How much can I save by switching from Citrix NetScaler to HAProxy?

Savings depend on your deployment. HAProxy runs on commodity hardware and scales horizontally, so you avoid appliance refreshes and throughput-tier upgrades. HAProxy customers recover their investment in 9 months on average, against a category average of 13 months.

Can HAProxy replace NetScaler policies and configuration?

Yes. NetScaler policy expressions and configuration usually map cleanly to HAProxy ACLs and Maps, with Lua for advanced cases. Our migration approach pairs automated configuration conversion with hands-on review by HAProxy engineers, so business logic transfers without a rip-and-replace.

Is HAProxy a full proxy like Citrix NetScaler?

Yes. HAProxy is a full reverse proxy. It terminates the client connection, then opens a separate connection to the backend, applying traffic management and security policy in between. It supports the same patterns teams rely on NetScaler for, including TLS termination, mTLS, content switching, persistence, health checks, and high availability.

Does HAProxy include a WAF and DDoS protection like NetScaler?

Yes. HAProxy One includes the Intelligent WAF Engine, with balanced accuracy and latency below measurable thresholds, plus built-in bot management, DDoS protection, and rate limiting. Security runs on your own infrastructure — 100% private, with local processing and no external connection required.

Can HAProxy run on the same hardware as NetScaler MPX or SDX?

HAProxy is software. It runs on commodity x86 or ARM servers, virtual machines, every major cloud, Kubernetes, or as a hardware or virtual appliance (HAProxy ALOHA). Most teams leaving NetScaler MPX or SDX redeploy on standard commodity servers and scale horizontally rather than vertically.

How long does a Citrix NetScaler to HAProxy migration take?

Migrations range from a few weeks to a few quarters, depending on configuration complexity, vserver count, and change-control requirements. Book a free migration consultation and we will map your policies and load balancing vservers to HAProxy, then send back a customized plan.

Does HAProxy support multi-cloud and Kubernetes like Citrix NetScaler?

Yes, natively, with a single operating model and unified configuration across environments. HAProxy Fusion centralizes management across multi-cluster and multi-cloud deployments. NetScaler splits this across MPX, SDX, VPX, CPX, and NetScaler Console, which means multiple form factors and operating models.

The high-performance Citrix NetScaler alternative

Download the 4-step guide to replacing Citrix NetScaler with the top-rated load balancer on G2

Satisfaction score (per G2 Reviews)

Customer retention (annual renewals)

Years in production (at global scale)

Download the guide

Loading...

HAProxy is used by leading companies

Replace Citrix NetScaler in four simple steps

Switching from Citrix NetScaler ADC to HAProxy Enterprise load balancer is simpler than it looks. Our free guide walks you through the whole move, from your first deployment to a full fleet:

Choose your preferred deployment method
Install HAProxy Fusion Control Plane and your starting HAProxy Enterprise nodes
Move your basic NetScaler configuration
Rinse and repeat for other instances via the HAProxy Fusion API

Prefer our migration experts to run the move with you?They'll map your NetScaler config and build your plan.

Talk to a migration expert

Reasons to replace

Citrix NetScaler ADC with the top-rated load balancer on G2

1

Headache-free
security

Updating HAProxy Enterprise instances is both painless and seamless. Forget about spending months on critical updates and navigating hardware EOL challenges.

2

Affordable
scalability

Say goodbye to the pain of integrating hundreds of performance-capped ADCs with your own management layer.

3

Flexible
deployment

We built HAProxy from the ground up to fit almost any tech stack or environment. Deploy HAProxy Enterprise instances nearly anywhere.

4

Unmatched
performance

HAProxy is the world’s fastest and most widely used software load balancer. With HAProxy, users can forward over 2 million requests per second with SSL/TLS on a single Arm AWS Graviton2 instance.

Reduced latency

≤15ms that remains incredibly stable over time and under increased load.

Five billion

HAProxy Enterprise helps DoubleVerify process over 5 billion daily requests and counting.

Want to learn more?

Watch our on-demand webinar, where our Director of Solutions Engineering, Jakub Suchy, explains how to successfully replace Citrix NetScaler ADC with HAProxy. The on-demand webinar covers:

An introduction to HAProxy and the reasons to migrate from NetScaler ADC.
How HAProxy helps customers through the migration process.
How to convert NetScaler configuration to HAProxy.
How HAProxy scales out without performance or affordability constraints.

Watch now

webinar---migrate-from-netscaler-to-haproxy

FAQs

HAProxy is the most widely deployed Citrix NetScaler alternative for teams that want enterprise reliability without the hardware refreshes and capacity-based licensing of a legacy ADC. It holds the #1 spot in the G2 Load Balancing Grid Report for thirteen consecutive quarters, with a perfect satisfaction score of 100, the only product in the category to reach it.

Privacy Settings