A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs A10 Networks Thunder ADC comparison

A10 Networks Lightning ADC and A10 Networks Thunder ADC are both solutions in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category. A10 Networks Lightning ADC is ranked #18, while A10 Networks Thunder ADC is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.3. A10 Networks Lightning ADC holds a 0.5% mindshare in ADC, compared to A10 Networks Thunder ADC’s 4.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of A10 Networks Lightning ADC users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of A10 Networks Thunder ADC users who would recommend it.

A10 Networks Lightning ADC

Read 3 A10 Networks Lightning ADC reviews

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201 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Read 22 A10 Networks Thunder ADC reviews

1,893 Views
1,836 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

A10 Networks Lightning ADC

A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

A10 Networks Thunder ADC and Lightning ADC are application delivery solutions, with Thunder ADC focusing on on-premises environments and Lightning ADC suited for cloud-native deployments. Lightning ADC seems to have the upper hand in cloud environments due to its flexibility.

Features: Thunder ADC offers hardware and software load balancing, high availability, and advanced traffic management. It provides comprehensive security features like SSL inspection and DDoS protection, supporting traditional data centers. Lightning ADC supports microservices, containerized applications in multi-cloud settings, and features a lightweight, scalable architecture, enabling rapid deployment and integration across various cloud platforms.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Thunder ADC involves traditional installation processes, offering extensive configuration options typical of on-premises solutions. Lightning ADC streamlines deployment with automation tools for cloud environments, enhancing efficiency. Both products offer dedicated customer support, with Lightning ADC allowing for faster updates and improved flexibility.

Pricing and ROI: Thunder ADC requires an upfront hardware investment and maintenance, leading to longer ROI timelines associated with infrastructure updates. Lightning ADC's subscription-based pricing model reduces initial costs and provides a cost-effective solution for businesses seeking scalability and adaptable expense management.

To learn more, read our detailed A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. A10 Networks Thunder ADC Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. A10 Networks Thunder ADC

July 2025

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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

A10 Networks Lightning ADC

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

18th

Average Rating

7.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

10th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of A10 Networks Lightning ADC is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of A10 Networks Thunder ADC is 4.9%, up from 4.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

Featured Reviews

RONALDO DE MELO

Sales Account Executive at l8

Efficient application security while optimizing connections

The initial setup is simple; it is not complex. The configuration itself is simple and can be done in a couple of hours. However, the migration of the system to A10 Networks takes longer due to critical applications. Clients prefer to move them one by one, which is why it takes a significant amount of time. The configuration itself is simple, especially for this application.

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RonaldoDE Melo

Sales Account Executive at L8 Group

Protects connection and servers from direct access with control access feature

The initial setup is very simple. The issue is that it achieves high output across all its features, specifically the output ports. This affects the customer's solution because sometimes, the customer is even aware of the user's activity on certain servers. If you have all the necessary information, we can quickly deploy the solution within two to three days. The size of the Thunder ADC depends on its configuration. For example, the cache converter typically includes more than two rack units, often requiring at least three rack units for adequate space. I rate it a ten out of ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.

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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

"It allows you to secure the application while balancing the connections for many other customers, reducing CPU usage and server load."

"What I like about Lightning ADC, is that instead of having a big appliance sitting in front of the Kubernetes cluster, Lightning can pretty much go inside of Kubernetes."

"Our clients appreciate that this is a security enabled solution."

"The ease of use is very good. It's very robust. It just sits and works."

"The SLB and GSLB load balancing are the most valuable features. They meet our need to do server-side load balancing and global site load balancing so we can distribute traffic, not only intra-data center, but inter-data center."

"The solution is stable."

"A10 Networks Thunder ADC is an easy-to-use and flexible solution."

"It is very useful to have a simple dashboard where you can login and look into what your traffic patterns are, then look and see what times of day you're experiencing the heaviest traffic. You can quickly identify if you are possibly having a security issue or security breach. It makes it very easy to use the box."

"We can control access based on the specific application. If other devices are attempting to directly access the servers, you can block them. Additionally, you can balance the load among servers to optimize performance. For example, utilizing caching can make the application run faster."

"For the past two and a half years, we have not had a need to open a tech support ticket. It is really stable. In the past, our experience with tech support was that they were extremely helpful."

"A lot of our SSL management is done on the front-end side, so there is one pane of glass for a lot of our security certificates. It gives us visibility. It also falls under when certificates are going to expire. Even for servers that are coming down, we can see how that affects the traffic flow by using the services map."

More A10 Networks Thunder ADC pros

Cons

"A10 documentation is not as open and accessible as AWS and Azure documentation is."

"The support from A10 should be improved."

"We would like to see some improvement in the rapidity with which we can customize security facts within the solution."

"A graphical dashboard for analyzing performance is needed."

"They need to make the user interface (GUI) a bit more usable and intuitive. Some features can be a little difficult to find at times. Sometimes, the workflow in the GUI doesn't match the workflow of an actual workflow. E.g., if I want to create a load balancer application, sometimes you've got to do things a bit out of order in the GUI in order to make it work right."

"We are starting to do a lot with containers and how the solution hooks into Kubernetes that we haven't explored. I'm hoping that they have a lot of hooks into Kubernetes. That would be the part for improvement: Marketing use cases with containers."

"In my opinion, they need to improve their cloud support. There is support for cloud, but not all functions are there, such as high-availability."

"A10 Networks Thunder ADC could improve on the Application Delivery Controller. it's not a fully-fledged web application firewall solution. For example, application data and support need to improve."

"The tool's load-balancing feature should improve."

"The solution does logging, but the logging capacity is really small. Because we have a bunch of traffic here, we usually get a logging-side warning that "This many logs were lost because of the heavy traffic." If the logging was better, that would be very good."

"The user interface is what people complain about most of the time, particularly if they don't use it very often. Then they complain that it's a bit clunky."

More A10 Networks Thunder ADC cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The solution costs less than its competitors."

"The pricing is fine, considering the features they are providing. If you are an individual user, they'll price the product differently compared to how they price the product that is sold to an organization."

"We previously had F5 and switched because of costs."

"We just pay for support in addition to our licensing."

"The price of A10 Networks Thunder ADC depends on capacity and the customer's requirement. They have several offerings. They have different price models and options to choose from. Additionally, you need to subscribe to support for the hardware appliances."

"As for the initial investment in the hardware, F5 and A10 are quite similar now. For the current A10 solution, the initial cost was about $36,000. As for annual support, the F5 solution would be between $10,000 and $12,000, while the A10 is $2,200 a year for support."

"The price is good they are very comparative."

"The price of the maintenance support is too expensive."

More A10 Networks Thunder ADC pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?

I would recommend A10 Networks due that it delivers high performance in a small form factor to reduce OPEX with significantly lower power usage, rack space, and cooling requirements compared to oth...

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Do you recommend A10 Networks Thunder ADC?

I do recommend A10 Networks Thunder ADC. It's very user-friendly, easy to configure, and flexible. It is a very useful solution - especially now, when a lot of employees are working remotely. I hav...

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What do you like most about A10 Networks Thunder ADC?

A10 Networks Thunder ADC is an easy-to-use and flexible solution.

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Comparisons

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Compared 36% of the time

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Compared 33% of the time

Fortinet FortiADC vs A10 Networks Lightning ADC

Compared 31% of the time

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F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Compared 26% of the time

NetScaler vs A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Compared 23% of the time

Fortinet FortiADC vs A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Compared 10% of the time

Kemp LoadMaster vs A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Compared 8% of the time

Radware Alteon vs A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

July 2025

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Buyer's Guide

A10 Networks Thunder ADC

July 2025

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Also Known As

Lightning ADS

Thunder ADC, AX Series

Overview

A cloud-native, software-defined solution that provides integrated advanced load-balancing, performance optimization, application security and per-application analytics to increase operational agility and application performance.

A10 Networks

A10 Networks Thunder ADC is a dynamic application delivery controller and advanced load balancer. Thunder ADC is a value-added solution provided by A10 Networks specializing in robust, trusted, scalable application services for cloud, hybrid, edge cloud, and on-premise environments focused on improving business processes and keeping infrastructures safe. The solution consistently provides server availability, improves content delivery, and protects at-risk applications. A10 Networks Thunder ADC easily controls hybrid and multi-cloud deployments using a Polynimbus strategy to minimize difficulties and costs for IT processes, facilitating overall improved business results.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC is effective for small to medium businesses (SMBs) to large enterprises. Service providers and cloud operators are all using A10 Network ADC to manage their large and fast-growing group of business-critical applications.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC supplies L4-7 load balancing with numerous layers of security using DNS and web app firewalls, comprehensive support for advanced encryption, single sign-on (SSO) authentication, and high-performance Perfect Forward Secrecy and Error Correction Code (PFS/ECC). Thunder ADC is designed upon A10 Networks Advanced Core Operating System (ACOS®) platform to provide consistent, efficient application performance and trusted security for any environment.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC Benefits

Consistently accessible: A10 Networks Thunder ADC employs numerous load balancing protocols to evenly distribute workloads to all servers and works to ensure constant application functionality. User requests are monitored to ensure loads are directed to the appropriate server so that there is always a proper response delivery to content. This process ensures the applications are consistently available.
Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB): To ensure business processes are fully optimized at all times, A10 Networks Thunder ADC employs a dynamic Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) process to augment server load balancing capabilities throughout global data centers for high availability and improved user experience and application tolerance.
Fast content delivery: A10 Networks Thunder ADC conquers the general WAN latencies, chatty policies, and redundant software programs to ensure quick and responsive service. Employees receive a fast, excellent end-user experience while the organization's business leaders get exceeded SLA mandates and increased productivity with teams working remotely and a step up on the competition.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC Features

Detailed Analytics: When deployed with A10 Networks Harmony Controller, Thunder ADC delivers a large selection of detailed aggregate and per-request reports in real time. The reports include popular URLs, error and health indicators, latencies, and end-to-end response times. The data is further dissected to deliver per-app reporting, availability alerts, and performance.
API Coverage: Thunder ADC utilizes A10 Networks REST-based aXAPIs to structure all features with 100 percent API coverage. The resulting interface is then used to seamlessly integrate custom or third-party management solutions, such as VMware or other SDN platforms, OpenStack, Microsoft SCVMM, or other cloud orchestration systems. There are also software plug-ins available for private clouds utilizing VMware’s vRealize Orchestrator.
Comprehensive Management Controls: Thunder ADC is fully supported by A10 Networks Harmony Controller and can be deployed in software or as a software-as-a-service (SaaS). This controller functions as a native management platform that organizes and distributes application-centric service protocols and configuration data to numerous Thunder appliances and device cluster infrastructures throughout numerous multi-cloud environments. Users can instantly identify, audit and track every appliance using critical operational metrics, such as CPU, disk usage, device partitions, and end users. The A10 Networks Harmony Controller will also complete configuration backups and restore operations, and will schedule regular software upgrades.

A10 Networks

Sample Customers

Handle Financial

123inkt.nl, Bentley University, Box, Brainshark, Buienradar, Capgemini, CGN/LSN & NAT64, Chengdu Telecom, Club One, Code Ready, CRC Health Group, Cyso, Deutsche Telekom, Earth Class Mail, Excite, FFF Enterprises, Florence County, Framingham State University, From30

Buyer's Guide

A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. A10 Networks Thunder ADC

July 2025

Free Report: A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. A10 Networks Thunder ADC

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