


Find out what your peers are saying about F5, NetScaler, HAProxy and others in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC).
Operational efficiency has improved; we no longer have staff consistently monitoring backend servers during deployment or scaling events, as HAProxy's health checks and hitless reloads allow us to push changes with minimal manual intervention.
This resulted in a drastic decrease in costs and, at the same time, the accuracy of the hits coming on HAProxy was almost around 100% or 99.99%.
I estimate seeing a return on investment with HAProxy, as it significantly reduced staff requirements and enhanced scaling capabilities, particularly when transitioning from NGINX, which faced issues.
Since we are utilizing the open-source edition, community forums, mailing lists, and GitHub have been invaluable, with typically someone having encountered the same problems we faced.
My interactions with HAProxy's customer support were limited, but the feedback from my team indicated satisfactory service.
We have not received technical support from Kemp LoadMaster without a license.
Response time is good because they have assigned and dedicated support engineers to us, and we have weekly cadence calls.
We manage an automatic load balancing feature where we add HAProxy servers dynamically behind the application load balancer to handle more traffic.
HAProxy's scalability is excellent; as our traffic expands, it handles load increases effortlessly.
For scalability, HAProxy meets my needs, supporting our initial horizontal scaling and then adapting to vertical scaling in a VMware environment.
Kemp LoadMaster is a scalable solution.
While some people use NGINX for web servers, my current use case focuses on networking and tunneling, which does not necessitate much scaling.
This reliability serves as a key reason for our choice, providing us with confidence even when faced with heavy traffic.
The hot reload feature of HAProxy also really helped us so that we never had to shut it down to reload it.
We have reduced a lot of servers, replacing them with one or two HAProxy servers which deliver better performance, accuracy, and an almost 100% success rate with requests.
With the license purchase afterwards, if it expires, it begins dropping the HTTP traffic, also the DNS traffic.
I require ninety-nine point nine percent uptime, and NGINX has been pivotal in helping me achieve this along with our other DNS services.
The configuration syntax is powerful yet can become overwhelming for newcomers; a more beginner-friendly interface or a native GUI without relying on third-party tools would ease the onboarding process.
An easier desktop interface to connect to a remote server and make changes on my PC would be beneficial.
The reloading functionality is effective as it allows soft reloads without interrupting traffic patterns.
After that, they said if it was good, we could purchase the license, and while we found it very good, the license cost was too high.
NGINX could provide a means to generate self-signed SSL certificates.
As with any application, there were initial issues, however, after receiving support, everything was rectified.
There were some vulnerabilities in F5.
Since we use the open-source edition, there are no licensing fees, with the main cost being the infrastructure running on EC2 instances in AWS, which helps maintain low expenses.
Setting up HAProxy didn't cost anything for me.
The pricing remains competitive compared to other vendors.
My use case involves using the free and open-source version of NGINX, making it cost-effective as I haven't incurred any costs.
The solution offers a cost advantage.
By moving all SSL termination to the load balancer, I now manage certificates in a single place, and I can also utilize Let's Encrypt with HAProxy's built-in ACME support, making renewal automatic.
HAProxy positively impacted our organization by exceeding scalability expectations, initially projected at 200k requests but ultimately handling over 15 million transactions per second without any issues.
As a production engineer at that time, I definitely wanted to ensure that the system could handle massive connections, especially since we operated an e-commerce platform where we could not lose any customer calls.
We had some issues in patching management, so we deployed this product for virtual patching, the IPS rule, and it gives us very good results because we have very critical servers.
For API management, the WebSocket, and the WebServer, NGINX provides a cost advantage, value addition, and effective support.
The web application firewall feature has helped enhance security for our applications because most of the attacks which are performed on our website are being blocked by it.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| HAProxy | 8.9% |
| NGINX Plus | 7.3% |
| Kemp LoadMaster | 6.2% |
| Other | 77.6% |



| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 17 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 15 |
| Large Enterprise | 16 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 24 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 13 |
| Large Enterprise | 16 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 16 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 1 |
| Large Enterprise | 11 |
HAProxy delivers reliability, high performance, and efficient load balancing solutions. Its open-source model ensures cost-effectiveness and scalability, ideal for managing extensive infrastructure demands with minimal latency while offering seamless integration with modern platforms.
HAProxy is renowned for its robust performance in load balancing across TCP and HTTP protocols, featuring multiple algorithms such as round-robin. Users appreciate its customizable configuration and seamless SSL termination, which make it an excellent choice for managing complex infrastructures. The platform's open-source nature supports scalability, reducing costs while providing flexible proxy operations. HAProxy efficiently handles high concurrency, enabling smooth traffic management and ensuring stability within diverse systems.
What key features does HAProxy offer?HAProxy is extensively used in load balancing implementations across various sectors. Companies deploy it for managing high traffic, Layer 4 and Layer 7 applications, and SQL databases. It supports microservices architecture, performs SSL offloading, and manages email services like SMTP. As a reverse proxy, HAProxy delivers high availability for systems like Redis, RabbitMQ, and Apache while integrating with Docker and Kubernetes. Its features enhance web application firewall capabilities and traffic routing, making it suitable for industries demanding reliable and efficient network management.
Kemp LoadMaster enhances server performance by providing secure, intuitive load balancing solutions with easy deployment. It supports high availability, integrates seamlessly with IT infrastructure, and ensures optimal traffic distribution for critical applications.
Kemp LoadMaster is known for its ease of use and high-level security capabilities, making it ideal for managing multiple servers. Its intuitive interface simplifies configuration for load balancing and reverse proxy across multi-site Exchange, while the Edge Security Pack distinguishes between critical infrastructure and public internet. Supporting seamless service continuity and effective traffic distribution, it significantly boosts server performance through SSL offloading and intelligent monitoring. However, improvements are desired in stability and reporting, as well as in security features such as a robust Web Application Firewall and more intuitive logging and monitoring.
What are Kemp LoadMaster's Key Features?Kemp LoadMaster is implemented across industries that require robust IT infrastructure management. Organizations use it for load balancing in Exchange environments, securing web servers, and maintaining high availability for public sector services. It supports applications like RDP, SQL, DNS, SharePoint, Citrix, and VoIP, ensuring security and high performance.
NGINX Plus efficiently handles heavy loads with lightweight software and simple configuration. It seamlessly integrates with F5, offering high-performance load balancing and robust reverse proxy capabilities for HTTP, IMAP, POP, and SMTP protocols.
NGINX Plus stands out for its load balancing, authentication, caching, and modular design. Its flexibility and scalability make it ideal for web servers, traffic routing, and enterprise use, supported by comprehensive documentation and a strong community. However, improvements in pricing, graphical interface, and advanced load balancing are desired. Users seek enhanced performance, better security, and simpler configuration. Automation and integration capabilities need attention, and scalability requires further refinement.
What are the key features of NGINX Plus?NGINX Plus is vital for industries deploying reverse proxy, load balancing, and application delivery control. Enterprises utilize it for both cloud and on-premises setups to manage content, secure traffic, and improve application performance. It plays a crucial role in CDN deployments, API management, and microservices architecture by providing enterprise-grade capabilities in caching and traffic management, along with security features like web application firewall and DDoS protection.