A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) comparison

Why PeerSpot?

The compared A10 Networks and F5 solutions aren't in the same category. A10 Networks is ranked #2 in STD , and holds a 22.3% mindshare in the category. F5 is ranked #1 in ADC , with an average rating of 9.2, and holds a 11.6% mindshare. Additionally, 75% of A10 Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of F5 users who would recommend it.

A10 Networks Thunder SSL In...

Read 3 A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) reviews

961 Views
413 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...

Read 124 F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) reviews

13,951 Views
9,068 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

A10 Networks Thunder SSL In...

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) and F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Broadcom, A10 Networks, Gigamon and others in SSL/TLS Decryption.

To learn more, read our detailed SSL/TLS Decryption Report (Updated: October 2026).

Buyer's Guide

SSL/TLS Decryption

October 2026

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Helped 917,433 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

A10 Networks Thunder SSL In...

Average Rating

9.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

SSL/TLS Decryption (2nd)

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Man...

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

124

Ranking in other categories

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (1st)

Mindshare comparison

A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) and F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) is designed for SSL/TLS Decryption and holds a mindshare of 22.3%, down 31.8% compared to last year.
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM), on the other hand, focuses on Application Delivery Controllers (ADC), holds 11.6% mindshare, down 16.1% since last year.

SSL/TLS Decryption Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi)	22.3%
Symantec SSL Visibility Appliance	25.0%
Fidelis Elevate	19.0%
Other	33.7%

SSL/TLS Decryption

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)	11.6%
NetScaler	11.6%
HAProxy	8.3%
Other	68.5%

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

Featured Reviews

Kenneth Murray

Data Center Network Engineer at BRIDGETON PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Enables our content filter to do its job without any noticeable delay

Its most valuable feature is its ability to do its job accurately, effectively, and very quickly. The amount of traffic that we have going through our system is astounding. We have 6,900 students and about 1,100 staff members. Most of our teachers and staff are connecting through our system. You add to that all the cell phones, the iPads, and all the computers, and then each individual website's connection, that's a lot of traffic in a period of one second. The delay with the SSL decryption turned on is almost unnoticeable. That is great because most SSL decryption solutions — a couple of competitors we did try — their devices crashed as soon as we turned decryption on.

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edshyaa

Network Engineer at Stryker

Load balancing has improved traffic distribution and currently supports high availability upgrades

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) offers effective load balancing methods that help distribute traffic across our servers, whether we have two or several. This load balancing feature stands out as it is the fundamental work we do with F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM). While I recognize there are many features, such as iRules, which I have not explored yet, we primarily work on VIPs, pool members, and traffic distribution. The load balancing algorithms' flexibility makes them very useful for our team, enabling us to choose different servers and manage load effectively. We use various methods based on user or application requirements, making the algorithms set up by F5 in the backend quite helpful. F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) positively impacts our organization primarily through its load balancing capabilities. We avoid traffic overload on individual servers by placing backend servers behind F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) VIP. This load balancing helps us manage traffic effectively. Since the configuration of the I-series, we have had smooth performance, and with the recent migration to the R-series, it is working faster than before, providing positive outcomes for our operations. Since moving to the R-series, I notice improved performance; it is user-friendly and handles traffic efficiently. The upgrading process is different as we create tenants and a main host. R-series has better CPU and memory, leading to higher throughput with minimal downtime, making it a significant improvement over the I-series.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"This is one of those devices that, once you turn it on and it's functioning properly, you'll forget that you have it."

"Its most valuable feature is its ability to do its job accurately, effectively, and very quickly. The amount of traffic that we have going through our system is astounding... The delay with the SSL decryption turned on is almost unnoticeable."

"We have several proxies in our environment, so we localized internet traffic between these proxies. Instead of getting a really huge proxy box, according to our size, we can use three boxes and share the traffic with A10's load-balancer feature."

"With the Thunder SSLi, we're better protected; we can stop use of VPN and proxies, are better protected against dirty traffic coming back to our schools, and having a secure decrypt zone with the equipment lowers the chances that our security infrastructure could possibly miss an attack."

"By not renewing six proxy boxes, rather just three of them, it saved over $100,000."

"Great load balancing."

"We're able to do load balancing and global load balancing. When you marry those two products together, you can do a lot more. We're able to deliver our applications more securely and faster. It has improved our deliverability where we have more service across the shared data centers. We can intelligently reach all of those client connections across all of the servers and do it fairly quickly. It has helped improve our application delivery and performance."

"The product is very stable. We put a decent amount of stress on it given our load."

"We have found the consistency of the application always being the way it is supposed to be as its most valuable feature."

"iRules are very valuable. In addition to that, the way profiles are depicted by the LTM is also very good."

"It is the perfect solution when you have high workloads in your IT environment."

"F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is very easy to use, from SSL Management to enabling, disabling loads, applications, systems, and monitoring. Overall the solution keeps our application functional from a client's perspective 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

"The capability is at a seven or eight out of ten."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) pros

Cons

"I would like them to have a better UI (better universal design)."

"It would be great if it supported SSL operations according to Active Directory users. For example, if we want to bypass one of the servers or a client's internet access for SSL interception, we have to do it according to the IP address. It would be better if we could do it according to the Active Directory username. A10 says they kind of support that but we haven't tested it."

"SSLi is a very powerful device. It has many features and to get them configured is kind of tough."

"There is one thing I would like to see changed. In their features for setting things up, there is a templating system that would normally assist clients. However, we had a better time setting up the device either through the command line or through the interface and not using the templates that were pre-installed. So there is room for improvement to the templates for initial installation."

"The solution could improve the documentation."

"I'd like to see a more intuitive interface."

"It would be good to have better traffic and better data. It would be nice to have more granularity to see packets in terms of the header details, the analytics, etc. It would be nice if that was also part of it and to have analytics added to the traffic."

"The management interface is unclear, complex, and not concise. I would like a better user interface."

"LTM would be improved with the inclusion of signature-based blocking."

"Its scalability and deployment should be better. It should be more scalable, and it should be easier to deploy."

"An area for improvement in F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is that it's a high-priced product."

"I would like them to expand load balancing, being able to go across multiple regions to on-premise and into the cloud. This could use improvement, as it is sometimes a little cumbersome."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When you purchase the equipment, you purchase the licensing and warranty. It's all fairly standard. We haven't been caught with anything surprising."

"Our licensing costs, yearly, are just under $15,000. Your initial cost of acquisition is obviously going to be more than $15,000..."

"We always pay for support. Any organization of our size who doesn't is asking for problems."

"It was probably a one-time purchase and then you have maintenance, but I don't have the details on that. We bought what they called the Best bundle at the time, which pretty much included all of the modules. There was probably no additional cost afterward."

"I found F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) an expensive product. The costs would depend on the appliance and infrastructure size. However, my company didn't have to pay extra to use additional features."

"LTM is a good product, but it's expensive. They should make it more competitive because cloud providers offer free load balancing. Cloud providers can't cover all the security aspects of F5, but you get a decent amount of security. Cloud environments are becoming the norm across the IT industry. Many of the larger companies that previously used on-prem infrastructure are switching to the cloud, so companies like Fortinet and Palo Alto are reducing their prices. Otherwise, they can't compete in the cloud."

"The solution is more expensive than one of its competitors."

"I am a fan of using AWS natively. It is much cheaper."

"Unless the price difference is large, this is not the primary concern for the product. The performance and product-related issues (secure for VPN, multi-function for network device, etc.) are the keys."

"The licensing pricing seems relatively easy enough to get your head around. I would advise anyone to ensure that you have a conversation with an F5 consultant before purchasing, as you would with most products."

"It could be priced a little less, especially on the virtual side. It gets a bit expensive, but you get what you pay."

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

14%

Outsourcing Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	62
Midsize Enterprise	32
Large Enterprise	86

Questions from the Community

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What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IP?

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) could improve file upload speeds when opening cases and attaching files; sometimes, downloading files like QKView takes time, depending on size. I expect faste...

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What is your primary use case for F5 BIG-IP?

My main use case for F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is placing our applications on F5 and the backend servers on the pool. We also regularly renew SSL certificates before they expire, usuall...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)?

The product is costly. I would rate the price a five out of ten.

See all answers

Comparisons

Fortinet FortiADC vs A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi)

Compared 43% of the time

Symantec SSL Visibility Appliance vs A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi)

Compared 14% of the time

GigaSMART vs A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi)

Compared 11% of the time

Comodo Essential SSL Wildcard Certificate vs A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi)

Compared 8% of the time

Fidelis Elevate vs A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi)

Compared 6% of the time

More A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) Competitors

Fortinet FortiADC vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 8% of the time

NetScaler vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 7% of the time

HAProxy vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 6% of the time

A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway vs F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Compared 5% of the time

More F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi)

October 2026

A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) report

Download A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) product report

Buyer's Guide

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

October 2026

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) report

Download F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) product report

Also Known As

Thunder SSLi

F5 BIG-IP, BIG-IP LTM, F5 ASM, Viprion, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition , Crescendo Networks Application Delivery Controller, BIG IP

Overview

A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) enhances network visibility by decrypting SSL traffic, allowing enterprises to inspect encrypted data seamlessly.

A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) is designed for businesses needing in-depth traffic inspection while maintaining security compliance. By decrypting SSL traffic, it ensures deeper visibility into encrypted data without compromising security. It integrates smoothly into existing infrastructures, offering comprehensive analytics and real-time threat detection capabilities, addressing the growing challenge of encrypted traffic in networks.

What are the key features of A10 Networks Thunder SSLi?

Advanced Traffic Decryption: Efficiently decrypts SSL traffic for seamless inspection.
Scalable Integration: Easily fits within existing network architectures.
Comprehensive Analytics: Delivers detailed insights into network traffic.

What benefits can users expect from A10 Networks Thunder SSLi?

Enhanced Security: Improves threat detection by exposing encrypted threats.
Increased Visibility: Provides a clearer understanding of network traffic patterns.
Improved Compliance: Helps ensure adherence to security regulations.

A10 Networks Thunder SSL Insight (SSLi) is widely implemented in finance and healthcare sectors, where data security and compliance are critical. It supports seamless integration that assists these industries in maintaining strict privacy standards while gaining comprehensive insight into network activities.

A10 Networks

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) specializes in load balancing, iRules, and application security. It provides flexibility and stability, supporting SSL offloading and enhancing application performance and reliability with low downtime.

F5 BIG-IP LTM is designed for efficient traffic management and security. Its intuitive interface allows users to customize traffic through iRules and ensures stable application delivery. Its performance stability and ability to inspect TLS traffic, along with web application firewall features, make it preferred for consistent application delivery. While praised for its capabilities, users note its challenges with complex configuration and management. Calls for streamlined processes, training, support, better logging, and cloud integration highlight areas for improvement.

What are the key features of F5 BIG-IP LTM?

Load Balancing: Distributes HTTP and HTTPS traffic to ensure high availability.
iRules: Allows for customized traffic management.
Application Security: Includes TLS inspection and web application firewall capabilities.
SSL Offloading: Reduces server load by handling SSL processing.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Performance Stability: Ensures high reliability and less downtime.
Flexibility: Offers customizable traffic management through iRules.
Security: Provides strong protection against application attacks.
Network Management Efficiency: Simplifies traffic distribution and infrastructure management.

F5 BIG-IP LTM is widely used in industries requiring robust application delivery and security, such as finance and healthcare. It supports load balancing and traffic management across different environments and acts as a reverse proxy, helping companies secure their infrastructure against cyber threats while facilitating high availability and scalability.

Sample Customers

Klein Independent School District

Riken, TransUnion, Tepco Systems Administration, Daejeon University, G&T Bank, Danamon, CyberAgent Inc.

Find out what your peers are saying about Broadcom, A10 Networks, Gigamon and others in SSL/TLS Decryption. Updated: October 2026.

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