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A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs Akamai Ion 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

A10 Networks Thunder ADC
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Akamai Ion
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
15th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of A10 Networks Thunder ADC is 5.7%, up from 5.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Akamai Ion is 2.0%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
A10 Networks Thunder ADC5.7%
Akamai Ion2.0%
Other92.3%
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
 

Featured Reviews

KA
Cloud Support Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Focused on reworking interface and ecosystem while load balancing has improved uptime
A10 Networks Thunder ADC is quite solid, but there are some issues that I face, particularly with the user interface. A current issue is that the GUI is less polished than competitors. When compared against F5 BIG-IP or Citrix ADC, the GUI is not as good. The documentation and learning curve are areas that can be improved by A10 Networks. Compared with larger vendors including F5, Cisco, or Palo Alto, A10 has a smaller ecosystem. Although A10 Networks Thunder ADC supports cloud and Kubernetes, many enterprises now expect deeper cloud-native functionality. Improvement areas include Kubernetes Ingress maturity, service mesh integration, and auto-scaling intelligence.
HarshBhardiya - PeerSpot reviewer
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
Reliable bot management with valuable traffic analytics and good delivery configuration
We are using Akamai Ion primarily for CDN services. It is more about delivery configuration, and for security, we use Akamai WAF security controls and Botman Akamai Ion helps protect us from DOS, SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and scraping tools. Real-time analytics are very helpful for…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"A10 Networks Thunder ADC offers HA failover, security integration, operational stability, and ease of deployment and management."
"A10 explained why the latency dropped significantly on a site that we have."
"It's a very friendly solution, easy to configure, and it's very flexible."
"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."
"The DNS application firewall and load balancing are very valuable."
"The solution is stable."
"The solution is user-friendly and the CLA troubleshooting is easier compared to other solutions."
"Feature-wise, A10 Networks Thunder ADC is better for troubleshooting...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."
"Akamai is easy to use and very effective."
"The most valuable feature is bot management."
 

Cons

"The tool's load-balancing feature should improve."
"DDoS protection is one kind of extra feature in A10 Networks Thunder ADC solution, but I see that in the inbuilt solution, the data classification part is pending there, creating a gap between the DDoS and the data classification parts."
"However, the future might not be bright for this company, and I highly suggest that existing and potential users follow the progress of their legal battle with Brocade."
"Maybe one concrete thing that they can improve on is their two-factor authentication."
"The setup depends on certain situations. In certain scenarios, it may be more complex than others. For example, while the initial configuration may be easy, the environment itself may be complex and that may limit the ease of deployment. It is easy for those who understand their environment."
"It's not easy to use (mediocre at best). It's difficult for administrators to maneuver through the web user interface."
"There are competitors that have more features."
"Currently, the solution's WAF features are fewer. They should consider increasing their WAF features."
"The product must provide more flexibility."
"Log management should display data for more than two months."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution costs less than its competitors."
"Pricing is one of the features of the product that influence customers to use the product."
"For the hardware and license, we paid $35,000 per box, which was a one-time cost. Then, for the Gold Support on the two boxes, we pay $9400 annually."
"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."
"We did try out the solution’s Harmony analytics and visibility controller for its one-year trial. Due to the cost, we chose not to keep it onsite."
"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."
"It is $7000 per unit for the support annually."
"One of the main reasons for switching away from Cisco was the licensing model. A10 gives you global server load balancing for free, while Cisco charged a significant licensing fee for that."
"The tool is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Construction Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise15
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for A10 Networks Thunder ADC?
The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for A10 Networks Thunder ADC is a question for another department, not for me.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Akamai Ion?
The billing cycle is monthly, however, payment is done yearly. While expensive, it provides value for the services offered.
What needs improvement with Akamai Ion?
Log management should display data for more than two months. The traffic report needs to be more flexible. The response time of technical support should be improved.
What is your primary use case for Akamai Ion?
We are using Akamai Ion primarily for CDN services. It is more about delivery configuration, and for security, we use Akamai WAF security controls and Botman.
 

Also Known As

Thunder ADC, AX Series
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Eurail, Boston Scientific
Find out what your peers are saying about A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs. Akamai Ion and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.