A10 Thunder ALTERNATIVE

What is A10 Thunder and VThunder

The A10 Thunder series is a high-performance Application Delivery Controller (ADC) solution designed by A10 Networks to optimize application delivery, enhance security, and ensure reliability across diverse environments. The Thunder series provides advanced Layer 4 to Layer 7 load balancing, enabling seamless traffic distribution across servers and data centers. With its cutting-edge features like SSL offloading, traffic acceleration, and application-layer security, A10 Thunder supports modern application architectures, including multi-cloud and hybrid deployments. Its hardware-based appliances and virtualized counterparts (vThunder) ensure flexibility and scalability, catering to the needs of enterprises ranging from small businesses to large-scale data centers.

One of the standout capabilities of A10 Thunder is its integration of advanced security features, such as the Web Application Firewall (WAF), DDoS protection, and bot management, to protect applications from evolving threats. The solution is also built on A10’s Advanced Core Operating System (ACOS), which delivers high-performance application delivery with low latency and efficient resource utilization. The vThunder virtual appliance complements the hardware Thunder ADC by enabling deployment in virtualized and cloud environments, making it suitable for organizations adopting containerized or hybrid infrastructures. With its combination of high-performance load balancing, advanced security, and flexible deployment options, A10 Thunder is an ideal choice for businesses seeking robust application delivery and security solutions.

What is RELIANOID Load Balancer

RELIANOID Load Balancer is an open-source Application Delivery Controller (ADC) designed to provide robust traffic management, scalability, and cost-efficiency, making it a compelling alternative to enterprise-grade solutions like A10 Thunder. While both RELIANOID and A10 Thunder deliver advanced Layer 4 to Layer 7 load balancing, SSL offloading, and application optimization, RELIANOID stands out for its affordability and flexibility. Unlike A10 Thunder, which relies on proprietary hardware or virtual appliances (vThunder) with licensing costs, RELIANOID can run on commodity hardware or in virtualized/cloud environments without additional expenses. This open-source approach reduces Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) while still delivering comparable performance for small to medium-sized businesses or organizations seeking budget-friendly options.

Another advantage of RELIANOID Load Balancer is its simplicity and adaptability. A10 Thunder, while powerful, requires expertise in managing its advanced features and ACOS-based platform, which may pose a challenge for smaller teams. RELIANOID, on the other hand, offers an intuitive interface and a streamlined configuration process, making it more accessible to administrators without specialized ADC training. Additionally, RELIANOID’s open-source nature allows for greater customization, enabling organizations to tailor the solution to their specific requirements, whereas A10 Thunder’s proprietary model limits such flexibility. For businesses seeking a modern, cost-effective, and user-friendly load balancing solution without compromising on features, RELIANOID is a strong alternative to A10 Thunder.

A10’s Strengths

Higher SSL inspection throughput in relation to other vendors.

Seamless transition between active-passive mode, so easily integrating.

RELIANOID’s Strengths

Expert and skilled R&D professionals accomplished in Zevenet and Zen Load Balancer, departing from an Open Source technology with no vendor lock-in and broad platforms integration (hardware, virtual, bare metal and cloud), bringing security, performance and readiness.

Cost-effective solutions with no constraints on products and services, tailored to the needs of midsize companies as well as large enterprises.

Protocol Versatility adapting and managing diverse network environments and protocols (UDP, TCP, HTTP/S, HTTP/2 SCTP, SIP, T/FTP).

High Performance Reverse Proxy managing over 140K concurrent users at Layer 7, while at Layer 4, it efficiently handles more than 10 million concurrent users, all with just 2 dedicated cores.

High Availability witha automatic real time stateful cluster replication.

Security and WAF improved as it incorporates an Intrusion Prevention and Detection System (IPDS) and also an integrated Web Application Firewall (WAF). It actively safeguards web applications against specific threats while providing real-time IP blacklisting, Denial of Service (DoS) protection, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and support for black and whitelisting.

User-friendly interface designed for both DevOps and SRE professionals, ensuring ease of use in managing and configuring systems.

Automation thanks to its fully programmable and robust REST+JSON API.

A10’s Weaknesses

The absence of a clear pricing strategy, particularly for premium units like chassis-based solutions, is a notable drawback. The Convergent Firewall (CWF) necessitates licensing, which can strain some clients’ budgets, limiting their ability to implement essential security rules.

RELIANOID’s Weaknesses

Emerging brand, challenging the ADC and Load Balancing market, operating as an open-source company.

Still in the process of building a significant presence. It must expand its partnership network more extensively.