Effective network traffic management and application security are crucial for the performance and safety of many businesses. Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs), such as NetScaler (Citrix) and F5 (BIG-IP), play a vital role in this context. Both solutions offer advanced features that ensure not only performance but also the security of web applications and IT infrastructure. In this article, we will examine which product offers more advantages – NetScaler or F5.

The goal of this article is to provide a detailed comparison of these two platforms in terms of their functionality, performance, flexibility, and ease of management. We will discuss their key features and also highlight situations where one solution may be more beneficial than the other. This analysis will help IT administrators and decision-makers select the right tool for their specific needs.

Source: NetScaler

NetScaler and F5 BIG-IP overview

NetScaler

NetScaler, also known as Citrix ADC, is a solution originally developed by Citrix for network traffic management, application optimization, and ensuring security. It is widely used in organizations that rely on the Citrix ecosystem, especially in conjunction with products like Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. NetScaler not only provides traditional load balancing features but also advanced tools like the Application Delivery Controller (ADC), which optimizes performance and ensures application continuity.

NetScaler is available in various deployment models: as a physical device, a virtual machine, or in the cloud. This flexibility allows it to meet the needs of both small businesses and large enterprises.

F5 BIG-IP overview

F5 is also a comprehensive solution for managing application traffic, combining load balancing, security, and application optimization functions. F5 Networks, the company behind this solution, is a pioneer in the ADC market. F5 offers a wide range of products, including the Local Traffic Manager (LTM), which optimizes and manages traffic, and the Application Security Manager (ASM), which protects applications from threats such as DDoS attacks and malware.

Like NetScaler, F5 offers various deployment options: physical devices, virtual solutions, and cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

Features and capabilities of both systems

Network traffic management

Both solutions provide advanced network traffic management features, allowing for load balancing of applications, ensuring optimal performance and continuity. NetScaler and F5 support load balancing at both L4 (TCP/UDP) and L7 (HTTP/HTTPS) levels, enabling effective traffic distribution between servers based on load, availability, and request types. They use algorithms such as round-robin, least connections, and IP hash for precise session management.

Security

In terms of security, both products offer advanced application protection features. NetScaler integrates a Web Application Firewall (WAF) and enables SSL offloading, reducing the burden on application servers in handling encryption processes. Similarly, F5 provides the Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) and SSL/TLS offloading, ensuring effective protection against DDoS attacks and other application-level threats. Both solutions also offer traffic inspection, bot protection, and mechanisms to detect and block zero-day attacks.

Flexibility and scalability

Both NetScaler and F5 are highly flexible in terms of deployments. Both platforms can run on physical hardware or as virtual machines. They also offer cloud integration, making them ideal solutions for organizations with complex hybrid infrastructures. Both platforms support modern DevOps tools like CI/CD and integration with container solutions such as Kubernetes, allowing for automated application traffic management in complex environments.

Performance comparison

Throughput and performance

Both NetScaler and F5 offer various device models and deployment options tailored to different performance requirements. For example, NetScaler is known for its high throughput, reaching up to 160 Gbps in high-end models. F5 BIG-IP, on the other hand, offers comparable performance, with throughput reaching up to 300 Gbps, depending on the specific model and license. In practice, the choice between them may depend on an organization’s specific requirements regarding session handling, throughput, and scalability.

NetScaler is often preferred in Citrix environments where tight integration with virtual applications and desktops is required. In such cases, it optimizes application performance, reducing latency and improving user experience. Both NetScaler and F5 are used in environments requiring support for multiple protocols, a large number of concurrent connections, and comprehensive traffic management at L4 and L7 levels. It’s important to note that NetScaler is not limited to virtualization tools and can effectively replace F5 in many cases.

Application optimization

Both solutions offer advanced application optimization mechanisms. NetScaler features dynamic caching, which improves application performance by reducing the number of requests to backend servers. Additionally, it supports data compression, speeding up content delivery to end users, particularly for web applications.

NetScaler and F5 both offer caching, compression, and traffic deduplication mechanisms. Their session management and application traffic optimization algorithms maintain consistency and performance, even under heavy loads. With support for HTTP/2 and SPDY, both tools can accelerate page and web application load times in high-traffic environments.

Tolly report

In a recent performance test report by Tolly, commissioned by NetScaler (July 2024), the NetScaler VPX virtual Application Delivery Controller (ADC) consistently outperformed the F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition (VE) across all test scenarios. The tests, conducted in an Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment, evaluated key metrics such as data throughput, processor efficiency, and latency during traditional load balancing, policy processing, and application security tasks. NetScaler VPX demonstrated up to three times higher throughput than F5 with similar CPU usage, while utilizing CPU resources up to 64% more efficiently. Additionally, NetScaler achieved significantly lower latency, up to 89% less per request compared to F5, as the number of user connections increased. Notably, F5's latency grew dramatically with the number of connections, sometimes performing 26 times worse than NetScaler under similar conditions. This performance advantage makes NetScaler a more reliable choice in high-demand application environments, particularly where low latency and high efficiency are crucial.

Source: Tolly 

Ease of management and configuration

User interface

In terms of management, both solutions offer intuitive graphical user interfaces (GUI) and command-line interface (CLI) support. NetScaler provides a detailed administrative interface that allows easy monitoring of system health, service configuration, and log viewing. The NetScaler GUI enables administrators to quickly configure basic functions, though more advanced settings may require familiarity with the command line.

F5 also offers a rich graphical interface, but it is often regarded as more complex to configure than NetScaler. F5's GUI enables comprehensive management of every function, but due to the wide range of available options, it can be harder to master for less experienced users. Fortunately, both NetScaler and F5 offer extensive support tools and documentation to assist in configuring even the most complex features.

Automation and orchestration

Both solutions support automation and orchestration tools, which are crucial in modern DevOps environments. NetScaler allows integration with popular configuration management tools such as Ansible, Terraform, and Puppet. This enables administrators to automate deployment processes and infrastructure management, reducing the time needed for rollouts and minimizing the risk of errors.

F5 also supports automation through its REST API and tools like iControl, which allow remote management and process automation. Furthermore, F5 integrates with orchestration tools such as Kubernetes and OpenShift, enabling easy management of infrastructure in containerized environments.

Documentation and technical support

Both products offer extensive documentation and technical support. NetScaler has a dedicated user community, forums, and a wealth of technical documentation to help resolve issues and manage the platform. Citrix technical support offers different service levels depending on the purchased plan, providing assistance at both standard and enterprise levels.

F5 is similarly well-supported by the community, offering comprehensive documentation, discussion forums, and various levels of technical support. F5 also organizes training and certification programs, which are helpful for administrators seeking to understand the platform's advanced features. However, due to the more complex configuration, F5 technical support may be more necessary during the early stages of implementation.

Pricing and licensing models

NetScaler

A cost-effective licensing option for NetScaler is the Hybrid Multi-Cloud license for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). This license includes the ability to deploy an unlimited number of NetScalers with a bandwidth limit of up to 1 terabyte at no extra cost.

F5 BIG-IP

F5 also offers a variety of licensing models, including annual, two-year, and three-year licenses. However, recent significant price hikes have surprised the market, leading some F5 users to consider migrating to other solutions.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

In terms of total cost of ownership (TCO), both NetScaler and F5 can generate significant expenses depending on the scale of deployment. Licensing, service, technical support, and hardware maintenance costs can add up quickly. For large organizations with complex IT infrastructure, F5 BIG-IP may prove to be a more expensive solution due to the higher number of modules that need to be purchased separately.

NetScaler, especially in its cloud or virtual versions, may be a more flexible choice in terms of initial costs, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses that can choose the Standard or Enterprise edition. However, for companies requiring advanced features, the Platinum Edition of NetScaler or a full F5 deployment might be more cost-effective in the long run, especially if advanced security features and scalability are priorities.

Use cases

NetScaler

NetScaler is often chosen by organizations that rely heavily on Citrix environments, such as Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. Thanks to its close integration with other Citrix products, NetScaler optimizes the performance of virtual apps and desktops, resulting in a better user experience. Typical use cases for NetScaler also include managing web application traffic, particularly in environments where advanced load balancing and optimization mechanisms are required.

One example of NetScaler deployment is a company using web applications based on the HTTP/HTTPS protocol that needs optimization for mobile traffic and application-level security. With features like Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB), NetScaler can distribute traffic between different data centers, ensuring application continuity in case of a data center failure.

F5 BIG-IP

F5 BIG-IP is widely used in organizations with high security and performance requirements, particularly in the financial, telecommunications, and large data center sectors. An example of an F5 deployment could be a company utilizing high-load applications, such as online banking, that require advanced protection against threats like DDoS and application-level attacks. F5 BIG-IP, with its advanced WAF features and traffic inspection mechanisms, is ideally suited to protect such infrastructure.

F5 is also frequently deployed in environments with complex cloud infrastructure, where integration with DevOps tools and container platforms is required. With support for Kubernetes and OpenShift, F5 BIG-IP can automatically manage application traffic in complex microservices environments, making it an ideal choice for companies implementing modern cloud-based applications.

Security

NetScaler

NetScaler offers a solid set of security features, including a Web Application Firewall (WAF) that protects applications from common attacks such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and DDoS attacks. Built-in SSL offloading mechanisms allow application servers to offload traffic encryption, improving system performance. Additionally, NetScaler offers rate limiting, which can control the amount of traffic directed to applications, useful in defending against brute-force attacks.

Citrix ADC also integrates with popular SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) systems, enabling administrators to monitor suspicious activity and quickly respond to threats. NetScaler supports SSL/TLS certificates, which can be automatically renewed, and real-time traffic inspection mechanisms, allowing active protection against unknown threats.

F5 BIG-IP

F5 BIG-IP is regarded as a leader in application and infrastructure security. F5 offers advanced modules such as Application Security Manager (ASM) and Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM), providing comprehensive protection against application, network, and infrastructure-level attacks. With SSL inspection capabilities, F5 BIG-IP can decrypt encrypted traffic, enabling more detailed inspection and protection of web applications.

F5 also offers protection against advanced threats such as zero-day attacks and APTs (Advanced Persistent Threats). The IP Intelligence module enables monitoring and blocking traffic from suspicious IP addresses, particularly useful during DDoS attacks. DNSSEC support protects DNS from spoofing and other DNS-level attacks.

While both products offer a high level of security, F5 BIG-IP may be more advanced in terms of the features and flexibility it offers for network protection, making it a popular choice for organizations with high security demands.

Cloud and DevOps support

NetScaler

NetScaler offers extensive cloud support, making it an attractive solution for companies operating in hybrid environments. NetScaler can be deployed in popular public clouds such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, offering the same features as the on-premise version. Additionally, NetScaler supports containerization and can be deployed as Citrix ADC CPX on platforms like Kubernetes. Integration with DevOps is possible thanks to automation support using tools like Ansible, Terraform, and Puppet, allowing for easy management and deployment in dynamic environments.

Cloud versions of Citrix ADC also offer auto-scaling, meaning the number of instances can automatically increase or decrease depending on traffic load, which is particularly useful in environments with fluctuating traffic.

F5 BIG-IP

F5 BIG-IP also supports extensive integration with cloud and DevOps tools. BIG-IP VE (Virtual Edition) can be deployed in clouds like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and IBM Cloud. F5 BIG-IP is also compatible with container platforms and orchestration tools like Kubernetes and OpenShift, making it an ideal choice for organizations building modern microservice-based applications.

F5 offers a rich set of automation tools, including iControl REST API, enabling automated management of ADC infrastructure. BIG-IP supports tools like Ansible, Terraform, Puppet, and Chef, simplifying deployment and scaling in complex DevOps environments. With support for Infrastructure as Code (IaC), F5 allows for full automation of network and application infrastructure.

Summary: Which solution to choose? Who is the leader?

The choice between NetScaler and F5 depends on the specific needs of the organization, its infrastructure, and priorities. Licensing costs are also a significant factor.

NetScaler, a leader among Application Delivery Controller (ADC) solutions, gained a top position in the industry as early as 2016 when it was recognized by Gartner as a leader in the Magic Quadrant for ADC, maintaining that distinction for 10 consecutive years. In 2021, the Tolly Group confirmed its superiority by conducting benchmark tests comparing Citrix ADC (formerly NetScaler) with competing solutions like F5 BIG-IP VE and Envoy Proxy. In the tests, Citrix ADC VPX showed a significant advantage over F5 in every scenario, particularly in terms of latency, throughput, and CPU usage. Citrix ADC CPX also outperformed Envoy Proxy in all categories. These results highlight Citrix ADC's performance, its ability to reduce latency, and efficient CPU utilization, resulting in handling more HTTPS requests in less time with lower resource consumption.

Source: Gartner

The ultimate decision should be based on the organization's specific requirements regarding performance, security, cost, and integration with existing IT infrastructure.

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