Migrating away from F5 to an alternative can be daunting. For years it's been a safe bet and default option for many.  

But appliance and licensing cost increases, End-of-Life, and product complexity have led many to go back out to market.

And what they've found may surprise you...

Table of contents

• F5 v Loadbalancer: A brief history
• A market shift from F5 to Loadbalancer
• The F5 alternative
• F5 v Loadbalancer comparison
• How to migrate away from F5
• What next for F5?

A brief history of F5 v Loadbalancer

F5 BIG-IP has always been, and remains, a powerful and widely-used load balancer.

For more than 20 years, F5 and their competitor, Loadbalancer.org, have provided high availability solutions to critical enterprise applications worldwide. Both products have contrasting development philosophies but fundamentally both offer advanced load balancer capabilities. So what's the difference?

F5: The "bells and whistles" approach

If you think you might want to do something with a load balancer, but you're not sure what, then F5 is a good bet. They have more functionality than you can shake a stick at. Great for large organizations with complex needs. So what's not to love?

Many F5 customers freely admit that they don't utilize the majority of the features provided by F5 — meaning they end up paying more for a product they aren't using to its full potential.

Loadbalancer: The "task-fit" approach

Loadbalancer's approach is different. Rather than try and sell a product that serves 100% of the market, their philosophy is to create a product with advanced load balancing features that serves the vast majority of use cases.

A market shift from F5 to Loadbalancer

If F5 is the market leader, why now many looking for an alternative?

1.  Cost: F5 is arguably the most expensive ADC on the market

Purchasing and deploying an F5 BIG-IP can be very, very expensive; and it's not only the initial cost of the appliance that's eye-watering.

"We found we couldn't take advantage of GSLB when we were with F5, because the additional cost of this feature was prohibitive. This isn't an issue with Loadbalancer, as GSLB comes straight out-of-the-box." IT Director

Furthermore, costly, complex, and ever-increasing licensing fees mean F5 have one the highest TCOs (Total Cost of Ownership) in the industry. And with 98% of all enterprise deployments relying on the same core features that all the other (much cheaper) load balancers on the market also offer, IT Directors are increasingly pushing back on the need for an F5.

2. End-of-Life: Is leading many to look for an F5 alternative

F5 is notorious for imposing End-of-Life and End-of-Sale pain on its customers; forcing them to upgrade or switch to licensing arrangements that are significantly more expensive.

Here's a list of F5 BIG-IPs that have gone End-of-Life in recent years, resulting in numerous headaches for IT teams, not least unbudgeted spending, potential security risks, and a lack of support.

3. Complexity: F5s are notoriously difficult to manage

Mastering the configuration and management of an F5 BIG-IP can be very challenging for anyone without extensive F5 experience — which is why so many have to pay Certified Engineers to make changes for them for fear of breaking something.

Furthermore, creating and maintaining complex configurations can be time-consuming and prone to human error, and often there are so many different ways of achieving the same objective that it's not always obvious how to proceed. Do you really need 5 different ways to backup a load balancer, for example? I'll just leave that question there.

Not only does the complexity of the appliance increase the costs and time needed to make changes, the ever-increasing number of vulnerabilities means Network Engineers and System Administrators are constantly on the back foot, playing constant catchup.

There have been countless F5 CVE alerts in the last two years; here are just the fixes required in 2024 alone:

• K000138353: Quarterly Security Notification (February 2024)
• K000139404: Quarterly Security Notification (May 2024)
• K000141302: Quarterly Security Notification (October 2024)

Each one represents hours and hours of time spent patching these security exposures.

The F5 alternative

Even if you're not ready yet to migrate away from F5, it's always good to explore your options, and keep an eye on what else is out there. And, certainly, if you're looking for a cheaper, much more intuitive product, then look no further than Loadbalancer.org.

1. The F5 alternative: Up to 10x cheaper

When the financials are under the microscope, it can sometimes be hard to compare load balancing vendors for a number of reasons e.g. products may not always match up like-for-like, some vendors aren’t transparent with their pricing, and features are often sold separately.

But here's an example for you.

When we did this price comparison, Loadbalancer.org was less than HALF the price of an F5.

Furthermore, the cost of the F5 appliance prevents many from taking a per-app approach. With a shared load balancer appliance used for more than one application, "noisy neighbor" syndrome can become an issue, undermining the high availability of the critical services the F5 BIG-IP is designed to protect.

2.  The F5 alternative: No End-of-Life

Loadbalancer does not End-of-Life its products, meaning customers can decide for themselves when then wish to upgrade their products, helping them take back control and avoid unbudgeted spending.

“We understand the challenges EOL can pose for our customers; so we simply don’t do it.” Malcolm Turnbull, Co-Founder, Loadbalancer.org

3.  The F5 alternative: A more intuitive appliance

Loadbalancer's appliances are designed to be clever, not complex, so users don't need to tie themselves in knots getting themself up to speed.

Designed with a user-friendly interface, Loadbalancer's ADCs are intuitive to allow for easy and quick self-serve maintenance, without having to be a load balancing expert.

4.  The F5 alternative: iRules experts

Loadbalancer's engineers are well versed in iRules and available to help migrate and simplify configurations.

There isn't an iRule they haven't managed to unpick yet! This is because the majority of iRules are trying to achieve basic features, such as HTTP to HTTPS redirection, persistence based on session ID, custom health checks, or even a simple maintenance page. All of which can be easily done through Loadbalancer's WebUI, with no need to write a rule...

5. The F5 alternative: Consultative support

Loadbalancer prides itself on their tierless support team, who take a consultative approach not just to their own Enterprise load balancers, but also to any wider network issues customers might be experiencing.  

For more on how they stack up against F5, check out these additional resources:

• Loadbalancer.org vs F5 Big-IP, Citrix NetScaler ADC and Progress Kemp
• Start your F5 migration journey
• How do F5, Kemp, and Loadbalancer.org ADCs compare?
• Which load balancer?
• F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) i2600 alternatives

F5 v Loadbalancer comparison

When it comes to functionality, both the F5 BIG-IP and Loadbalancer Enterprise offer a robust feature set to distribute traffic across multiple servers, and ensure website and application uptime.

F5 v Loadbalancer: Feature comparison

A breakdown of the features of F5 BIG-IP versus the Loadbalancer Enterprise alternative:

*Loadbalancer.org believes having an authentication gateway on the ADC itself undermines security because it requires a public-facing web application for the SAML authentication portal to be hosted on the appliance.

So the Loadbalancer.org Enterprise also offers a comprehensive set of advanced load balancing features, although not all the functionality of an F5.

F5 v Loadbalancer: Terminology comparison

For transparency, here's a breakdown of the terminology used by F5 BIG-IP versus Loadbalancer.org Enterprise:

*As the load balancer experts, Loadbalancer.org's focus is on load balancing and making their products as simple, powerful, and user-friendly as possible.

Solid documentation and readily available information can help you overcome the challenges of migrating to a new provider, which can often feel like learning a new language.

F5 v Loadbalancer: License comparison

• Perpetual and subscription licensing: F5 offers a variety of licensing options, including perpetual licenses, subscription licenses, and the Flex Consumption Program. Their pricing is dependent on throughput, so if you want to scale, you'll need to up your bandwidth, you'll need to pay more.
• Perpetual and subscription licensing: Loadbalancer.org offers a number of different licensing options, including perpetual and subscription, as well as Global and Site licenses. These licenses are unrestricted, meaning you can scale without any fear of cost creep.

"We found the cost and complexity of F5's licensing undermined our ability to scale because we'd have to have forked out for a more expensive license to upgrade our bandwidth. Loadbalancer don't have any restrictions, so it gives us the freedom to scale, without fear of cost creep". Senior System Administrator

F5 v Loadbalancer: Software comparison

• Open Source: Loadbalancer.org leverages open-source components, providing greater flexibility and enhanced security through a collaborative development model.
• Proprietary: F5's proprietary nature, stemming from in-house development, limits customization options for individual customers. This means there is less flexibility to modify or tailor the solution to specific needs.

F5 v Loadbalancer: User comparison

• Complexity: F5 offers extensive functionality that extends beyond load balancing, but this can make its initial configuration challenging for newcomers.
• Simplicity: Loadbalancer.org on the other hand is designed for non-load balancing experts, with a more intuitive interface and easier to learn appliance.

How to migrate away from F5 to an alternative

Seamless migration

The recommended method used to perform the migration is to build a parallel Loadbalancer.org configuration alongside the existing F5 BIG-IP. This allows the F5 service to stay up and running while also allowing the new configuration to be tested in isolation.

To find out how to configure and deploy your Loadbalancer appliance in three easy steps that reduce risk and complexity, contact us to find out more.

A platform to help you manage your migration

While you're in between vendors, why not use our the Loadbalancer ADC Portal to manage your appliances more effectively and gain greater visibility of your F5 BIG-IPs AND Loadbalancer.org appliances?

F5 migration example

The specifics of each deployment will vary, but here's how Change Healthcare migrated away from their 300 F5 BIG-IPs.

What next for F5?

With the launch of F5 BIG-IP NEXT, the pain of End-of-Life doesn't seem to be going away any time soon. At the end of 2023, F5 did a soft launch of their new F5 BIG-IP product, NEXT, at the end of 2023, giving a clear indication of what's to come.

With the original F5 BIG-IP now looking increasingly obsolete, many are asking what pains lie ahead, speculating that F5 are going to End-of-Life the F5 BIG-IP later this year.

So watch this space....

What's stopping you from moving to an alternative?

20 years ago, you could get fired for not using an F5 because they were considered one of the only serious contenders out there. Today, that thinking is about 20 years out of date.  There are now many, many brilliant (and definitely cheaper) F5 alternatives out there!

Whether you’ve made up your mind and are navigating away from F5 or still deciding, we're here to help you make the decision that's best for you, and your business.

We’ll give you honest technical answers, and help you work through architecture approaches that are specific to your environment. Contact us today to schedule a call with one of our experts, or ask any questions you may have below!