A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs Citrix NetScaler comparison

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A10 Networks Logo
227 views|173 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
Citrix Logo
8,852 views|6,735 comparisons
91% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between A10 Networks Lightning ADC and Citrix NetScaler 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 A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. Citrix NetScaler Report (Updated: May 2024).
772,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"It allows you to secure the application while balancing the connections for many other customers, reducing CPU usage and server load.""What I like about Lightning ADC, is that instead of having a big appliance sitting in front of the Kubernetes cluster, Lightning can pretty much go inside of Kubernetes.""Our clients appreciate that this is a security enabled solution."

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"Its customer support service is good.""Content Redirection and SSO integration with Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop. The GUI was wonderful.""I like the monitoring ability as it enables me to identify when an internal (load-balanced) resource is having issues before it becomes a problem in production.""Enables a Web service that offers persistent client-server connections, IP restriction, URL rewrite (such as remove "/assets/" path from client-side URL path), and cache for CSS or JS files... You can easily use the GUI to set up all these requirements on the same network device within 20-30 minutes. (If you do the same steps on CLI, it might take less time.)""The load balancing feature of this solution is very good.""Its flexibility, agility, and robustness are the most valuable. Its management and implementation are also quite easy.""It is simple for both IT specialists and customers.""My customers have told me that the performance of this solution is good."

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Cons
"The support from A10 should be improved.""We would like to see some improvement in the rapidity with which we can customize security facts within the solution.""A10 documentation is not as open and accessible as AWS and Azure documentation is."

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"There are some drawbacks, such as using EUG for specific configurations. It could be improved.""Maybe creating policies with simple regular expressions.""Scripting and writing expressions need to be improved by putting logic behind the rules and improve policies involving some of the scripting part, which is a tedious task to do.""I would like to see more integration for single sign-on.""Citrix should offer a demo or free-trial version of NetScaler. Several other vendors do, but Citrix does not. Pricing should also be more readily available.""We are looking for some in-depth monitoring and analytics and more information that Citrix Director doesn't provide. ControlUp has insights that not only give you an overview but also allow you to do some drill-down troubleshooting for what's going on in your environment. We are looking for some more analytical and monitoring data to be able to monitor the environment better, not only from an application standpoint but also from the standpoint of the infrastructure to everything it sits on. They can provide more data to the administrators about what's going on within the application. They can provide data not only on the application side but also about what the application sits on. They're making strides with Citrix Analytics in regards to that.""The solution can improve their support and send tickets directly to a Citrix ADC engineer in order to avoid having to escalate each support call.""Currently, it is not easy to use the configuration capabilities of the product."

More Citrix NetScaler Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
Information Not Available
  • "It's not for startups or SOHO."
  • "Costly product and complicated licensing."
  • "It all depends on the features that will be used and the number of accesses."
  • "It is true that it is a bit pricey compared to newer technologies coming to the market. For example, A10 is a load balancer that does everything that Citrix can and it does a lot more than what NetScaler does when it comes to the security space, and their prices are so cheap. Every box comes with its own license and support built into it. When you compare that with NetScaler, you have to buy licenses separately, you have to buy a support agreement that is going to be separate. A small NetScaler, even if it is a VPX which is a virtual server, could cost you close to $150,000 to $200,000 dollars. So the pricing is really high."
  • "We have been evaluating F5, Citrix, and other ADC products. Citrix is the most expense of all of them."
  • "We are quite happy with price. It's not too high."
  • "I do not have any experience with the pricing of the product."
  • "You get the value for your money. There aren't any hidden fees."
  • More Citrix NetScaler Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:It allows you to secure the application while balancing the connections for many other customers, reducing CPU usage and server load.
    Top Answer:There is room for improvement in the customer service and support team. The support from A10 should be improved.
    Top Answer:We sell a couple of boxes to Comodo Federal and Bank of Brazil, which are the biggest banks here in Brazil. They also have a F5 tool.
    Top Answer:The most valuable feature for us is the application firewalling in Citrix NetScaler, ensuring only valid traffic enters our environment.
    Top Answer:After deployment, Citrix Netscaler shifted to a subscription-based license scheme for support, which is slightly more expensive.
    Top Answer: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 car… more »
    Ranking
    Views
    227
    Comparisons
    173
    Reviews
    1
    Average Words per Review
    332
    Rating
    7.0
    Views
    8,852
    Comparisons
    6,735
    Reviews
    23
    Average Words per Review
    383
    Rating
    8.3
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Lightning ADS
    Citrix ADC, NetScaler, Citrix NetScaler VPX
    Learn More
    Overview

    A cloud-native, software-defined solution that provides integrated advanced load-balancing, performance optimization, application security and per-application analytics to increase operational agility and application performance.

    Citrix NetScaler is an application delivery controller (ADC) and load-balancing solution for multi-cloud environments. Because its software and hardware form factors are all built on a single code base, Citrix NetScaler provides operational and feature consistency with comprehensive security for monolithic and microservices-based applications on-premises and in the cloud. The solution is designed to optimize, manage, and secure network traffic. Switching features, security and protection features, and network integration efficiency capabilities are all part of its feature set.

    Citrix NetScaler Features

    Citrix NetScaler has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Citrix Gateway
    • Secure Access
    • Layer 7 content switching
    • Database load balancing
    • Triscale clustering
    • E-based policy enforcement
    • Surge protection and priority queuing
    • Application acceleration
    • Application security, including DoS attack defense, content rewriting and response control, SSL encryption, and more.
    • Network Integration

    Citrix NetScaler Benefits

    There are many benefits to implementing Citrix NetScaler. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Improved Application Performance: Citrix NetScaler optimizes the delivery of applications, reducing latency and improving the user experience.
    • Scalability: The solution can scale to handle large amounts of traffic, ensuring that applications are available even during periods of high demand.
    • Advanced Security: Citrix NetScaler includes a range of security features, such as SSL offloading, to help secure applications and protect against threats.
    • Availability: Load balancing and failover capabilities ensure that applications are always available, even in the event of a failure.
    • Good user experience: The solution’s Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) ensures that users are directed to the nearest available application, reducing latency and improving the user experience.
    • Reduced costs: By improving application performance and reducing downtime, Citrix NetScaler can help organizations reduce costs associated with application delivery.
    • Agility: Citrix NetScaler makes it easier for organizations to deploy and manage applications, helping to increase the speed and efficiency of IT operations.
    • Analytics and monitoring: Provides insight into network and application performance, helping organizations to identify and resolve issues quickly.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Citrix NetScaler is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are that it is easy to use, is robust, and has good load balancing.

    A Senior Citrix Engineer at Troye, says, “The web application firewalling component is probably the most powerful feature as it can identify attacks on the network at an application level which is quite important. There is also good functionality where we use IP reputation and geofencing to mitigate threats from the outside world.”

    “The feature that I have found most valuable is its load balancing,” explains a Security Consultant at a tech services company.

    Timur G., Team Head of Network Security at DOM.RF, writes, “The most valuable feature of Citrix ADC is its ease of use.” 

    Another PeerSpot reviewer, Nirav S., Technical Solutions Architect at MindTree, mentions, "Compared to other solutions, Citrix ADC is much more robust in terms of the native integration to cloud platforms. It is far more robust from an operational point of view as well."

    Sample Customers
    Handle Financial
    ABB Schweiz, Aer Lingus, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Amnet Technology Solutions, Aramex International, Ascenty, Atos, Autodesk
    Top Industries
    No Data Available
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company26%
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Healthcare Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Government9%
    Healthcare Company5%
    Company Size
    No Data Available
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise45%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise62%
    Buyer's Guide
    A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. Citrix NetScaler
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. Citrix NetScaler and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    772,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    A10 Networks Lightning ADC is ranked 16th in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) with 3 reviews while Citrix NetScaler is ranked 2nd in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) with 85 reviews. A10 Networks Lightning ADC is rated 7.0, while Citrix NetScaler is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of A10 Networks Lightning ADC writes "Efficient application security while optimizing connections". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Citrix NetScaler writes "Optimizing application delivery and ensuring robust network performance with its excellent stability and comprehensive load-balancing capabilities". A10 Networks Lightning ADC is most compared with , whereas Citrix NetScaler is most compared with F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM), Microsoft Azure Application Gateway, Fortinet FortiADC, HAProxy and Loadbalancer.org. See our A10 Networks Lightning ADC vs. Citrix NetScaler report.

    See our list of best Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) vendors.

    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.