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BlueCat Integrity vs IBM NS1 Connect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
8.8
BlueCat Integrity enhances ROI by reducing ownership costs, downtime, and labor, while increasing reliability and operational efficiency.
Sentiment score
8.6
IBM NS1 Connect enhances uptime, automation, and stability, optimizing processes and DNS management for improved performance and operational efficiency.
As we are migrating other tools into this one, there can be 30% to 40% cost savings.
System Engineer at a aerospace/defense firm with 501-1,000 employees
I have seen a return on investment with IBM NS1 Connect, as application uptime has improved by 40% to 45%.
Software Engineer at Abbott
I have definitely seen a return on investment with IBM NS1 Connect as it has given our organization more control and flexibility in managing DNS at a global scale, which almost was impossible before.
Senior Software Engineer at PwC
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.7
BlueCat Integrity offers expert technical support, appreciated for its rapid response and personalized service, but sometimes inconsistent.
Sentiment score
9.3
IBM NS1 Connect delivers reliable, responsive support with expert teams and dedicated managers ensuring efficient, personalized customer assistance 24/7.
They are very proactive and supportive, available 24/7.
Software Engineer at Abbott
The customer support for IBM NS1 Connect is very proactive and responsive twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Senior Software Engineer at PwC
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
BlueCat Integrity is scalable and adaptable for diverse environments with efficient expansion, though users note licensing costs and robustness improvements.
Sentiment score
8.7
IBM NS1 Connect scales effortlessly, integrates well, and supports global operations, ensuring reliability and flexibility amidst growing user demands.
I would rate the scalability of the solution a seven out of ten.
System Engineer at a aerospace/defense firm with 501-1,000 employees
It has managed to handle all my organization's growth.
Software Engineer at Abbott
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
BlueCat Integrity is highly stable, resilient, and consistently achieves significant uptime, with issues mostly due to external factors.
Sentiment score
8.4
IBM NS1 Connect is praised for exceptional stability and reliability, maintaining 99.99% uptime and handling DDoS attacks effortlessly.
IBM NS1 Connect is very stable.
Software Engineer at Abbott
IBM NS1 Connect is very stable as I have not experienced any lagging or downtime.
Senior Software Engineer at PwC
 

Room For Improvement

BlueCat Integrity needs enhancements in automation, UI, support, IPv6, and ease of use for better functionality.
IBM NS1 Connect users seek faster APIs, better UI, enhanced features, secure DNS management, and comprehensive reporting and testing tools.
The API aspect could be improved with more use cases and better handling of object attributes.
System Engineer at a aerospace/defense firm with 501-1,000 employees
Pricing can be more transparent, especially when dealing with tight budgets.
Senior Software Engineer at PwC
DNS timeout issues should be resolved.
Software Engineer at Abbott
 

Setup Cost

BlueCat Integrity's pricing is competitive, offering value and cost-effectiveness, with expenses averaging $20,000 annually for large networks.
IBM NS1 Connect offers competitive pricing with strategic agreements, balancing cost-effectiveness and functionality, despite potential overage costs.
Our licensing model with BlueCat Integrity is cheaper than Infoblox.
System Engineer at a aerospace/defense firm with 501-1,000 employees
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing of IBM NS1 Connect has been that it is one of the most cost-effective tools and very affordable.
Software Engineer at Abbott
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that the cost can be more transparent, especially for organizations working on a tight budget.
Senior Software Engineer at PwC
 

Valuable Features

BlueCat Integrity provides robust, scalable network management with automation, security features, and minimal maintenance for efficient IT infrastructure handling.
IBM NS1 Connect boosts user satisfaction with automation, reliability, Terraform integration, efficient routing, and economic value, enhancing performance.
It has an understandable GUI interface.
System Engineer at a aerospace/defense firm with 501-1,000 employees
IBM NS1 Connect positively impacts my organization by making our website load faster and enhancing the user interface to be more intuitive and user-friendly.
Software Engineer at Abbott
The best features that IBM NS1 Connect offers include routing based on user verification, endpoint switching based on latency, DNS response time, real-time monitoring, intelligent traffic routing capabilities, API-driven functionality, HTTPS redirects, secondary DNS, and API integrations.
Senior Software Engineer at PwC
 

Categories and Ranking

BlueCat Integrity
Ranking in Managed DNS
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
IP Address Management (IPAM) Tools (1st), DDI (1st)
IBM NS1 Connect
Ranking in Managed DNS
9th
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Managed DNS category, the mindshare of BlueCat Integrity is 1.8%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM NS1 Connect is 2.0%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Managed DNS Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
BlueCat Integrity1.8%
IBM NS1 Connect2.0%
Other96.2%
Managed DNS
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2620476 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a aerospace/defense firm with 501-1,000 employees
Easy to use, simple licensing, and has a single pane of glass view
The solution is too granular and sometimes complex to configure. We do not always need so many details. Simpler configurations with fewer details would be beneficial. The API aspect could be improved with more use cases and better handling of object attributes. It is already better than in previous versions. Their product team is planning further improvements in the upcoming version 9.6. Last month, we had a roadmap meeting with the BlueCat product team. There will be a lot of improvements in version 9.6 coming in the second half of 2025. We will then upgrade our system to that one. It will have quite a lot of new features.
DavidJackson1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer at Abbott
Smart routing has improved uptime and performance and enables real-time automated traffic control
The best features IBM NS1 Connect offers, in my opinion, are real-time monitoring, intelligent traffic routing capabilities, and being API driven. The intelligent traffic routing and API-driven features of IBM NS1 Connect have helped my team by allowing routing based on user location, endpoint switching based on latency, and DNS response time. Additionally, IBM NS1 Connect has API integration. IBM NS1 Connect positively impacts my organization by making our website load faster and enhancing the user interface to be more intuitive and user-friendly. It's very economical and cost-effective. I also love it because it saves time through automation, saving around 30% to 35% of our time and also saving man-source. Our application uptime has improved by 40% to 45%. Although there have been a few outages, the service uptime has significantly improved our trust with clients. It is very cost-effective and affordable, hence providing a great return on investment.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
7%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise19
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with BlueCat Adaptive DNS?
They can improve their support for the CDNV application, which is Cloud Discovery and Visibility. I had to chase BlueCat support a lot for this application, and the support was not good. The CDNV a...
What is your primary use case for BlueCat Adaptive DNS?
We use it for getting an IPAM solution in AWS, which is our first use case. The second use case is we also use it for our on-premise networks to manage the IP ranges. We have distributed all the IP...
What advice do you have for others considering BlueCat Adaptive DNS?
If I were to put the support on a scale from one to ten, I would give a score of four. We are users without any partnerships with BlueCat. Somebody needs to see how the application is running on it...
What needs improvement with NS1 Managed DNS?
IBM NS1 Connect can be improved by providing learning materials depicting flows that can help users who are completely new to networking, which would be great. Pricing can be more transparent, espe...
What is your primary use case for NS1 Managed DNS?
My main use case for IBM NS1 Connect is to improve user experience, and it offers smart routing, which helps sites to be reliable and performance gets improved. In my organization, the use case inv...
What advice do you have for others considering NS1 Managed DNS?
IBM NS1 Connect is an excellent traffic management system. It helps us to route traffic based on location, latency, and many other factors. The ability to automate DNS management is a key feature t...
 

Also Known As

BlueCat Adaptive DNS, BlueCat Automation Manager, BlueCat DDI
NS1 Managed DNS, NS1
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Computer Sciences Corporation
Avast Software, Bloomberg L.P., BBC, Carfax, CNBC LLC, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Disney Streaming, Dropbox, EBAY Inc, Gannett Media Corp, Salesforce, Wayfair, Workday
Find out what your peers are saying about BlueCat Integrity vs. IBM NS1 Connect and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.