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Barracuda Load Balancer ADC vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) 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

Barracuda Load Balancer ADC
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
14th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
122
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of Barracuda Load Balancer ADC is 1.6%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is 16.1%, up from 15.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)16.1%
Barracuda Load Balancer ADC1.6%
Other82.3%
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
 

Featured Reviews

Roni Wijaya - PeerSpot reviewer
A simple and powerful solution with WAF feature
The solution is simple and powerful. I find the Barracuda Load Balancer ADC's load balancing function most valuable. It balances the traffic well. The security features, like the Web Application Firewall, are also very helpful. I use the SSL offloading feature too. It's very helpful because it prevents overload. Our application runs on HTTP, but we upload HTTPS on the load balancer. This means there are no performance issues. I think it's very helpful.
Bonieber  Orofeo - PeerSpot reviewer
Identifying compromised traffic and securing data has been a significant advantage
One of the most beneficial features of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is its ability to identify compromised traffic and its capabilities in authentication. Additionally, the security aspect of it provides a significant advantage as it helps us secure our data, which is a major investment and benefit for us. Before using this system, we had difficulties in storing our data and managing the traffic that comes in and out.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Barracuda's technical support is good - whenever we have an issue, they immediately connect and resolve it."
"I would rate the stability of Barracuda Load Balancer as a ten out of ten; it has high stability."
"The solution is simple and powerful. I find the Barracuda Load Balancer ADC's load balancing function most valuable. It balances the traffic well. The security features, like the Web Application Firewall, are also very helpful."
"The most useful features in Barracuda Load Balancer are its security capabilities, load balancing efficiency, and scalability."
"The price is very good, and it's not very expensive."
"The most valuable feature of F5 BIG-IP LTM is brand image and recognition and the application delivery controller."
"Great load balancing."
"iRule feature is useful."
"Traffic Learning is the most valuable feature."
"The tech support we got from F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager directly was pretty good."
"I think F5's tech support may be better than Citrix's because they mainly focus on the ADC product, but Citrix support covers Hypervisor, XenMobile, FAS, and ADC. And from my experience, sometimes, we face some issues that Citrix cannot handle."
"Routing and load balancing are its most valuable features."
"F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) improves the resilience and quality of the application itself, the speed and the user experience for the application. The data that the users need from the application is actually acquired faster. So, it provides faster data acquisition."
 

Cons

"The Barracuda Load Balancer ADC could be improved with more customization features. For example, F5 uses iRules for custom configurations. I haven't found something similar in Barracuda yet. The load balancer and WAF's basic and common features are enough, but we need more customization options."
"Load Balancer ADC is competitively priced, but it's not feature-rich, and its technology is not that advanced."
"The quality of the solution's performance could be improved."
"There are areas of Barracuda Load Balancer's security that have room for improvement, particularly concerning handling traffic."
"There are areas of Barracuda Load Balancer's security that have room for improvement, particularly concerning handling traffic."
"Internet and cloud support could be improved."
"Cloud native integration should be provided."
"The price needs improvement as it is quite costly."
"The pricing could always be better. It's a bit expensive."
"Technical support could be faster. It's something I'd like to see them work on in the future."
"One area for improvement with F5 BIG-IP LTM could be its pricing, which some may find on the higher side."
"Native support for containers should be added to future releases, as this is the future of load balancing."
"The deployment could be simplified."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Load Balancer ADC is cost-effective and is about half the price of F5."
"I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."
"Purchasing through the AWS Marketplace was very simple. The main reason that we went this way was the simplicity of buying it there. It is maintained and upgraded for us, and this makes it easy to stay current."
"They are expensive."
"The price is high."
"The price of F5 BIG-IP LTM could improve."
"The solution is more expensive than one of its competitors."
"It was probably a one-time purchase and then you have maintenance, but I don't have the details on that. We bought what they called the Best bundle at the time, which pretty much included all of the modules. There was probably no additional cost afterward."
"There are no additional fees to the standard licensing fee; everything is paid once."
"Our company pays for the licensing cost on a yearly basis. Also, there are no extra costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Retailer
11%
Educational Organization
9%
Media Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business62
Midsize Enterprise31
Large Enterprise84
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda Load Balancer ADC?
Pricing for Barracuda Load Balancer ADC can be a consideration. However, it offers good value with its cost-saving benefits and efficient operation, balancing the initial financial outlay.
What needs improvement with Barracuda Load Balancer ADC?
There are areas of Barracuda Load Balancer's security that have room for improvement, particularly concerning handling traffic. Also, more could be done to enhance the initial setup, as it can be c...
What is your primary use case for Barracuda Load Balancer ADC?
The typical use case for Barracuda Load Balancer ADC involves managing and distributing network traffic efficiently to maintain system performance. Clients use Barracuda Load Balancer ADC for its a...
What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP?
The GUI of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) could be improved. It's not something regarding how it processes or blocks, as that's perfect. However, it still feels a bit legacy regarding the GU...
What is your primary use case for F5 BIG-IP?
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is a perfect product for load balancing and WAF, and I would recommend it far more than any other product. The load balancing capabilities of F5 BIG-IP Local T...
 

Also Known As

Barracuda Load Balancer
F5 BIG-IP, BIG-IP LTM, F5 ASM, Viprion, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition , Crescendo Networks Application Delivery Controller, BIG IP
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Fenwal Blood Technologies
Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Load Balancer ADC vs. F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.