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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/AF5 Networks offers the F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager, a firewall software combining a number of features including DDoS, DNS security, and other protections.N/A

    NetScaler

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ANetScaler ADC is an application delivery controller.N/A
    Pricing
    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)NetScaler
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)NetScaler
    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
    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)NetScaler
    Considered Both Products
    F5
    No answer on this topic
    Cloud Software Group
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    93%
    Would buy again
    13 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    13 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    14 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    92%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    11 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    13 Answers
    Features
    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)NetScaler
    Firewall
    Comparison of Firewall features of F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) and NetScaler
    Feature
    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)
    5.6
    3 Ratings
    42% below category average
    NetScaler
    -
    Ratings
    Identification Technologies2.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visualization Tools1.83 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content Inspection5.53 Ratings00 Ratings
    Policy-based Controls6.43 Ratings00 Ratings
    Active Directory and LDAP10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Firewall Management Console2.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting and Logging6.43 Ratings00 Ratings
    VPN10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    High Availability3.63 Ratings00 Ratings
    Stateful Inspection2.73 Ratings00 Ratings
    Proxy Server10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)NetScaler
    Small Businesses
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.3 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Azure Application Gateway
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Score9 out of 10
    Azure Application Gateway
    Score8.8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)NetScaler
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.1
    (6 ratings)
    8.5
    (26 ratings)
    Usability
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    7.4
    (6 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.3
    (4 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)NetScaler
    Likelihood to Recommend
    F5
    We were able to eliminate a firewall from our network architecture by integrating the module into our existing F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM). This allowed us to save on tech refresh costs, since the F5 was able to handle the module without much additional strain on the device. However, if a firewall had features that the AFM lacked, then using that firewall in tandem with an F5 would be preferable.
    Incentivized
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    Cloud Software Group
    Citrix Netscaler can be a powerful network appliance for environments that are fully committed and open to utilizing a network appliance that isn't made by a traditional network vendor. Administrator user experience has improved over the years and will continue to improve with the flexibility of virtual and physical appliances available for medium and large enterprises.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    F5
    • Load balancing using pools
    • SSL offloading
    • iRules for threat handling
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    • Flexibility. NetScaler assumes its admins know a bit about networking and in-depth details surrounding the applications they are configuring access for/to. This being so, the range of configuration options is very broad allowing various versions' combinations of protocol patterns, expressions, rules etc., all to the benefit of the admin.
    • Granularity. Having such a broad range of configuration options available, while still allowing simple options to be configured simply. The GUI is well-stylized and navigation has a good flow.
    • Ease of control. For load-balancing of simple services right out of the box, NetScaler makes it pretty easy, compared to the range of options available in the surrounding GUI and under the hood.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    F5
    • The GUI icons are very small and Overall UI can use some refreshing
    • The training on the tool is not easily available and mostly involves a high cost
    • The support or third party implementation teams could use some improvement
    Incentivized
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    Cloud Software Group
    • The documentation could use an overhaul with specific examples related to the command line as well as GUI. Explanations in the documentation would also be helpful.
    • Being able to have more than just one routing table would allow the ability to leverage security.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    F5
    While parent policies help simplify the deployment, the UI definitely could be more straight forward and simplified for troubleshooting and tuning
    Incentivized
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    Cloud Software Group
    I gave the NetScaler a 7 here because the system once configured and deployed is very easy to use. However, if you did not deploy the system and do not have the fundamental background knowledge then you will have trouble using the product in general. Overall it is a great product and service but does typically require professional services to be deployed.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    F5
    F5 Advanced Firewall Manager has been a solid, strong solution to both keep our systems safe and being seamless for our end users. Most of the time, the end-user is not impacted and does not even know F5 Advanced Firewall Manager is running which is exactly what we are looking for.
    Incentivized
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    Cloud Software Group
    Overall, our organization's experience with Citrix support is that support can be hit or miss. Oftentimes it takes multiple attempts and much longer than desirable to obtain a viable solution for issues experienced with their products. It would be great to see Citrix invest time, effort, and almighty dollars into improving their support and bug fix process across the board.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    F5
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is a bit easier to initially set up than F5 Advanced Firewall Manager but not as robust in its ability to manage different devices with different profiles. Different machines need different access and F5 Advanced Firewall Manager is better at allowing flexibility in identifying different devices and managing what they can access.
    Incentivized
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    Cloud Software Group
    easy to use and setup and reliable. Once the configuration was setup and running this has been really useful and easy to maintain. The other solutions seemed overly complicated and difficult to configure and get up and running with the security that we required
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    F5
    • When we had to decide on whether to buy different hardware our team were all in support of renewal for F5 [BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager]
    • F5 [BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager] requires proper training on tools and clear concepts of packets, headers, and content to create WAF policies
    • Overall, we are satisfied by the ROI provided by our F5 AFM and GTMs
    Incentivized
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    Cloud Software Group
    • We had this set up before COVID and it saved us. We just added user licenses and scaled out our citrix farm and IT sat back and just monitored users from home.
    • Scales up and out with ease
    • Challenging to find NetScaler experts for advanced features you want to enable and use
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots