A10 Thunder ADC vs Google Cloud Load Balancing
A10 Thunder ADC
a10networks.com
Google Cloud Load Balancing
cloud.google.comSide by side
| Figure | A10 Thunder ADC | Google Cloud Load Balancing |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | — |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Load Balancing Software | 8.7 (#2) | 7.2 (#11) |
| Intended users | A10 describes Thunder ADC as intended for SMBs, large enterprises, service providers, and cloud operators managing mission-critical applications. | The product is presented for application workloads that need global or regional traffic distribution, including hybrid and multicloud environments. |
| Purpose | Thunder ADC is an application delivery controller and Layer 4–7 load balancer designed to protect critical applications, maintain server availability, and accelerate content delivery. | Cloud Load Balancing is a fully managed service that distributes traffic across apps for performance and resilience, scaling from zero to millions of users. |
| Support | A10 says its technical assistance center uses follow-the-sun support, and customers with a valid Thunder or AX Series support contract can download current software releases and receive product updates. | Google Cloud support packages can include 24/7 coverage, phone support, and access to a technical support manager; community help is also available through Stack Overflow and Google Cloud Slack. |
Plans
In their own words
A10 Thunder ADC
A10 Thunder ADC is an application delivery controller and advanced load balancer for distributing workloads, maintaining server availability, protecting applications, and accelerating content delivery. It balances traffic at Layers 4–7, offers customizable service health checks, and supports aFleX scripting. Global Server Load Balancing can direct traffic across data centers and clouds for continuity and localized responses. Deployment options include hardware, virtual appliances, cloud, bare metal, and containers. Performance capabilities include caching, TCP optimization, and TLS/SSL offloading; security features include single sign-on, CAPTCHA, web and DNS firewalls, and DDoS protection. The REST-based aXAPI interface is described as providing 100% API coverage. Named integrations include Terraform and Ansible for CI/CD, Kubernetes service discovery through TKC or HashiCorp NIA with Consul, and Prometheus/Grafana monitoring. Pricing is on request. A 30-day trial license is listed for vThunder and public cloud offerings; container trial details require contacting A10 Sales. The container edition lists OpenShift 4.16 and minimum requirements of 4 vCPU and 16 GB memory.
Google Cloud Load Balancing
Google Cloud Load Balancing has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.