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F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs Fortinet FortiDDoS comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
124
Ranking in other categories
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (1st)
Fortinet FortiDDoS
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) and Fortinet FortiDDoS aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is designed for Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) and holds a mindshare of 11.9%, down 15.9% compared to last year.
Fortinet FortiDDoS, on the other hand, focuses on Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection, holds 1.8% mindshare, down 2.6% since last year.
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)11.9%
NetScaler11.3%
HAProxy8.1%
Other68.69999999999999%
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiDDoS1.8%
Cloudflare11.9%
Imperva Application Security Platform7.7%
Other78.6%
Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection
 

Featured Reviews

edshyaa - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at Stryker
Load balancing has improved traffic distribution and currently supports high availability upgrades
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) offers effective load balancing methods that help distribute traffic across our servers, whether we have two or several. This load balancing feature stands out as it is the fundamental work we do with F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM). While I recognize there are many features, such as iRules, which I have not explored yet, we primarily work on VIPs, pool members, and traffic distribution. The load balancing algorithms' flexibility makes them very useful for our team, enabling us to choose different servers and manage load effectively. We use various methods based on user or application requirements, making the algorithms set up by F5 in the backend quite helpful. F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) positively impacts our organization primarily through its load balancing capabilities. We avoid traffic overload on individual servers by placing backend servers behind F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) VIP. This load balancing helps us manage traffic effectively. Since the configuration of the I-series, we have had smooth performance, and with the recent migration to the R-series, it is working faster than before, providing positive outcomes for our operations. Since moving to the R-series, I notice improved performance; it is user-friendly and handles traffic efficiently. The upgrading process is different as we create tenants and a main host. R-series has better CPU and memory, leading to higher throughput with minimal downtime, making it a significant improvement over the I-series.
MO
IT Analyst at Evapco, Inc.
Reliable protection and smooth setup enhance company security
Currently, I have two firewalls, with one located in Sorocaba, model 90D, and the other in São Paulo, model 30D. They are connected by VPN. I use the firewalls for VPN and final protection for my company, and my equipment is maintained by an internet company called Multiprox The equipment works…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is a scalable solution."
"Traffic Learning is the most valuable feature."
"It integrates with AWS WAF, which makes it easy to deploy without changes to your infrastructure."
"The capability is at a seven or eight out of ten."
"In summary, this is a very good product and we are actively suggesting it to our customers."
"It makes the publishing of applications to the Internet safer."
"The solution is robust and reliable."
"We used to have Cisco, then we have Citrix NetScaler, but the Citrix NetScaler is just a load balancer and did not give me the complete ADC features, which is why F5 is the king of load balancing."
"It allows me to see all the traffic on my network."
"The solution is very user-friendly and very easy to use."
"I find the interface easy to use."
"Compared to other DDoS mitigation solutions with similar deployment, FortiDDoS does not require a 24x7 NOC and has lower TCO."
"The solution already has security profiles and it can protect from DDoS attacks and other kinds of attacks."
"We have researched them all, and it's a good solution all around."
"We've been completely satisfied with the product."
"The product allows the users to adjust the thresholds."
 

Cons

"F5 has another solution to load balance servers on the cloud, which they got after the purchase of NGINX. It is deployed as Kubernetes or something like that, but the problem now is that they have two solutions for two situations. They should make F5 deployable on the cloud."
"Native support for containers should be added to future releases, as this is the future of load balancing."
"In terms of pricing, it could be more competitive."
"It would possibly help to get more training, even better in local languages."
"One improvement could be updating the user interface (UI)."
"It is a hardware load balancer, and its installation procedure is more complex than a software load balancer. There are pros and cons of using hardware load balancing. You have to have specific hardware deployed in your data center to activate this load balancer. They never came up with any software-based load balancing solution. It is all hardware-based."
"Another drawback is we are using a physical appliance. It becomes very slow and unresponsive."
"I wouldn't recommend the tool to small companies, considering its high price and the infrastructure needs of small businesses."
"There aren't really any aspects of the solution we are unhappy with. It's been a positive experience overall."
"I find that there have been issues in the past year with the solution hanging. It freezes often."
"Earlier versions of firmware had bugs that limit my options."
"The web interface could be much better."
"The challenge lies within the customer environment, particularly in Brazil, where companies have stringent security requirements for implementing solutions."
"I would like to see analytics, big data."
"The primary area for improvement is the on-premises capacity limit, currently fixed at 10 GB."
"The initial setup is complex. It is always complex."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are no additional fees to the standard licensing fee; everything is paid once."
"I found F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) an expensive product. The costs would depend on the appliance and infrastructure size. However, my company didn't have to pay extra to use additional features."
"Our company pays for the licensing cost on a yearly basis. Also, there are no extra costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"The cost that they have with AWS are almost prohibitive. I'm being forced to use F5 WAF. I would not simply use it based on cost. I agree that they have some great features, but for me, cost is key in terms of AWS."
"F5 BIG-IP can be expensive, although there are trial versions available which are helpful to find out if the solution is right for your company."
"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."
"F5 isn’t cheap but is worth the price."
"The price should be reduced because it is expensive when compared to the competition."
"The product’s pricing needs improvement."
"The solution is reasonably priced."
"It's quite pricey."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Construction Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business62
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise86
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP?
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) could improve file upload speeds when opening cases and attaching files; sometimes, downloading files like QKView takes time, depending on size. I expect faste...
What is your primary use case for F5 BIG-IP?
My main use case for F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is placing our applications on F5 and the backend servers on the pool. We also regularly renew SSL certificates before they expire, usuall...
Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?
Arbor would be the best bid, apart from Arbor, Palo Alto and Fortinet have good solutions. As this is an ISP, I would prefer Arbor.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiDDoS?
Fortinet FortiDDoS offers lower costs compared to other solutions. The licensing costs are annually renewed.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiDDoS?
There is a need for more features that protect personal information, especially given the PDP issue in Indonesia.
 

Also Known As

F5 BIG-IP, BIG-IP LTM, F5 ASM, Viprion, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition , Crescendo Networks Application Delivery Controller, BIG IP
Fortinet DDoS, FortiDDos
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc.
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about F5, HAProxy, NetScaler and others in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC). Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.