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A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs NGINX Plus comparison

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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:
 

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
NGINX Plus
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
10th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 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 NGINX Plus is 7.2%, down from 7.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
NGINX Plus7.2%
A10 Networks Lightning ADC2.0%
Other90.8%
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.
Nadeem-Inamdar - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Information Security Engineer at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Advanced policies and web firewall have strengthened application protection and reduced attack traffic
There were some vulnerabilities in F5. They tried to fix it, but the fixes were not available at the time because they were zero days, so they attempted to fix it, but their support was not proper. Their support should be improved because sometimes features which we need for customization take time, and they are sometimes feasible and sometimes not feasible by the team, so their support and the engineering team should improve their product. I would like to see more features regarding customization which should be built into the application, and the tool optimization should be good, and the dashboard should be more crisp and clear.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"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."
"It allows you to secure the application while balancing the connections for many other customers, reducing CPU usage and server load."
"​The flexibility of its modules allow it to be scalable.​"
"Nginx is simple to configure, very stable in a highly utilized environment and very modular, allowing DevOps to create it's own modules for interactive use with Nginx."
"NGINX Plus also has NGINX App Protect. It's a separate module, which is inspired by the F5 apps."
"NGINX provides a cost advantage, value addition, and effective support."
"This solution has everything."
"The robust software architecture allows for it to be scalable and very stable."
"NGINX is the best available tool today for the tasks it covers."
"The web proxy and the database proxy are excellent."
 

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."
"The documentation is pretty much closed and I think A10 crashes sometimes because initially, I was not able to set up Lightning ADC."
"Only improvement needed that I would point to is scalability. With it, I mean clusterized organisation on a low level. At the moment, the best alternative is RHEL HA."
"Improvement needed in NGINX Plus could focus on optimizing memory usage for users."
"The solution's GUI is an area with certain shortcomings that need improvement."
"Initially, I experienced hiccups whenever I installed the application. As with any application, there were initial issues, however, after receiving support, everything was rectified."
"Our most challenging part was to run an older PHP website reverse-proxied through NGINX. That was not fun."
"The scaling should be built into the software rather than configured from an outside source."
"The biggest room for improvement would be to allow NGINX Core machines to cluster for memory zones in some way with a plug and play module. ​"
"I would like it to have a more user-friendly graphical interface."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"HAProxy is cheaper than NGINX."
"The cost is reasonable."
"NGINX Plus is an open-source solution with limited additional features. When you try to get additional features in the solution, then you need to pay an extra amount to NGINX Plus."
"You pay for each feature that you want."
"Nginx is free. I don't have experience with the Plus version."
"I am not so happy with their pricing policy, but this is not the worse thing in my life. I can tolerate it."
"The price is the cost to contract support with a specialized company, usually during consulting hours.​"
"Compared to other similar solutions on the market, I think it's over-priced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
12%
Construction Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

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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 needs improvement with NGINX Plus?
There were some vulnerabilities in F5. They tried to fix it, but the fixes were not available at the time because they were zero days, so they attempted to fix it, but their support was not proper....
 

Also Known As

Lightning ADS
NGINX, F5 NGINX Plus
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Handle Financial
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 A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. NGINX Plus and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.