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Ipanema IpIengine vs Steelhead comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 10, 2024

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

Ipanema IpIengine
Ranking in WAN Optimization
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Steelhead
Ranking in WAN Optimization
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
WAN Edge (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the WAN Optimization category, the mindshare of Ipanema IpIengine is 3.2%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Steelhead is 15.6%, up from 13.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
WAN Optimization Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Steelhead15.6%
Ipanema IpIengine3.2%
Other81.2%
WAN Optimization
 

Featured Reviews

it_user143973 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Systems Admin at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
We tried KPN for 1 year, but ROI is not practical. Huge differences with IPANEMA.
WAN Acceleration Unlike other firewall and internet accelerator network device, it has its own IPS/IDS built in. Well improved performance. Acceleration and ACL (Access control list), IPS/IDS. Since January 2014 None There was an issue in regards to Heartbleed case and Orange Business service…
Chaudhary Muhammad Moez Manzar - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Reduces operational costs through bandwidth optimization but struggles with high traffic licensing and complex deployments
The logs in Steelhead are fantastic. There is a deep level of logs such as top 10 docker and top 50 docker. I can check from the top 50 docker which type of application is optimizing well and which type of traffic is not optimized. Steelhead provides logs and percentage levels, which is good. I can see any type of log report, report security, different types of report availability, but it is not customizable. Overall, this is a good feature. Steelhead provides real-time optimization with graphs and tables on real-time optimization, informing us packet by packet including port, source IP, destination IP, and destination port number. This reporting and real-time monitoring is fantastic, although I faced a problem in Oracle. Steelhead mainly saves the money that needs to be paid to ISPs. My actual traffic is around 2 GB, but I purchased a link from the ISP for only around 700 to 800 MB. All the prices that need to be paid monthly to the ISP are saved, which is a significant saving for my company after using Riverbed.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"In terms of ROI and features aside from other expensive IDS and IPS hardware, this product I recommend."
"Making use of two connections per site we were able to minimize expensive MPLS connections and replace them with cheap internet lines with IPsec tunnels."
"Application visibility is without doubt the strongest point of this product and the most valuable to me as a user."
"It has improved the stability and throughput of the WAN, especially for remote small branches with low link speed, and reduced the impact on network performance from Windows updates deployment on users PCs."
"The connectivity to speed is the valuable feature."
"There are several features specific to branches, like keeping data hot and active on Steelhead devices. These features prevent unnecessary data travel across the international LAN."
"TCP optimization... caches a particular TCP connection and the next time a user uses that connection he will reach the destination easily."
"The data compression through the WAN is like being on a LAN and is even more effective when the technology uses an adaptive transfer scheme known as warm transfer."
"Riverbed has excellent technical support."
"You should buy SteelHead for WAN optimization because it delivers more."
"It is very easy to install the solution."
 

Cons

"Acceleration and ACL (Access control list), IPS/IDS."
"I suppose being able to set performance targets or QoS Profiles individually per location would be nice."
"Steelhead is considered an expensive solution in our country. On a scale of one to ten for expense, it would be rated an eight."
"The scalability is not the best. If you find that you have outgrown the capacity of your appliance you are forced to repurchase the license and the appliance with very little discount even if your appliance is still under contract."
"The product needs improvement in its integration with SDN."
"The application response time of the solution can be improved."
"Personally, my expertise with this device I feel is too low to determine what areas could be improved."
"Steelhead's handling of encrypted traffic could be improved because it requires some complex configuration to optimize encrypted traffic, especially when working with Microsoft protocols for mail servers and VPN services"
"Need to handle more traffic simultaneously."
"Application response time and network performance could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Across our 12 data centers, we spend around $150k annually."
"The solution is expensive and the service contacts are costly too. The cost of the device makes the value proposition borderline acceptable for us. The service contract fees we pay is approximately $30,000 annually."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
16%
Construction Company
15%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
We just did an assessment for our 47 datacenters around North America. The top two enterprise-level network monitoring solutions were ExtraHop first, Riverbed SteelCenter second. Their negotiated c...
What is your primary use case for Riverbed Steelhead?
I am currently working with Riverbed for replication between PR to DR for synchronization purposes, and for WAN optimization between replication from one data center to another data center. The mai...
What advice do you have for others considering Riverbed Steelhead?
Application performance may improve with Steelhead, but it varies application to application. Some applications, such as Oracle traffic, are not working well, but other traffic performs fine. The t...
 

Also Known As

IpIengine
RIverbed Steelhead
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Valeo, KBC, Henkel, Bouygues Telecom, Gemalto, VDABês, Globus, EADS, faurecia, Fiat, Renault Nissan, Safran, Valeo, Volvo, Aviva, Visa, L'Oreal, Hasbro, Moet & Chandon Champagne
ElAraby, SFK Leblanc, Bobst Group, Northwest Pipe Company, Halkbank, Tradebridge, EFG Hermes
Find out what your peers are saying about Ipanema IpIengine vs. Steelhead and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
910,350 professionals have used our research since 2012.