F5 BIG-IQ vs vCenter Orchestrator comparison

F5 and Broadcom are both solutions in the Process Automation category. F5 is ranked #27 with an average rating of 7.0, while Broadcom is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.0. F5 holds a 0.8% mindshare in PA, compared to Broadcom’s 0.9% 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

1,007 Views
1,007 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

vCenter Orchestrator

Read 51 vCenter Orchestrator reviews

1,685 Views
859 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

F5 BIG-IQ

vCenter Orchestrator

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

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: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IQ vs. vCenter Orchestrator

April 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 886,664 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-IQ

Ranking in Process Automation

27th

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

13th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IQ is 0.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vCenter Orchestrator is 0.9%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Process Automation Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
vCenter Orchestrator	0.9%
F5 BIG-IQ	0.8%
Other	98.3%

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.

Read full review

Narendar Bompally

Hybrid Cloud Engineer at RealPage

Boosts operational efficiency with flexible workflows and reliable cluster management

We currently use vCenter Orchestrator's pre-built workflow templates for our IT processes. The templates are flexible, allowing us to create and convert processes simply and manage patches. Regarding integration capabilities, we do not integrate any third-party tools. We exclusively use VMware products. The integration within the VMware infrastructure is limited to Single Sign-On (SSO). I have not created any workflows in vCenter Orchestrator as workflows are only used for change management. I have not encountered any drag and drop interface. The version control and logging features of vCenter Orchestrator have significantly improved the reliability of our automated processes, particularly during upgrades or patching to the cluster-wise. Previously, it would be done on a one-to-one cluster or one-to-one host basis, but now we only need to monitor it for upgrading or patching the entire cluster. I cannot comment on the pricing and licensing of vCenter Orchestrator as these aspects are managed by our onsite counterpart. Overall, I rate vCenter Orchestrator 8 out of 10. The rating reflects occasional delays in support response times and portal stability issues.

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

"The F5 solution scales very easily, and if we have more boxes then we can just join them to the cluster."

"The customer service is great."

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

"F5 BIG-IQ reduces the propensity for error."

"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 product is excellent."

"F5 BIG-IQ has always provided us with great support."

"F5 is a leader in this space and this is a solution that I recommend."

More F5 BIG-IQ pros

"It's a great solution that can help any starting company that needs to provide vCloud to their customers."

"Scalability, I think you can add hundreds and thousands of machines to it."

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

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the free movement of data between machines."

"We have excellent technical support. They have always been helpful when we have needed them."

"My advice is that Orchestrator will ease your life in your tasks."

"I find that managing all my vCenters from one console is the most valuable feature."

"The tool is very beneficial for automating workflow."

More vCenter Orchestrator pros

Cons

"You do need to have a good and solid background or foundation for networking and you need to understand how to configure F5 appliances in order to properly use it."

"For us, right now, F5 is too expensive."

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

"The shell, kernel, or Linux has something like a delay, especially with the Virtual Edition, when you are trying to implement it in the cloud and you want to access it remotely with web management. It would be great if they could improve their kernel. It was difficult for me, especially when I got started with BIG-IP. I was struggling to find which commands work with it. If you want to work with it, you have to be a Linux guy."

"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."

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

"I would like the product to be cheaper."

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

More F5 BIG-IQ cons

"It is too expensive. One of the main issues is the price."

"In the next release, to make it easier to write the workflows, I would l like to see more HTML GUIs."

"The licensing is expensive and should be improved."

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

"Storage has room for improvement. It's a big problem for our solution."

"VMware tools would benefit from more automation. When installing our devices and servers, we often need to install the VMware tools manually. This process should be automated during the VM installation process."

"I would like to see a greater ability to do mobile administration."

"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."

More vCenter Orchestrator cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would like the product to be cheaper."

"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."

"F5 BIG-IQ is a cheap solution."

"vCenter Orchestrator is a very expensive solution."

"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."

"The product is expensive."

"Our licensing is on a yearly basis. We pay for the license and then we pay the support every year."

"This solution is expensive and the licensing is more attractive for Haveri."

"My company needs to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product."

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

"We renew the solution's license every one or two years."

More vCenter Orchestrator pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Process Automation solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

886,664 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

20%

Marketing Services Firm

11%

Healthcare Company

Construction Company

Marketing Services Firm

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

10%

Construction Company

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

From the pricing perspective, F5 BIG-IQ rates an eight out of ten as it's reasonably priced.

See all answers

What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IQ?

See all answers

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

Currently for WAF, we are moving to another device, F5. We are not using Imperva. F5 BIG-IQ is the Web Application Firewall we're currently using, but regarding the Imperva products, now we are flo...

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

What is your primary use case for vCenter Orchestrator?

My usual use cases for vCenter Orchestrator involve managing all the ESXi hosts from the US, as we have almost 1200 to 1500 ESXi hosts.

See all answers

Comparisons

ServiceNow Orchestration vs F5 BIG-IQ

Compared 33% of the time

BMC TrueSight Orchestration vs F5 BIG-IQ

Compared 20% of the time

IBM BPM vs F5 BIG-IQ

Compared 20% of the time

Control-M vs F5 BIG-IQ

Compared 14% of the time

Camunda vs F5 BIG-IQ

Compared 14% of the time

More F5 BIG-IQ Competitors

VMware Aria Automation vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 17% of the time

VMware Cloud Director vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 15% of the time

VMware Aria Operations vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 14% of the time

Microsoft System Center Orchestrator vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 13% of the time

Camunda vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 11% of the time

More vCenter Orchestrator Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IQ

April 2026

Download F5 BIG-IQ product report

Buyer's Guide

vCenter Orchestrator

March 2026

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

April 2026

Free Report: F5 BIG-IQ vs. vCenter Orchestrator

Find out what your peers are saying about F5 BIG-IQ vs. vCenter Orchestrator and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

886,664 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our F5 BIG-IQ vs. vCenter Orchestrator report.

See our list of best Process Automation vendors.

We monitor all Process Automation reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.