Citrix Gateway (or Citrix NetScaler Gateway) is an access gateway with SSL VPN solution, providing single sign-on (SSO) and authentication for remote end users of network assets.
$995
per month
F5 BIG-IP
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
F5 BIG-IP software from Seattle-based F5 Networks is a load balancing and application protection solution suite available on cloud or via virtual editions, on a subscription or perpetual licensing basis.
N/A
Kemp LoadMaster
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
LoadMaster from Kemp Technologies in New York is an application delivery controller.
$1,720
per year
Pricing
Citrix Gateway
F5 BIG-IP
Kemp LoadMaster
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
VLM-500
1,720
per year
VLM-500
2,000
perpetual license
VLM-3000
3,050
per year
VLM-3000
4,000
perpetual license
VLM-MAX
7,610
per year
VLM-MAX
10,000
perpetual license
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Citrix Gateway
F5 BIG-IP
Kemp LoadMaster
Free Trial
No
No
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Yes
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
The price for a Citrix Gateway (VPX) perpetual license is $995.00.
You must contact the sales team for subscription license pricing.
We faced many challenges trying to integrate F5 into newer versions of Citrix Web Interface with Secure Gateway to front end our XenApp environments. After migrating to Citrix NetScaler we had a much less complex configuration to manage, performance and user satisfaction was …
Easy to configure , hardware based , no need to maintain or secure operating system and better performance. Better performance and stability against Citrix. With the virtualization feature you can have many virtual appliances for other environments like PoCs or Developments …
As I said previously, the F5 BIG-IP products are far and away the easiest, most robust and powerful application delivery platform I've ever worked on. The user experience was really the most noteworthy difference when using other products. The Kemp Load master platform was …
As a load balancer F5 BIG-IP provides reliable load balancing and health checks. It’s also highly configurable via CLI and GUI, making F5 BIG-IP easy to use, set up, and configure in a city of ways. Other vendors are not close to the ease of use F5 provides.
Kemp is getting more mature but F5 is still superior. While the Kemp UI is easier F5 allows for more option and customization. I still feel Kemp is strong due to their no-cost lab license.
Kemp LoadMaster is easier to implement and operate, all while being less expensive. Although some competitors offer more functionality, most of our customers don't need it.
[Selected for] good business performance and noticeable price advantage.
Verified User
Manager
Chose Kemp LoadMaster
When we looked at other load balancers, we ran into some issues. For some of the free ones, these don't necessarily perform as well - which is probably why they are free. When looking at some of the other brands, some are too complicated to use - they may have a ton of advanced …
They all do the same thing, just present the functions in a different way and cost more/less. We have found that the virtual load balancers offer the same performance at the throughput that we need. While a dedicated appliance would be necessary in some applications, we don't …
Kemp support is unlike we have seen from any other tech vendor. It truly is outstanding, and they even helped us resolve issues with our VMware environment that had nothing to do with the Kemp deployment. That combined with the pricing flexibility and the option to deploy into …
Verified User
Administrator
Chose Kemp LoadMaster
KEMP Loadmaster was chosen by the VP for reduced price alone. I was thoroughly against it in the beginning (as I was a hugh F5 supporter) until i got used to it. For a much reduced price, it performs just as well as a F5; after you get used to the WebUI configuration tool.
Citrix is used by everyone in our Company globally across departments, and provides a standardized, very clean, rarely-changing launchpad for all the common apps your team may need. It connects to Okta for necessary security. From my understanding, app assignment to users from the back end is also very simple. That being said, while the lack of changes over the years helps with guides and familiarity, Citrix is not without it's flaws that could use updating - apps refusing to open, scheduled app crashing at 12:00pm EST every day, setup being not as streamlined as it could be for new users, ease of use lacking on the desktop app, lack of accessible guides/quick walkthrough of what the platform is upon first login, etc. Overall, I look forward to improvements for Citrix, though overall I appreciate it's simplicity leading to visual ease of navigation.
Application delivery of both simple and advanced applications. It's easy to handle certificate management that do require individual certificates to be installed on each backend server, you can just install the certificate on the F5 BIG-IP and use for multiple backends. Also adding WAF is as simple as adding a generic policy and you will cover 80% of the scenarios.
Loadmaster is very powerful and flexible load balancer. Variety of options allows to create a complex network of rules and routes. During our website rollout Loadmaster allowed us to run multiple generations of the website simultaneously and seamlessly by doing the content switching on the fly. Powerful API allows easy integration into any development lifecycle.
allows seamless use of 2-factor authentication for heightened security within the VPN, and lowers risk of an external hack because of it.
it allows for differing levels of security. access can be set specifically through the VPN so 2 users can use the same site and get different results depending on their active directory security policy.
It can grant the ability to launch a single application or an entire VPN envelope
It's reliable. We've had very little problems with the technology. Performance is always right on. Metrics are great. They come out of it. We'd like to do more probably with it in the future as we start to grow a lot more.
Where the LoadBalancer excels is the multiple levels at which you can load balance servers. We currently use layer 7 LB, but others are available as well.
I particularly like the ability for the LB to know when servers are down, and if all are offline then you can create a redirect to a static HTML page or some other destination that is more informative.
The ease in which a service can be created and deployed using already pre-canned templates makes it a very convenient setup process.
Recently we have been deploying F5 web application firewall and we have started the deployment. We have already moved applications out there, but we are not yet to the point wherein I could comment any positive feedback or any negative feedback because we are still going through it, right. But as far as I'm concerned, I don't see any drawbacks or any shortcomings on the F5 product lineup.
Stability of product and easy way to have account manager contact. F5 support team is also always available to help with major issues. Last year during the major OS upgrade F5 team and F5 leadership always shared clear information and F5 team was dedicated to help us to have it closed in record time
Citrix is a visually very clean platform, allowing for ease of use from even the least tech-savvy. That being said, the apps crashes a lot (scheduled or otherwise), and apps very often refuse to open from the dashboard, making for a frustrating/confusing experience from those who have not yet experienced these same issues daily for years now. The launcher app (for MacBook) leaves a lot to be desired in terms of both setup and daily use, making the web version more viable. First-time users are also often confused on what Citrix is - and how each app connects in order to open a program (explaining "log into Citrix on the web, then download the launcher app, then launch the Spectra app via Citrix web, which will open in the Citrix launcher app on your laptop to launch the app, but you have to paste in the URL again and log in again to access" is a handful)
It actually satisfies the use cases, but I would like to know what it can do more than just the use cases, which is what I'm looking for, to talk at some point with somebody and figure out what to do next. We probably maybe could be able to do more that we don't know yet.
Kemp makes it very easy to setup, configure and manage the LoadMaster without needing a lot of help from their engineers. The interface is very easy to understand and intuitive to use. We like how it is not complicated - I can easily have one of my techs login and they can figure out how to setup/configure virtual services for load balancing without needing a manual or tech support.
Support is pretty good and pretty fast to respond. I can't say I can really complain about the support experience I've had with them, as they've resolved issues within a reasonable time-frame. Of course, they could always be faster and better, but I think for what we pay, it's well worth the money.
I've supported F5 for three different companies. Our F5 support has been very consistent, regardless who the customer is. F5 technicians are very experienced and provide good support, even when issues are more related to knowledge than they are with the ability of the product to do what you need it to do.
Support has been easy to deal with; I have only need[ed] to contact them a few times during setup. Once its been in place and operational, we have not need[ed] to mess with the system [which] is a huge advantage. I like system[s] that do not break and require constant attention in a production environment.
We chose Citrix Netscaler Gateway for its wide market presence and its great experience over time. Although the implementation time may be longer than in the other solutions, I think the results are better and it allows configuration with greater capacity than the others. The cost is similar in all the solutions seen.
That's the one thing that really stood out. It was a lot easier to use from an administrator standpoint, so I think that's the one thing that really made our team decide to go with this product versus another competitor. Just ease of use.
We chose Kemp LoadMaster because it is 1/10 the price of the competition and MUCH easier to deploy and configure and WORKS. We have had ZERO issues with the product since installation. Their engineers and their sales team have both reached out post-install to check in and see if everything is working as expected.
The largest positive impact was that it provided a path up upgrade from the now defunct CSG Citrix product. Because Netscaler Gateway is an at cost product, where CSG was not, one could argue there is no monetary ROI but the ROI in this scenario comes more from the ability to not have to use a non Citrix product and learn the skills needed to administer it.
Negative wise, Netscaler Gateway can be quite costly in both upfront costs and maintenance fees. It is part of business and a requirement but when using it as a replacement for CSG you will have to account for several thousands of dollars per year in additional cost.
Because it can implemented as a virtual server (it comes in both hardware and non hardware versions) the lack of need to add one more piece of hardware to our data center saves in space, up front costs, and power/cooling needs if you opt to go with the software based version.
The F5 BIG-IP has improved all our load balancing needs, we have over 400 LTM VIPs in our environment this all use to be done with DNS round Robin configurations.
we have created unique APM solutions to support our external customer base
We used Kemp LoadMaster for many projects. For a lot of customers, load balancers were too expensive or too complicated before we introduced Kemp products.
It's not a overly complicated product, so we were able to train many engineers on it and have them get a certification.
