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Cisco ACI vs VMware NSX comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 10, 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
6.7
Cisco ACI enhances efficiency with cost savings and stable performance, though some face challenges and unutilized features.
Sentiment score
6.8
VMware NSX enhances infrastructure efficiency, CAPEX savings, cybersecurity, and ROI, but initial costs and security effectiveness have mixed reviews.
Efficient utilization leads to cost savings and efficiency gains.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
Cisco ACI's customer support is mixed, with responsive staff but inconsistent expertise and room for improvement in newer versions.
Sentiment score
6.6
VMware NSX customer service is praised for efficiency and expertise, but improvements in accessibility and responsiveness are desired.
The technical support from Cisco is satisfactory.
When issues occur, the TAC is not able to provide much support, leading to difficulties in finding RCAs.
They were always helpful.
Our technicians have a good support experience from the company.
The technical support from VMware NSX deserves a rating of seven out of ten.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Cisco ACI excels in scalability and flexibility, supporting integration across environments with strong automation and plug-and-play features.
Sentiment score
7.7
VMware NSX is praised for its scalability, robust performance, and efficient network integration, despite some complexity in scaling.
The scalability of Cisco ACI supports our organization's growth effectively.
You can use the multi-site and multi-pod features, which help you scale the data center over the WAN and create large sites.
The solution offers high performance and scalability with connectivity options up to 100 GS.
There is a high level of satisfaction with its ability to scale.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco ACI is now stable and reliable, with high availability, effective support, and improvements enhancing performance for data centers.
Sentiment score
8.1
VMware NSX is highly stable, with strong performance, scalability, and frequent updates addressing most bugs and integration concerns.
For stability, Cisco ACI rates a nine or 9.5 because I've seen three customers using Cisco ACI and once deployed, the solution is very stable.
For stability, I would rate VMware NSX as a nine out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco ACI users seek improved usability, integration, documentation, deployment, automation, security, and support for a more efficient experience.
VMware NSX faces challenges in costs, complexity, and user satisfaction, needing enhancements in automation, scalability, and security features.
Their lack of on-ground offices can result in business losses.
The pricing for the product is another area for improvement as I'm not satisfied nowadays.
The initial configuration and integration within our existing environment were not easy.
The licensing model is expensive and could be more flexible, especially after Broadcom bought VMware.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco ACI's high costs are justified by its quality and capabilities, making it a valued investment for large enterprises.
VMware NSX is viewed as costly, with complex licensing and high initial costs, particularly impacting smaller organizations.
In general, Cisco ACI is on the higher side; it's not a cheap solution.
Cisco's pricing tends to be on the higher end compared to other vendors.
The cost of VMware NSX is considered high.
VMware NSX is a little higher in price compared to the competition.
There is room for improvement in terms of pricing.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco ACI centralizes management, enhances security, scalability, and automation, simplifying network operations, improving efficiency, and integrating with VMware.
VMware NSX offers enhanced security, seamless management, and flexibility with automation, scalability, and integration for cloud and on-premises solutions.
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.
Its features, like easy application deployment, short deployment time for new applications or software, and eliminating the hassle of STP, are appreciated.
It is essential for growing our data center connectivity and enablement for our customers.
Micro-segmentation enhances security and provides more secure data in your data center.
It's robust, stable, and easy to use.
The micro-segmentation feature is beneficial for adhering to strict security regulations from our security department.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco ACI
Ranking in Network Virtualization
1st
Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Networking (SDN) (2nd)
VMware NSX
Ranking in Network Virtualization
2nd
Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
105
Ranking in other categories
Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (8th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (7th), Network Automation (5th), Microsegmentation Software (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Network Virtualization category, the mindshare of Cisco ACI is 48.1%, up from 46.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware NSX is 44.9%, down from 45.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Virtualization
 

Featured Reviews

Rahul Khandelwal - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
MagdyRaafat - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced security and streamlined management drive efficient connectivity
Open source is a standard solution where you take a gray box or white box and put the software from your end. You can do programming with Ansible and make the network work in the software-defined mode, providing automation and management capabilities. I am currently working with VMware. It integrates easily with everything and can work with any system. When discussing micro-segmentation, it enhances security, providing more secure data in your data center while allowing for extra layers of security outside your data center. If you have an ACI, there is communication between locations, keeping your data secure in your data center and throughout the path it takes, such as to SD-WAN or the cloud. I work with cloud solutions including AWS, Azure, GCP, and private cloud. My overall rating for VMware NSX is 8.5 out of 10.
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Answers from the Community

MB
Nov 8, 2021
Nov 8, 2021
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. Cisco ACI can connect with both virtualized networks and physical networks. As with many Cisco solutions, Cisco ACI has a steep learning curve. It is not user-friendly and most of our team would lik...
See 2 answers
SB
Jun 9, 2021
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 where APIC software runs. -VMware NSX doesn't have any physical network gear of its own, VMware NSX software runs on ESXi hosts(Any Vendor) & even NSX Bare Metal Edge runs on any Vendor hardware(check compatibility) -Cisco ACI offers both Underlay & Overlay functionality -VMware NSX is a software and it builds an Overlay tunnel for (VM/Container) communication on top of an already established IP network which can be build on hardware network gear (Cisco Legacy/ACI/Juniper etc.) -Cisco ACI: To use micro-segmentation on a VM or Container level you will need some other Cisco products -VMware NSX: Micro-segmentation can be done Out of the Box because DFW Distributed Firewall are applied on the vnic of a VM i.e. on the ESXi kernel. Being different in many manners but they still define the SDN realm with L2-L7 Network services and what you choose over the other may depend on many other factors like what network gear you already have or if its Green or Brownfield deployment. For example if your infra already have something other than Cisco 9K switches and is well configured then it will make more sense to use NSX to make use of all the SDN functionalities. This is just an example not a recommendation.
Nov 8, 2021
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. Cisco ACI can connect with both virtualized networks and physical networks. As with many Cisco solutions, Cisco ACI has a steep learning curve. It is not user-friendly and most of our team would like to see a better GUI. It would be great if we could test upgrades in a simulation before implementing; this could save a lot of rework and downtime. The key component for us with VMware NSX is the distributed firewall. VMware NSX can segment every application and server based on the ports with which they need to communicate. We can activate the ports we need and disable the ones we don’t. This really helps to keep things very secure and makes VMware NSX very flexible. We would like to see VMware NSX integrate better with other open-source solutions; integration can be very complex leading many to simply choose not to use VMware NSX at all. We found some maximums can be very limiting, especially with very large environments. VMware can only be used with virtualized networks. Conclusion: Cisco ACI and VMware have many similar qualities and features. The fundamental difference is that Vmware NSX’s primary focus is on virtualized networks, while Cisco ACI can connect to both virtual and physical networks. Vmware NSX can provide better levels of granularity and visibility into how your workload performs and functions. Cisco ACI does not provide this. Because Cisco ACI is more robust and can handle both physical and virtual networks, Cisco ACI might be a more appropriate solution. At the end of the day, it really depends on your organization’s ecosystem and applications, features and utilities needed, and, of course, cost of implementation. You may need one of these solutions or both.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
21%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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...
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...
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.
What do you like most about VMware NSX?
The product has valuable features for security and network extension.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware NSX?
The cost of VMware NSX is considered high. I would rate the price at two or three out of ten. It could be cheaper.
What needs improvement with VMware NSX?
A basic load balancer feature was present in a previous version, but the latest version only has an advanced load balancer. The vendor should integrate a basic load balancer in future versions. The...
 

Also Known As

No data available
VMware Nicira, Lastline Defender
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bowling Green State University, du, Qatar University
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
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco ACI vs. VMware NSX and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.
860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.