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Cisco Nexus vs VMware NSX comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
7.3
Cisco Nexus offers strong ROI with cost savings, reliability, and ease of use, balancing initial costs with long-term benefits.
Sentiment score
6.4
VMware NSX enhances infrastructure efficiency, CAPEX savings, cybersecurity, and ROI, but initial costs and security effectiveness have mixed reviews.
Speeding up our response times and reducing errors and incidents with automation and available APIs.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco Nexus boasts responsive, knowledgeable support with quick resolutions, though service quality sometimes varies between representatives or escalation steps.
Sentiment score
6.7
VMware NSX customer service is praised for efficiency and expertise, but improvements in accessibility and responsiveness are desired.
For us, we have a time advantage because we know the solution, and the technological refresh is easier.
They were always helpful.
They are quick and understand things easily, so the support is aligned very effectively.
Our technicians have a good support experience from the company.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco Nexus offers scalable solutions for enterprises, supporting numerous nodes with flexibility despite cost concerns.
Sentiment score
7.7
VMware NSX is praised for its scalability, robust performance, and efficient network integration, despite some complexity in scaling.
There is a high level of satisfaction with its ability to scale.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Cisco Nexus is highly stable, with minor bugs, improved reliability, and long uptime, enhancing user satisfaction significantly.
Sentiment score
8.1
VMware NSX is highly stable, with strong performance, scalability, and frequent updates addressing most bugs and integration concerns.
Initially, the stability of Cisco Nexus, particularly with the ACI, was problematic due to unstable codes, requiring replacements.
The product performs at 99% efficiency without any showstoppers or significant issues.
For stability, I would rate VMware NSX as a nine out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Nexus requires better GUI, programmability, multi-tenancy support, simplified licensing, improved tools, automation, integration, and competitive pricing.
VMware NSX faces challenges in costs, complexity, and user satisfaction, needing enhancements in automation, scalability, and security features.
When I talk about data centers, which are critical infrastructure and centralized application hubs, the Nexus platforms should be highly stable.
The solution is on-premises and stable.
It might be pretty expensive for other companies.
The initial configuration and integration within our existing environment were not easy.
The pricing for the product is another area for improvement as I'm not satisfied nowadays.
The licensing model is expensive and could be more flexible, especially after Broadcom bought VMware.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Nexus pricing is high, with complex licensing and significant costs, though discounts are possible through negotiation.
VMware NSX is viewed as costly, with complex licensing and high initial costs, particularly impacting smaller organizations.
The price of Cisco Nexus is on the higher side due to the premium services Cisco offers.
All solutions are very expensive and not an economy solution.
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 Nexus is praised for flexibility, scalability, strong security, and ease of use, making it ideal for data centers.
VMware NSX offers enhanced security, seamless management, and flexibility with automation, scalability, and integration for cloud and on-premises solutions.
The VPC feature of Cisco Nexus is great because it provides an active-active way of forwarding the traffic and avoids blocking any of the links.
For us, we have a time advantage because we know the solution, and the technological refresh is easier.
I would recommend Cisco Nexus for large enterprises and the government sector, as they can afford it.
Micro-segmentation enhances security and provides more secure data in your data center.
The most powerful feature of VMware NSX is the micro-segmentation that allows us to separate the different protocols our application works with.
I value the ability to dynamically configure our network on the fly using VMware NSX.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Nexus
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
107
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (4th), Data Center Networking (4th)
VMware NSX
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Network Virtualization (2nd), Cloud and Data Center Security (3rd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (7th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (9th), Network Automation (5th), Microsegmentation Software (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Cisco Nexus is designed for LAN Switching and holds a mindshare of 9.0%, down 10.0% compared to last year.
VMware NSX, on the other hand, focuses on Network Virtualization, holds 40.7% mindshare, down 45.4% since last year.
LAN Switching Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Nexus9.0%
Cisco Catalyst Switches26.4%
HPE ProCurve12.1%
Other52.5%
LAN Switching
Network Virtualization Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
VMware NSX40.7%
Cisco ACI43.5%
Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization4.3%
Other11.5%
Network Virtualization
 

Featured Reviews

Mohammed Faisal Ikram - PeerSpot reviewer
Has experienced high costs in core deployments but continues to appreciate strong support and switching performance
Cisco Nexus may not be very popular because of the requirements that we come across, as it will go into the core data centers, whereas we work with most of the corporate sectors, so Cisco Nexus is not a frequent seller, and you'll find more edge switches selling in the market. It might be pretty expensive for other companies. I don't think there are any other particular disadvantages of Cisco Nexus besides their pricing.
TAIYAB HASAN - PeerSpot reviewer
Has improved network visibility and security through micro-segmentation and SDN capabilities
This feature gives us flexibility and allows us to manage everything under one pane. We can see everything on one console, including network operations and behavior. Monitoring and security are among the best features for VMware NSX. For micro-segmentation, it's integrated with our endpoint security. If there are any issues with servers or VMs, it notifies us so we can isolate the servers and investigate. It provides distributed security features such as firewall and intrusion, IDS, IPS. The security level with IPS and IDS in VMware NSX is excellent. It also provides logical switching and routing which gives an extra layer for Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching requirements. The solution provides flexibility, automation, and self-service capabilities, resulting in cost savings as extensive expertise isn't required. Once automation and self-service are implemented, many tasks can be completed automatically. Load balancing is another excellent feature. Multiple servers can run on load balancing features, which is particularly useful since we have many application servers running. Sharing loads between servers provides the best performance.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise82
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise69
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Nexus?
The product's initial setup phase is very easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?
All solutions are very expensive and not an economy solution.
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?
All solutions are very expensive and not an economy solution. The solution is on-premises and stable. We haven't tried integration with the network software.
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 VMware NSX?
The product has valuable features for security and network extension.
 

Also Known As

No data available
VMware Nicira, Lastline Defender
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins
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 Nexus vs. VMware NSX and other solutions. Updated: March 2023.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.