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F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs Okta Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 22, 2026

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
6.8
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager offers cost savings, quick ROI, and enhances security by ensuring crucial access and reducing costs.
Sentiment score
5.5
Okta Platform enhances efficiency and security, reducing IT burdens, support requests, and enabling significant time savings.
With Single Sign-On and automated identity management, employees can access applications faster while IT teams spend less time handling authentication issues.
Product Developer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Employee onboarding used to be a major pain point, but the automation Okta Platform provides for creating user accounts across various apps or SaaS tools has made our life much easier.
Lead Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
We have our dashboard to log in via Okta Workforce Identity.
Lead Admin Systems at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
F5 BIG-IP APM customer service receives mixed reviews, with some praising responsiveness and others citing delays and communication issues.
Sentiment score
6.8
Okta Platform's customer service is generally well-rated, though response times and support quality vary by tier and location.
Even if they respond, they don't update me with the process or what's going on.
Professional Services Specialist at a security firm with 51-200 employees
Most of the technical support is managed in-house due to our extensive experience with F5 products.
Business Development Manager at Pylones
F5 technical support is responsive and helpful.
Solutions Manager at Macroview Telecom Limited
By offering a system to set varying priority levels on support tickets, urgent issues could receive quicker attention, benefiting business continuity and customer satisfaction.
They are very supportive; they just open a ticket, and they support us very professionally.
Staff Infrastructure & Security Engineer at Mozn Systems
We had an issue a couple of years ago that was swiftly resolved by the support team, showing their efficiency.
IT Manager at Clear Channel
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
F5 BIG-IP APM scales for diverse deployments, offering flexibility and effective tools, though hardware limitations might challenge scalability.
Sentiment score
7.2
Okta Platform efficiently scales for organizations, maintaining strong reliability and secure management without performance issues or downtime.
The product's flexibility and company culture contribute to resolving these challenges.
Business Development Manager at Pylones
I would rate the scalability of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) between seven and eight.
Solutions Manager at Macroview Telecom Limited
The scalability of Okta Platform is impressive, but its effectiveness relies on how integrations are designed, rate limits are handled, and day-to-day operations are managed.
Identity and Access Management Specialist at a university with 10,001+ employees
It is secure, providing needed scalability without impacting performance.
Clients can scale their API access requests beyond default limits, which is adaptable according to requirements without impacting performance or deployment.
Senior Analyst at Toll Holdings Limited
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
F5 BIG-IP APM is praised for reliability, performance, and minimal bugs, with minor suggestions for log clarity improvement.
Sentiment score
7.9
Okta Platform is praised for reliable performance, high stability, quick support, and efficiently managed user identities with minimal issues.
On a scale from one to ten for stability, I would rate F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) a ten.
Solutions Manager at Macroview Telecom Limited
Sometimes, the logs are not quite informational or easy to understand.
Professional Services Specialist at a security firm with 51-200 employees
This ensures immediate action upon changes applied within Okta Platform, stabilizing operations in managing user accounts, identities, logins, and user profiles.
Okta Workforce Identity is a stable product.
Business Intelligence Developer at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
There are no doubts regarding the stability of Okta Customer Identity.
Senior Quality Analyst at YASH Technologies
 

Room For Improvement

F5 BIG-IP APM requires improvements in pricing, cloud integration, user interface, documentation, support, and additional features for enhanced performance.
Okta faces challenges with downtime, pricing, integration, support, and needs improvements in governance, security, and user interface.
If I could copy and paste objects instead of picking and configuring them from scratch each time, it would be great.
Professional Services Specialist at a security firm with 51-200 employees
The main improvement needed for F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is to integrate into the cloud-delivered services from F5.
Business Development Manager at Pylones
The ability to run the Anycast feature would be valuable, as the current solution only operates on-premises.
Senior Cyber Security Consultant at KoçSistem
If there was a fingerprint option, then only the person who has already added their fingerprint on their mobile phone could access it.
Lead Admin Systems at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Improvements could be made by simplifying integrations and providing more intuitive configuration options for administrators.
Product Developer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
If someone is a beginner with Okta Platform, the UI should be simplified, and the language used should make it easier for them to understand the concepts and what they are trying to do.
Software Engineer at aeTech Digital Hub
 

Setup Cost

F5 BIG-IP APM is costly but valued for high performance, with unpredictable cloud pricing and additional fees for features.
Okta is seen as expensive but valuable for its security and integrations, with pricing varying by user count and commitment.
F5 products are more expensive than other solutions but are valued for their quality and reliability.
Business Development Manager at Pylones
Despite the cost, it's cheaper than the potential financial loss from a security breach.
IT Manager at Clear Channel
It is certainly not cheap, but the features that you get, the functionality that you get, and whatever use cases that you have, it definitely satisfies those.
Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The pricing per-user list drops when user counts rise and with multi-year commitments.
Identity and Access Management Specialist at a university with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

F5 BIG-IP APM offers secure remote access with SSL VPN, multi-factor authentication, and comprehensive integration and security features.
Okta Platform provides robust security and seamless integration with single sign-on, adaptive authentication, and centralized identity management across environments.
APM is quite flexible for customers to use, providing secure remote access through various host-checking conditions for both machines and users.
Solutions Manager at Macroview Telecom Limited
It provides robust security and offers integration with multi-factor authentication systems, which is crucial for an organization's security policy.
Business Development Manager at Pylones
A lot of features are useful to me, including mostly the authentication, SAML, or SSO, with no sign-on.
Professional Services Specialist at a security firm with 51-200 employees
One of its most valuable features is its easy integration with various applications through its extensive application directory, offering hundreds or thousands of applications ready to configure.
IT Manager at Clear Channel
It offers around eight thousand five hundred out-of-the-box connectors, providing an edge over other tools.
Managing Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
For the end user, it is beneficial as they do not have to remember a password or keep the password on a post-it for different applications; they just authenticate once to access several services and service providers.
Technical Team Lead at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Man...
Ranking in Access Management
14th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (21st), Network Access Control (NAC) (11th), SSL VPN (6th), Remote Access (19th)
Okta Platform
Ranking in Access Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
109
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (2nd), Authentication Systems (3rd), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (3rd), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (2nd), ZTNA as a Service (2nd), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (1st), AI IT Support (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Access Management category, the mindshare of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is 2.4%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Okta Platform is 11.4%, up from 11.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Access Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Okta Platform11.4%
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)2.4%
Other86.2%
Access Management
 

Featured Reviews

Senior Cyber Security Consultant at KoçSistem
Has provided reliable policy controls and secure web access for large enterprises
I consider Cloudflare when evaluating centralized access control features; Cloudflare utilizes multi-factor authentication and full API support, while F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) needs to enhance its API support. I recommend F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) for large companies such as Tüpraş and Ford. Tüpraş is one of the biggest companies in Turkey, along with other customers such as Tofaş, Euroko, Koç Holding, and more. For on-premises deployment, I would rate it a 10. For cloud deployment, I would rate it a seven. I primarily use it on-premises. I rate F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) eight out of ten.
Vanga Sainithinreddy - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Developer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Single secure login has simplified daily access and strengthened multi-factor protection
Okta Platform offers several valuable features. The first one is Single Sign-On, which allows users to log in once and gain access to multiple applications without needing to enter credentials repeatedly. I believe that is one of the best features. The second one is multi-factor authentication (MFA). It adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to verify their identity through multiple methods such as a password and a mobile verification code. I use it mostly to manage secure access to enterprise applications and cloud services. Other features include user lifecycle management and integration with cloud applications. I myself have relied mostly on multi-factor authentication (MFA) because I tend to log in every day and whenever I am working or take a break, I use this multi-factor authentication to sign in. Okta Platform simplifies identity management, improves security, and allows employees to access multiple applications through a single secure login. I believe this is a very good feature. Okta Platform has improved our organization through user authentication with features like Single Sign-On and multi-factor authentication. I believe the features it provides simplify identity management, improve security, and fulfill the need for secure and centralized identity and access management.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise9
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business47
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise56
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?
F5 products are more expensive than other solutions but are valued for their quality and reliability, akin to purchasing a Bentley as opposed to an Audi.
What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is not user-friendly and operates slowly. Additional features for architecture such as Anycast would be beneficial. The ability to run the Anycast feature woul...
What is your primary use case for F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?
I am using F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) along with Bot Management, API Gateway, API Security, and F5 Cloud. I am using F5 Advanced WAF, but I switch between ZTNA solutions such as FortiSAS...
What do you like most about Okta Workforce Identity?
Okta has introduced the Universal Directory. It has custom attribute capability and user permissions to read/write on their profiles or hide them. Profile sources and identity profile sourcing are ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Okta Workforce Identity?
Pricing for Okta is reasonably not that much, however, I don't have access to the commercial aspect.
What needs improvement with Okta Workforce Identity?
Currently, in Okta Workforce Identity we get the two-digit authentication code. Instead of getting the two-digit authentication code, if we had an option to do fingerprint verification, that would ...
 

Also Known As

F5 Access Policy Manager
Okta Customer Identity, Workforce Identity
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

City Bank, Ricacorp Properties, Miele, American Systems, Bangladesh Post Office
FedEx, Zoom, Takeda, Lululemon Athletica, GrunHub, jetBlue, McKensson, Bain & Company, Engie, Peloton, Sonos, T-Mobile, Hewlett Packard, MGM Resorts, Ally Financial, Priceline, Albertsons, Itercom, Classy, FICO, Kensho, Live Nation, Drata, Rotary, and others.
Find out what your peers are saying about F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs. Okta Platform and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.