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F5

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Enterprise application delivery and security across BIG-IP, NGINX, and Distributed Cloud

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  • Deployment Cloud Based, On Premises, Hybrid
  • Starting price Custom
  • Free trial Not offered
  • Best for SMEs, Enterprises

What is F5?

F5, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, is a long-established application delivery and security vendor best known for its BIG-IP product line. BIG-IP acts as a high-performance load balancer, SSL/TLS terminator, and policy enforcement layer, available as physical hardware, a virtual edition for private or public cloud, and paired with an Advanced WAF module for OWASP Top 10 and bot defense.

Beyond BIG-IP, F5 offers NGINX for cloud-native and Kubernetes environments, and F5 Distributed Cloud Services, a SaaS platform delivering WAF, API security, and bot mitigation across multicloud deployments with AI-powered risk scoring. Nearly all F5 products are sold through custom quotes or annual subscriptions rather than published self-serve pricing, reflecting its focus on large enterprises and service providers.

Key Features of F5

F5 lists 8 documented features, including BIG-IP application delivery controller with load balancing and SSL/TLS termination, BIG-IP Advanced WAF for OWASP Top 10 and behavioral bot defense and NGINX Plus consolidated load balancer, reverse proxy, and API gateway. The list below covers what the product does rather than how it is marketed.

  • BIG-IP application delivery controller with load balancing and SSL/TLS termination
  • BIG-IP Advanced WAF for OWASP Top 10 and behavioral bot defense
  • NGINX Plus consolidated load balancer, reverse proxy, and API gateway
  • F5 Distributed Cloud Services for SaaS-delivered multicloud WAF and security
  • AI-powered risk scoring for anomaly detection in Distributed Cloud WAF
  • API security with OpenAPI schema validation and OWASP API Top 10 detection
  • Sensitive data detection and masking
  • Post-quantum cryptography readiness in recent BIG-IP releases

F5 Pricing

F5 lists 5 plans without published figures. Pricing is quoted on request.

BIG-IP Hardware

Custom

Capital purchase, per appliance

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Physical ADC appliances across a range of throughput tiers, plus annual maintenance and support

BIG-IP Virtual Edition

Custom

1, 2, or 3-year auto-renewing subscription

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Good/Better/Best bundles combining common application service modules

NGINX Plus

Custom

Per-instance annual subscription

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Load balancing, reverse proxy, API gateway, and content delivery for cloud-native and Kubernetes workloads

Distributed Cloud Essentials

Custom

Annual subscription

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Cloud-based WAF, basic DDoS mitigation, API protection rules, bot signatures, web app scanning

Distributed Cloud Enterprise

Custom

Annual subscription

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Adds malware detection, advanced bot protection, OpenAPI schema validation, sensitive data masking, compliance reporting

F5 Specifications

F5 is available on web app. It offers an API.

Deployment
  • Cloud Based
  • On Premises
  • Hybrid
Billing cycle
Yearly
Desktop
  • Web App
Languages
  • English
Built for
  • SMEs
  • Enterprises
Support
  • Email
  • Phone
  • Live Support
  • Training
  • Tickets
Integrations
AWS, Azure, and GCP marketplaces, Kubernetes, Ansible, SIEM platforms
Public API
Yes
Free trial
No
Free plan
No
Runs in browser
Yes
Customisable
Yes
Website
f5.com

F5 Videos

F5 Screenshots

F5 screenshot 1

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F5 FAQs

Hardware appliances are capital purchases with annual maintenance fees, while BIG-IP Virtual Edition is sold as an auto-renewing 1, 2, or 3-year subscription; neither has published list pricing on f5.com.

It is F5's SaaS platform delivering WAF, API security, bot mitigation, and networking across multicloud environments, sold in Essentials and Enterprise annual subscription packages.

No self-serve free trial is published on F5's official pages; access is arranged through F5 sales or cloud marketplace listings.

BIG-IP is F5's traditional hardware/virtual ADC platform for enterprise data centers, while NGINX is a lighter, cloud-native product line built for Kubernetes, APIs, and distributed hybrid-cloud environments.

Yes, several F5 products, including BIG-IP VE, are available as pay-as-you-go or private offers through AWS, Azure, and other cloud marketplaces.