices, for example, in Docker and Kubernetes environments."

"On-the-go upgrades are an option that the tool currently lacks, making it an area where improvements are required."

"It doesn't have the bonding capability feature."

"There is room for improvement in Loadbalancer.org in certain areas."

"It would be great if there was a way to gain access to the graphing data, to create custom reports. If we had a way to use the graphing data, we could use it to present certain information to our client, such as the uptime status for their service."

"If I have to say something, I suppose they could add an automated configuration backup to an FTP location (or something similar) so you don’t have to manually do it. I don’t see this as a problem, of course, as the configuration rarely changes and we only need one backup, but maybe for other users that feature would be handy."

"The configuration is somewhat complicated. Someone who does not know the solution may find this challenging."

"The automatic refresh of the System Overview webpage: It sometimes has an extra webpage reload (after a change) before you see it is executed. This can be confusing."

"I'd like to see scalability improved; it can be costly."

"Loadbalancer.org's complexity could be reduced."

More LoadBalancer Enterprise cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is standard."

"F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is an expensive solution, but it's worth the price."

"I would rate the pricing a three out of ten, with ten being expensive."

"My company's customers need to make payments for the licensing charges attached to the product. It is an expensive product."

"I think it’s very affordable."

"I love that they do not price on some arbitrary throughput rating where you are guessing at what the load balancer is going to handle."

"The costs associated with Loadbalancer.org depends on the technology. For some, we need to pay, but others are open, so they're free."

"Loadbalancer.org is based on open-source products, but it requires money for support and other activities."

"The solution requires an annual support license of $2,780 for four systems or $695 a year per unit for support not including the units."

"For now, it's stable."

"It is inexpensive, and even their “unlimited” version, the VA MAX is still far cheaper than competitors."

"I’m not entirely sure about the rating since I'm not very technical. I haven't thoroughly compared the ratings. So, if you're asking for my impression so far, I would rate it around five out of 10."

More LoadBalancer Enterprise pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

14%

Retailer

Energy/Utilities Company

Computer Software Company

20%

Financial Services Firm

11%

University

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition?

The integration capabilities of the product are easy to use, and there is no complexity involved in it.

What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition?

I find it too complex to assess the impact of F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition's automated deployment and integration with container orchestration platforms, such as Kubernetes and OpenShift, on my applic...

What advice do you have for others considering F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition?

I do not use the load balancing and traffic management features of F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition. I use other container orchestration platforms, but they are not relevant to F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition. ...

Do you recommend Loadbalancer.org?

Since Loadbalancer.org is an open-source solution, I would recommend this solution for smaller businesses that don’t have major scaling requirements and don’t have the budget for a commercial solut...

What do you like most about Loadbalancer.org?

Existing customers are trying to migrate from the physical F5 load balancer to the AVI load balancer because it is scalable and easily managed.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Loadbalancer.org?

Pricing of Loadbalancer.org is something to consider.

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Product Reports

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Download F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition product report

LoadBalancer Enterprise

Download LoadBalancer Enterprise product report

Overview

When you need to move faster than hardware allows, BIG-IP Virtual Editions (VEs) deliver the application services you need in a more agile and flexible form factor. Get the scalability, security, and automatability BIG-IP products are known for—all in software designed for use in single-, hybrid-, or multi-cloud architectures.

LoadBalancer Enterprise offers a reliable, high-availability solution designed for efficient load distribution and a user-friendly interface, catering to teams with foundational network expertise.

LoadBalancer Enterprise enhances network performance through effective traffic routing, monitoring, and high availability. Users benefit from SSL termination with SNI and Layer 7 load balancing, ensuring seamless connections with reduced complexity compared to alternatives. While known for its user-friendly approach, improvements in configuration simplicity, scalable hardware upgrades, and enhanced notification systems are often discussed for better user experience. Additional demands include HTTP API access, automated configuration backups, DNS load balancing, and enhanced graphing data capabilities. Competitive pricing and heightened security for sensitive data are frequently requested. Interface refresh issues and Microsoft compatibility are noted among users, who deploy it for SSL/HTTP traffic management, redundancy, failover capabilities, web filtering, and cloud migration support.

What are LoadBalancer Enterprise's key features?

Ease of Use: Accessible interface for team members with basic network knowledge.
Reliability and High Availability: Ensures consistent service with effective load distribution.
SSL Termination with SNI: Supports secure connections with Server Name Indication.
Layer 7 Load Balancing: Enhanced functionality for better traffic management.
Scalability and Performance: Offers strong performance with low latency.

What benefits or ROI can users expect?

Quick Remote Support: Fast assistance for issue resolution.
Low Complexity: Streamlined operations compared to competitors.
Traffic Routing and Monitoring: Efficient management aids in decision-making.
Flexibility in Deployment: Suitable for diverse traffic scenarios and server needs.

LoadBalancer Enterprise is implemented across industries for managing SSL/HTTP traffic, enhancing network reliability, and providing failover capabilities. It supports web filtering, balances Exchange and application servers, facilitates cloud migration, and manages multiple ISP lines for optimal traffic distribution across web applications and services, including SIP provisioning. Industries also use it for enhancing security with web application firewalls, DNS sharing, and application publishing.

Loadbalancer.org

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Vodafone, NASA, Mercedes, NBC, Siemens, AT&T, Barclays, Zurich, Penn State University, Fiserv, Canon, Toyota, University of Cambridge, US Army, US Navy, Ocean Spray, ASOS, Pfizer, BBC, Bacardi, Monsoon, River Island, U.S Air Force, King's College London, NHS, Ricoh, Philips, Santander, TATA Communications, Ericcson, Ross Video, Evertz, TalkTalk TV, Giacom, Rapid Host.

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. LoadBalancer Enterprise