F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services comparison

The compared F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition and F5 Distributed Cloud Services solutions aren't in the same category. F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is ranked #11 in ADC , with an average rating of 8.8, and holds a 0.5% mindshare in the category. F5 Distributed Cloud Services is ranked #10 in CDN , with an average rating of 10.0, and holds a 2.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of F5 Distributed Cloud Services users who would recommend it.

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Read 10 F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition reviews

1,600 Views
80 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Read 2 F5 Distributed Cloud Services reviews

2,707 Views
487 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition and F5 Distributed Cloud Services based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. F5 Distributed Cloud Services Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. F5 Distributed Cloud Services

June 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 881,082 peers since 2012

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 Virtual Edition

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (11th)

F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Average Rating

10.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

CDN (10th), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (19th), API Security (6th)

Mindshare comparison

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition and F5 Distributed Cloud Services aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is designed for Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) and holds a mindshare of 0.5%.
F5 Distributed Cloud Services, on the other hand, focuses on CDN, holds 2.4% mindshare, up 0.9% since last year.

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition	0.5%
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)	15.3%
NetScaler	13.2%
Other	71.0%

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

CDN Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
F5 Distributed Cloud Services	2.4%
Cloudflare	19.1%
Akamai	15.0%
Other	63.5%

CDN

Featured Reviews

Hammad Halim

IT consultant at Beginning Solutions IT

Load balancing has increased web availability and improves performance for critical applications

I rate F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition 10 out of 10.I gave it a 10 out of 10 because F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition truly solves a significant problem of high availability and traffic and performance improvement in web applications. The metrics showing performance and availability improvement with F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition include less downtime. Since we have increased redundancy on the web servers by placing three web servers behind F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition, if one of the servers fails, the other two will serve the traffic. Additionally, faster response time is achieved because we have more compute power with three servers serving the same purpose and hosting the same website. I would highly recommend F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition to everyone because we have had a phenomenal experience using this device. It is a very capable solution. We have used the Local Traffic Manager and we are in the process of implementing the Advanced Security Module, Application Security Module, or Advanced WAF. F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is a very good solution that solves many of the problems faced by small to medium-sized businesses.

Read full review

Filip Mikulik

IT Analyst at Atlas.cz, a.s.

Protects web applications with comprehensive security features

All features are valuable. In a multi-cloud or distributed cloud, there are many protection possibilities from data to web application or API protection, including bot mitigation. This is a comprehensive package for web application security. The main benefit is Web App Security, offering a complete security package from DDoS to web application firewall, API protection, and bot mitigation.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tool's investment is less than a physical device."

"F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition has positively impacted my organization in all three aspects: saving time, improving security posture, and complementing our appliances on our F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition."

"I have a specific issue with the network interface connector, the NIC. We're limited to a maximum of two NICs in a virtualized environment. It's a limitation of the tool."

"It's easy to use, and they have good support."

"I would highly recommend F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition to everyone because we have had a phenomenal experience using this device."

"The advanced web application firewall protection and SSL offloading capabilities of F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition have been utilized in my organization; these features are contributing to our application security and compliance posture."

"The integration capabilities of the product are easy to use, and there is no complexity involved in it."

"It has DoS layer 7 protection, which not many vendors have."

More F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition pros

"The main benefit is Web App Security, offering a complete security package from DDoS to web application firewall, API protection, and bot mitigation."

"F5 is known for being the best load balancer in the market. Customers with an existing module can easily adopt additional modules without investing in new hardware."

"In a multi-cloud or distributed cloud, there are many protection possibilities from data to web application or API protection, including bot mitigation."

Cons

"I have a specific issue with the network interface connector, the NIC. We're limited to a maximum of two NICs in a virtualized environment. It's a limitation of the tool."

"The tool has limitations with respect to code and RAM."

"BIG-IP could improve in supporting microservices, for example, in Docker and Kubernetes environments."

"It's expensive and could be cheaper."

"On-the-go upgrades are an option that the tool currently lacks, making it an area where improvements are required."

"F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition could be improved by enhancing the GUI, as I think it should be more user-friendly."

"F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is a heavy system that needs a lot of CPU, memory, and hard disk."

"I believe F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition could be improved in the area of pricing. It is a somewhat expensive solution, and the price needs to be improved based on what our customers have told us."

More F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition cons

"The pricing could be adjusted to better meet the needs of typical customers in regions like Poland, where the product is considered too expensive."

"The main issue is integration with other parts or products of F5, like on-premise WAF."

"The main issue is integration with other parts or products of F5, like on-premise WAF. There are some problems, mainly from the perspective of implementation and customer expectations, which sometimes differ from reality."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is an expensive solution, but it's worth the price."

"My company's customers need to make payments for the licensing charges attached to the product. It is an expensive product."

"The pricing is standard."

"I would rate the pricing a three out of ten, with ten being expensive."

Information not available

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	3

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition?

The integration capabilities of the product are easy to use, and there is no complexity involved in it.

See all answers

What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition?

I believe F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition can be improved because the 25 megabits throughput cap is small.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition?

My advice for others looking into using F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is to be aware of the throughput cap and how complex it can be. I would rate this product a 9 overall.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 Distributed Cloud Services?

I am not involved in sales, so I do not deal with the pricing aspect directly. I give the cost of the solution a four out of ten since it is not a cheap product.

See all answers

What needs improvement with F5 Distributed Cloud Services?

It's a long way to be perfect, of course, as with all solutions. The main issue is integration with other parts or products of F5, like on-premise WAF. There are some problems, mainly from the pers...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for F5 Distributed Cloud Services?

There are two main use cases for Distributed Call Services: DDoS or Distributed attacks protection and WAF web application security or firewall.

See all answers

Comparisons

Squid Proxy Cache Server vs F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Compared 18% of the time

Kemp LoadMaster vs F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Compared 16% of the time

SOCKS5 Proxy Server with Web Panel vs F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Compared 13% of the time

UBIKA WAAP Cloud vs F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Compared 13% of the time

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Compared 9% of the time

More F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition Competitors

Akamai vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Compared 13% of the time

F5 Silverline Managed Services vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Compared 12% of the time

Imperva Application Security Platform vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Compared 11% of the time

Cloudflare vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Compared 11% of the time

AWS WAF vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Compared 3% of the time

More F5 Distributed Cloud Services Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition

January 2026

Download F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition product report

Buyer's Guide

CDN

January 2026

Download F5 Distributed Cloud Services product report

Overview

When you need to move faster than hardware allows, BIG-IP Virtual Editions (VEs) deliver the application services you need in a more agile and flexible form factor. Get the scalability, security, and automatability BIG-IP products are known for—all in software designed for use in single-, hybrid-, or multi-cloud architectures.

F5 Distributed Cloud Services excel in enhancing security, optimizing web application delivery, and ensuring robust network performance. Users value its integrated Web Application Firewall, DDoS protection, global server load balancing, and intuitive management interface. It boosts organizational efficiency, reduces operational costs, and scales seamlessly, making it essential for businesses operating in distributed environments.

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. F5 Distributed Cloud Services

June 2025

Free Report: F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Find out what your peers are saying about F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. F5 Distributed Cloud Services and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition vs. F5 Distributed Cloud Services report.

We monitor all Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.