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."

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

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

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

"The product is excellent."

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

"There is a lot less risk involved in having applications available on the Internet."

"Their technical support is perfect, they were so supportive, the guys are great and they would do anything for you."

More F5 BIG-IQ pros

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

"The most valuable feature is affinity rules."

"The most valuable feature for us is the performance stability of vCenter Orchestrator, especially in complex situations, making it excellent for managing virtual machines."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the workflow creation."

"We can scale the solution."

"User-friendly and easy to deploy."

"It is very stable. I have been using vCenter Orchestrator from version three now to six plus."

"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, as we can see all the workflows and what all the actions do and can work with scripts."

More vCenter Orchestrator pros

Cons

"Sometimes the solution does not work."

"There are a lot of scripts available on the internet for people who know how to use them, but with a graphical interface, it would be easier for new users."

"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."

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

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

"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."

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

"I would like the product to be cheaper."

More F5 BIG-IQ cons

"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."

"I would like to see better performance."

"The solution's price could be cheaper."

"The scalability option provided by the solution is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."

"The interface could be improved to bring greater user-friendliness and ease of use."

"The product’s cost needs improvement."

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

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

More vCenter Orchestrator cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would like the product to be cheaper."

"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."

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

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

"The product is expensive."

"vCenter Orchestrator could be more affordable."

"The solution is a bit expensive."

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

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

"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."

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.

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...

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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...

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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 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

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.

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