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Kemp LoadMaster vs NGINX Plus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.4
Kemp LoadMaster is a cost-effective solution that enhances efficiency, security, and offers significant returns quickly in various industries.
Sentiment score
7.5
NGINX Plus boosts website speed and reduces costs, offering superior flexibility and scalability, ensuring significant returns for organizations.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.8
Kemp LoadMaster support is highly rated for its knowledgeable, efficient team offering quick issue resolution and comprehensive online resources.
Sentiment score
6.9
NGINX Plus offers robust support with responsive engineers, though some lower-tier licenses experience delayed responses; documentation often suffices.
We have not received technical support from Kemp LoadMaster without a license.
Information Security Engineer at BOK
Response time is good because they have assigned and dedicated support engineers to us, and we have weekly cadence calls.
Senior Information Security Engineer at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Kemp LoadMaster is highly scalable, supporting smooth upgrades and adaptable licensing for both small and large enterprises.
Sentiment score
7.7
NGINX Plus is highly scalable and flexible, easily adapting to various enterprise needs and supporting multiple users and websites.
Kemp LoadMaster is a scalable solution.
Information Security Engineer at BOK
While some people use NGINX for web servers, my current use case focuses on networking and tunneling, which does not necessitate much scaling.
Senior Software Engineer at Checkit
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.7
Kemp LoadMaster is praised for its stability, reliability, high availability, and effective server load management with minimal downtime.
Sentiment score
7.8
NGINX Plus is highly stable and reliable, praised for connectivity and performance, despite some scalability challenges in clustering.
With the license purchase afterwards, if it expires, it begins dropping the HTTP traffic, also the DNS traffic.
Information Security Engineer at BOK
I require ninety-nine point nine percent uptime, and NGINX has been pivotal in helping me achieve this along with our other DNS services.
Senior Software Engineer at Checkit
 

Room For Improvement

Kemp LoadMaster needs UI, security, documentation enhancements, improved monitoring, automation, analytics, and better cloud integration.
NGINX Plus users seek improved scalability, user-friendly interface, better integration, cost-effectiveness, advanced features, and enhanced support services.
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.
Information Security Engineer at BOK
NGINX could provide a means to generate self-signed SSL certificates.
Senior Software Engineer at Checkit
As with any application, there were initial issues, however, after receiving support, everything was rectified.
Executive Director at Geojit
There were some vulnerabilities in F5.
Senior Information Security Engineer at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Kemp LoadMaster offers flexible, cost-effective licensing and setup with positive user feedback and a 30-day free trial.
NGINX Plus has a modular licensing model with varying costs, offering value but can be expensive compared to alternatives.
My use case involves using the free and open-source version of NGINX, making it cost-effective as I haven't incurred any costs.
Senior Software Engineer at Checkit
The solution offers a cost advantage.
Executive Director at Geojit
 

Valuable Features

Kemp LoadMaster offers ease of use, security features, Azure integration, and cost-effective load balancing for Microsoft applications.
NGINX Plus excels in load balancing, security, and integration, praised for simplicity, efficiency, and superior traffic management features.
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.
Information Security Engineer at BOK
For API management, the WebSocket, and the WebServer, NGINX provides a cost advantage, value addition, and effective support.
Executive Director at Geojit
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.
Senior Information Security Engineer at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Kemp LoadMaster
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
9th
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
Web Application Firewall (WAF) (20th), Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (18th)
NGINX Plus
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of Kemp LoadMaster is 6.7%, down from 7.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NGINX Plus is 6.4%, down from 8.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
NGINX Plus6.4%
Kemp LoadMaster6.7%
Other86.9%
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
 

Featured Reviews

IshtiaqKhalil - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Security Engineer at BOK
Displays flexible, user-friendly interface with minor licensing challenges
The product could be improved with a more intuitive interface for complex configurations and more advanced analytics. Additionally, enhanced security features, like a more robust Web Application Firewall, and stronger APIs for better automation would be beneficial. Overall, the main areas for improvement are in strengthening the advanced features to better meet the demands of large-scale enterprise environments. key features for the next release should focus on three areas. First, an enhanced, next-generation security suite with a more powerful Web Application Firewall (WAF) and integrated bot protection. Second, more advanced and customizable analytics dashboards to provide deeper insights into application performance. Finally, greater support for modern, cloud-native environments, including better APIs for automation and seamless hybrid-cloud traffic management
Michael Olayemi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Checkit
Enables public access and secure configurations through reverse proxy
The primary valuable feature of NGINX for me is its ability to provide a reverse proxy. I have found that this feature supports our local server, and I am able to connect through our DNS system, making it accessible publicly. Additionally, the integration with SSL certificates and the configuration capabilities make it a valuable solution for my use case. Without NGINX, users would not be able to access our application, which means there is positive ROI from using NGINX as it is crucial for the functioning of my organization.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
8%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise16
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kemp LoadMaster?
My primary advice is to carefully analyze your total cost of ownership (TCO) rather than just the initial purchase price. Kemp LoadMaster is highly competitive on price and often provides a much be...
What needs improvement with Kemp LoadMaster?
The product could be improved with a more intuitive interface for complex configurations and more advanced analytics. Additionally, enhanced security features, like a more robust Web Application Fi...
What is your primary use case for Kemp LoadMaster?
Our primary use case was traffic load balancing and distribution. The solution was essential for managing all inbound client traffic, including HTTPS and DNS requests, by routing it through our fir...
Which is better - IIS or NGINX Plus?
IIS is a flexible, secure, and manageable web server to host anything on the web. IIS’s scalable and open architecture can handle the most demanding tasks. From media streaming to web applications,...
What do you like most about NGINX Plus?
It performs very well. That's one of the primary reasons we use NGINX.
 

Also Known As

LoadMaster Load Balancer
NGINX
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Kent County Council, KEMP, SMA Solar Technology AG, RT€ Player , Victrix (Quebec, Canada), Texas A&M, Macmillan Cancer Support, Cisco, Austin Bank
Locaweb, AppNexus, Wix, Reliam, Montana Interactive, MuleSoft, Warpwire, Discovery Education, InkaBinka, WordPress.com, Gogo, GOV.UK, NASA
Find out what your peers are saying about Kemp LoadMaster vs. NGINX Plus and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,455 professionals have used our research since 2012.