Akamai Ion vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) comparison

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Akamai Logo
208 views|170 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
F5 Logo
10,290 views|8,518 comparisons
83% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Akamai Ion and F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about F5, Citrix, HAProxy and others in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC).
To learn more, read our detailed Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Report (Updated: April 2024).
769,662 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
"Akamai is easy to use and very effective."

More Akamai Ion Pros →

"F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager is a stable and reliable solution.""It has so many features. ​First of all, it has a full proxy architecture, it has multiple modules. The best feature is the WAF, the web application firewall module. It also has cashing type capabilities. It has all kinds of load-balancing algorithms based on your IT requirements.""It has made it a single entry point for all users, verging across all the VPCs. It is more of an SSO solution versus multitier user loggin.""Our experience has been very good, in terms of performance, and securing our application infrastructure.""I've worked a little bit with iRules and it is amazing.""The value and impact of using F5 BIG-IP LTM for application delivery control in our organization are significant.""The capability is at a seven or eight out of ten.""Users can see a remarkable performance difference from a qualitative sense."

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Cons
"The product must provide more flexibility."

More Akamai Ion Cons →

"There is a need for a more modular version to concentrate on the current monolithic structure of both the virtual and hardware versions.""BIG-IP LTM is taking a long time to mature in cloud environments. They plan to improve cloud integration in the next version, but it isn't out yet. It's essential because more companies are moving to the cloud these days and using things like Kubernetes or microservices. F5 needs to improve in that direction, and they are.""F5 has another solution to load balance servers on the cloud, which they got after the purchase of NGINX. It is deployed as Kubernetes or something like that, but the problem now is that they have two solutions for two situations. They should make F5 deployable on the cloud.""I would like to see F-5 implement a regular routing like in other Linux-based devices. When we try and integrate in some complex networks, we have to use some additional routing scenarios from a Layer 3 perspective, then we have some problems. It would be great if this were fixed somehow.""While the licensing is good through the AWS Marketplace, it is more expensive than what you could buy yourself.""They need to develop the reporting tools further.""The auto logout feature after three minutes is terrible. I wish they would make that longer, since it is not a feature that we can change.""A more hybrid approach would be beneficial for users."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Though functionality is high, its cost can be considered slightly higher than its competitors​."
  • "The licensing pricing seems relatively easy enough to get your head around. I would advise anyone to ensure that you have a conversation with an F5 consultant before purchasing, as you would with most products."
  • "Take a look at the modules that you are going to use. Look into the best bundles for them."
  • "The only area that has room for improvement would be pricing, so its competitors do not have a say."
  • "If your IT budget is good, go for it."
  • "This product is costly from a licensing perspective considering its competitors."
  • "Check other vendors like Cisco, Citrix or A10 Networks. There are plenty in the market with which you can achieve same thing."
  • "Great product for the money. But they can get really expensive, so get what meets your needs."
  • More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Akamai is easy to use and very effective.
    Top Answer:I rate the pricing a four out of ten. The tool is expensive. The pricing must be optimized.
    Top Answer:The product must provide more flexibility. There are not too many permutations and combinations that we could do using Ion. The product used to provide Image Compression before. It is not a bundled… more »
    Top Answer:The support from F5 BIG-IP LTM is good.
    Top Answer:There are a few licensing options available for F5 BIG-IP LTM. You can have a perpetual license which is a lifetime license. You then only need to renew the support, if you choose to open a ticket… more »
    Top Answer:The pricing must be more flexible. We get billed for firewalls based on the usage. It will be helpful if the solution provides such flexibility.
    Ranking
    Views
    208
    Comparisons
    170
    Reviews
    1
    Average Words per Review
    388
    Rating
    7.0
    Views
    10,290
    Comparisons
    8,518
    Reviews
    29
    Average Words per Review
    485
    Rating
    8.4
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    F5 BIG-IP, BIG-IP LTM, F5 ASM, Viprion, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition , Crescendo Networks Application Delivery Controller, BIG IP
    Learn More
    Overview

    Ion, Akamai’s flagship performance solution, is a suite of intelligent performance optimizations and controls that helps deliver superior web, iOS, and Android app experiences. Built on the SLA-backed availability of the globally distributed Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform, Ion continuously monitors real user behavior — applying best-practice performance optimizations automatically — and adapting in real time to content, user behavior, and connectivity changes.

    F5 BIG-IP LTM optimizes the speed and reliability of your apps via both network and application layers. Using real-time protocol and traffic management decisions based on app and server and connection management conditions, and TCP and content offloading, BIG-IP LTM dramatically improves application and infrastructure responsiveness. BIG-IP LTM's architecture includes protocol awareness to control traffic for the most important applications. BIG-IP LTM tracks the dynamic performance levels of servers and delivers SSL performance and visibility for inbound and outbound traffic, to protect the user experience by encrypting everything from the client to the server.

    BIG-IP LTM provides enterprise-class Application Delivery Controller (ADC). You get granular layer 7 control, SSL offloading and acceleration capabilities, and advanced scaling technologies that deliver performance and reliability on-demand. The highly optimized TCP/IP stack combines TCP/IP techniques and improvements in the latest RFCs with extensions to minimize the effect of congestion and packet loss and recovery. Independent testing tools and customer experiences show LTM's TCP stack delivers up to a 2x performance gain for users and a 4x increase in bandwidth efficiency.

    Sample Customers
    Eurail, Boston Scientific
    Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc.
    Top Industries
    No Data Available
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider20%
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Media Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm17%
    Computer Software Company14%
    Government9%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Company Size
    No Data Available
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise50%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise68%
    Buyer's Guide
    Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
    April 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about F5, Citrix, HAProxy and others in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC). Updated: April 2024.
    769,662 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Akamai Ion is ranked 15th in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) with 1 review while F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is ranked 1st in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) with 116 reviews. Akamai Ion is rated 7.0, while F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Akamai Ion writes "Helps optimize the content delivery network, but doesn’t provide much flexibility". On the other hand, the top reviewer of F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) writes "Helps deliver applications to users in a reliable, secure, and optimized way". Akamai Ion is most compared with NGINX Plus, whereas F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is most compared with Citrix NetScaler, Fortinet FortiADC, Microsoft Azure Application Gateway, NGINX Plus and A10 Networks Thunder ADC.

    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.