F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) Reviews & Product Details

F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) is a high-performance, full-proxy network security solution designed to protect networks and data centers against incoming threats that enter the network. Built on F5’s industry-leading BIG-IP hardware and software platforms, BIG-IP AFM provides a scalable platform that delivers the flexible performance and control needed to mitigate aggressive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) and protocol attacks before they overwhelm and degrade applications and infrastructure availability. Natively a part of F5 BIG-IP AFM, F5 intrusion prevention system (IPS) performs Layer 5-7 inspection of incoming traffic and protects protocol and infrastructure against security incidents and exploits. BIG-IP AFM’s IPS solution reviews traffic for adherence to protocol standards, matching against known attack signatures. For service providers, BIG-IP AFM IPS does even more, protecting the network edge and performing traffic inspection and protocol adherence for prevalent service provider protocols such as SS7, Diameter, HTTP/2, GTP, SCTP and SIP traffic coming into the network over UDP, TCP, and SCTP.

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Average based on 15 real user reviews.

F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) Reviews FAQs

Generated using AI

Last updated: Nov 04, 2026

What is F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM), and what problem is it built to solve?

F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) is a software-based network firewall used to protect enterprise networks and websites. It helps control network traffic and guard against large-scale attacks.

What company sizes is F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) designed for?

F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) is designed for larger organizations. The target company sizes are:

1,001–5,000 employees
5,001–10,000 employees
More than 10,000 employees

What support options are available, and is live/human support included?

Support options include chat and 24/7 access to a live representative.

What training resources are available to help teams get started?

Teams can get started with live online training and documentation.

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Sumit K.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4/7/2023

"F5 AFM is powerful and advanced software based firewall"

4/5

What do you like best about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

F5 advanced firewall is software based firewall solution to provide network security. It can provide real-time visibility in to network traffic and can block traffic real-time. It also has intrusion prevention which is advanced security feature. It can be deployed in a wide range of network environment. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

It is premium product but still having some performance related issues. Overall its a powerful device with great features. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

David L.

IT Systems Engineer

Education Management

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

Originally submitted 10/15/2021

"Great Product and has met all our needs!"

5/5

What do you like best about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

It has integrated well with what we have and replaced some really old software. It has been a great experience and given us everything we needed. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

Nothing so far.. the only thing was we had to have some help on the setup due to it being a little complicated. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Computer Networking

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

9/20/2019

"Firewall Manager for Data Center"

5/5

What do you like best about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

As I am working with an ISP company, I need to deal with firewalls. F5 Advanced Firewall Manager is the most effective network-level security for enterprises and service providers. Connect securely to VPN within a quick time. Connection times are fast and reliable. Web properties and applications are balanced and maintain a high accessibility level. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

I think the cost is a little bit high compared to other firewall managers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM):

Secure protection for data center and cloud, highly recommended. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) solving and how is that benefiting you?

*Connection times are fast and reliable.

*It provides full SSL visibility, as well as network-layer and session-layer security.

*Advanced Firewall Manager gives fast and secure access as well as it is a high-performance firewall. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Deanna C.

Support Team Lead

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

3/14/2019

"Protection within an APP"

5/5

What do you like best about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

This worked perfectly when remoting in from home. The system ensured protection for both my computer and the computer remoting in. The benefit of protecting the company's data and business requires thinking about app security first, and they excelled. Working for the company for 5 years in a managerial role, we never had any security issues using this app. Easy to get in touch with people in support when there are issues. This is also available in any cloud, which is a huge benefit as well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

There were times it was difficult to log in, not sure if it came from f5 or the company I was working for. The system was slow at times too. This is great for companies with important information. I don't have too many dislikes regarding this app since it was a huge positive for the company. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM):

I think you're doing a great job, the only feedback is to make it faster! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) solving and how is that benefiting you?

This allowed us to work from home and provide service to our customers. Helped connect us to our customers! As our mission statement reflected as always on and this app allowed us to hit our mission statement. This also solves problems for people that need to work from home due to illness or any issues of the sort. There is also a ton of training and information on their website for more information regarding best practices, how to use, and environmental concerns. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Translation and Localization

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

3/8/2019

"F5 AFM works but use F5 WAF instead"

2/5

What do you like best about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

Ddos protection simple and out of the box. The concept of protection out of the box was very attractive. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

dDos protection broke our applications due to timeouts specified in our web application the two were not initially compatable. The URL filters were very hard to implement Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM):

Be careful use the auto-learning functions and stick to it. Do not go too deep into URL filters as that can cause large sweeping impacts. Be careful if something breaks your application it maybe hard to find. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) solving and how is that benefiting you?

Provides protection to large scale attacks Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Retail

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

3/12/2019

"F5 has a lot of potential"

3/5

What do you like best about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

When running smoothly, F5 is awesome. I’m able to access all of the files needed for my business, which is a must have. Makes me feel like I’m in the office sometimes even though I work remotely. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

F5 has a lot to offer but it could use some improvements. Although it has improved a lot, the constant disconnection hurts as I work remotely and rely on it. I have determined through multiple sources that it is not my ISP but, in fact, F5. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Public Relations and Communications

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

3/14/2019

"Got rid of the product"

2/5

What do you like best about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

The consistency of appearance; specifically- that when it shows up I can be alerted of potential threats on my computer. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

I dislike the quality of the browser when this pops up. I’d like to adjust it in my settings but I don’t know how to. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Government Administration

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

1/3/2019

"F5"

4/5

What do you like best about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

I like that if handles firewall, active directory, logging controls, SSH, DDos Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

They might not be flexible especially then we're talking about corner cases. We had very special problem to fix with them once. They came to our place, told us that the problem is peace of cake. Two years later the problem is till there Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM):

It's a no brainer for agencies and firms that take security seriously. You don't have to do a thing since F5 will handle it for you. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) solving and how is that benefiting you?

We're a small government agency. F5 helps us to keep our team small Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Loc n.

Support engineer

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

8/9/2018

"A power application to manage network, firewall"

4.5/5

What do you like best about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

There are a lot of functions which meet my expectations, like setting up a firewall, doing load balancing, easy to configure website redirects... Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)?

The price is a little higher. At this time I don't have any. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM):

For large businesses, I would recommend they use F5 Big-IP. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) solving and how is that benefiting you?

We have a big web server, DXT system, managing it separately is very time-consuming, so this tool helps us centralize, configure the firewall for my client's website... Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.