Compare F5 BIG-IP vs. Kemp LoadMaster
F5 BIG-IP is ranked 1st in Application Delivery Controllers with 23 reviews while Kemp LoadMaster is ranked 4th in Application Delivery Controllers with 7 reviews. F5 BIG-IP is rated 8.0, while Kemp LoadMaster is rated 8.8. The top reviewer of F5 BIG-IP writes "It could be hard to scale because we will be encrypting and decrypting. The connection through the API Gateway worked in no time, which was fantastic". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Kemp LoadMaster writes "Intuitive interface and can be used practically with any application in the backend". F5 BIG-IP is most compared with Citrix ADC, HAProxy , Fortinet FortiWeb, NGINX Plus and A10 Networks Thunder ADC, whereas Kemp LoadMaster is most compared with HAProxy , Citrix ADC, NGINX Plus, Fortinet FortiADC and Barracuda Load Balancer ADC. See our F5 BIG-IP vs. Kemp LoadMaster report.
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 Find out what your peers are saying about F5 BIG-IP vs. Kemp LoadMaster and other solutions. Updated: July 2020. 431,175 professionals have used our research since 2012. | |||||
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros | |
iRule feature is useful. The most valuable feature is the proxy. Good application firewall. Traffic Learning is the most valuable feature. F5 BIG-IP is used with good applications and functions as an application firewall with additional features. We will not use any feature or any service unless there is a business case and there is a need for implementation. We're able to do load balancing and global load balancing. When you marry those two products together, you can do a lot more. We're able to deliver our applications more securely and faster. It has improved our deliverability where we have more service across the shared data centers. We can intelligently reach all of those client connections across all of the servers and do it fairly quickly. It has helped improve our application delivery and performance. It is a fast and available solution. It is the perfect solution when you have high workloads in your IT environment. | The most valuable feature that I found is the load balancing feature, it is the core function of the product. I like that this is a Network Load Balancer that can be used practically with any application in the backend. They have how-to guides on how to set up Kemp NLB with Exchange, but you can use it as well for Sharepoint, RDS, or any other back end server. The base feature of Kemp LoadMaster load balancing ticks all the boxes but the most valuable features would be the security features Intrusion Prevention (IPS) and Web Application Firewall (WAF). The most valuable feature is the simplicity of use, the subnet originates request feature wasn't available in the previous vendor load balancer software. I like the way this solution handles multiple SSLs in different domains while still load balancing. We really like the performance of this solution. The security features are the most valuable features of this solution. |
Cons | |
Reporting could be improved and configuration made easier. If they made it easier for engineers to get F5 training then it would be better. It's a very expensive solution. This is a very expensive solution. The license terms for "non-commercial" will be a challenge for us. The license terms for "non-commercial" will are challenging for us. There are issues with F5 BIG-IP but they are minor issues not affecting production and services. Sometimes the operations and the facility systems fail. However, there is an alert action from the windows. An ordeal for the manager. I would like to see improvement in the manageability and easier setup. | Third, the password history restriction needs improvement. For example, the password policy will restrict the user to always use a unique password combination. The password should not be reused for a minimum of three generations of passwords. The product is really good as-is out of the box. If there is one thing I would change is to have the license file not be coupled with the MAC address of the device. This is actually not really useful in a virtual environment where if you have a single VM with KEMP LoadMaster and you have not set up static MAC Address, if you, for example, recreate the VM and just load the disk file on a new VM it will get new MAC address and the NLB will not work as it will not see a proper license. Overall, the Kemp LoadMaster has been an all-rounder great product and stable. The free trial and virtual edition make it a breeze for any potential customer to give it a spin before actually deciding to put it on the infrastructure or even talk to the CFO. Kemp could allow configuration export as a text file which could then be edited. Although Kemp is very user-friendly, it lacks a more custom configuration. The GUI is rather technical and complex, so it could be improved by making it simpler and more user-friendly. To make it a perfect ten out of ten it would need better connection logging. If there is an active connection, that there is better logging. It should also have better management monitoring tools. |
Pricing and Cost Advice | |
There are additional costs depending on what modules or what functionality is required. They are expensive. We purchased through the AWS Marketplace because it was a popular way to go, and we were intrigued. The price of this product is not an issue. They have good pricing and licensing. Unless the price difference is large, this is not the primary concern for the product. The performance and product-related issues (secure for VPN, multi-function for network device, etc.) are the keys. I would recommend that the cost be lowered. If you are planning to use security features, better to go for strong hardware and the best bundle license, which is great for web security. The price is high. We have found the pricing and licensing on AWS to be competitive. | Licensing is yearly and I am going to guess that it is CAN $2000.00. The license varies according to the number of megabits. |
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Ranking  | |
Views 46,001 Comparisons 35,677 Reviews 24 Average Words per Review 430 Avg. Rating 8.0 | Views 5,651 Comparisons 4,523 Reviews 7 Average Words per Review 541 Avg. Rating 9.4 |
Popular Comparisons | |
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Also Known As | |
| BIG-IP, BIG-IP LTM, F5 ASM, Viprion, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition , Crescendo Networks Application Delivery Controller, BIG IP | LoadMaster Load Balancer |
Learn | |
| F5 | Kemp |
Overview | |
| The BIG-IP family of products offers the application intelligence that network managers need to ensure applications are fast, secure, and available. All BIG-IP products share a common underlying architecture, F5's Traffic Management Operating System (TMOS), which provides unified intelligence, flexibility, and programmability. Together, BIG-IP's powerful platforms, advanced modules, and centralized management system make up the most comprehensive set of application delivery tools in the industry. | Kemp LoadMaster provides High Availability, Scalability and Security for Application Delivery. Optimized load balancers for Hybrid Cloud and Public Cloud deployments. Available for Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS. |
Offer | |
Learn more about F5 BIG-IP | Learn more about Kemp LoadMaster |
Sample Customers | |
| Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc. | Kent County Council, KEMP, SMA Solar Technology AG, RT€ Player , Victrix (Quebec, Canada), Texas A&M, Macmillan Cancer Support, Cisco, Austin Bank |
Top Industries | |
Financial Services Firm23% Comms Service Provider20% Manufacturing Company9% Healthcare Company9% Computer Software Company34% Comms Service Provider18% Media Company6% Government6% | Computer Software Company33% Comms Service Provider13% Insurance Company10% Government7% |
Find out what your peers are saying about F5 BIG-IP vs. Kemp LoadMaster and other solutions. Updated: July 2020.
431,175 professionals have used our research since 2012.
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