F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs VMWare Avi Load Balancer comparison

F5 and VMware are both solutions in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category. F5 is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.6, while VMware is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.5. Additionally, 100% of F5 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 71% of VMware users who would recommend it.

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Read 7 F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition reviews

612 Views
0 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Read 8 VMWare Avi Load Balancer reviews

1,848 Views
1,830 Comparison Views

71% willing to recommend

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition and VMWare Avi Load Balancer 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. VMWare Avi Load Balancer Report (Updated: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. VMWare Avi Load Balancer

August 2025

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Helped 865,384 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)

12th

Average Rating

8.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

11th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

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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Suliman Saleh

Digital Transformation Management Director at IU

Simplifies network infrastructure management, but the network analytics and monitoring features are not effective

The solution helped us balance the load of our critical systems The solution has simplified our network infrastructure management. We can use one virtual ID for two services. The tool helped my previous organization a lot. The network analytics and monitoring features are not effective. The…

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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."

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

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

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

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

"Its visibility and login mechanism are the best parts. In addition to the great visibility it has a great dashboard and an easy to configure graphic user interface, a beautiful GUI."

"What's most valuable in Avi Networks Software Load Balancer is its deployment capability, the ability to deploy in a dispersed service, with the service engines that can disperse and have a single control plane that can control the load balancing services across any available platform, wherever needed. The analytics of Avi Networks Software Load Balancer and flexibility of deployment are its most valuable features and the reasons why many people buy it."

"The most valuable feature of the solution for my organization is its UI since it allows us to see the clusters while providing a very specific and good overall understanding."

"The WAF - the web application firewall itself - is great."

"The interface and software features are the most valuable aspects of this solution."

"The solution is stable."

"The solution has simplified our network infrastructure management."

"The friendly user interface is valuable."

Cons

"It's expensive and could be cheaper."

"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."

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

"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."

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

"The initial setup is a bit complex."

"The network analytics and monitoring features are not effective."

"IDS and IPS sites need to be more progressive."

"I did not go with it because their APM module is a different product altogether. It's a common thing that companies do. They sell something and then they add on top of it as a different product. It is a type of marketing strategy. But when it comes to the overall management, it takes a lot of time to really look into it."

"In terms of improvement, the pricing and documentation need improvement. We have had problems getting the documents."

"One struggle with Avi Networks Software Load Balancer is its integration with other VMware products. Integration could be improved in the solution so that you have a more unified control plane with it and other data center security and networking products that VMware sells. There has been a bit of a lag on the roadmap of new features that have come out there recently, but better interoperability with the hyperscale environments such as the AWS, Azure, GCPs of the world, and simpler deployment and interoperability with those existing tools, are areas that are receiving attention and could use additional attention today. These are the areas for improvement in Avi Networks Software Load Balancer."

"It doesn't match the development structure or user community of our existing product. It pales in comparison to that."

"Avi Networks Software Load Balancer needs to improve its documentation."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The pricing is standard."

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

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

"I rate the solution price a four to five on a scale of one to ten, where one is low, and ten is high, since it is an affordable tool."

"With Avi Networks, you can buy a 10-Gig license and, if your primary data center goes down, in the flick of a switch you can move that license to your backup data center and it will generate the traffic... there are a lot of cost-effective measures."

"The licensing costs for Avi Networks Software Load Balancer are really variable. The product can be sold from a bandwidth utilization perspective. It can be sold from a per CPU perspective, depending on if you're looking at on-premises or hyperscale environments. Licensing costs vary quite a bit if you're familiar with the AWS Calculator, where you can see that it can widely vary per licensing model. On a scale of one to five, with one being not very good value for the money and five being great, I would rate the pricing for Avi Networks Software Load Balancer a five because its pricing is extremely competitive. Not all features are included with the license, for example, there's single licensing."

"The tool is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

14%

Retailer

Energy/Utilities Company

Financial Services Firm

22%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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. ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Avi Networks Software Load Balancer?

The solution has simplified our network infrastructure management.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Avi Networks Software Load Balancer?

The tool is expensive. It is not cheap. The product must be cheaper.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Avi Networks Software Load Balancer?

The network analytics and monitoring features are not effective. The product does not provide deep troubleshooting features. The solution must provide public IP features. F5 provides such features.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 31% of the time

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Compared 29% of the time

Squid Proxy Cache Server vs F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Compared 24% of the time

UBIKA WAAP Cloud vs F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Compared 17% of the time

More F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition Competitors

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Compared 28% of the time

NetScaler vs VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Compared 20% of the time

HAProxy vs VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Compared 16% of the time

NGINX Plus vs VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Compared 11% of the time

Kemp LoadMaster vs VMWare Avi Load Balancer

Compared 7% of the time

More VMWare Avi Load Balancer Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

August 2025

Download F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition product report

Buyer's Guide

VMWare Avi Load Balancer

July 2025

Download VMWare Avi Load Balancer product report

Also Known As

No data available

Avi Software Load Balancer

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.

Avi Networks Software Load Balancer is an application delivery controller (ADC) platform. The solution provides scalable application delivery across any infrastructure and allows your organization to deliver multi-cloud application services, such as load balancing, autoscaling, application security, container networking, and web application firewall. It is designed with 100% software load balancing to ensure a fast and secure application experience. Additionally, Avi Networks Software Load Balancer offers elasticity and delivers intelligence across any environment.

The Avi Networks Software Load Balancer is unique because

It can scale from 0 to 1 million SSL transactions per second in minutes.
It can achieve 90% faster provisioning and 50% lower TCO than a traditional appliance-based approach.

Avi Networks Software Load Balancer Product Highlights

Troubleshoots application issues in less than a minute.
Alerts you of potential risks with SSL certificates and TLS versions used.
End-to-end timing for each transaction to help solve end-user experience issues.

Avi Networks Software Load Balancer Features

Avi Networks Software Load Balancer has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Automated application delivery
Seamless integration with the CI/CD
Built-in analytics
End-to-end visibility
Actionable insights
Security
“Network DVR”-like capability to record and replay specific transactions
Google-like search filters transactions based on device, location, errors, etc.

Avi Networks Software Load Balancer Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Avi Networks Software Load Balancer. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Multi-cloud application services: Avi Networks Software Load Balancer provides consistent, enterprise-grade application services, including load balancing, WAF, and container networking across heterogeneous environments. The multi-cloud application services can be deployed on bare metal, VMs, or containers in any data center or public cloud environments.

Faster application provisioning: With this solution, you gain automation with 100% REST APIs and self-service like public cloud.

Better business decisions: Avi Networks Software Load Balancer uses analytics to deliver application insights and help you drive more intelligent decisions.

Containerized applications: Avi Networks Software Load Balancer is a proven solution to deploy container-based workloads in production environments using Kubernetes/OpenShift/Tanzu clusters. It includes multi-cluster, multi-site support for containerized applications.

Lower TCO: The solution is 100% software, and does not require any proprietary hardware. In addition, because it offers on-demand autoscaling, there is no over-provisioning. Lastly, point-and-click application troubleshooting means there is no need for a black box.

Software-defined architecture: Avi Networks Software Load Balancer is designed with a software-defined architecture with a centralized control plane (Avi Controller) and distributed data plane (Avi Service Engine). Because of this, elastic autoscaling is made easy.

Better end-user visibility: The solution gives you granular visibility into end-user experiences and server response in real time. It also empowers application owners with end-user stats to optimize and improve apps.

Application health score: Avi Networks Software Load Balancer summarizes analytics information into a helpful health score that provides a quick snapshot of the overall applications. The health score it provides is determined by server response time, resource usage, anomalous traffic, and security posture.

VMware

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Palo Alto Networks, DGDean, Swisslos

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. VMWare Avi Load Balancer

August 2025

Free Report: F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. VMWare Avi Load Balancer

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