Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs VMware NSX comparison

Akamai and Broadcom are both solutions in the Cloud and Data Center Security category. Akamai is ranked #1 with an average rating of 7.8, while Broadcom is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.9. Akamai holds a 21.5% mindshare in CDCS, compared to Broadcom’s 11.5% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Akamai users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Read 18 Akamai Guardicore Segmentation reviews

7,980 Views
5,347 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

VMware NSX

Read 106 VMware NSX reviews

6,667 Views
3,334 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

VMware NSX

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

VMware NSX and Akamai Guardicore Segmentation compete in the network security space. VMware NSX holds an edge with superior long-term ROI due to infrastructure optimization, while Akamai Guardicore Segmentation offers advantages in quick deployment.

Features: VMware NSX provides advanced network virtualization features such as micro-segmentation, robust automation, and scalability across cloud environments. It supports complex networking functions like distributed firewalls without changes to the physical network. In contrast, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation focuses on user-centric visibility, AI-powered segmentation, and flexibility in integrating with third-party solutions, although it has limitations in end-to-end solutions compared to VMware.

Room for Improvement: VMware NSX could improve its upgrade processes and expand platform support, especially for Kubernetes, along with more flexible pricing and licensing. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation faces critique for high pricing and could enhance its automation and flexibility in security policy management. Both solutions need better multi-platform integration, with VMware focusing on pricing and Akamai on broader environmental support.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VMware NSX offers strong support and is often deployed in diverse cloud models, but its responsiveness has shown variability following changes in support strategy. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is noted for its rapid deployment and effective support, although some challenges exist with system integration. Faster response times and improved automation would benefit larger implementations.

Pricing and ROI: VMware NSX has high initial costs but proves cost-effective over time through enhanced infrastructure and management efficiency. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation presents competitive pricing with contractual flexibility, yet its features may not fully justify the high costs without clear use-case validation. Each solution offers unique financial benefits; VMware focuses on long-term infrastructure savings, while Akamai emphasizes immediate operational gains.

To learn more, read our detailed Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. VMware NSX Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. VMware NSX

September 2025

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Helped 869,785 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security

1st

Ranking in Microsegmentation Software

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (12th), Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) (6th)

VMware NSX

Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security

3rd

Ranking in Microsegmentation Software

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

106

Ranking in other categories

Network Virtualization (2nd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (7th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (9th), Network Automation (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Cloud and Data Center Security category, the mindshare of Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is 21.5%, down from 24.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware NSX is 11.5%, down from 16.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud and Data Center Security Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation	21.5%
VMware NSX	11.5%
Other	67.0%

Cloud and Data Center Security

Featured Reviews

Uday Varma

Solution Architecht at Inspira Enterprise

Offers granular control and ease of policy creation with features like telemetry and micro-segmentation but incident tagging is missing

Our customers use the solution for micro-segmentation within the data center or cloud environments. One customer uses it for their on-premises infrastructure, deployed at the code level across their massive network. Another customer uses it in a data center to monitor microsegmentation for their 500-node workload. Moreover, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation has helped our customers manage and secure traffic between different applications or workloads. Earlier, they were using VMware NSX-v, which offered good logging for distributed services on an analytical level. However, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation provides them with better overall visibility and granular control over-segmentation, even for inter-application and inter-routing traffic.

Read full review

TAIYAB HASAN

Windows Redhat Linux Vmware & Azure & Cloud & Nutanix Ahv-Vmware & Backup Senior System Administrator at Al Dawaa Medical Services

Has improved network visibility and security through micro-segmentation and SDN capabilities

This feature gives us flexibility and allows us to manage everything under one pane. We can see everything on one console, including network operations and behavior. Monitoring and security are among the best features for VMware NSX. For micro-segmentation, it's integrated with our endpoint security. If there are any issues with servers or VMs, it notifies us so we can isolate the servers and investigate. It provides distributed security features such as firewall and intrusion, IDS, IPS. The security level with IPS and IDS in VMware NSX is excellent. It also provides logical switching and routing which gives an extra layer for Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching requirements. The solution provides flexibility, automation, and self-service capabilities, resulting in cost savings as extensive expertise isn't required. Once automation and self-service are implemented, many tasks can be completed automatically. Load balancing is another excellent feature. Multiple servers can run on load balancing features, which is particularly useful since we have many application servers running. Sharing loads between servers provides the best performance.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the visibility of processes and connections."

"The real bonus is the fact that we can secure applications, all the way down to the individual services, on each host. It's actually more granular security than we can get out of a traditional firewall."

"That is primarily because I've seen increased rules. It's kind of caught us a little off guard. With GuardiCore, I have had to deal with their technical support and engineering team in Israel. They are amazing. They are very quick to adapt."

"Its deception features are great, providing a rich telemetry of lured origins, and are a great resource for any active defense strategy."

"Guardicore makes its own rule set automatically, so we can work fast when creating a rule set."

"Initially, I liked the telemetry part. But later, we used the microsegmentation features that we were able to deploy and found that they really stood out from other vendors. It allows us to see microsegmentation as distributed services."

"We like the centralized management of the firewalls. Until we installed Guardicore Centra, we managed all our firewalls individually, so making changes was complicated, difficult, and time-consuming."

"I found the solution to be stable."

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation pros

"Provides flexibility to deploy and have network virtualization on different types of firewalls."

"NSX is good in managing security or controlling the security and the access control for each single VM."

"The most valuable features are its security aspects, especially the IPS and IDS for intrusion detection and protection."

"The most valuable features are stability and low cost."

"You're building a scalable solution, a secure solution, and a stable end-to-end solution; these are the main measurable benefits VMware NSX provides to the users."

"The most valuable features are the micro-segmentation and integrated security options."

"The most valuable feature of VMware NSX is the high bandwidth."

"VMware NSX's overlay network is its most valuable feature, as it aligns with any network philosophy and allows for efficient addressing mechanisms. Additionally, the ability to extend the on-premise network into the provider space is beneficial. There are many features provided."

More VMware NSX pros

Cons

"Clients would like to see that the security policies of GuardiCore can continue to be comparable to all the major firewall players out there."

"Supports become difficult when it's for a big organization. For a small organization, medium organization, it still makes sense, however, for a big organization, it makes life difficult."

"It doesn't support a PAAC solution (Platforma as a service) in the cloud."

"The product needs a few features like enhanced user policies and payload-level inspection to improve the offering."

"Kubernetes is not installed in the way we need it."

"It would be very helpful for beginners if the solution had more windows to help with the terms inside instead of going to the documentation."

"Incident tagging could be improved. Other vendors offer semi-automatic tagging, which Guardicore doesn't yet have."

"Customers would want to see the cost improved."

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation cons

"Its licensing model could be VM based."

"It could be cheaper!"

"We've have had good and bad experiences with them. We don't always find them to be so impactful. Sometimes the support guy isn't so on top of resolving the issue and it can take a while to sort out."

"The technical support could use some improvement."

"The feature it can improve is essentially application-based load balancing with intelligent load distribution for applications that require redundancy and high availability."

"The support needs improvement."

"The price is rather high."

"Despite being somewhat behind in the cybersecurity field, VMware should develop a cloud and a red team to continuously monitor for new malware and ransomware."

More VMware NSX cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is expensive."

"The price is the same as other products in the market. There's no price argument to choose one or the other product, it will cost the customer approximately the same."

"The pricing is too high."

"This is not a cheap solution but you have to consider the bigger picture, which is what it is giving you."

"The solution is reasonably priced and I would rate it a six out of ten. The tool's licensing costs are yearly."

"GuardiCore has made some new changes to the license now. We've seen monthly and annual licenses based on a subscription. We have a few clients that pay anywhere from $25,000 a year."

"Compared to the pricing we were seeing from both Illumio and Edgewise, Guardicore was very competitive."

"The customer would complain about the cost."

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation pricing and cost advice

"You can scale NSX if you have the resources, but it's usually expensive and complex to scale up."

"I'm unable to give information on the pricing or licensing cost of VMware NSX because I've never been someone who looks into the economic part of any security or virtualization solutions. That's handled by an entirely different team, and I don't even have the slightest idea about the costs associated with the solution, though I've heard pricing for VMware NSX is on the higher side."

"We are using a perpetual license to use the solution and we have support."

"VMware has a subscription and perpetual license. In the New Year, they're changing many things about the licensing model. Previously, NSX was licensed according to the number of sockets inside the appliance, so we bought VMware licenses based on that. However, that may have changed this year. We are still contacting the vendors to understand the new licensing strategy."

"There is a license required for this solution, we pay annually."

"The product pricing ranges from medium to expensive. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten."

"The price is significantly high and it can be a hurdle for many potential users."

"It is an expensive product, but cheaper than some competing solutions."

More VMware NSX pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	9

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	33
Midsize Enterprise	23
Large Enterprise	69

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Guardicore Centra?

I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive. I know other micro-segmentation tools like Cisco or Illumio, and so I think they are in the middle.

See all answers

What do you like most about Guardicore Infection Monkey?

Initially, I liked the telemetry part. But later, we used the microsegmentation features that we were able to deploy and found that they really stood out from other vendors. It allows us to see mi...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Guardicore Infection Monkey?

When we have more than one interface, we can only have one policy for both interfaces. Normally, you have assets with a production interface and a server interface that are only for management. But...

See all answers

What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?

There are some very major differences between both the Products and to name a few. -Cisco ACI have physical network gear (9K Switches) where the Code runs in ACI Policy Mode & the UCS server wh...

See all answers

What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?

Once you know your way around the Cisco ecosystem, using Cisco ACI is not so difficult. It is a global product, so when you change one interface, changes are automatically reflected on every switch...

See all answers

What do you like most about VMware NSX?

The product has valuable features for security and network extension.

See all answers

Comparisons

Illumio vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 45% of the time

Cisco Secure Workload vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 9% of the time

Zero Networks vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 3% of the time

Trend Micro Deep Security vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 3% of the time

Cisco ACI vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 3% of the time

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation Competitors

Illumio vs VMware NSX

Compared 18% of the time

Nutanix Flow Network Security vs VMware NSX

Compared 15% of the time

Cisco Secure Workload vs VMware NSX

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco ACI vs VMware NSX

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs VMware NSX

Compared 3% of the time

More VMware NSX Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

October 2025

Download Akamai Guardicore Segmentation product report

Buyer's Guide

VMware NSX

September 2025

Download VMware NSX product report

Also Known As

Guardicore Centra, GuardiCore

VMware Nicira, Lastline Defender

Overview

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is a software-based microsegmentation solution that provides the simplest, fastest, and most intuitive way to enforce Zero Trust principles. It enables you to prevent malicious lateral movement in your network through precise segmentation policies, visuals of activity within your IT environment, and network security alerts. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation works across your data centers, multicloud environments, and endpoints. It is faster to deploy than infrastructure segmentation approaches and provides you with unparalleled visibility and control of your network.

Akamai

VMware NSX is a comprehensive tool for network virtualization and security, offering advanced features like micro-segmentation and multi-cloud networking to enhance scalability and management efficiency within enterprises.

VMware NSX revolutionizes enterprise networking by integrating security and scalability into one streamlined platform. With capabilities like dynamic policy updates and automation, it simplifies complex configurations and provides robust API integration. Its support for Layer 4 and 7 load balancing, along with its seamless integration in multi-cloud environments, makes it a preferred choice among companies. Although deployment speed and management console features require refinement, NSX is an effective solution for private cloud and hybrid environments, enabling centralized orchestration and management of complex networks.

What are the key features of VMware NSX?

Micro-segmentation: Provides secure, granular network segmentation for enhanced security.
Distributed Firewall: Offers policy-driven firewall capabilities across all network endpoints.
Automation: Enables dynamic policy updates and simplifies network configurations.
API Integration: Facilitates seamless third-party integrations and improves configuration processes.
Multi-Cloud Networking: Supports seamless integration across various cloud environments.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Scalability: Offers significant improvements in network scalability and management efficiency.
Security: Ensures enhanced security through advanced features like micro-segmentation.
Cost-Effectiveness: Potential to reduce costs through network automation and efficiency improvements.
Flexibility: Supports various enterprise requirements with its comprehensive feature set.

In the tech industry, VMware NSX is instrumental in managing private and hybrid cloud environments, allowing companies to replace traditional networking with software-defined networks. In finance, it helps secure transactional data through micro-segmentation. Healthcare organizations leverage its flexibility for managing sensitive patient information securely and integrating cloud services.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Santander, Frontier Airlines, OpenLink, Intermountain Healthcare, Cellcom, BancoBASE

City of Avondale, Lumeta, Kroll Ontrack, Heartland Payment Systems, Baystate Heallth, Exostar, Tribune Media, iGATE, NTT Communications, Synergent, California Natural Resources Agency, Bloomington Public Schools, Columbia Sportswear, Join Experience S.A, Schuberg Philis

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. VMware NSX

September 2025

Free Report: Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. VMware NSX

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