Cisco ACI vs Juniper Contrail Networking comparison

Cisco and Juniper are both solutions in the Software Defined Networking (SDN) category. Cisco is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.7, while Juniper is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.0. Cisco holds a 15.2% mindshare in SDN, compared to Juniper’s 6.3% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 66% of Juniper users who would recommend it.

Cisco ACI

Read 101 Cisco ACI reviews

1,605 Views
444 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Juniper Contrail Networking

Read 4 Juniper Contrail Networking reviews

370 Views
273 Comparison Views

66% willing to recommend

Cisco ACI

Juniper Contrail Networking

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Cisco ACI and Juniper Contrail Networking are designed to manage and optimize data center networks. Cisco ACI generally has an advantage in pricing and support, while Juniper Contrail Networking shines with advanced features, justifying its value despite higher costs.

Features: Cisco ACI offers robust policy-driven automation, extensive integration with Cisco hardware, and excellent compatibility for large enterprises. Juniper Contrail Networking provides strong multi-cloud capabilities, scalable architecture, and advanced networking features that cater to dynamic environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco ACI simplifies initial setup with its streamlined deployment process and wide hardware compatibility. Its comprehensive customer support aids in efficient operations. Juniper Contrail Networking offers flexible deployment options, particularly for cloud-native environments, though it demands more specialized knowledge. It emphasizes personalized service beneficial for complex implementations.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco ACI is competitively priced to reduce total cost of ownership through efficient resource use and straightforward setup, delivering quick ROI in Cisco environments. Juniper Contrail Networking, despite higher upfront costs, is seen as a worthwhile investment due to its scalability and capability to deliver significant ROI in cloud-based deployments.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco ACI vs. Juniper Contrail Networking Report (Updated: February 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco ACI vs. Juniper Contrail Networking

February 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

Cisco ACI

Ranking in Software Defined Networking (SDN)

2nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

101

Ranking in other categories

Network Virtualization (1st), Cloud and Data Center Security (4th)

Juniper Contrail Networking

Ranking in Software Defined Networking (SDN)

5th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

5.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Software Defined Networking (SDN) category, the mindshare of Cisco ACI is 15.2%, up from 6.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper Contrail Networking is 6.3%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

Featured Reviews

Raj Metkar

Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA

Provides scalability, ease of migration for future DC moves, multi-tenancy and programmability

Cisco's MSO (Multi-Site Orchestrator) or NDO has room for improvement. Cisco monitors ACI through a product called NDI. I find it very frustrating that Cisco has multiple monitoring platforms. It has DNAC for monitoring Cisco NX-OS, campus switches, and any other routers and switches you would have in the environment. That same thing does not work for Cisco ACI monitoring. MEraki cloudbasd platform for Meraki which will get extended to Campus monitoring, to be honest Cisco never got Monitoring 100% right from days of CiscoWorks to Prime to current platforms. To monitor and manage Cisco ACI, you need to have another platform called NDI and Cisco Dashboard Insights. What frustrates me about Cisco is that it never has a central, single pane of glass platform for all its solutions. It has one thing for Cisco ACI and another thing for campus switches. I would really appreciate it if Cisco came up with something centralized to monitor everything. I haven't thought about anything since the Cisco NDO is quite advanced, and you can deploy your cloud networking through it. I don't know how many people use it. I might explore it as my cloud orchestration tool in the future. We do a lot of cloud automation using our scripts like TerraForm, but I would like to see people using NDO more. We could have more case studies on how many people use NDO for their cloud orchestration. That might be a much easier journey for people when they move from an on-premises data center into a cloud and move from one cloud to another cloud. That is where I personally see an orchestrator being effectively used for multiple deployments.

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Tarun Audichya

Solution Architect at ConnX Inc.

Smart configuration management eliminates the need to worry about managing the network's configurations

Based on my experience in the Indian market, there are four to five areas that need improvement. First, there is a lack of marketing and awareness about Juniper, making it difficult to reach end-users and deliver solutions. Second, Juniper's education and awareness centers are costly and not easily accessible like Cisco's resources and their understanding of users' requirements. The information is not easily available on online channels like Youtube. Third, Juniper needs to promote its Mist integration better, and pricing is also a significant factor. Finally, Juniper needs to address the market's specific requirements, such as the SME sector, and offer more lower-priced products like a lower-end segment switch. In summary, improving marketing and sales, education and awareness, Mist integration, pricing, and catering to specific market requirements are areas that need improvement. I just want a good feature in the SD-WAN. Juniper should consider integrating its firewall experience with its SD-WAN devices to create a complete package. With everything moving to the cloud, companies require intelligence and security solutions for their on-prem infrastructure. Moreover, Juniper should integrate its SOC solution into its Mist portal and SD-WAN devices, including IPs, IDS, web and content filters, and messaging. This would provide a complete product and give Juniper an advantage over competitors such as Cisco. I believe that with a bundle that includes SOC and UTM flavors in their Mist portal, Juniper can make a significant impact in the market.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"You can integrate Cisco ACI well with VMware."

"It improves security and automation."

"The most valuable feature of Cisco ACI is that it is eay to manage. We can automate and it can be scripted. Virtual ACI is very good."

"PBR has been beneficial for network efficiency."

"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 best part of Cisco ACI is the server deployment and integration."

"All the features provided by Cisco ACI including orchestration to layer seven, service training, load enhancements and firewalls."

More Cisco ACI pros

"Contrail automates the excellent communication between virtual appliances."

"After we finished setting Contrail up, it seemed stable enough. Still, we never tested it in a real environment, so we don't have enough information to say whether it's stable with a given number of users and appliances. We have tested it in a lab environment, but we haven't tested enough to say that the platform is stable."

"It provides proactive alerting in a single dashboard solution."

"Juniper Contrail Networking is a stable solution."

Cons

"Cisco ACI would benefit by providing the option to integrate easily with DNAC in their next release."

"Where there is room for improvement from ACI is for Layer 2 and Layer 7 packages. Normally, when you're updating your ACI fabric or you're introducing new Layer 4 to Layer 7 devices, there are some constraints, there are some limitations... When you are doing device packages you will not have the functionality of ASM. It's like WAF, web application firewalls. So you need to configure it manually."

"In the new version of 4.0, the management groups for updating the software is not the best way to do it. It was better in 3.2."

"I would like to see a lot more integrations with the rest of the Cisco portfolio."

"So far we've had very few issues, a couple of routing things that were glitches within ACI."

"Cisco should provide more examples of code in their website. Something that other people can use. There is a great place in the development area."

"It would be better to introduce some wizards to guide you through the whole configuration process instead of clicking through a bunch of menus with no concrete path. It is too easy to forget one or another if you configure it this way."

"It is more about resolving bugs early on in the code. Otherwise, as the product gets more mature and those bugs get discovered sometimes by the customer, then Cisco will resolve them."

More Cisco ACI cons

"Juniper needs to address the market's specific requirements, such as the SME sector, and offer more lower-priced products like a lower-end segment switch."

"Juniper Contrail Networking is difficult if you do not have a certificate for Juniper. Juniper is a different type of configuration or operation than Cisco."

"Visibility, especially for the top of the platform, is a nightmare. The top was documented incorrectly and really complex to complete. In the end, it worked but only after several weeks of work with the support of a Juniper solution engineer in Holland."

"Concerns were raised about the complexity of involving networking components like MX routers, which often required expertise beyond the scope of software engineers. As a result, users encountered challenges in achieving comprehensive understanding and troubleshooting of networking issues within the Contrail environment."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"A big company can automate it themselves or spend a lot of money and buy it."

"The licensing cost for ACI is expensive - I would rate its price 2.5 out of five."

"There are no additional costs. We only have to pay for a support contract apart from the license."

"The pricing and licensing are both high, particularly if you want a high level of functionality. It would be great if the price and licensing cost could be decreased."

"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."

"It's expensive but the product is very good. I have never found another partner like Cisco with a solution like this and with great support."

"Cisco is much more expensive than other vendors, especially when it comes to the licensing."

"Cisco's pricing is very expensive."

More Cisco ACI pricing and cost advice

"There are many vendors in the wireless market that offer better pricing, solutions, and management skills compared to Juniper."

"Juniper Contrail Networking is low-cost for small and medium-sized businesses. Cisco and Palo Alto solutions are more expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

22%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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...

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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...

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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

What needs improvement with Juniper Contrail Networking?

Juniper Contrail Networking enables the utilization of tier-two appliances and the creation of virtual networks or appliances. This is facilitated through the use of filtering devices. Additionally...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Juniper Contrail Networking?

We use the solution to host many services for multiple clients. We aim to transition from hosting Cisco clients to utilizing virtual appliances. Therefore, we intend to virtualize their infrastruct...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Juniper Contrail Networking?

Juniper Contrail Networking presents a distinct alternative for those encountering issues with vendor solutions. Consequently, individuals who may have previously hesitated to explore OpenStack sol...

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Secure Workload vs Cisco ACI

Compared 24% of the time

VMware NSX vs Cisco ACI

Compared 21% of the time

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs Cisco ACI

Compared 17% of the time

HPE SDN vs Cisco ACI

Compared 9% of the time

Meraki SD-WAN vs Cisco ACI

Compared 5% of the time

More Cisco ACI Competitors

VMware NSX vs Juniper Contrail Networking

Compared 24% of the time

Meraki SD-WAN vs Juniper Contrail Networking

Compared 14% of the time

HPE SDN vs Juniper Contrail Networking

Compared 13% of the time

More Juniper Contrail Networking Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco ACI

March 2025

Download Cisco ACI product report

Buyer's Guide

Juniper Contrail Networking

March 2025

Download Juniper Contrail Networking product report

Also Known As

No data available

Contrail Networking

Overview

Cisco ACI automates data center networking, centralizing management and configuration of diverse network environments. It's used for micro-segmentation, replacing legacy networks, and deploying software-defined networking.

Cisco ACI enables seamless integration with cloud platforms and multi-site connectivity. It ensures high availability and redundancy, supports network-centric applications, enhances security, and facilitates agile service implementations across different regions and data centers. The platform offers high throughput, ease of configuration, centralized management, and programmability. Users find value in its single management interface, policy-based routing, Service Graphs, and simplified deployment. Cisco ACI also excels in scalability, automation, low latency, and supports data center expansion efficiently.

What are the key features of Cisco ACI?

High Throughput: Ensures fast data transmission and network efficiency.
Ease of Configuration: Simplifies setup and changes to network configurations.
Centralized Management: Provides a single interface for managing the entire network.
Micro-Segmentation: Enhances security by isolating network segments.
Integration with VMware: Seamlessly integrates with VMware environments.
Scalability: Easily expands to accommodate growing organizational needs.
Automation Capabilities: Reduces manual tasks through advanced automation.
Policy-Based Routing: Optimizes network traffic based on set policies.

What benefits should users look for when evaluating Cisco ACI?

Seamless integration with cloud platforms and multi-site connectivity.
High availability and redundancy ensuring consistent service uptime.
Enhanced security with micro-segmentation and policy-based control.
Agility in service implementations across regions and data centers.
Efficiency in network management with centralized control.

Organizations in industries such as finance, healthcare, and technology implement Cisco ACI to modernize data centers, improve security, and streamline network operations. Its capabilities support expanding infrastructure, integrating with cloud services, and managing complex network architectures with minimal effort.

Cisco

Juniper Contrail Networking is a simple, open, and agile cloud network automation product that implements an SDN architecture. With its scale-out microservices architecture, Contrail orchestrate virtual network overlays at the performance and scale of even the most dynamic and large clouds. Contrail Networking is equipped with always-on advanced analytics capabilities to provide deep insights into application and infrastructure performance for better visualization, easier diagnostics, rich reporting, custom application development, and machine automation. It also supports integration with other analytics platforms like Juniper Networks AppFormix and streaming analytics through technologies like Apache Kafka and its API.

Juniper

Sample Customers

Bowling Green State University, du, Qatar University

Lithium Technologies, Orange Business Services, Cloudwatt, Symantec, Cloud Dynamics, CloudSeeds

Buyer's Guide

Cisco ACI vs. Juniper Contrail Networking

February 2025

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