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

A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs. F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

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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:

ROI

Sentiment score

5.4

A10 Networks Thunder ADC boosts ROI quickly with automation, improved traffic management, reduced downtime, and enhanced operational efficiency.

Sentiment score

5.6

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition delivers ROI through cost savings, enhanced performance, security, and operational efficiency with integrated modules.

We do see a return on investment and cost reductions after the implementation of A10 Networks Thunder ADC.

For more quotes and insights, download the A10 Networks Thunder ADC report

Head Of Technical And Network Security at Connex Information Technologies

Overall, I can say the ROI includes a twenty-five to thirty percent cost reduction, with some areas achieving forty percent cost reduction in our expenses.

Network Architect at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

There is a significant performance improvement in the website and website speed.

For more quotes and insights, download the F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition report

IT consultant at Beginning Solutions IT

With F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition, we have not faced any RMAs, which has made a positive operational impact.

Abdul Rehman Manzoor

Senior Network And Security Engineer at Mobily

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.8

A10 Networks Thunder ADC is commended for its responsive support, despite requests for improved resources and emergency staffing.

Sentiment score

6.2

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition customer service is praised for professionalism and speed, but concerns exist over response times and costs.

Their tech support is very responsible, and their response time is very low, providing superb support.

Ayesh Jayaweera

PM at Connex Information Technologies

The support we receive from the team is quite excellent.

For more quotes and insights, download the A10 Networks Thunder ADC report

Head Of Technical And Network Security at Connex Information Technologies

The problem is that even the support team from A10 is not very familiar with their device.

NAREK MOVSESYAN

Network Team Lead at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

I would rate the customer support on a scale of one to ten as a perfect ten based on all of the experience I have had so far.

Abdul Rehman Manzoor

Senior Network And Security Engineer at Mobily

I rate customer support a 10 out of 10, as they are knowledgeable and provide straightforward troubleshooting.

Surjeet Kumar

Network Engineer at Thryv

Customer support for F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is excellent.

For more quotes and insights, download the F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition report

IT consultant at Beginning Solutions IT

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.0

A10 Networks Thunder ADC excels in scalability and adaptability, efficiently managing traffic growth and supporting balanced workloads across environments.

Sentiment score

6.2

F5 BIG-IP VE efficiently scales in cloud and on-premise, though high-load issues occur, yet remains flexible and reliable.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC's scalability is impressive.

reviewer2817921

IT Architecture Manager at a government with 10,001+ employees

A10 Networks Thunder ADC can handle growth easily, and I have scaled up during higher traffic periods.

reviewer2817951

Senior Consultant and Creative Director at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

However, the problem is that if I have different models, I am not able to configure them in one virtual chassis.

NAREK MOVSESYAN

Network Team Lead at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the A10 Networks Thunder ADC report

It is the most scalable and reliable system.

reviewer2800341

Cybersecurity Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Within ten minutes of time, we can scale and boot as many virtual machines as needed in the environment.

For more quotes and insights, download the F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition report

Network Architect at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Being a virtual edition, we were able to scale resources such as CPU, memory, and throughput based on our demand without major architectural changes.

reviewer2802939

Network Security Engineer at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.1

A10 Networks Thunder ADC ensures high stability and performance with minimal downtime, effective load balancing, and prompt support.

Sentiment score

8.4

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is stable and reliable, with benefits like enhanced performance and uptime, despite occasional high-load issues.

In some of our deployments of A10 Networks Thunder ADC, we have employed DDoS and other security features, and for the past few years, we haven't experienced any major incidents.

For more quotes and insights, download the A10 Networks Thunder ADC report

Head Of Technical And Network Security at Connex Information Technologies

A10 Networks Thunder ADC is very stable in my experience.

reviewer2788500

Network Operations Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Most of the time, it just runs in the background without issues.

reviewer2817951

Senior Consultant and Creative Director at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

The load balancing module still performed admirably.

reviewer2800377

Sr network engineer at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees

The performance increased significantly and the response times of the application improved.

Anshul Goel

Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

The uptime improvements with F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition are almost close to 100%, as it only goes down if a failover happens.

reviewer1469877

Sr. Consutant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition report

Room For Improvement

A10 Networks Thunder ADC needs UI improvements, better documentation, integration, security updates, and simplified management to enhance market presence.

F5 BIG-IP VE requires improvements in security, features, integration, and support with better pricing, training, and simplified licensing.

Having more structured, real-world configuration examples would make a big difference, especially for teams that are new to the platform, helping reduce the initial learning curve for them.

reviewer2817951

Senior Consultant and Creative Director at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

The primary problem with A10 Thunder devices is the documentation and the knowledge base.

NAREK MOVSESYAN

Network Team Lead at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

In the vThunder series of A10 Networks Thunder ADC, they have a perpetual license model and a subscription model, but in the Thunder series, the physical appliance does not have a perpetual license model, mainly operating on the subscription model.

Ayesh Jayaweera

PM at Connex Information Technologies

For more quotes and insights, download the A10 Networks Thunder ADC report

The primary concern I noted regarding F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is its scalability during high-load situations.

reviewer2800377

Sr network engineer at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees

It is a somewhat expensive solution, and the price needs to be improved based on what our customers have told us.

For more quotes and insights, download the F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition report

IT consultant at Beginning Solutions IT

With FortiWeb, we have a dashboard where I can check the policy status with just one click, and everything is easily accessible.

Abdul Rehman Manzoor

Senior Network And Security Engineer at Mobily

Setup Cost

A10 Networks Thunder ADC offers competitive pricing and cost-effective licensing, with users saving 20-30% compared to F5.

F5 BIG-IP VE offers valuable scalability and security despite high licensing costs, comparing favorably to alternatives like FortiWeb.

I estimate that I can save around 20 to 30 percent of my budget with A10 Networks Thunder ADC.

For more quotes and insights, download the A10 Networks Thunder ADC report

Head Of Technical And Network Security at Connex Information Technologies

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition's pricing structure was significantly more advantageous and aligned with our budgetary considerations.

reviewer2800377

Sr network engineer at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees

My experience with pricing and setup costs for F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition was mixed, as they do not have an option for 10 gig licensing, which was costly for us.

Prity Lata

Analyst at Accenture

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition solves a very significant problem of high availability and performance.

For more quotes and insights, download the F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition report

IT consultant at Beginning Solutions IT

Valuable Features

A10 Networks Thunder ADC enhances application performance with load balancing, security features, and simplified licensing, ensuring efficient traffic management.

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition offers scalable load balancing, SSL offloading, and security features, enhancing performance, uptime, and cost-efficiency.

Application load balancing in A10 Networks Thunder ADC plays a crucial role in improving application reliability during peak periods.

Ayesh Jayaweera

PM at Connex Information Technologies

What really stands out to me about A10 Networks Thunder ADC is how customizable, performant, and automated the platform is.

reviewer2817921

IT Architecture Manager at a government with 10,001+ employees

The advanced load balancing plus SSL offloading in A10 Networks Thunder ADC directly improves application uptime, speed, scalability, server efficiency, and user experience.

reviewer2788500

Network Operations Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the A10 Networks Thunder ADC report

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition helped our customers increase the high availability and performance of their applications, specifically their web applications.

IT consultant at Beginning Solutions IT

If ten thousand, fifty thousand, or even a million people want to access the application simultaneously, we have configured auto-scalability.

For more quotes and insights, download the F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition report

Network Architect at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition has impacted my organization positively with cost savings by saving public IP addresses, and its performance and stability, which give almost 100% uptime for the application because we have high availability.

reviewer1469877

Sr. Consutant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

Categories and Ranking

A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

9th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

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

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of A10 Networks Thunder ADC is 5.7%, up from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is 1.8%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition	1.8%
A10 Networks Thunder ADC	5.7%
Other	92.5%

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

Featured Reviews

Global load balancing has improved reliability and currently reduces latency across multi-cloud

Head Of Technical And Network Security at Connex Information Technologies

I have experience with AWS, and I also have experience with both AWS and Azure, and sometimes GCP as well. We utilize multi-cloud support with A10 Networks Thunder ADC. We have customers utilizing A10 Networks Thunder ADC in the public cloud as well. I didn't technically involve myself with analytics in A10 Networks Thunder ADC because I haven't been involved in that part in the past few years. According to my team, the analytics tools are quite prominent, so there are no issues there. We have a distributorship with A10 Networks and are considered a partner. I would rate this review 9 out of 10.

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Cloud deployment has simplified traffic distribution and now supports flexible multi-zone DR

Network Architect at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Construction Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	18

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	21

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 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?

Regarding pricing, I believe it is high, but the setup cost is low and licensing is fine, though I do not have the complete analysis from our sales team. I understand that F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition...

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

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Product Reports

A10 Networks Thunder ADC

Download A10 Networks Thunder ADC product report

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Download F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition product report

Also Known As

Thunder ADC, AX Series

No data available

Overview

A10 Networks Thunder ADC delivers efficient load balancing, SSL offloading, and enhanced security to ensure high application availability across cloud and on-premises environments. It optimizes performance and reduces costs while maintaining reliability during peak loads.

A10 Networks Thunder ADC supports enterprises in managing server load and ensuring secure, high-availability application delivery with features like DDoS protection and SSL offloading. Its cloud flexibility, operational efficiency, and advanced traffic management are key attributes, despite areas for improvement in user interface design, documentation examples, and third-party tool integration. Scalability, logging capacity, and automation for virtual appliances need attention, along with pricing adjustments for certain markets.

What are the most important features?

Load Balancing: Ensures even distribution of network traffic, enhancing performance and reliability.
SSL Offloading: Reduces the burden on servers by handling SSL encryption and decryption processes.
Security Enhancements: Provides robust features like DDoS protection for safer application delivery.
Cloud Flexibility: Adapts to both on-premises and cloud environments for versatile application support.
User-Friendly Interface: Prioritizes ease of use for efficient management, though improvements are needed.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

High Availability: Guarantees that applications remain accessible even during high traffic.
Scalability: Offers the ability to expand operations, addressing evolving enterprise demands.
Cost Efficiency: Optimizes costs through strategic resource allocation and efficient management.
Operational Efficiency: Enhances performance through effective traffic management and resource optimization.
Comprehensive Licensing: Provides flexible licensing options to accommodate diverse organizational setups.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, A10 Networks Thunder ADC enables secure, efficient management of server loads and application delivery. Enterprises use its features to protect data, facilitate remote work, and maintain performance amid traffic spikes by hosting applications centrally, ensuring continuous business operations.

A10 Networks

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition provides SSL offloading, load balancing, and high availability, enhancing security and performance. It supports advanced traffic management and monitoring tools, integrating easily and cost-effectively for flexible deployments across data centers.

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is renowned for its security and performance integration. The platform's customization capabilities via iRules, combined with comprehensive traffic management tools, enable organizations to fine-tune their data management processes. Users benefit from load balancing and a robust application delivery infrastructure, ensuring high availability and application security. With strong documentation and a user-friendly interface, deployment and configurations are simplified. Although the platform offers significant benefits, there are opportunities to enhance areas such as load management, support, training, and licensing. Expansion of security features, particularly for SD-WAN and Azure integration, alongside improved logging and failover functions, would enhance its utility even further.

What are the standout features of F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition?

SSL Offloading: Reduces burden on servers and improves efficiency.
iRules Customization: Enables users to tailor traffic handling.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal application distribution and uptime.
High Availability: Guarantees uninterrupted service.
Advanced Traffic Management: Utilizes tools for effective monitoring and control.

What benefits or ROI should users consider?

Enhanced Security: Provides protection against cyber threats.
Performance Improvement: Offers stability and efficient resource use.
Scalable Solutions: Adapts to changing organizational demands.
Cost-Effectiveness: Flexible deployment options reduce overall expenses.

In financial services, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is used to secure and optimize transaction flows, ensuring compliance and performance. Healthcare organizations employ it to manage sensitive data traffic securely and efficiently. Retailers balance e-commerce traffic, improving user experience and reliability during peak sales periods. Education institutions leverage it for web application protection and to support increasing online traffic demands.

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

Information Not Available

A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs. F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition