NGINX Plus vs NetScaler comparison

NetScaler and F5 are both solutions in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category. NetScaler is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3, while F5 is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.1. NetScaler holds a 14.6% mindshare in ADC, compared to F5’s 7.4% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of NetScaler users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of F5 users who would recommend it.

NetScaler

Read 107 NetScaler reviews

6,425 Views
4,740 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

NGINX Plus

Read 31 NGINX Plus reviews

2,818 Views
2,383 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

NetScaler

NGINX Plus

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

NetScaler and NGINX Plus compete in the load balancing market. Based on available features, NetScaler seems to have the upper hand with its advanced enterprise capabilities.

Features: NetScaler provides features like SSL offloading, web application firewall, and integration with Citrix products, ideal for virtual desktops and enterprise application delivery. NGINX Plus is favored for its ease of configuration, high-efficiency routing, and modular setup, with capabilities such as caching and authentication.

Room for Improvement: NetScaler users highlight the need for better alert management, a more intuitive GUI, and enhanced customization options. Improvements in support and flexible licensing are also requested. NGINX Plus could benefit from a refined GUI, real-time alert integration, and simpler pricing and licensing.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NetScaler is primarily deployed on-premises with a strong hybrid cloud presence, offering robust technical support. NGINX Plus supports diverse deployment environments, including on-premises and public cloud, but its customer service reputation suggests room for improvement.

Pricing and ROI: NetScaler is perceived as more expensive but offers substantial ROI with its stability and feature set, appealing to organizations needing comprehensive delivery solutions. NGINX Plus provides a cost-effective option, particularly attractive for simpler needs or budget constraints, despite additional costs for premium features.

To learn more, read our detailed NGINX Plus vs. NetScaler Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

NGINX Plus vs. NetScaler

June 2025

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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

NetScaler

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

107

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (5th), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (14th)

NGINX Plus

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

7th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Infrastructure (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of NetScaler is 14.6%, down from 16.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NGINX Plus is 7.4%, down from 8.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

Featured Reviews

DEMİRHAN ÇAVUŞOĞLU

Cloud Consultant at Migros Ticaret A.Ş.

A tool for centralized management including inventory and sales tracking

Citrix ADM has the ability to implement policies to tighten security. For instance, you can restrict access to your network from outsiders or lack necessary security measures such as antivirus programs. Additionally, there's the Delivery Controller, which allows for comprehensive monitoring and management tasks such as remote restarts, maintenance, and registration. Another essential component is the Director, which provides detailed insights into sessions, including identifying session failures, connection issues, user lockouts, etc. It presents a list of problems to address, enabling you to click on them and resolve them efficiently.

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Michael Olayemi

Senior Software Engineer at Checkit

Enables public access and secure configurations through reverse proxy

The primary valuable feature of NGINX for me is its ability to provide a reverse proxy. I have found that this feature supports our local server, and I am able to connect through our DNS system, making it accessible publicly. Additionally, the integration with SSL certificates and the configuration capabilities make it a valuable solution for my use case. Without NGINX, users would not be able to access our application, which means there is positive ROI from using NGINX as it is crucial for the functioning of my organization.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I find all of it to be valuable, because of the flexibility that is built into this product."

"It has helped us to increase the resiliency of the application and the performance."

"The solution improves security performance."

"The most valuable feature of Citrix ADC is its ease of use."

"Just one solution can handle thousands of users... So, it is a very convenient tool to use."

"I like app flows and custom flows. They integrate with multiple flows."

"The solution is extremely stable."

"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."

More NetScaler pros

"NGINX Plus' most valuable feature is the ingress controller."

"Nginx is extremely efficient in terms of the connection rate to the CPU cycles ratio, and in terms of the bandwidth to CPU cycles."

"NGINX works much better than HAProxy in our current hardware and architecture for HTTP/HTTPS load balancing. "

"When you use NGINX, you have more options and power."

"Using NGINX Plus for web traffic distribution is fantastic. It offers performance similar to physical load balancers but with added flexibility."

"Supports IMAP, POP and SMTP protocols for the reverse proxy."

"It performs very well. That's one of the primary reasons we use NGINX."

"Its versatility and capabilities make it invaluable for implementing patches and fixes when necessary."

More NGINX Plus pros

Cons

"The product could be improved by making it easier to use and easier to implement."

"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."

"We have issues with the certificates. All authorization processes need certificates, however, every three months we needed to change certificates. This process iss complicated for us because Citrix does not have a not user-friendly interface and does not off user-friendly services. This needs a lot of improvement."

"I would like to see more integration for single sign-on."

"Quality assurance could improve by ironing out security vulnerabilities before releasing upgrades."

"Citrix should improve the documentation. It is not really clear how to set up many features to our advantage. When we setup Citrix NetScaler ADC, we have to figure it out by ourselves without a lot of documentation."

"Technical support could be improved."

"The interface needs to be improved because the competition is coming up with ones that are more eye-catching, straightforward, and sophisticated."

More NetScaler cons

"If NGINX brings some features for health check in the open source version, it would be better. "

"It would be good if NGINX provided a graphical user interface."

"One area of improvement could be that NGINX could provide a means to generate self-signed SSL certificates."

"Lack of a feature to print data on the terminal for verification of network traffic during debugging and testing."

"The solution must improve its performance."

"The scaling should be built into the software rather than configured from an outside source."

"Initially, I experienced hiccups whenever I installed the application."

"The solution's GUI is an area with certain shortcomings that need improvement."

More NGINX Plus cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licenses for this product are payable as a yearly subscription, and carry a high price-point. The subscription scheme is quite complicated, and costs will increase with each additional feature that is required, outside of the basic setup."

"Citrix ADM costs us approximately $5000 per month."

"It is very pricey, but we get it. If you need the best, money shouldn't be a problem."

"Citrix Web App and API Protection are in the middle when we talk about pricing and licensing"

"In Turkey, everything is good, but it seems expensive for us due to the currency exchange. I don't have a specific rating scale, but if I had to rate the price, I would say it's around a six out of ten."

"The price for Citrix ADC here in Mexico was good, when you compare it with F5 and Radware."

"The license for Citrix NetScaler is on an annual basis and it is reasonably priced."

"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."

More NetScaler pricing and cost advice

"Compared to other similar solutions on the market, I think it's over-priced."

"Nginx is free. I don't have experience with the Plus version."

"The cost is reasonable."

"You pay for each feature that you want."

"NGINX is a free tool in Brazil. There are some companies which do support it."

"HAProxy is cheaper than NGINX."

"I am not so happy with their pricing policy, but this is not the worse thing in my life. I can tolerate it."

"NGINX Plus is worth it, if you need it. If you do not need the features or support, the free and open source package is more than capable. "

More NGINX Plus pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

17%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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.

See all answers

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.

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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 ...

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Which is better - IIS or NGINX Plus?

IIS is a flexible, secure, and manageable web server to host anything on the web. IIS’s scalable and open architecture can handle the most demanding tasks. From media streaming to web applications,...

See all answers

What do you like most about NGINX Plus?

It performs very well. That's one of the primary reasons we use NGINX.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NGINX Plus?

My use case involves using the free and open-source version of NGINX, making it cost-effective as I haven't incurred any costs.

See all answers

Comparisons

HAProxy vs NetScaler

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs NetScaler

Compared 10% of the time

Fortinet FortiADC vs NetScaler

Compared 9% of the time

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs NetScaler

Compared 8% of the time

VMWare Avi Load Balancer vs NetScaler

Compared 6% of the time

More NetScaler Competitors

IIS vs NGINX Plus

Compared 16% of the time

HAProxy vs NGINX Plus

Compared 12% of the time

Apache Web Server vs NGINX Plus

Compared 12% of the time

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs NGINX Plus

Compared 11% of the time

Kemp LoadMaster vs NGINX Plus

Compared 9% of the time

More NGINX Plus Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

NetScaler

June 2025

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Buyer's Guide

NGINX Plus

June 2025

Download NGINX Plus product report

Also Known As

Citrix ADC, Citrix NetScaler VPX, NetScaler Console, NetScaler Web Application Firewall

NGINX

Overview

One platform for a consistent application delivery and security experience because nobody has time to learn multiple systems to manage ADC deployments. NetScaler is built with a single code base using a software-based architecture, so no matter which ADC form factor you choose — hardware, virtual machine, bare metal, or container — the behavior will be the same.

NetScaler

NGINX Plus is a versatile solution that offers load balancing, caching, proxying, and API deployment capabilities. It can be deployed on private or public clouds and is ideal for building CDN solutions. The solution can also be used to secure web applications and replace web services like Apache.

NGINX has helped organizations improve functioning, reduce downtimes, and offer a DevOps-friendly solution. Its community support and documentation are highly regarded, and its configuration is more straightforward, making it a recommended choice over HAProxy.

Sample Customers

ABB Schweiz, Aer Lingus, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Amnet Technology Solutions, Aramex International, Ascenty, Atos, Autodesk

Locaweb, AppNexus, Wix, Reliam, Montana Interactive, MuleSoft, Warpwire, Discovery Education, InkaBinka, WordPress.com, Gogo, GOV.UK, NASA

Buyer's Guide

NGINX Plus vs. NetScaler

June 2025

Free Report: NGINX Plus vs. NetScaler

Find out what your peers are saying about NGINX Plus vs. NetScaler and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

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