Aviatrix vs Cisco ACI comparison

Aviatrix and Cisco are both solutions in the Software Defined Networking (SDN) category. Aviatrix is ranked #4 with an average rating of 10.0, while Cisco is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.7. Aviatrix holds a 5.2% mindshare in SDN, compared to Cisco’s 11.7% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Aviatrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Aviatrix

Read 7 Aviatrix reviews

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429 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Cisco ACI

Read 103 Cisco ACI reviews

3,530 Views
1,236 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Aviatrix

Cisco ACI

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

Cisco ACI and Aviatrix both compete in the network management and cloud solution spaces. Cisco ACI seems to have an upper hand in automating complex network operations while Aviatrix leads in cross-cloud connectivity.

Features: Cisco ACI is known for supporting over 64,000 tenant networks and one million endpoints, offering full integration with vCenter and robust automation features. Its programmability allows flexible policy management, while its centralized management eases network configuration. Aviatrix, in contrast, is cloud-agnostic and provides real-time topology visualization, seamless multi-cloud connections, and comprehensive troubleshooting tools, such as Flightpath and packet capture.

Room for Improvement: Cisco ACI requires advancements in ease of configuration and third-party integrations, as the learning curve remains steep. Aviatrix should focus on enhancing its security features, particularly in intrusion detection, as well as expanding IPv6 support.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco ACI is generally deployed on-premises or in private clouds, with a noted complexity in initial setup often requiring significant technical expertise. Its customer service is generally reliable but varies by region. Aviatrix offers versatility in cloud deployments and is recognized for responsive customer service, although its support resources are not as extensive as Cisco's.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco ACI is considered costly but justifiable for large enterprises due to its quality and comprehensive support, resulting in significant ROI through automation and central management. Aviatrix uses a consumption-based pricing model, which although flexible, can become costly due to high licensing fees. Both solutions are seen as investments, with Cisco ACI users reporting better cost efficiencies due to its advanced features.

To learn more, read our detailed Aviatrix vs. Cisco ACI Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Aviatrix vs. Cisco ACI

December 2025

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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

Aviatrix

Ranking in Software Defined Networking (SDN)

4th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Cisco ACI

Ranking in Software Defined Networking (SDN)

2nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

103

Ranking in other categories

Network Virtualization (1st), Cloud and Data Center Security (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Software Defined Networking (SDN) category, the mindshare of Aviatrix is 5.2%, up from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco ACI is 11.7%, down from 13.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined Networking (SDN) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco ACI	11.7%
Aviatrix	5.2%
Other	83.1%

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

Featured Reviews

Jeff Hazel

Technical Consultant at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees

A cloud-agnostic solution that simplifies multi-cloud connectivity and enhances security

One of the aspects I found most valuable is its ability to make changes and roll them back quickly. In an AWS context, you could connect a couple of virtual private clouds, even if they weren't originally meant to be linked. What I particularly appreciated was that it was cloud-agnostic, so it didn't matter if you were working with AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud; it seamlessly operated across different cloud providers. Within the Aviatrix ecosystem, you could connect different clouds, and the intricacies of low-level commands and configurations were abstracted away.

Read full review

Rahul Khandelwal

Network Technical Manager at KPMG

Enables streamlined data center management with automation and application-centric design

The main features of Cisco ACI that I really appreciate are the application-centric and network-centric designs, allowing you to create your network according to your application. That's helpful, and it's good for one-time implementation. The automation capabilities are really helpful. We deployed one data center using Terraform, and after deployment, many automation features are available, which can be very helpful. Based on my experience, Cisco ACI provides substantial capability; you can design your network accordingly and it's part of the SDN family, providing many benefits to the organization, especially when moving from traditional network infrastructure. Many organizations are actually using the old traditional Nexus infrastructure or some old data center devices. It gives you significant control and one-time implementation capabilities, and it also provides better performance and security. Functionality-wise, Cisco ACI provides integration using automation. We implemented it through Terraform, which was easy. Those features are available, so I don't think any new features are needed right now; something new could come up, but they have implemented many improvements over the years.

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 connections are seamless, and we can access the static clouds on the platform itself. We are also able to trace the issues. The most valuable features of the solution are security, user interface, and performance."

"Within the Aviatrix ecosystem, you could connect different clouds, and the intricacies of low-level commands and configurations were abstracted away."

"This tool resolves the overlapping of CIDR’s IP addresses in a multi-cloud environment, which is its best feature. The product also gives packet-level details on the data that has been put from one cloud to another. Currently, no other solution in the market can give this kind of detail. There is also the high VPN connectivity which gives high throughput. Internet service providers have a limitation on large migrations like 10 Gigabytes or 2 to 2.3 GBPS. However, this tool gives you a functionality where you can bundle multiple tunnels into one tunnel. Thereafter, you can transfer the data from one environment to another or from on-prem to the cloud."

"Its exceptional capability to seamlessly integrate with various cloud services makes it the preferred choice for multi-cloud deployments."

"The product has greatly improved our organization by saving costs for multiple direct connections and simpler cloud configurations."

"It has enhanced the way I can deploy and manage VPCs and other connectivity services, provided valuable insights into latency, ports used, and top talkers, and offered effective troubleshooting tools."

"The most valuable feature of Aviatrix is that it saves us a lot of time."

"It is very easy to do the configuration after you know how to work with the product. It is global, so you change one interface, and changes are reflected on every switch."

"The routing of traffic is one of our main focuses when utilizing Cisco ACI."

"The efficiency in terms of the data center latency has been reduced by around 20-30%. Our applications function a lot better. We get a lot of intuitive data to know how our application stack is performing."

"The ability to integrate with other systems is the most valuable feature."

"The integration with vCenter means that when I create something on the network, it only has to happen one time instead of many times for our many virtual hosts."

"The biggest benefit has been that it has improved communication between my endpoints in the data center."

"The straightforward migration of all of the applications and loop balancing are the two most valuable features. Also, the measurement of their customer-wide sources is very straightforward. It's another dimension of the networks."

"ACI's most valuable feature is sizing - you can easily find the sizing of the data, which means the data speed, CPU, and virtualization can be determined."

More Cisco ACI pros

Cons

"There can be a steep learning curve for users who are not familiar with it or multi-cloud networking concepts"

"There could be an easy availability of multiple features in the profile."

"There is room for improvement regarding enhancing its security features in response to modern cybersecurity challenges."

"Aviatrix should include more integrated security features like intrusion detection and lateral movement detection."

"The solution needs to improve the onboarding architecture."

"The tool has a very limited local presence in the GCC market. I am based in Dubai, UAE and it would be very difficult for me to reach out to US staff for technical discussion during the tool’s implementation. The tool needs to focus on the GCC market which includes UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, etc. There is nobody to help you out in this region."

"Our problems with Cisco ACI are mainly related to the contracts and how to manage them easily in the platform. Cisco also needs to improve the log files and the complexity of the graphical interface."

"We had issues in the first deployment when we tried to finish the migration from traditional networking to Cisco ACI."

"Before version 5, you could manage your firewall or load balancer from the AP. It was very basic and now they removed the whole features in the new version, so you cannot manage your load balance or firewall from your AP on L2, L4, and L7 services."

"Cisco ACI is a highly complex solution. The initial deployment is just a few clicks, but understanding how an ACI works and interacts with routing, switching, and virtualization takes a lot of knowledge. The interface isn't necessarily hard to use, but the technology is complicated. If you want to understand how it works and how to configure it, you should study hard."

"The product needs to be more visible on the Internet and have the ability to be integrated into more software developments."

"Because this is new technology, which requires a different way of thinking, it can be hard to understand. Therefore, I would like more documentation or education."

"For Multipod we need Layer 3 devices that support multicast. Customers ask: "Why can't ACI do that? Why do we need a dedicated Layer 3 device for this?" If they go for Multi-Site there is no need for that, ACI can do it. So Cisco needs to increase the Multipod features in ACI."

"Since it is a new technology, Cisco moved all the menus. This made it tricky to use."

More Cisco ACI cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is quite expensive."

"It operates on a consumption-based model and the expenses depend on factors such as the number of virtual machines you use and the resources consumed."

"During the initial phase, it operates as an open-source and it's a free tool."

"Aviatrix is a pretty expensive solution."

"Once you sign for the start kit implementation, you have to go all the way through to the implementation, even if you are experiences issues."

"I don't believe there is any licensing required."

"Yearly, we pay around one point two million for the solution."

"Pricing for Cisco ACI could be expensive if you're not a gold partner. If you're a gold partner, you'll get reasonable pricing, but to become a gold partner, you must cross several layers. For example, at least twenty engineers within your organization have to be certified, with each certification priced at £2,000 minimum, so this would make some companies think twice about the product. If you're going for Aruba and Juniper products, on the other hand, you can quickly get the partner status, and you can start selling the product. As a gold partner, you can get up to seventy percent discount on Cisco ACI, for example, while an ordinary partner gets ten percent off. Cisco ACI is expensive for both customers and partners, but I'm rating pricing for the product as four out of five because even if the price is costly, you get a lot of benefits from the product. Cisco ACI isn't the best, price-wise, but it's still a good solution. If you're in a small organization, you may be unable to afford it. Cisco ACI is best for enterprises but not SMBs because Cisco ACI and its required resources are expensive."

"The good thing about Cisco is that you can trade in your old products to replace them with ACI."

"Price is always an issue."

"It saves time and resources."

"The pricing is pretty good for new technology."

More Cisco ACI pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Retailer

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	1
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	21
Midsize Enterprise	19
Large Enterprise	87

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aviatrix?

The cost should be compared to the pricing of native services, which often include a data processing component.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Aviatrix?

One area that could use improvement is IPv6 support.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Aviatrix?

I am leveraging additional connectivity features, applying zero trust within the cloud network, simplifying cloud network management, and gaining more insights into what is happening within the env...

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 Cisco ACI?

The flexibility of adding new components with minimal impact on existing services running in the data center is a key benefit of this ACI-based solution.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 23% of the time

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Compared 18% of the time

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Compared 16% of the time

Alkira Cloud Services Exchange (CSX) vs Aviatrix

Compared 12% of the time

Megaport vs Aviatrix

Compared 7% of the time

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VMware NSX vs Cisco ACI

Compared 19% of the time

Cisco Secure Workload vs Cisco ACI

Compared 18% of the time

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs Cisco ACI

Compared 10% of the time

Illumio vs Cisco ACI

Compared 9% of the time

Meraki SD-WAN vs Cisco ACI

Compared 5% of the time

More Cisco ACI Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

January 2026

Download Aviatrix product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco ACI

January 2026

Download Cisco ACI product report

Also Known As

Aviatrix Enterprise Contract

No data available

Overview

Aviatrix specializes in solving CIDR IP overlap issues in multi-cloud environments while providing superior packet-level data insights and high VPN connectivity capabilities.

Aviatrix delivers seamless integration with AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, ensuring efficient connectivity across major platforms. Its robust security, intuitive usage, and cloud-agnostic nature help manage network constraints while automating processes and adopting zero trust principles. With real-time topology views, consistent Terraform modules, and efficient troubleshooting tools, it simplifies cloud network management. Desired improvements include strengthened presence in the GCC market, enhanced security features, better user training, and improved onboarding processes. Advances in integrated security measures and effective training could reduce the learning curve.

What are Aviatrix's most important features?

CIDR IP Overlap Resolution: Address overlapping IP issues in multi-cloud setups.
High VPN Connectivity: Ensures robust connectivity for migrations.
Cloud Service Integration: Seamless integration across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
Real-Time Topology: Offers a dynamic view of network architecture.
Security: Implements robust security protocols for data safety.

What benefits and ROI can users expect from Aviatrix?

Time-Saving: Streamlines processes to save valuable time.
Enhanced Security: Strengthens network protection across platforms.
Ease of Use: Simplifies cloud network management with a user-friendly interface.
Connectivity: Ensures high connectivity between cloud providers.

In industries like finance, healthcare, and technology, Aviatrix is employed to manage cloud environments with enhanced security and connectivity. Organizations automate networking processes, applying zero trust principles while maximizing management efficiencies. Effective implementation allows for streamlined operations and valuable insights.

Aviatrix

Cisco ACI provides advanced capabilities with features like seamless integration with VMware and APIs for programmability. It offers centralized management for streamlined operations, efficient micro-segmentation, and robust security, addressing modern data center needs.

Cisco ACI brings automation to data center infrastructure, enabling transitions from legacy to modern environments with centralized management. Organizations benefit from optimized server farms, seamless integration with VMware, and support for Kubernetes, making it suitable for large-scale environments. Offering support for healthcare, finance, and public sectors, Cisco ACI facilitates tasks such as virtual networking and multi-site connectivity with application-centric and network-centric designs.

What are the key features of Cisco ACI?

Seamless Integration with VMware: Ensures smooth operation with existing virtualized environments.
Programmability via APIs: Offers flexibility in network configuration and management through APIs.
Centralized Management: Provides a unified view of the network, simplifying oversight.
Automation: Reduces manual configuration workload, speeding up deployment.
Scalability: Adapts to growing network demands with ease.
Robust Security: Enhances protection against threats with comprehensive security measures.
Efficient Micro-Segmentation: Improves network segmentation for security and efficiency.

What benefits or ROI should users look for when evaluating Cisco ACI?

Streamlined Operation: Reduced complexity in network management.
Enhanced Performance: Improved network and application efficiency.
Cost Efficiency: Better resource allocation reduces operational costs.
Improved Security: Advanced features for increased protection.
Scalability: Allows growth without significant redesigns.

In the healthcare industry, Cisco ACI supports secure and efficient data management, accommodating regulatory needs and enhancing patient data handling. Financial institutions benefit from robust security and seamless integration with existing infrastructures, facilitating smooth transaction processing. In the public sector, it's utilized for reliable network management and servicing a diverse range of applications.

Cisco

Sample Customers

Hyatt, Robert Half, GREE

Bowling Green State University, du, Qatar University

Buyer's Guide

Aviatrix vs. Cisco ACI

December 2025

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