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Citrix Intelligent Traffic Management [EOL] vs NetScaler comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 25, 2025

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

Citrix Intelligent Traffic ...
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetScaler
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
107
Ranking in other categories
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (1st), Network Management Applications (4th), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (10th)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer982137 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager IT Technical Teams / Organizational Consulting at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
It's a robust and proven solution that we've been working with for many years
Citrix solutions are increasingly complex. I think this is a disadvantage for Citrix now. One or two weeks is long enough to implement Citrix's core products. However, you have to set up all features and user parameters, which takes one or two months. We need about 30 people to deploy and maintain this solution.
LD
Information Technology Division Director at Ethiopian Roads Administration
Offers better visibility into user sessions compared to other solutions
Improvements are needed to address the issue of machines becoming unregistered, ensuring stability for end users. Troubleshooting with Citrix support can be challenging, so clearer diagnostics would be beneficial. As for global server load balancing, it works well on-premises, depending on user volume and service stability. Overall, it's satisfactory for us.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We use the HDX protocol, a high-performing component of the Citrix solutions. We also use provisioning to generate VM and NetScaler ADC solutions to propose access to applications for our customers."
"The GSLB feature allows us to move services between data centers. We can do this in either a planned or unplanned manner. We have experienced service provider outages at our primary data center and GSLB will kick in to automatically modify DNS records to point to a secondary data center (active/passive). We also make use of GeoIP information to point clients to the closest data center for accessing applications."
"The solution was very easy to deploy."
"The load balancing feature of this solution is very good."
"I like the monitoring ability as it enables me to identify when an internal (load-balanced) resource is having issues before it becomes a problem in production."
"The analytics are a great feature."
"Content Redirection and SSO integration with Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop. The GUI was wonderful."
"The most valuable feature is the content switching."
"I like the ease of use. It's easy to manage. I also like it's ease of use with virtualization technologies with applications."
 

Cons

"We discussed problems with the network products with the Indian teams. The support center for network products is located in India. There are language barriers and issues with the time difference, so we sometimes face restrictions when dealing with this team."
"Some features of Citrix ADM are available on the cloud, which could really be helpful if they were available on an on-premise version."
"They can improve the scalability and the multi-tenancy feature. We recently tried to configure an authentication, and we ran into some issues while using the web-based GUI. It was very slow when you log in with your credentials in the web-based GUI. Each time we clicked on the menu, it tried to do the authentication. It works properly in the console."
"The interface could be improved, some customers struggle with that."
"We face challenges with the solution's firmware upgrades frequently."
"Manageability and adaptability can also be challenging for end customers."
"Citrix ADM needs to improve on its additional features and reduce the communication ports."
"If one device or switch fails, the failover to another device is not seamless which is painful."
"Its GUI should be improved. Its CLI is powerful, but GUI needs more features."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Our licensing fees including technical support are approximately $3,500 USD."
"You get the value for your money. There aren't any hidden fees."
"I rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten."
"The license for Citrix NetScaler is on an annual basis and it is reasonably priced."
"Ninety day free trial makes it easy to try out this solution."
"The tool is cheap."
"Regarding pricing, while it's expensive, I can't comment on the exact ROI without a budget analysis. However, in terms of service quality, it's worth the price."
"We are quite happy with price. It's not too high."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise57
 

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about Citrix ADC?
The most valuable feature for us is the application firewalling in Citrix NetScaler, ensuring only valid traffic enters our environment.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix ADC?
After deployment, Citrix Netscaler shifted to a subscription-based license scheme for support, which is slightly more expensive.
What needs improvement with Citrix ADC?
Citrix NetScaler is a robust product, but mastering it requires significant learning and training due to its complexity. While it could be easier to manage, it is like transitioning from driving a ...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Citrix ITM
Citrix ADC, Citrix NetScaler VPX, NetScaler Console, NetScaler Web Application Firewall, NetScaler VPX - Customer Licensed
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Dataport, Bet365, VFLI, Rhode & Schwartz
ABB Schweiz, Aer Lingus, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Amnet Technology Solutions, Aramex International, Ascenty, Atos, Autodesk
Find out what your peers are saying about NetScaler, F5, HAProxy and others in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC). Updated: January 2026.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.