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Fortinet FortiADC vs VMWare Avi Load Balancer 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.0
Fortinet FortiADC offers reliable web traffic management with strong support, but users find WAF functionality could improve usability.
Sentiment score
3.9
Users benefit from VMware Avi Load Balancer's flexibility and low hardware costs, though some face obstacles to quick financial gains.
The alert system is efficient, sending alerts within a fraction of a second if any power issues arise.
Senior Network Engineer at SP SYSNET PTE. LTD.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
Fortinet FortiADC's support experiences vary, with praise for professionalism but issues with response times and license-related impacts.
Sentiment score
5.9
VMware Avi Load Balancer's customer support varies, with mixed reviews on responsiveness, expertise, and ticket handling efficiency.
The support team is knowledgeable and efficiently assists with automation and configuration problems.
Security Network Architect at Inmac
Fortinet technical support is very good, and they provide us with better support.
Team Lead at Adapt Information Technologies (Pvt) Ltd
On a scale from one to ten, the support deserves an eight.
Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited
Even when we have difficulty in VDI and other technology, they dig in, troubleshoot, and find the solution, even if it is not their issue.
Pre Sales at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Fortinet FortiADC is scalable with virtual, cloud, and hardware models, but accurate initial sizing is crucial for expansion.
Sentiment score
6.9
VMWare Avi Load Balancer offers scalable architecture but opinions vary, highlighting strengths and limitations compared to hardware platforms.
For those opting for a SaaS or cloud solution, there is scalability and flexibility.
Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited
It is scalable for some versions, however, as components reach their end of support, upgrades are necessary to maintain scalability.
Security Network Architect at Inmac
Scalability-wise, VMWare Avi Load Balancer is good.
Trainer/Consultant at Koenig Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Fortinet FortiADC is highly stable and reliable, with responsive support, despite minor bugs occasionally introduced by firmware updates.
Sentiment score
7.8
VMWare Avi Load Balancer is stable and reliable, though some question its capacity under heavy traffic for extensive infrastructures.
Overall, it has been good; in the past it was very good, and now it is still performing well.
Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited
The support system is reliable when issues like automation or configuration arise.
Security Network Architect at Inmac
We have two applications in two ESXi hosts that I integrated into our ADC, and I created one virtual IP in the virtual server pool.
Team Lead at Adapt Information Technologies (Pvt) Ltd
From a stability point of view, VMWare Avi Load Balancer is stable.
Trainer/Consultant at Koenig Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiADC users seek better support, documentation, and features, including load-balancing, security, interface, and resource optimization improvements.
VMWare Avi Load Balancer needs pricing, integration, security, and feature enhancements to compete with leaders like F5.
Fortinet has been a pioneer for enterprise solutions, such as firewalls, SASE, ZTNA, and SD-WAN solutions, and they are in a leader quadrant.
Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited
The limitation of managing all components and the differing versions pose challenges.
Security Network Architect at Inmac
The advanced analytics part was not requested from us. The only thing customers expected was load balancing.
Team Lead at Adapt Information Technologies (Pvt) Ltd
Multi-cloud capability comes from a configuration called NSX Extended.
Pre Sales at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
The documentation needs to improve, as it was really handy a couple of years back.
Trainer/Consultant at Koenig Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiADC offers competitive, predictable pricing with flexible licensing options, appealing to both small businesses and large enterprises.
VMware Avi Load Balancer offers flexible, cost-effective licensing and competitive pricing compared to alternatives like F5, with minimal setup costs.
This solution is quite expensive compared to Kemp.
Senior Network Engineer at SP SYSNET PTE. LTD.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiADC offers features like SSL offloading and load balancing, valued for simplicity, scalability, affordability, and integration.
VMWare Avi Load Balancer is valued for its integration, stability, intuitive interface, logging, analytics, and flexible deployment options.
The implementation process is straightforward, and cluster implementation is also very easy.
Team Lead at Adapt Information Technologies (Pvt) Ltd
When integrated with FortiAnalyzer, it has much more significance.
Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited
I use server load balancing and employ layer seven features, which provide more granular traffic shaping and detailed logs.
Senior Network Engineer at SP SYSNET PTE. LTD.
The features I find most valuable in VMware Avi Load Balancer are the load balancing part and the WAF part.
Trainer/Consultant at Koenig Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Native capability for load sharing can be accomplished from Fortinet or Palo Alto without the need to add additional tools.
Pre Sales at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiADC
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMWare Avi Load Balancer
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
12th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiADC is 9.7%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMWare Avi Load Balancer is 5.4%, up from 4.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiADC9.7%
VMWare Avi Load Balancer5.4%
Other84.9%
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
 

Featured Reviews

GANESAN K - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited
Has supported load balancing for medical applications and could benefit from more custom configuration options
Some customers need custom management for handling their applications across the servers. Instead of having a predefined solution, if we had space for custom-based algorithms to load balance the traffic, it would be better. We have faced such cases with A10, where we can leverage many custom scripts and do much more. Even though A10 primarily focuses on SMBs, they have also ventured into the enterprise market. Fortinet has been a pioneer for enterprise solutions, such as firewalls, SASE, ZTNA, and SD-WAN solutions, and they are in a leader quadrant. Therefore, they should have more options. From a pricing perspective, it is expensive.
reviewer2273484 - PeerSpot reviewer
Pre Sales at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Struggled with rising costs and limited value while managing internal traffic
The issue with load balancers is that they are all the same. I would rate it seven. I do not recall VMWare Avi Load Balancer having WAF protection. We use WAF and for this specific case, we use F5. It is not about VMWare Avi Load Balancer itself. For multi-cloud capability, you need to do NSX Extended and HCX in VMware. This is what will give you the flavor of multi-cloud. Others will be resources because once you reach NSX Extended, all resources will be under one cloud management. So it does not matter. It is not a feature in VMWare Avi Load Balancer that would be responsible for multi-cloud capability. Multi-cloud capability comes from a configuration called NSX Extended. It is very expensive. The pricing is expensive in that it is only an add-on. From my opinion, they should lower the price.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

Is Citrix ADC (formerly Netscaler) the best ADC to use and if not why?
For ADC, any ADC can do a good job. But in case if you want to add WAF functionality to the same ADC hardware you have to look for other ADC's like F5, Imperva, Radware, Fortinet, etc.
Do you recommend Fortinet FortiADC?
I recommend Fortinet FortiADC. My experience with Fortinet has been very positive. Our company has been using it for around five years. We mainly use FortiADC for the load balancing of application ...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiADC?
The user interface is very easy and integrates with Sandbox easily.
What do you like most about Avi Networks Software Load Balancer?
The solution has simplified our network infrastructure management.
What needs improvement with Avi Networks Software Load Balancer?
When it comes to improvements for VMWare Avi Load Balancer, I think the documentation part needs a bit of work. The original documentation which was on the Avi Vantage website in the good old days ...
 

Also Known As

FortiADC Application Delivery Controller, FortiADC
Avi Software Load Balancer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Palo Alto Networks, DGDean, Swisslos
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiADC vs. VMWare Avi Load Balancer and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.