F5 BIG-IQ vs vCenter Orchestrator comparison

F5 and Broadcom are both solutions in the Process Automation category. F5 is ranked #25 with an average rating of 8.7, while Broadcom is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.0. F5 holds a 0.4% mindshare in PA, compared to Broadcom’s 0.3% mindshare. Additionally, 75% of F5 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

F5 BIG-IQ

Read 15 F5 BIG-IQ reviews

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347 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

vCenter Orchestrator

Read 51 vCenter Orchestrator reviews

848 Views
170 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

F5 BIG-IQ

vCenter Orchestrator

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

vCenter Orchestrator and F5 BIG-IQ are part of the automation and management category, with vCenter Orchestrator thriving in VMware environments, whereas F5 BIG-IQ excels in managing F5 Networks appliances. F5 BIG-IQ is considered superior due to its comprehensive features, while vCenter Orchestrator stands out for its cost-effectiveness and support.

Features: vCenter Orchestrator offers workflow automation, scalable solutions, and seamless integration within VMware environments, with features like Distributed Resource Scheduler and efficient VM management. It simplifies management activities significantly. F5 BIG-IQ provides centralized management for F5 BIG-IP devices, notable for its load balancing capabilities, web application firewall (WAF), and streamlined operations management via a singular dashboard.

Room for Improvement: vCenter Orchestrator could enhance mobile administration, cross-platform compatibility, and workflow simplicity. Better integration with third-party systems and improved support response times are also recommended. F5 BIG-IQ users suggest enhancing integration with third-party products and easing interface complexity for those less versed in networking, alongside considering pricing adjustments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both solutions typically see on-premises deployments, with vCenter Orchestrator often utilized in hybrid settings. Users generally appreciate technical support for both products, but some note speed issues in response times for vCenter Orchestrator, with VMware support gaining higher regard overall while suggesting faster issue escalation.

Pricing and ROI: vCenter Orchestrator is often viewed as expensive but can offer significant ROI within larger VMware ecosystems due to its virtualization benefits. In contrast, F5 BIG-IQ is seen as more affordable, with its inclusive licensing offering all necessary features in a single fee, often resulting in good ROI for larger setups.

To learn more, read our detailed F5 BIG-IQ vs. vCenter Orchestrator Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IQ vs. vCenter Orchestrator

September 2025

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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-IQ

Ranking in Process Automation

25th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

vCenter Orchestrator

Ranking in Process Automation

8th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IQ is 0.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vCenter Orchestrator is 0.3%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Process Automation Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
vCenter Orchestrator	0.3%
F5 BIG-IQ	0.4%
Other	99.3%

Process Automation

Featured Reviews

Bikale Kassu

Manager for Implementation and Administration at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Has faced challenges with visibility and technical support but allows centralized management of multiple sites

The configuration part is complex for F5 BIG-IQ. The simplicity and visibility part needs improvement. The dashboard, especially the analytics part, needs to be more simple and presentable. For the security part, it is difficult to present to our management, so we have to capture it and prepare manual reporting options rather than getting them directly from the system. The automation part in F5 BIG-IQ is limited; we are still using it only for load balancing for some services. We haven't integrated it with our Accesso or implemented any automation options. The setup process for F5 BIG-IQ would rate a five out of ten.

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Gerhard Gmelch

IT architect endpoint at Rohde & Schwarz

Enhance automation efficiency with cost-effective graphical workflow design

I use vCenter Orchestrator for automation purposes, specifically to run automation workbooks The most valuable features are the graphical UI for designing the workflows and the interfaces that come out of the box. Additionally, it is included in the VMware Vitalization Stack, which means there…

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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 customer service is great."

"It is quite good in a large environment where I have multiple devices; it is easy to manage the devices."

"We mainly use F5 BIG-IQ to protect our web-based applications, such as our email and website, so we use it as a web-based application firewall for those services."

"F5 BIG-IQ is a central management system for the BIG-IP."

"The best aspect of the solution is that we can have everything integrated with a rather large capacity in order to personalize and configure specific rules."

"The backup, monitoring and logging are the best features."

"The GUI is fine, at least from an engineer's perspective."

"We use this solution on a daily basis, and it is very stable."

More F5 BIG-IQ pros

"The positive impact I have seen from using vCenter Orchestrator includes benefits such as cluster and versioning, frequent updates, and updates on the Dell side."

"The solution was easy to install."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is availability."

"The most valuable feature is affinity rules."

"The product's integration is good, it works well with other programs and solutions."

"The most crucial feature of vCenter is its scalability. We can use it to expand our network, so we don't have to report our client devices. The network configuration features are also helpful because we can migrate entire networks."

"It's 100% stable, it's always stable. We haven't had any bugs. The solution works very well and we haven't had any problems."

"The implementation phase for vCenter Orchestrator was easy."

More vCenter Orchestrator pros

Cons

"From a hands-on experience perspective, more resources should be available on the Internet, like labs and lab preparations."

"They could use YAML or JSON if they wanted to make it a little bit easier for us."

"I had trouble with high availability deployment in my environment."

"F5 BIG-IQ is a complex solution, and it cannot manage everything related to BIG-IPs."

"Sometimes the solution does not work."

"F5 BIG-IQ should improve by being a complete certificate management solution because currently, it is only for Venafi. Other automation platforms, should be added."

"The solution should improve pricing. It's expensive in comparison to other American solutions."

"For stability, F5 BIG-IQ rates a two or three because currently we are integrating it with our third party as a port forwarding service. We created many VIPs, but on average, weekly, we lose three to five connections, making the troubleshooting part a headache for us."

More F5 BIG-IQ cons

"The snapshot technology of VMware is not good compared to other solutions in the market, like Nutanix."

"The product lacks GUIs. The tool should have more GUIs available, along with easier product documentation."

"I believe vCenter Orchestrator should be part of VMware vSphere's basic bundle. As a product, vCenter Orchestrator should not be licensed at all because the world has progressed way beyond what it can offer."

"As we work towards more stability on the solution, sometimes we'll try something and it breaks and it's easier to restart the service. That's the only drawback. We've experienced this with other applications as well."

"The only point for improvement is the price, which has increased by 135%, making it very expensive."

"The cost of the solution is high."

"The custom workflows are very difficult and confusing."

"I would like to have an interface that can manage both on-premises and cloud solutions from a single console, where we can easily manage the resources that are being used or at least applications. Whereby clicking here and there from on-premises to cloud, or cloud to on-premises, depending on the requirements. If that can be accomplished, it will be extremely beneficial."

More vCenter Orchestrator cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would like the product to be cheaper."

"F5 BIG-IQ is a cheap solution."

"Users have to pay an annual subscription fee for the solution's iSeries."

"There is only one licensing fee for F5 BIG-IQ and everything is included in the price."

"The product is expensive."

"The price is reasonable, and one of the reasons that this product was selected."

"The licensing module is somewhat complex. Calculating the cost is complicated. Many of our clients are unclear about the billing system and the traffic metering."

"My organization didn't have to pay extra for vCenter Orchestrator. It was already included, so it's basically free. Even VMware regular support is included."

"We pay a yearly fee, based on our entries."

"We provide the VMware solution to our clients, for which they pay a perpetual license."

"vCenter Orchestrator is an expensive solution."

"The concept of hyper-convergence is smart. I don't know if it can be applied with less cost to be more affordable for small or medium-sized companies. The cost is a very important factor for it. We are currently depending on SAN storage. However, the hyper-converged solutions are depending on the storage within the hosts, such as vSAN in the VMware. It is a smart solution."

More vCenter Orchestrator pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

20%

Performing Arts

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	20

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about F5 BIG-IQ?

F5 BIG-IQ is a central management system for the BIG-IP.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 BIG-IQ?

F5 BIG-IQ is a cheap solution.

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What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IQ?

The product is really good with no significant downsides. However, better and simpler integration with ACI could improve the product.

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What do you like most about vCenter Orchestrator?

The stability of the product is very good.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vCenter Orchestrator?

We're running a low-profile budget. This is not our main focus on investment technology, so we're trying to reduce costs due to the change from perpetual to subscription licenses.

See all answers

What needs improvement with vCenter Orchestrator?

For our environment, I do not see any areas of vCenter Orchestrator that could be improved or enhanced. We are currently satisfied with the orchestrator. If any improvements are needed, I will prov...

See all answers

Comparisons

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VMware Aria Operations vs vCenter Orchestrator

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VMware Cloud Director vs vCenter Orchestrator

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IQ

October 2025

Download F5 BIG-IQ product report

Buyer's Guide

vCenter Orchestrator

October 2025

Download vCenter Orchestrator product report

Overview

F5® BIG-IQ® Centralized Management provides a unified point of visibility and control for the entire F5 portfolio, ensuring administrators remain aware on the pulse of F5 devices, modules, and licenses and enabling them to deliver optimal application availability, performance, and security.

BIG-IQ manages policies,licenses, SSL certificates, BIG-IP images, and configurations for F5 appliances and for the following BIG-IP moduals across hardware and virtual editions:

BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager™ (LTM)
F5 Advanced Web Application Firewall™ (WAF)
BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager™ (AFM)
F5 SSL Orchestrator®
F5 DDoS Hybrid Defender®
BIG-IP Access Policy Manager® (APM)
F5 Secure Web Gateway Services
BIG-IP DNS

VMware vCenter Orchestrator simplifies the automation of complex IT tasks and integrates with VMware vCloud Suite components to adapt and extend service delivery and operational management, effectively working with existing infrastructure, tools and processes.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Beiersdorf Shared Services

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IQ vs. vCenter Orchestrator

September 2025

Free Report: F5 BIG-IQ vs. vCenter Orchestrator

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