Cisco Meraki vMX vs. F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Meraki vMX
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Cisco's Meraki Virtual MX (vMX) is a virtual instance of a Meraki security & SD-WAN appliance, dedicated specifically to providing the simple configuration benefits of site-to-site Auto VPN for customers running or migrating IT services to an Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).N/A
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
F5 Networks provides BIG-IP Access Policy Manager as an identity and access solution which can be deployed as a standalone solution or as an add-on to F5 Networks' flagship BIG-IP TLM or F5 Advanced WAF applications.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Meraki vMXF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Meraki vMXF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Meraki vMXF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Cisco Meraki vMXF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
Virtual Private Network
Comparison of Virtual Private Network features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Meraki vMX
7.7
5 Ratings
10% below category average
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
-
Ratings
AES 256-bit Encryption9.15 Ratings00 Ratings
Kill Switch9.11 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-Platform Support5.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Split Tunneling7.63 Ratings00 Ratings
IP Address Masking6.52 Ratings00 Ratings
No-Logs Policy6.52 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple Server Locations7.94 Ratings00 Ratings
Simultaneous Connections9.15 Ratings00 Ratings
Customer Support Services8.75 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco Meraki vMXF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
Small Businesses
Avast Small Business Solutions
Avast Small Business Solutions
Score 8.4 out of 10
Avast Small Business Solutions
Avast Small Business Solutions
Score 8.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Score 9.2 out of 10
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Score 9.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Score 9.2 out of 10
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Meraki vMXF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(7 ratings)
8.3
(10 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.1
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Meraki vMXF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
We are a heavily invested Meraki environment, from our corporate locations to APs. Using a vMX as apposed another solution is a no brainer. It integrates well, has the same benefits as the rest of the Meraki stack, and you can leverage your favorite cloud platform
Read full review
F5
I think that the platform is well suited to many Remote Access VPN solutions, but I also think there is a lot of room for improvement on the backend. If you are hoping to deploy your APM solution across many different datacenters or colos, it may not be the best choice for the final solution.
Read full review
Pros
Cisco
  • Works well with physical Meraki MX devices
  • Site-to-Site VPNs are easy to set up with other Meraki devices
  • Cisco Meraki vMX provides a great solution for a virtual environment, like Azure
Read full review
F5
  • SAML 2.0 identity federation support.
  • Integrates with third-party SSO solutions.
  • Bridging modern authentication and authorization (SAML, OAuth/OIDC) and classic authentication and authorization methods.
  • Policy routing
Read full review
Cons
Cisco
  • Client VPN: Cisco Meraki vMX in general needs to implement multiple VPN profiles/ group policies for client VPN
  • Alerts: Cisco Meraki vMX in general should be more consistent in sending alerts. We should receive alarms instantly.
  • Event logs: More in-depth event logs for all Meraki products, such as system crashes, etc.
Read full review
F5
  • UI/UX can be quick and modern.
  • The application hosting is not one-click.
  • You cannot observer the changes done for external users internally.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Cisco
I've used the FortiGate VM appliance many times and this was much better to use, it was a full feature set and had no setbacks ever. But people use Meraki for different reasons likely so it's not 100% apples to apples. As an SR engineer, I demand deep feature sets, etc, while some users strive for simplistic networks that are very visually appealing.
Read full review
F5
It is open platform so support is not good and than F5 and features visibility as not good as F5. F5 Set up and easy to use to admin console. Also have more feature visibility for load balancing, web server accelerator, application server ddos protection and WAF. F5 more efficient to handle concurrent request.
Read full review
Scalability
Cisco
We have over 350 locations and growing. We chose Cisco Meraki vMX because of ease of use and how it scales.
Read full review
F5
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Cisco
  • vMX is cheaper than Azure VPN gateway
  • there is no native support for HA, so you need to deploy second instance
Read full review
F5
  • Great VPN Solution during Covid
  • Excellent for remote access related service control and management
  • Reasonable ROI, since it is slightly expensive
Read full review
ScreenShots