Kemp LoadMaster vs. NetScaler ADC

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Kemp LoadMaster
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
LoadMaster from Kemp Technologies in New York is an application delivery controller.
$1,720
per year
NetScaler ADC
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
NetScaler ADC is an application delivery controller.N/A
Pricing
Kemp LoadMasterNetScaler ADC
Editions & Modules
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
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Kemp LoadMasterNetScaler ADC
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Kemp LoadMasterNetScaler ADC
Considered Both Products
Kemp LoadMaster
Chose Kemp LoadMaster
Although we use the two LBs in vastly different roles, the Kemp's architecture and interfaces are generally much easier and intuitive than the Netscaler's. Hardware/sw/fw upgrades and hardware migrations of the Kemps are much easier and straightforward. The Netscaler does …
Chose Kemp LoadMaster
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.
Chose Kemp LoadMaster
[Selected for] good business performance and noticeable price advantage.
Chose Kemp LoadMaster
The Citrix solution was not ready at that time we moved onto the cloud. Other vendors have got too many unnecessary features that we didn't need.
Chose Kemp LoadMaster
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 …
Chose Kemp LoadMaster
We also evaluated Citrix Netscaler as we had used it previously and still had valid licensing for it, but the Kemp LoadMaster was much more stable in our experience, and required less configuration to get us to a working state.
Chose Kemp LoadMaster
Fundamentally, KEMP is similar to other products. It performs well against others and the GUI and quick support response is a big plus.
Chose Kemp LoadMaster
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 …
Chose Kemp LoadMaster
We used to use TMG to secure our external email services. Since getting Kemp, we have found it to be far more reliable and easy to work with, along with Kemp being able to secure many of our other applications.
NetScaler ADC
Chose NetScaler ADC
We chose Citrix ADC over Kemp and F5 due to additional integrations with various products such as Citrix/Horizon/Monitoring tools. We additionally chose ADC due to better ease of use and ability to have the appliances be virtual or physical, with the configuration being a …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Kemp LoadMasterNetScaler ADC
Small Businesses
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.0 out of 10
Cloudflare
Cloudflare
Score 8.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.0 out of 10
Cloudflare
Cloudflare
Score 8.8 out of 10
Enterprises
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.0 out of 10
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Kemp LoadMasterNetScaler ADC
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(63 ratings)
8.6
(21 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.6
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(25 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
9.8
(28 ratings)
7.3
(4 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Kemp LoadMasterNetScaler ADC
Likelihood to Recommend
Kemp Technologies
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.
Read full review
NetScaler
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.
Read full review
Pros
Kemp Technologies
  • 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.
Read full review
NetScaler
  • 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.
Read full review
Cons
Kemp Technologies
  • Ability to 'clone' existing Virtual Services for rapid deployment of similar ones.
  • A better API for ease of automation.
  • Simplification of Certificate management.
  • Better explanations of Kemp implementations of industry standard protocols like VRRP (or CARP)
  • More control over device factory reset configuration and forcibly breaking HA pairs at boot time
Read full review
NetScaler
  • 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.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Kemp Technologies
I'm very pleased with the support I've received as well as the quality of the product.
Read full review
NetScaler
No answers on this topic
Usability
Kemp Technologies
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.
Read full review
NetScaler
Improve on the specifics I mentioned previously and could be a 10/10 product. It is also a confusingly branded product that I have supported in two large enterprises where IT departments are unsure if the product belongs to the Citrix remote access support team or the Network infrastructure support team (it should be the later) and typically under utilized.
Read full review
Support Rating
Kemp Technologies
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.
Read full review
NetScaler
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.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Kemp Technologies
The installation was straight forward. Once i installed it, their technical support team helped me with configuration
Read full review
NetScaler
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Kemp Technologies
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.
Read full review
NetScaler
We chose Citrix ADC over Kemp and F5 due to additional integrations with various products such as Citrix/Horizon/Monitoring tools. We additionally chose ADC due to better ease of use and ability to have the appliances be virtual or physical, with the configuration being a simple migration of code which provided flexibility to be able to do a hybrid environment with ease.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Kemp Technologies
  • 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.
Read full review
NetScaler
  • It has saved a tremendous amount of money and manpower by allowing for broad support without the need for a VPN.
  • The security functions within Netscaler enabled our business to pass additional IT-based audits.
  • Having a full Citrix stack from front to back makes our business look more professional both to our users and outsiders.
Read full review
ScreenShots