No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization vs VMware NSX comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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 Enterprise Network Fu...
Ranking in Network Virtualization
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware NSX
Ranking in Network Virtualization
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
107
Ranking in other categories
Cloud and Data Center Security (5th), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (7th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (8th), Network Automation (5th), Microsegmentation Software (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Network Virtualization category, the mindshare of Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization is 9.3%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware NSX is 27.3%, down from 37.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Virtualization Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
VMware NSX27.3%
Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization9.3%
Other63.4%
Network Virtualization
 

Featured Reviews

Majdi Sabbah - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant Sales Engineer at BT Al-Saudia
Versatile, offering flexibility and scalability
I rely on Cisco Enterprise NFV for various sectors like government, campuses, and hospitality. It is a crucial foundational layer that is mandatory before delivering other services The most valuable feature is its user-friendly management dashboard. It is easy to use and covers everything in one…
Mahesh Bhadoriya - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Manager at Allianz Cloud Private Limited
Micro segmentation has strengthened zero trust security and isolates production from test environments
The advantages of VMware NSX include its micro-segmentation for internal security at the firewall and VM levels, which is very powerful and helps us comply with complete Zero Trust security models. We are able to achieve this and configure network level virtualization with no dependency on VLANs. Micro-segmentation helps improve our security significantly. We are not totally dependent upon our physical upfront firewall, and it makes sense to configure everything using VMware NSX, leading to multiple improvements in our organization. We moved from traditional networking such as VLANs from the firewall and switches to VMware NSX segmentation. We achieve one firewall per VLAN and can stop lateral movement such as ransomware control. The Zero Trust model is the main functionality and architecture it offers, allowing application isolation, such as having a separate production and test environment. Consistent networking and security policies across different environments have a major and very positive impact on our business operations, allowing us to achieve the security posture we want with compliance and regulations.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Network Security is one of the most valuable features of Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization."
"The support system that they have in place is very good and they are easy to reach."
"Overall, I feel that this is a good product and I recommend it."
"Cisco is in our portfolio, which is one of the reasons that we keep working with them."
"Scalability is not a problem."
"Routing, switching, and wireless network security are the valuable features of Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization."
"It is easy to manage, easy to maintain, and stable, and if you set up everything alright, it will give years without any issues."
"The most valuable feature is its user-friendly management dashboard."
"I really like the management dashboard, the tailor-made assurance, the telemetry, and the ease of integration with all other solutions of VMware, such as vSphere."
"The installation is straightforward, it took a couple of hours."
"The dashboard is comprehensive and easy to use."
"The solution is valuable in that it makes it very easy to protect virtual machines"
"We saw ROI within the first year and a half."
"The most valuable feature of VMware NSX is the load balancing and routing of firewall rules, and many of the features are beneficial."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"The best part is the blueprint creation where I can create their things and then move on to the target environment."
 

Cons

"There is room for improvement in enhancing compatibility with other solutions and vendors."
"In terms of what could be improved, I would say the cost. The SDN hardware especially is much too expensive, specifically 799 and 9000, which act like a spine and those spines are connecting to the leaves."
"The solution's orchestration part could be improved."
"One of the things that can be improved is trimming all mobile numbers so that it aids in swiftly acquiring information for tablets or any necessary solution."
"I would like to see the principle scan introduce more models, to help with scalability issues."
"It would be helpful if they offered modularized upgrades, such as additional memory or a faster processor."
"This is a software solution, which is less stable than a hardware solution by definition."
"It was stable for one year, there was no impact. In the last two months, we had two big incidents."
"The solution could benefit from improvements in its pricing and scalability."
"The initial configuration and integration within our existing environment were not easy. The configuration process was a bit complex, specifically during the initial setup."
"Sometimes, it can be difficult to get to a higher level engineer if you need to, but it takes some work to make that case."
"Some disadvantages of VMware NSX include a price challenge due to the high licensing cost compared to competitors, and it may sometimes require a specific skill set."
"The ticket support response time from VMware could be improved. Often, callbacks are delayed, which can be problematic if the servers are in production."
"We've have had good and bad experiences with them. We don't always find them to be so impactful. Sometimes the support guy isn't so on top of resolving the issue and it can take a while to sort out."
"One drawback is this solution requires a lot of other products in the VMware ecosystem to have a full end-to-end operation orchestration monitoring. You have to buy a lot of add-ons to fully utilize the functionality."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization is an expensive solution."
"There is a separate charge for support."
"We are using the free version of the solution."
"The product pricing ranges from medium to expensive. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten."
"I'm unable to give information on the pricing or licensing cost of VMware NSX because I've never been someone who looks into the economic part of any security or virtualization solutions. That's handled by an entirely different team, and I don't even have the slightest idea about the costs associated with the solution, though I've heard pricing for VMware NSX is on the higher side."
"All the institutions have to pay monthly for the services in the cloud. They have to pay $30,000 every month for this service every three years."
"The subscription is on a yearly basis."
"It is an expensive product, but cheaper than some competing solutions."
"The licensing is renewed every three years. The cost for implementation and renovation are a huge portion of that price."
"Pricing and licensing could be improved as we are a government entity. Lower pricing could always help."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Virtualization solutions are best for your needs.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise70
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware NSX?
When measuring complexity and costs for our organization, we consider some parameters for effectiveness. In terms of effectiveness in reducing operational complexity, I measure it to be high on the...
 

Also Known As

Cisco NFV
VMware Nicira, Lastline Defender
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
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 Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization vs. VMware NSX and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.