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Cisco UCS Manager vs Nagios XI comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 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
5.1
Cisco UCS Manager enhances ROI by minimizing hardware failures, downtime, and maintenance, simplifying management, and integrating efficiently with other tools.
Sentiment score
6.6
Nagios XI enhances efficiency and time management but concerns about increased costs affect ROI perception across organizations.
I can manage all LAN uplinks and fiber channel storage uplinks directly from UCS Manager.
CTO at Next Technologies Ltd
Cisco UCS Manager provides cost savings by reducing the time support staff spend on long deployments.
Systems Engineer at First Rand Bank Ltd.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.2
Cisco UCS Manager support is praised for expertise and responsiveness, though European support and urgent issues may vary.
Sentiment score
6.5
Nagios XI support is mixed; praised for responsiveness but criticized for high cost, complex licensing, and delayed responses.
With Intersight, service requests are automatically generated, enhancing the user experience and providing timely resolutions.
Systems Engineer at First Rand Bank Ltd.
For a severity one case, a call ensures immediate assistance and resolution of the matter.
CTO at Next Technologies Ltd
Regarding Cisco tech, they are pretty good.
Consultant at rcnss
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Cisco UCS Manager offers scalable infrastructure solutions, though constrained by chassis limits, with largely positive user feedback.
Sentiment score
7.1
Nagios XI is scalable for small to medium environments but faces challenges in large infrastructures and cloud adaptability.
Adding new chassis and extra blades is streamlined.
CTO at Next Technologies Ltd
I would rate the scalability at nine out of ten, probably.
Consultant at rcnss
If the user interface isn’t presenting data well, it becomes difficult to manage when scaling.
Network and Security Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco UCS Manager is praised for its stability, reliability, and prompt support, often outperforming competitors in overall robustness.
Sentiment score
7.3
Nagios XI is stable, but large deployments may experience performance issues, database problems, and minor network dependencies.
If there's a really complex problem, I would probably give it a ten since it gets escalated quickly.
Consultant at rcnss
It is very stable.
Network and Security Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco UCS Manager needs a streamlined interface, enhanced support, simpler updates, better integration, affordability, and improved monitoring.
Nagios XI's interface is outdated, lacks scalability, needs better cloud integration, APIs, automation, and improved documentation.
We would benefit from advancements in AI that offer firmware recommendations automatically, reducing the need for human intervention and vendor communication.
Systems Engineer at First Rand Bank Ltd.
It doesn't work straight out of the UCS, so someone who knows what they're doing is needed immediately, and it can be quite confusing.
Consultant at rcnss
While it has been improved from using Java to HTML, simplifying the tabs would enhance user experience.
CTO at Next Technologies Ltd
Many tools have poor user interfaces, making them hard to manage and navigate.
Network and Security Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
The GUI could be improved. It's a bit too basic.
Site Duty Manager at Assw
 

Setup Cost

Cisco UCS Manager is seen as expensive but offers competitive value with bundled discounts, quality, and reliability.
Nagios XI provides cost-efficient enterprise-level monitoring with reasonable pricing, appreciated for its features and open-source options.
Recently, we acquired an excellent bundle with significant discounts, with offers like buying three servers and getting one free, along with UCSC and fabric included for free.
CTO at Next Technologies Ltd
As long as they can afford it, there is a setup cost involved.
Consultant at rcnss
We are using the free, open-source version.
Site Duty Manager at Assw
The pricing for the Nagios XI product is good and better than other solutions.
Network and Security Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Cisco UCS Manager offers unified management, easy deployment, flexible configurations, high availability, and cross-infrastructure security compatibility.
Nagios XI provides customizable, flexible, and scalable IT infrastructure monitoring with real-time alerts and extensive plugin support.
It supports ease of deployment, allowing for quick mass deployments in the data center, saving time and resources by doing so from a remote location.
Systems Engineer at First Rand Bank Ltd.
Whenever there's a failure of any component, it's very easy to swap because you just disassociate that profile, remove the faulty blade, connect the new blade, and associate that profile, maintaining the same MAC address and worldwide port name.
CTO at Next Technologies Ltd
One of the valuable features is the user interface base, specifically the C user interface.
Consultant at rcnss
Nagios XI simplifies our setup and reduces the time spent configuring monitoring tools.
Network and Security Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
The alerting system is very effective.
Site Duty Manager at Assw
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco UCS Manager
Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring
19th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Nagios XI
Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring
25th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
58
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (23rd), Server Monitoring (13th), Cloud Monitoring Software (25th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category, the mindshare of Cisco UCS Manager is 1.3%, down from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nagios XI is 3.1%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Infrastructure Monitoring Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco UCS Manager1.3%
Nagios XI3.1%
Other95.6%
IT Infrastructure Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

SA
CTO at Next Technologies Ltd
Service profiles simplify management and streamline network and storage processes
The most valuable features are the service profiles and the unified management of both network and storage. With UCS, it's quite easy to deploy. Whenever there's a failure of any component, it's very easy to swap because you just disassociate that profile, remove the faulty blade, connect the new blade, and associate that profile, maintaining the same MAC address and worldwide port name. Everything remains the same, and it's only the hardware that you're replacing. This makes it very easy for me to manage and troubleshoot.
Emmanuel Appiah Boateng - PeerSpot reviewer
Network and Security Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Simplifies setup and requires user interface enhancement
Nagios XI is easy to install, which sets it apart from other open-source solutions I've tried. Typically, setting up a monitoring system on Linux involves cloning files from GitHub, building it, and installing many dependencies, but with Nagios XI, it wasn't like that. Nagios XI simplifies our setup and reduces the time spent configuring monitoring tools.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which IT Infrastructure Monitoring solutions are best for your needs.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user174738 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
May 31, 2015
Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor
I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise18
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business22
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco UCS Manager?
When one server fails, we can attach the service profile to a new server, which saves a lot of time.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco UCS Manager?
My experience with the pricing of Cisco UCS Manager ( /products/cisco-ucs-manager-reviews ) is that it is reasonable. Recently, we acquired an excellent bundle with significant discounts, with offe...
What needs improvement with Cisco UCS Manager?
For improvements, while the current graphical user interface is satisfactory, it could be further simplified for different tasks. While it has been improved from using Java to HTML, simplifying the...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nagios XI?
The pricing for the Nagios XI product is good and better than other solutions. I would give it a four or five.
What needs improvement with Nagios XI?
The user interface needs improvement. Many tools have poor user interfaces, making them hard to manage and navigate.
What is your primary use case for Nagios XI?
I normally use Nagios XI for our servers. It's not particularly used for network equipment, however, I use it for monitoring our server performance, including CPU, memory, data, and services runnin...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Management Science Associates, Peak 10, Virtual Consulting Professionals
Nagios has over one million users globally, including AOL, DHL, McAfee, MCI, MTV, Yahoo!, Universal, Toshiba, Sony, Siemens, and JPMorgan Chase.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco UCS Manager vs. Nagios XI and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.