F5 BIG-IP vs. Zscaler Internet Access

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
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
Zscaler Internet Access
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Zscaler Internet Access™ (ZIA) is a secure web gateway (SWG), delivering cloud native cyberthreat protection and zero trust access to the internet and SaaS apps.N/A
Pricing
F5 BIG-IPZscaler Internet Access
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
F5 BIG-IPZscaler Internet Access
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-IPZscaler Internet Access
Considered Both Products
F5 BIG-IP
Chose F5 BIG-IP
The logic is intelligently used in the F5 dns to build a high availability architecture for services and infinite possibilities for global balancing.
Chose F5 BIG-IP
Si bien ambos productos son buenos, la flexibilidad de F5 nos convenció de adoptarlo.

While both products are good, the flexibility of F5 convinced us to adopt it.
Chose F5 BIG-IP
Competencia directa.

Direct Competition
Chose F5 BIG-IP
Porque nos es agnóstico a la tecnología implementada, de esta manera podemos evaluar en un futuro adquirir nuevas tecnologías y no depender de un solo vendor para implementar distintas necesidades que puedan surgir a futuro. Por lo tanto, se puede decir que los productos de F5 …
Chose F5 BIG-IP
versatility in terms of customizing the application specific parameters, as well as security features
Chose F5 BIG-IP
It stacks up great. I mean it does in most cases a better job. I mean there's no competition in that regard.
Chose F5 BIG-IP
We are recently not evaluating, but we have started the deployment for WAF and we're using GTM, LTM, you name it. F5, we are using all of them.
Chose F5 BIG-IP
We've had it for so long, we just not really ever looked elsewhere, honestly. Yeah, it's been a great tool.
Chose F5 BIG-IP
Hardware via the cloud solution from F5. I'm drawing a blank on the name right now. Distributed cloud, I think is what they call it.
Chose F5 BIG-IP
The ACE with Child Ace as well as a low balancer, but big IP tends to work better.
Chose F5 BIG-IP
There's other, Kemp is one for that would be where we see the gap, where they do better in the mid-market space and then a 10 in the larger accounts. Those are probably the two that come to mind the most.
Chose F5 BIG-IP
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.
Chose F5 BIG-IP
None, Actually since a lot of our customers are using BIG-IP, so we provide control for BIG-IP.
Chose F5 BIG-IP
Works really well. Like I was saying with the ease of use and I mean it's great hardware really fast, we've had zero issues with that, so it's been good
Chose F5 BIG-IP
Very well. They're the leader in their space and we always like to pick best of breed, which we consider F5 BIG-IP.
Chose F5 BIG-IP
We always used f5 products and we like it
Chose F5 BIG-IP
NGINX, Amazon Elastic Load Balancing and Caddy 2
Chose F5 BIG-IP
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 …
Chose F5 BIG-IP
CrowdStrike Falcon Identity Protection, CyberArk Privileged Access Management, Zscaler Internet Access and Zscaler Private Access
Chose F5 BIG-IP
F5 BIG-IP is More stable, and has more features by far.
Chose F5 BIG-IP
DDos protection is better from distributed model
Zscaler Internet Access
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
Supports zero trust access and real time SSL inspection offers better visibility into encrypted threats.
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
Netskope was good however did not have all the features Zscaler had. Zscaler provides the same type of protection as Netskope but more. We also found the netskope agent used a lot of resoures on devices. ZCC was very light-weight and did not consume a lot of resources on laptops.
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
Palo support has been a large enough negative experience on multiple occasions that we have been looking to move away from the platform and Zscaler Internet Access looks to be a suitable replacement
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
Zscaler Internet Access is most akin to ZPA - we bought both at the same time to handle all traffic internally and externally. In terms of quality - I would make the statement that Zscaler Internet Access is a simpler product but that's also cause there are no App Connectors …
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
Zscaler Deception
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
Zscaler Internet Access is much more user friendly to troubleshoot an issue or customer access.
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
Palo Alto Networks Advanced URL Filtering
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
Zscaler Private Access and Zscaler Data Protection
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
Zscaler Private Access, Zscaler Digital Experience and Zscaler Deception
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
It is useful for firewall control.
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
Zscaler Internet Access is leading all other vendors
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
Easy to impllement
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
Palo Alto Networks Advanced URL Filtering, Fortinet FortiGate, Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services, iboss Zero Trust Edge and CheckPoint
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
Zscaler Internet Access has significantly more configurability and capability in the platform, and can scale much better with large organizations. It is also much more affordable for our environment and gives us greater flexibility to grow into the Zscaler Platform.
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
Avast Secure Private Access (SPA) and Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
similar in nature -- seems to be easier to integrate
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
It will take us into full Zero Trust with out deploying another client, is efficient.
Features
F5 BIG-IPZscaler Internet Access
Identity Management
Comparison of Identity Management features of Product A and Product B
F5 BIG-IP
-
Ratings
Zscaler Internet Access
5.0
Ratings
56% below category average
Multi-Factor Authentication00 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Endpoint Security
Comparison of Endpoint Security features of Product A and Product B
F5 BIG-IP
-
Ratings
Zscaler Internet Access
10.0
Ratings
6% above category average
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Threat Intelligence
Comparison of Threat Intelligence features of Product A and Product B
F5 BIG-IP
-
Ratings
Zscaler Internet Access
9.5
Ratings
7% above category average
Network Analytics00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Threat Recognition00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Vulnerability Classification00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Automated Alerts and Reporting00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Threat Analysis00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Threat Intelligence Reporting00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Automated Threat Identification00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Zero Trust Security
Comparison of Zero Trust Security features of Product A and Product B
F5 BIG-IP
-
Ratings
Zscaler Internet Access
9.7
Ratings
4% above category average
Continuous Verification00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Secure Web Gateways00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Network Flow Control00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Network Traffic Analysis00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Segmentation Leveraging00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Admin Access Control00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Network Data Encryption00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Network Topology Mapping00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
F5 BIG-IPZscaler Internet Access
Small Businesses
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.2 out of 10
ThreatLocker
ThreatLocker
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.2 out of 10
Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access
Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access
Score 8.9 out of 10
Enterprises
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.2 out of 10
Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access
Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
F5 BIG-IPZscaler Internet Access
Likelihood to Recommend
9.2
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
8.5
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
5.2
(0 ratings)
8.1
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
F5 BIG-IPZscaler Internet Access
Likelihood to Recommend
Definitely in larger environments, more mature organizations that obviously have the budget to spend and want best in class. Where it struggles is those organizations that don't have the funding and money to spend on it and need more basic functionality. So I'd say that's smaller customers we've worked with and kind of mid-market. They tend to get scared when they get the quotes. Also we've had some struggles with account team consistency. So for the sales team, just a lot of turnover and a lot of missteps on customer calls.
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Zscaler Internet Access has extremely powerful category selection and it is very easy to create your own destinations for inspection and policy exceptions (SSL exception specifically). It is also very affordable and just as powerful (if not more) than some of the other solutions I have used in the past to achieve internet security.
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Pros
  • The great thing is the IP address management that's happening. When you set up the network it's very easy and you don't have to keep on configuring everything together. Again, it's very streamlined and it's one of the biggest players there in the market for this work.
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  • The depth that Cloud App control policies can go into. Being able to control individual actions within an application, more than just all or nothing access.
  • The UX/UI design makes it really easy to navigate the portal.
  • Understanding how cloud app/url control policy gets evaluated and creating/editing existing policy is extremely straightforward.
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Cons
  • Well, not necessarily the features. I find that we have to change our processes in order to kind of match what F5 BIG-IP does. And it's not a bad thing, it's just that a lot of my engineers want to do it their way, not they F5 BIG-IP way.
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  • Easier interface on the menus so they don't disappear.
  • Help, I'm contacting support only through the ZIA portal, but I'm unable to use the link easily.
  • Mobile interface changes.
  • The searching function for the logs is tricky and challenging to use, and the menu always pops down when trying to find the proper function.
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Likelihood to Renew
We have been using F5 for the last 25 years and there is no way we will leave F5 for any other load balancers.
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While Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) delivers critical value in cloud security and RBI compliance, I rate renewal likelihood 7/10 due to evolving needs versus platform limitations. Below is my rationale:
Key Gaps:
1. Advanced Threat Costs:
ZIA’s add-ons (e.g., Advanced DLP, Sandboxing) incur 35%+ cost premiums – straining budgets as transaction volumes (UPI/iMobile) grow 50% YoY.
2. API Banking Scalability:
ZIA’s API rate limits throttle real-time policy sync during UPI peaks (10K+ TPS), forcing workarounds for finacle integrations.
3. RBI Future-Proofing:
Limited native support for upcoming digital rupee (CBDC) security rules requires custom development, increasing compliance overhead.
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Usability
It's not difficult to understand the parts of application configurations and features. Setting up new virtual servers with multiple profiles, certificates, and nodes is easy for new users through the web interface, which also translates to programability in scripts, DevOps, or other configuration management use-cases. Users from different backgrounds such as networking and infrastructure can use F5 BIG-IP, while users who are familiar with API calls can easily configure objects without needing to understand the platform at all.
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The application is easy to install and configure on all Windows devices. To troubleshoot any internet issue, we can easily collect all the relevant logs from Zscaler and check the exact issue. The only problem is with the uninstall, as a dedicated crew needs to provide the password.
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Performance
No answers on this topic
There are often performance issues reported
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Support Rating
On the occasions when we've had to engage f5 support, they have been great. They have always resolved our issues quickly and been easy to work with and professional. The reason I give them a 10 out of 10, however, is because when we've had issues that have crossed over between the f5 BIG-IP, our Cisco switches, and our Microsoft IIS server the f5 support representatives have been extremely knowledgeable about every product and device involved and have been able to troubleshoot end-to-end without having to engage other vendors.
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Zscaler's ZIA support is quick and knowledgable. They respond within 1-2 hours of you submitting your ticket. They are very thorough and are typically ready to jump on a live troubleshooting session. Our ZIA platform and how we use is it unique so at times tickets can be open for weeks but we alway get quality support compared to other unrelated product support in our enterprise
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In-Person Training
Practical cases and hands on , many hours of training with tipical cases
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
implementation is fine
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
We are recently not evaluating, but we have started the deployment for WAF and we're using GTM, LTM, you name it. F5, we are using all of them.
Read full review
Zscaler Internet Access is most akin to ZPA - we bought both at the same time to handle all traffic internally and externally. In terms of quality - I would make the statement that Zscaler Internet Access is a simpler product but that's also cause there are no App Connectors involved in that process.
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Return on Investment
  • I would say from a security perspective, because I manage security, availability is sort of the key area for us and making sure that is properly handled through BIG-IP, that is the biggest business success, I would say from the product perspective.
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  • Has allowed us to remove other products that were suboptimal
  • Saved us money overall by stacking it with other Zscaler products
  • Created a more secure work environment for our users through intelligent internet policies that are not needlessly restrictive while still maintaining security best practices
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ScreenShots

Zscaler Internet Access Screenshots

Screenshot of an overview of Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA), a cloud native security service edge (SSE) solution that builds on a decade of secure web gateway leadership. Offered as a scalable SaaS platform through Zscaler's security cloud, it replaces legacy network security solutions, preventing advanced attacks and data loss with a comprehensive zero trust approach. ZIA is integrated into the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™ to provide superior defense-in-depth, secure connectivity, end user experience, and administrative visibility and control.