Citrix NetScaler Reviews, Competitors and Pricing

EUC Architect with 1,001-5,000 employees

Apr 15, 2018

Provides customers with greater high availability for their enterprise applications within a single site and across multiple locations

Pros and Cons

"The MAS integration for HDX Insight has provided teams with significant visibility into network performance of the user's connection."
"The NetScaler appliance has provided a lot of customers with greater high availability for their enterprise applications within a single site and across multiple locations."

"Reducing the overhead required for AppFlow data collection, specifically for HDX Insight, would be a huge improvement."

What is our primary use case?

The NetScaler is used for front-end enterprise applications as well as Citrix deployments. We generally see deployments for secure remote access. In some cases, global load balancing is used in multi-data center deployments.

How has it helped my organization?

The NetScaler appliance has provided a lot of customers with greater high availability for their enterprise applications within a single site and across multiple locations. The largest, and potentially main reason to use Netscaler over the competition, is in Citrix environments. There is complete integration through the stack, and it has features which make it simple to securely provide access to enterprise data and applications.

What is most valuable?

The NetScaler Gateway has been extremely valuable for many reasons. We make use of the load balancing capabilities, including SSL offload and GSLB for high availability. The MAS integration for HDX Insight has provided teams with significant visibility into network performance of the user's connection.

What needs improvement?

Citrix has made steady improvements over the years. Personally, reducing the overhead required for AppFlow data collection, specifically for HDX Insight, would be a huge improvement.

Buyer's Guide

Citrix NetScaler

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For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: I work for a solutions advisor that partners with Citrix and many other vendors.

it_user4851

Infrastructure Expert at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees

Mar 6, 2013

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Great ADC product

Valuable Features:

Does great job on most ADC functions: load balancing, SSL offload, responder policies, etc

Room for Improvement:

10.0 version has been buggy. We've had to patch multiple times and had a production outage trying to do App Firewall learning mode.

Other Advice:

Overall I would recommend Citrix NetScaler, just be careful with newer versions of the code.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Buyer's Guide

Citrix NetScaler

April 2024

Free Report: Citrix NetScaler Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about Citrix NetScaler. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.

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769,334 professionals have used our research since 2012.

reviewer1263516

Technical Manager at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

Jan 1, 2023

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Scalable, stable, and provides great technical support

Pros and Cons

"What I like most about Citrix NetScaler is its stability, and I didn't see a lot of issues with it."

"The setup for Citrix NetScaler has room for improvement. It could be easier."

What is our primary use case?

We use Citrix NetScaler as an access gateway for many virtual apps and desktops. We're also using the solution for load-balancing and content-switching purposes.

What is most valuable?

What I like most about Citrix NetScaler is its stability, and I didn't see a lot of issues with it.

What needs improvement?

The setup for Citrix NetScaler has room for improvement. It could be easier.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with Citrix NetScaler for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Citrix NetScaler is pretty stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Citrix NetScaler is a scalable solution.

How are customer service and support?

I found Citrix NetScaler support great.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup for Citrix NetScaler is complex.

How long it takes to deploy Citrix NetScaler varies from one day to one month, depending on the customer's environment. Deployment time is different every time.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The client pays for the Citrix NetScaler license annually.

What other advice do I have?

I have five hundred to six hundred clients using Citrix NetScaler.

I recommend the solution to other people who want to use it.

My rating for Citrix NetScaler is eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner

it_user873417

Senior Virtualization Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

May 27, 2018

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Monitoring feature allows me to identify when a load-balanced resource is having issues

Pros and Cons

"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."

What is our primary use case?

Provides secure remote access to, as well as intelligent load-balancing for, internal resources.

How has it helped my organization?

Implemented dual-factor authentication on Outlook Web Access, making it well-protected.

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

The policies on the NetScaler can be a bit tricky at times.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Maksim Sataev

network specialist at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Aug 13, 2017

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Load Balancing, Cache Redirection, Content Switching, All Connected With Traffic Management.

Pros and Cons

"Load balancing, cache redirection, content switching, all connected with traffic management."

"Maybe creating policies with simple regular expressions."

What is most valuable?

Load balancing, cache redirection, content switching, all connected with traffic management.

How has it helped my organization?

We have removed all NLB clusters on web applications, increased HA for some applications and now we have possibilities such as rewrite and response with more flexible tools.

What needs improvement?

Maybe creating policies with simple regular expressions.

For how long have I used the solution?

This is my second year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I had some problems with HA node movements.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No, I had a small deployment with two nodes of NS.

How are customer service and technical support?

Very quick every time, even with Severity 4, with successful results.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

NGNX, but it was not my solution.

How was the initial setup?

It was very easy, the NetScaler community is very big. The GUI is very user friendly and not cumbersome.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's not for startups or SOHO.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We considered F5 Networks.

What other advice do I have?

It's a good choice for ADC; no marketing.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user872688

Head of IT Infrastructure at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees

May 21, 2018

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Load Balancing and SSL offloading are key features for us

Pros and Cons

"Load Balancing and SSL offloading are key features."

"The GUI should be improved."

What is our primary use case?

Load balancing
Application gateway
SSL offloading

How has it helped my organization?

It helped many internal websites to expose online use with single star certificates.

What is most valuable?

Load Balancing and SSL offloading are key features.

What needs improvement?

The GUI should be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

reviewer898881

Security Specialist at a energy/utilities company with 51-200 employees

Aug 12, 2018

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Provides us with high-security access to our internal applications

What is our primary use case?

We are using it for two-factor authentication for our Citrix architecture, for secure access to our internal applications. It is mostly for admins who use it for remote access, as well as some users.

We do not use it as a web application firewall. We are running a virtual edition, not an appliance.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature, absolutely, is its high-security. This product is based on Unix and there have been no problems since we started using it in 2015.

What needs improvement?

Occasionally, our admin has to use the command line. If they could only use the Web GUI it would be better.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There have been no issues with stability.

How is customer service and technical support?

We have created two support tickets and our problems were successfully solved. The support is very good.

How was the initial setup?

Set up was done by our partner and there was no problem with configuration. And most of our upgrades are done by our local partner and there have been no problems.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We are quite happy with price. It's not too high.

What other advice do I have?

I give it a nine out of 10 because there have been no problems since 2015, from a security point of view.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user873411

Network Consultant at a tech services company

May 27, 2018

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The load-balancing provides high-availability and resiliency for business servers

Pros and Cons

"Provides resiliency for applications that reside on servers, as well as connectivity to remote applications."

"Needs configuration processes like disabling LB VIPs, automatically disabling the IPs used."

What is our primary use case?

I implemented this solution for customers who were looking to achieve high-availability and resiliency of their business servers, through load balancing.

How has it helped my organization?

It has improved my customers' base functionality by providing resiliency to their applications that reside on servers, as well as connectivity to remote applications.

What is most valuable?

Load balancing
Netscaler Gateway

What needs improvement?

Some configuration processes like disabling LB VIPs, automatically disabling the IPs used.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No stability issues. Provides great performance.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues other than, if you want to scale, you pay for more licenses.

How is customer service and technical support?

Great staff. I have never had an issue with them. They’ve been helpful.

How was the initial setup?

Straightforward. Simple steps to follow.

What other advice do I have?

Implement it fully, utilizing all of its features.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Citrix partner.