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A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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)
19th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of A10 Networks Lightning ADC is 2.0%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is 1.9%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition1.9%
A10 Networks Lightning ADC2.0%
Other96.1%
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
 

Featured Reviews

RONALDO DE MELO - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
reviewer2800392 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Architect at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Cloud deployment has simplified traffic distribution and now supports flexible multi-zone DR
Regarding F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition's improvement areas, the current dashboard is very useful, but I believe the registration process should be simplified in the virtual edition. Especially in the Azure environment, many features are not currently aligned and working with Azure. We need to make efforts to ensure it is well integrated with Azure. Currently, if we want to integrate route tables with the virtual F5 edition, we need to deploy scripting inside the virtual F5 instances, and then that script performs the virtual IP route table changes in the Azure environment. This feature should be auto-configured, and efforts are needed to ensure the virtual edition is very much aligned with the Azure environment. I am expecting this improvement in the next edition. The failover capability is also not as good as it should be. We have tested the failover functionality, and sometimes we have observed that failover fails. F5 does not successfully fail over to other instances perfectly, so that also needs to be improved. Security should also be enhanced, as in the past I have seen some security loopholes. Tightening of security should be included in the new software. These improvements should be present in near future editions.

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."
"Our clients have reported an increase in revenue by around 5% on a year to year basis, since this solution was implemented."
"Before F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition, we were dealing with recurring service interruptions, sometimes multiple incidents in a month or a week, and after moving to F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition, those dropped to very rare occurrences, with outages happening once in a blue moon."
"F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition positively impacts our organization by improving user experience, performance, and security, which is very helpful for us."
"F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition has impacted my organization positively because we use it for all our on-premises network related setups, such as load balancing for all our application traffic."
"Overall, the application stability and performance are all at par."
"The integration capabilities of the product are easy to use, and there is no complexity involved in it."
"In my experience, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition offers seamless connectivity and a user-friendly interface, which is very good compared to other load balancers where multiple issues arise, and troubleshooting is very useful for big applications such as payments."
"Comparatively, I find F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition more effective in both the WAF as well as the LTMs."
"The tool's investment is less than a physical device."
 

Cons

"The support from A10 should be improved."
"The documentation is pretty much closed and I think A10 crashes sometimes because initially, I was not able to set up Lightning ADC."
"A10 documentation is not as open and accessible as AWS and Azure documentation is."
"We would like to see some improvement in the rapidity with which we can customize security facts within the solution."
"The failover capability is also not as good as it should be. We have tested the failover functionality, and sometimes we have observed that failover fails."
"Improvements for F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition could include a more straightforward process for major updates where we could pre-schedule upgrades to avoid downtime."
"F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition has limited resources for SSL Orchestrator and other technologies."
"In terms of improvements for F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition, I encountered issues with load management when multiple modules such as AFM, APM, LTM, and GTM are handled together."
"Improvements for F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition should include training for newcomers."
"The improvement points I can suggest are that F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition tends to be highly resource-intensive, as we often encounter issues with high CPU, RAM, and storage utilization, particularly with ASM and LTM modules."
"On-the-go upgrades are an option that the tool currently lacks, making it an area where improvements are required."
"From a pricing perspective, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is somewhat high compared to others, and the licensing is provided as annual-based licenses rather than perpetual licenses."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The pricing is standard."
"F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is an expensive solution, but it's worth the price."
"I would rate the pricing a three out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"My company's customers need to make payments for the licensing charges attached to the product. It is an expensive product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Transportation Company
8%
Energy/Utilities Company
8%
Construction Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise22
 

Questions from the Community

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What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition?
Sometimes customers assume vulnerability points in F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition represent actual vulnerabilities, but they are false positives in that particular environment. In customer scans where m...
What advice do you have for others considering F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition?
I am currently working on different types of projects. I am handling SSL Orchestrator in a bank project and mainly handling load balancing in telecom projects. The value of my experience depends on...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that I think it is expensive.
 

Also Known As

Lightning ADS
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Handle Financial
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
918,169 professionals have used our research since 2012.