AWS Elastic Load Balancing vs F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing

AWS Elastic Load Balancing9.4Visit F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing8.4Visit

Higher score AWS Elastic Load Balancing #1 in Load Balancer Services 9.4/10 Paid ✓ 1 of 3 features Visit AWS ELB

vs

F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing #8 in Load Balancer Services 8.4/10 Pricing on request ✓ 3 of 3 features Visit F5

• AWS Elastic Load Balancing fits best

  AWS-native applications needing broad load balancing

• F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing fits best

  Hybrid and multicloud enterprise delivery

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Side by side

Feature	AWS Elastic Load Balancing 9.4/10 Visit ↗	F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing 8.4/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.4	8.4
Ranking	#1 in Load Balancer Services	#8 in Load Balancer Services
Best for	AWS-native applications needing broad load balancing	Hybrid and multicloud enterprise delivery
Pricing model	Paid	Paid
Starting price	—	—
Free plan	—	—
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Docs	Email, Phone, Tickets, Docs
Integrations	12 integrations	6 integrations
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features AWS Elastic Load Balancing 1/3 · F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing 3/3
TLS termination	✓	✓
Sticky sessions	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
DNS traffic steering	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Specs
Balancing layers	Not checked yet	Both
Global regions	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Backend target limit	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Supports Layer 4 and Layer 7 traffic across several load balancer types Routes by host, path, header, method, query string, or source IP Integrates with AWS compute, containers, security, monitoring, and DNS services	Balances Layer 4 and Layer 7 traffic with TLS termination and health checks Supports routing, failover, session persistence, and DNS-based global balancing Integrates load balancing with WAF, DDoS, API security, and bot protection
Cons	Paid tiers add hourly and usage-based charges No fixed standard starting price is stated for paid usage The Free Tier is limited to eligible new AWS customers	Public list pricing is not published; buying requires contacting sales Essentials targets public-facing web apps, not the advanced hybrid/multicloud scope Enterprise adds advanced security and behavioral analysis, making it a broader fit
Our verdict	AWS Elastic Load Balancing is a managed service for distributing incoming application traffic across registered targets in one or more Availability Zones. It is designed for AWS-native web applications, APIs, container workloads, virtual… Read the review →	F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing is a SaaS-based service for distributing application traffic across origins, sites, clusters, and cloud environments. It is aimed at mid-market and enterprise organizations managing public-facing and… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• AWS Elastic Load Balancing — where it wins

  • Supports Layer 4 and Layer 7 traffic across several load balancer types
  • Routes by host, path, header, method, query string, or source IP
  • Integrates with AWS compute, containers, security, monitoring, and DNS services

  Where it doesn't

  • Paid tiers add hourly and usage-based charges
  • No fixed standard starting price is stated for paid usage
  • The Free Tier is limited to eligible new AWS customers

• F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing — where it wins

  • Balances Layer 4 and Layer 7 traffic with TLS termination and health checks
  • Supports routing, failover, session persistence, and DNS-based global balancing
  • Integrates load balancing with WAF, DDoS, API security, and bot protection

  Where it doesn't

  • Public list pricing is not published; buying requires contacting sales
  • Essentials targets public-facing web apps, not the advanced hybrid/multicloud scope
  • Enterprise adds advanced security and behavioral analysis, making it a broader fit

• AWS Elastic Load Balancing9.4/10 · Paid

  A broad AWS-native load balancing service with usage-based pricing and multiple traffic layers.

  Visit AWS ELBFull verdict →
• F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing8.4/10 · Pricing on request

  Layer 4/7 balancing and global traffic steering for distributed application estates.

  Visit F5Full verdict →