Akamai vs BIG-IP

Likelihood to Recommend

Akamai is a well-established brand name with a great product. It meets and many time exceeds the needs for global content delivery and security management layer at the edge. Fine grain security tuning seems cumbersome as the definition of the app keeps changing. It also requires an investment of time for the setup which doesn't necessarily make sense for smaller scale scenarios. Some products offered by AWS, Azure or the Google Cloud can be more tightly integrated with cloud provider offerings thus easier to configure.

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Retail Company, 10,001+ employees

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The product provides a very successful solution for both VPN and Load Balancing, especially for medium and large-sized companies. It can be preferred in small-sized companies, but due to the price and licensing model, I think this would be an unnecessary expense. This product is very successful especially if you have more than 2 servers on the Internet, DMZ side and you are going to balance the load between them. On the local side, if you are managing a large database, this solution of F5 is truly unrivaled.

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Evren BOZTEPE

Network & Security Technical Architect

Vakıf KatılımFinancial Services, 1001-5000 employees

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Pros

Content offloading - once rules are set up within Akamai you don't need to even think about how many images or large JavaScript or CSS files (for example) are being served from your own estate, Akamai takes care of it all via rules that are quick, easy and flexible.
Page caching - for pages that don't change very often Akamai allows you to set up rules, quickly and easily, to serve up your page content for you, which takes even more load away from your origin servers.
Quick rollback - the Akamai system allows easy testing of rules and changes via a staging system, and also offers a quick rollback option, which is perfect for the rare occasions when something has been set up incorrectly.

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Airlines/Aviation Company, 5001-10,000 employees

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Easy connection: you can connect to your corporate network with two clicks.
IP restriction: F5 has a list of possible insecure IP numbers, if someone tries to connect using one of these numbers, F5 BIG-IP won't connect.
Always on feature: Very handy feature, if you install always on, you won't need to click connect.

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Verified User

Analyst in Information Technology

Information Technology and Services Company, 501-1000 employees

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Cons

The interface in their control centre could be a bit more user-friendly with some of the settings in places that you wouldn't expect them to be. The search offsets this problem to an extent but it's still sometimes slower than you'd like to find what you are looking for.

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Adam Rooney

Developer

M and M DirectRetail, 501-1000 employees

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The appliance had power supply problems, replaced 2 over the 5 years, $3000 each
The appliance as a hardware device had no support 2 years after we bought them, moved to virtual
Requires F5 knowledge, their terminology and way of doing things needs training

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Hospital & Health Care Company, 51-200 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

—

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

—

Usability

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

BIG-IP 9.0

Based on 1 answer

Great customization and easy to use help reference menus

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Alan Matson, CCNA:S, MCP

Senior Network Security Engineer

InsightInformation Technology and Services, 5001-10,000 employees

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Support Rating

Akamai 8.5

Based on 4 answers

Their support documents are excellent and provide a lot of useful information for all their services. The only reason I didn't give them a 10 is that the time it takes for them to respond to an issue could be slightly faster.

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Verified User

Employee in Information Technology

Airlines/Aviation Company, 10,001+ employees

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BIG-IP 7.7

Based on 7 answers

On the occasions when we've had to engage f5 support, they have been great. They have always resolved our issues quickly and been easy to work with and professional. The reason I give them a 10 out of 10, however, is because when we've had issues that have crossed over between the f5 BIG-IP, our Cisco switches, and our Microsoft IIS server the f5 support representatives have been extremely knowledgeable about every product and device involved and have been able to troubleshoot end-to-end without having to engage other vendors.

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Paul Luchini

Network Engineer

Kentucky Administrative Office of the CourtsGovernment Administration, 1001-5000 employees

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Alternatives Considered

We've used -- and considered -- a whole number of CDN offerings. The good news is that almost all of the CDN products on the market are terrific, and will pay for themselves via increased customer satisfaction and lower monthly hosting bills. For some cases, we're still more likely to suggest CloudFlare (which has a free tier) or an integrated offering from a cloud provider, like Cloudfront.

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Joshua Dickson

Director of Engineering

NorthOutComputer Software, 51-200 employees

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I can't recall the name of the previous software we used for remote intranet access, but it was much less reliable. F5 BIG-IP is consistent and easy to use--the authentication process happens quickly and reliably via my cell phone's facial recognition feature which is convenient and secure. No need to carry a key fob or enter a verification code. The previous software required email codes be sent and entered to verify access.

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Verified User

Professional in Human Resources

Internet Company, 10,001+ employees

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Return on Investment

Akamai RoI improved over a period of times since it comes with heavy costs, however global deliveries in over 100 counties and global web platforms usage helps improve RoI
With the complex UI challenges, ROI could be impacted negatively when you have to invest in operations and time.

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Vaibhav Choksi

Senior Product Manger, Digital Commerce

Dell TechnologiesComputer Hardware, 51-200 employees

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Load balancing is a requirement in most serious web environments, and this allows us to keep sites up and running in the event of partial server outages.
Keeping sites extra secured with the advanced security and routing features is a plus.

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Verified User

Technician in Information Technology

Entertainment Company, 51-200 employees

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Akamai

BIG-IP

Attribute Ratings

Likelihood to Recommend

Akamai

BIG-IP

Usability

Akamai

BIG-IP

Support Rating

Akamai

BIG-IP

Pros

Cons

Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

Free/Freemium Version

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Entry-level set up fee?

Starting Price

General

Free Trial

Free/Freemium Version

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Entry-level set up fee?

Starting Price

Usability

Support Rating

Alternatives Considered

Return on Investment

Add comparison