F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs NGINX Plus comparison

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition and NGINX Plus are both solutions in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category. F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.8, while NGINX Plus is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.8. F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition holds a 0.5% mindshare in ADC, compared to NGINX Plus’s 6.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of NGINX Plus users who would recommend it.

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Read 7 F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition reviews

1,600 Views
80 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

NGINX Plus

Read 32 NGINX Plus reviews

3,866 Views
2,281 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

NGINX Plus

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition and NGINX Plus 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 Virtual Edition vs. NGINX Plus Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. NGINX Plus

December 2025

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Helped 879,853 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 Virtual Edition

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

11th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NGINX Plus

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

8th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Infrastructure (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is 0.5%. The mindshare of NGINX Plus is 6.4%, down from 8.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
NGINX Plus	6.4%
F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition	0.5%
Other	93.1%

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

Featured Reviews

reviewer2716224

System Administrator at a non-tech company with 501-1,000 employees

Focuses on securing application access with dependable integration

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. I have utilized F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition's ability to integrate with cloud platforms including AWS, Azure, GCP, and Salesforce. I have no idea how this integration has helped my organization manage hybrid or multi-cloud environments. The seamless integration of F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition with existing F5 technologies is not important to me as I do not use other technologies from F5. Financially, we require F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition because we need the product. We don't have anything else that performs the same functions, so we use it without trying alternatives. I just use and manage F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition, though I didn't handle its deployment. I would recommend F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition as a solution to others. I would rate F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition an eight out of ten overall.

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Michael Olayemi

Senior Software Engineer at Checkit

Enables public access and secure configurations through reverse proxy

The primary valuable feature of NGINX for me is its ability to provide a reverse proxy. I have found that this feature supports our local server, and I am able to connect through our DNS system, making it accessible publicly. Additionally, the integration with SSL certificates and the configuration capabilities make it a valuable solution for my use case. Without NGINX, users would not be able to access our application, which means there is positive ROI from using NGINX as it is crucial for the functioning of my organization.

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

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

"The advanced web application firewall protection and SSL offloading capabilities of F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition have been utilized in my organization; these features are contributing to our application security and compliance posture."

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

"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."

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

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

"Its versatility and capabilities make it invaluable for implementing patches and fixes when necessary."

"The product is resilient."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is simple to configure."

"The most valuable features are the gateway and the ability to publish to sites."

"Zero Downtime has always been a strength in recommending infrastructure web services. NGINX allows me to execute such infrastructure with less complications and the ability to switch from server to server easily."

"Using NGINX Plus for web traffic distribution is fantastic. It offers performance similar to physical load balancers but with added flexibility."

"When I worked in a security research center, we tested NGINX to support DoS and DDoS attacks, and its results were great."

"I receive very good support."

More NGINX Plus pros

Cons

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

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

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

"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."

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

"It's expensive and could be cheaper."

"The scaling should be built into the software rather than configured from an outside source."

"I would like the configuration process to be more simplified."

"Our most challenging part was to run an older PHP website reverse-proxied through NGINX. That was not fun."

"Initially, I experienced hiccups whenever I installed the application. As with any application, there were initial issues, however, after receiving support, everything was rectified."

"The KPI should be more focused on load balancing and the latency in application calling from the end system."

"I would like it to have a more user-friendly graphical interface."

"It would be great if there was even more automation to make it even easier to maintain."

"I would suggest adding GUI-based configuration panels to NGINX Plus to simplify setup and management tasks."

More NGINX Plus cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"The pricing is standard."

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

"I use the solution's community edition which is free of cost."

"NGINX Plus is an open-source solution with limited additional features. When you try to get additional features in the solution, then you need to pay an extra amount to NGINX Plus."

"Nginx is free. I don't have experience with the Plus version."

"You pay for each feature that you want."

"It's an open source solution, so it's free."

"The cost is reasonable."

"NGINX Plus is worth it, if you need it. If you do not need the features or support, the free and open source package is more than capable. "

"NGINX is a free tool in Brazil. There are some companies which do support it."

More NGINX Plus pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	11

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition?

I believe F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition can be improved because the 25 megabits throughput cap is small.

See all answers

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

My advice for others looking into using F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is to be aware of the throughput cap and how complex it can be. I would rate this product a 9 overall.

See all answers

Which is better - IIS or NGINX Plus?

IIS is a flexible, secure, and manageable web server to host anything on the web. IIS’s scalable and open architecture can handle the most demanding tasks. From media streaming to web applications,...

See all answers

What do you like most about NGINX Plus?

It performs very well. That's one of the primary reasons we use NGINX.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NGINX Plus?

Pricing is reasonable and that is fine.

See all answers

Comparisons

Squid Proxy Cache Server vs F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Compared 22% of the time

F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Compared 20% of the time

SOCKS5 Proxy Server with Web Panel vs F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Compared 17% of the time

UBIKA WAAP Cloud vs F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Compared 17% of the time

Kemp LoadMaster vs F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Compared 13% of the time

More F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition Competitors

IIS vs NGINX Plus

Compared 18% of the time

Apache Web Server vs NGINX Plus

Compared 15% of the time

HAProxy vs NGINX Plus

Compared 10% of the time

NetScaler vs NGINX Plus

Compared 9% of the time

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs NGINX Plus

Compared 8% of the time

More NGINX Plus Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

January 2026

Download F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition product report

Buyer's Guide

NGINX Plus

December 2025

Download NGINX Plus product report

Also Known As

No data available

NGINX

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.

NGINX Plus is a versatile solution that offers load balancing, caching, proxying, and API deployment capabilities. It can be deployed on private or public clouds and is ideal for building CDN solutions. The solution can also be used to secure web applications and replace web services like Apache.

NGINX has helped organizations improve functioning, reduce downtimes, and offer a DevOps-friendly solution. Its community support and documentation are highly regarded, and its configuration is more straightforward, making it a recommended choice over HAProxy.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Locaweb, AppNexus, Wix, Reliam, Montana Interactive, MuleSoft, Warpwire, Discovery Education, InkaBinka, WordPress.com, Gogo, GOV.UK, NASA

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. NGINX Plus

December 2025

Free Report: F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. NGINX Plus

Find out what your peers are saying about F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. NGINX Plus and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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