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

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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: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IQ vs. vCenter Orchestrator

April 2026

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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

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.

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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.

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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

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

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

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

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

"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."

"Features like AFM, the gateway, and Global DNS are the coolest features that save work for us."

"Overall, this is a good solution and I would recommend it but they need better integration with VAS."

"The product is excellent."

More F5 BIG-IQ pros

"User-friendly and easy to deploy."

"In regards to the workflows, the fact that we can actually have a full dashboard library of all the existing workflows on this is great. We can see all the workflows and what all the actions do and can work with scripts."

"The powerful management console for each allocation gives the foundation of the organization."

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

"vCenter Orchestrator's best features are the workflows, integration with third-party applications, and the workflow library."

"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 is pretty stable and reliable."

"The hardware abstraction layer, being able to make the VMs portable when moving to a different platform or over a WAN."

More vCenter Orchestrator pros

Cons

"If they had a GUI interface for creating security rules then it would make it easier."

"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."

"A bug caused me to lose all the configuration."

"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."

"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."

"Sometimes the solution does not work."

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

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

More F5 BIG-IQ cons

"I think that vSAN can be improved."

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

"The solution needs to integrate with Cloud facilities like AWS and Azure."

"The workflow can be complicated. I would like a simpler workflow, and I would like it to be more friendly to use."

"I believe a transparent view and better terms of condition between Oracle and vCenter Orchestrator would be helpful."

"It is practically difficult at this stage to really comment on the improvisations of V central. But more tech events and PoC cases would help the EA to design better solutions and utilization."

"After the change from perpetual licensing to subscriptions, the cost model changed."

"The solution’s pricing and integration could be improved."

More vCenter Orchestrator cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"F5 BIG-IQ is a cheap solution."

"I would like the product to be cheaper."

"I rate the product price a seven to eight out of ten on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."

"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."

"vCenter Orchestrator is an expensive solution."

"The product is expensive."

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

"The licensing cost is manageable because they have different versions available, standard, essential, and advanced."

"vCenter Orchestrator could be more affordable."

"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."

More vCenter Orchestrator pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

20%

Marketing Services Firm

11%

Healthcare Company

Construction Company

Marketing Services Firm

13%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Construction Company

Computer Software 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.

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What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IQ?

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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...

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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

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Compared 15% of the time

Control-M vs F5 BIG-IQ

Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

Microsoft System Center Orchestrator vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IQ

April 2026

Download F5 BIG-IQ product report

Buyer's Guide

vCenter Orchestrator

April 2026

Download vCenter Orchestrator product report

Overview

F5 BIG-IQ simplifies the centralized management of BIG-IP appliances, providing load balancing and application firewall services. It ensures efficient large-scale operations and is user-friendly, enhancing seamless configuration migrations.

F5 BIG-IQ is designed for organizations seeking to manage multiple F5 appliances through a single interface, offering solutions for load balancing, web application security, and policy migration. Suitable for on-premises or cloud deployments, it caters to service providers and data centers. While some users suggest improvements in GUI usability and performance optimization, F5 BIG-IQ effectively supports web and email security, internet banking, and SSL operations. The GUI is appreciated for ease of use by network-savvy engineers, though dashboard functionality could be enhanced.

What are the standout features of F5 BIG-IQ?

Load Balancing: Manages traffic distribution efficiently across multiple servers.
Centralized Management: Streamlines control of F5 appliance settings from a single location.
Application Firewall: Offers robust protection for web applications against threats.
Seamless Configuration Migration: Allows easy transfer of configurations between devices.
Scalability: Supports operations on a large scale without compromising performance.

What benefits should users expect when evaluating F5 BIG-IQ?

User-Friendliness: Intuitive design for network experts, reducing the learning curve.
Error Reduction: Minimizes errors in policy management, leading to smoother operations.
Efficient Integration: Integrates with existing infrastructure, enhancing workflow continuity.
Cost-Effectiveness: Provides value by optimizing resource allocation and management.

F5 BIG-IQ is implemented across service providers, data centers, and diverse industries for robust load balancing and application security. It handles internet-facing web application security, supports SQL policy management, and enables efficient collaboration with F5 teams. Numerous organizations apply it for internet banking security, email protection, and spearhead SSL transactions, benefiting from its capacity to adapt to rapidly changing requirements.

vCenter Orchestrator simplifies virtualization management with ergonomic design and efficient automation. It centralizes VM management with scalability and robust features for data handling, serving diverse industries seeking enhanced resource optimization and infrastructure management.

vCenter Orchestrator provides a user-friendly interface, focusing on workflow automation and integrated resource management. Known for its high availability and efficient data migration, it's implemented widely for virtualization and resource optimization. Though some find the cost and complexity a concern, its centralized management capabilities and integration with VMware tools make it resourceful. Users desire improvements in multi-platform support, mobile administration, and third-party integration flexibility, seeking more intuitive setup and expanded scripting options.

What are the most important features of vCenter Orchestrator?

Workflow Automation: Streamlines processes with customizable workflows.
Scalability: Supports growing infrastructure demands efficiently.
High Availability: Ensures continuous operation across environments.
VM Management: Centralizes control of virtual machines.
Data Migration: Facilitates efficient and cost-effective data movement.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Centralized Management: Offers a single pane for comprehensive oversight.
Cost-Efficiency: Reduces expenses with integrated features, no add-ons.
Integration Capabilities: Enhances operations with seamless VMware tool integration.
User-Friendly Design: Simplifies complex virtualization tasks.
Automation Capabilities: Optimizes resources and performance.

In industries like healthcare, education, and banking, vCenter Orchestrator enhances server deployment, virtualization, and network configurations. Deployed in both cloud and on-premise environments, it supports diverse IT providers aiming to streamline operations with high availability and resource optimization.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Beiersdorf Shared Services

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IQ vs. vCenter Orchestrator

April 2026

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