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CA Unified Communications Monitor vs Meraki Dashboard comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

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

CA Unified Communications M...
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
86th
Average Rating
6.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Unified Communications Monitoring (3rd), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (63rd)
Meraki Dashboard
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of CA Unified Communications Monitor is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Meraki Dashboard is 0.8%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Meraki Dashboard0.8%
CA Unified Communications Monitor0.5%
Other98.7%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1605927 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr.Solutions Engineer | Project Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Meets the needs of the customer but all of the features need improvement
I do not choose the solution. The client does. I am an implementer. We are systems integrators. It is worth mentioning that the solution should be easy to install and offer the user exhibition capabilities. Also, a data sheet should be used to gather information about the product, to facilitate easy and simple implementation. I rate CA Unified Communications Monitor as a five out of ten.
NF
IT Network Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Cloud-based management has simplified global Wi-Fi operations and improved daily troubleshooting
What I would like to improve in Meraki Dashboard is the template part, which is really helping me to manage at large scale. Integration with AI or native AI functionality would be interesting depending on the price, how far it goes, and how far it shares the information I have. For the rest, it is quite straightforward. The next tool maybe to be integrated, which I do not know if it exists today within Meraki, is IPAM management for IP address management. I do not know if it is part of the roadmap, but it is something I have to use on a dedicated platform, so integrating this would be interesting as well. Finally, I would rate Meraki Dashboard overall as a 9 out of 10. There are still some missing features, but there are also some considerations. I am familiar with the Chinese situation where there is a dedicated portal for China, so if I need to deploy access points in China, I have to connect to a dedicated portal due to the regulations in that country. However, this is not due to Cisco or company policy.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We use the solution to meet the needs of the customer."
"For us, it's very key to know the voice quality of the total solution, which is based on many components across many domains."
"Good end-to-end monitoring"
"The most valuable feature is knowing the wireless and switch are healthy."
"The most valuable feature is its simplicity in navigating through the dashboard. It's well set out, and the layout is nice and user friendly. A lot of clients enjoy seeing layer 7 visibility. They get a good indication and insight into what is happening in their network and what applications are being used the most. They can then customize and give preference to business-critical applications."
"The solution scales well."
"Easy to configure with great troubleshooting feature."
"Meraki Dashboard has everything together that legacy Cisco did not, with a simple interface that is easy to use and has made our expansions and acquisitions pretty easy."
"The most valuable feature is its simplicity in navigating through the dashboard."
"The most valuable feature is the single pane of glass that gives you multisite visibility."
"My customers have been convinced and are using Meraki Dashboard for the past 2.5 years, and they are very happy."
 

Cons

"The solution should have automatic baseline detection."
"All the features and functions of the solution can be improved, specifically the user experience."
"As far as scalability, the product is not very scalable. The product will only be fit to cover small to medium businesses and Cisco is not likely to improve on that scalability as they have other products in line for the larger market."
"The biggest problem is the absence of a VPN client like AnyConnect with the device."
"There is a bit of a problem when you try to log in and you don't have a fixed IP address."
"It is a little bit expensive."
"It is not appropriate for large, enterprise businesses."
"The wait time to speak with a Meraki support engineer is always long, but they get the job done."
"The solution has a limited routing table and needs improvement by increasing the numbers as well as providing a summarization for the table."
"The process of getting licensing can be a little bit painful, especially if you're doing it each year."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The Meraki Dashboard has more competitive pricing."
"Licensing for Meraki Dashboard is paid every year, and it's on a per-device model that costs roughly $300 to $400 per device, but that comes with full support and troubleshooting, etc. Compared to similar products, Meraki Dashboard is quite high-end, but the costs you pay are all-in."
"Meraki Dashboard's pricing is reasonable. It is sold yearly, typically for one, three, or five years. I rate its pricing a five out of ten."
"It is said to be expensive."
"The solution is currently the most expensive on the market."
"Typically, the license model is for one, three, and five years. They can just be a bit more flexible around it and look into providing an option for 24 months."
"The licensing fees are $180 USD, per AP, for three years."
"The pricing of the tool is relatively high compared to other solutions. It comes with a premium that exceeds that of its competitors by approximately 25 percent."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
22%
Comms Service Provider
19%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Construction Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise35
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki Dashboard?
I find the licensing model of Cisco Meraki acceptable; it seems reasonable to me.
What needs improvement with Meraki Dashboard?
There will always be room for improvement. The AI capabilities will surely create a more proactive approach to incident reporting. AI capabilities present a significant opportunity for improvement ...
What is your primary use case for Meraki Dashboard?
We use Meraki Dashboard, which is a network monitoring software for Cisco Meraki, primarily to monitor Meraki activities, and we also have other monitoring devices across the network. We build a la...
 

Also Known As

CA UC Monitor
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

BBVA Compass
Coop eG, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Priefert Manufacturing, Century Care Management, Clifton College, Zürs Ski Resort, Capital FM Arena, MAXI Autohöfe
Find out what your peers are saying about CA Unified Communications Monitor vs. Meraki Dashboard and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.