Meraki Dashboard vs NetMon comparison

Cisco and Exabeam are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Cisco is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.6, while Exabeam is ranked #50 with an average rating of 8.0. Cisco holds a 0.7% mindshare in NMS, compared to Exabeam’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Exabeam users who would recommend it.

Meraki Dashboard

Read 63 Meraki Dashboard reviews

4,918 Views
4,082 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

NetMon

Read 12 NetMon reviews

3,492 Views
2,794 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Meraki Dashboard

NetMon

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 1, 2026

Meraki Dashboard and NetMon provide network management solutions with distinct features and approaches. Meraki Dashboard holds an advantage due to its user-friendly cloud-based interface and centralized control, while NetMon excels in detailed traffic analysis and security monitoring.

Features: Meraki Dashboard offers easy integration, a centralized control interface, and strong security features. Its cloud-based design enables comprehensive monitoring and seamless device management. NetMon provides extensive traffic analysis, deep packet analytics, and AI-based monitoring for threat detection.

Room for Improvement: Meraki users highlight licensing complexity, high costs, and limitations in user navigation and scalability for larger enterprises. They also seek expanded VPN features. NetMon faces challenges with third-party integration, a complex pricing model, and requires improved data analytics, customization, and training documentation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Meraki Dashboard is deployed via the public cloud, enhancing accessibility and ease of use. Its customer service is generally positive but slow at times. NetMon primarily operates on-premises, suitable for existing infrastructures, with good technical support but improvement needed in communication regarding deployment and services.

Pricing and ROI: Meraki Dashboard's pricing is high but justified by its features and management ease, providing notable ROI through time savings and simplified IT operations. NetMon, while priced for large companies, is considered expensive for smaller ones. Both solutions aim to save time and enhance network awareness, with Meraki offering better value in ease of use and management.

To learn more, read our detailed Meraki Dashboard vs. NetMon Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Meraki Dashboard vs. NetMon

August 2026

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Helped 908,858 peers since 2012

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

Meraki Dashboard

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

11th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NetMon

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

50th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (15th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Meraki Dashboard is 0.7%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetMon is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Meraki Dashboard	0.7%
NetMon	0.7%
Other	98.6%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

MURALI NIDAMANURI

Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Dashboard provides comprehensive network security and management capabilities

I don't have specific handy names. Meraki Dashboard uses multiple functions where we can configure SSIDs, firewall policies, DHCP, multiple VLANs and DHCP configurations, VLAN configurations, access control policies, MAC binding, client access based on MAC authentication and certificate-based authentication. We have configured SSO for Windows Active Directory by configuring the RADIUS services. We have implemented many customer requirements in Meraki Dashboard. With the detailed visibility feature of Meraki Dashboard, I get connected clients information, including how much data each client downloaded and what applications they accessed. I can obtain detailed data including ISP links level monitoring and speed. I can perform speed tests, generate analytics reports, convert to Excel based on each user for each department, create dashboards, monitor and limit bandwidths, and restrict specific URLs. The advanced security configuration in Meraki Dashboard is useful for network security. Substantial security can be achieved within Meraki Dashboard itself, eliminating the need for additional firewalls to protect your network. You can configure WAN monitoring, users' ACLs, URL filtering, web filtering, and department-wise access configuration for specific client applications. It's completely cloud-managed, and in a simplified way, you don't need to visit any physical infrastructure to monitor activities. Apart from access points, everything is in the cloud. We have monitored IoT solutions, CCTV monitoring, and can detect and control intrusions. When people connect IoT devices to your network, Meraki Dashboard can detect what device it is and control those access controls, even with different operating systems.

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SumitRangari

Pan India IT Infrastructure Management / End-user Services at Tata Group

Has supported real-time event detection and reporting accuracy while database integration has required extra effort

Sometimes it may be difficult to incorporate new additional databases in NetMon, and we faced some challenges at that time. However, currently, it is not giving many challenges.It is difficult to integrate NetMon with other databases. We can customize NetMon's monitoring views, but it is done by the team who handles it, as it is outsourced.

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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

"Meraki Dashboard does not require a lot of maintenance. Cisco tells communicates through the Meraki Dashboard web client, it will automatically send updates to the equipment. They will send you an email on what day the updates will take place. If you want to proceed, you can click on accept, or you can decline them and schedule the updates at another time."

"Everything is in a single pane and you can look at your network in one centralized place."

"We find that Meraki has all the features you need to be able to enable complex network protocols for AV equipment. We deal with a streaming product over IP, and Meraki is fantastic at that."

"Meraki gives a very comprehensive dashboard which gives the customer a lot of flexibility in terms of understanding the exact situational position of their infrastructure and what is happening in terms of the infrastructure, or how their access points are behaving."

"I like that there is great visibility on the dashboard and you immediately see when something is going down."

"It can analyze the traffic that it is picking up from what may be a rogue access point, and it is able to identify those and send relevant notifications."

"The most valuable feature of Meraki Dashboard is we can manage our switches and access point in one place."

"It improved the marketing solution of the company where I deployed it and it improved the way they gather marketing data tremendously."

More Meraki Dashboard pros

"We were sold on the product based on the fairly narrow use cases that the sales reps gave us, and what we're seeing during our usage is that we can get there, and we're very excited about the potential."

"But just having it there, it's incredibly smart, incredibly easy to use, and the breadth of information we get off it is really good for investigations for us."

"Compared to many other products in the market, I think LogRhythm has the highest cost to performance ratio in terms of its value."

"The initial setup is straightforward because we can deploy an open server."

"In general, this is a good product."

"NetMon's best feature is traffic analysis."

"LogRhythm NetMon's most impressive feature is that it's a bundled package, so you're not just relying on monthly data; you get a six-month view for more comprehensive indicators of compromise. This dual approach is precious. We implement LogRhythm NetMon in our cybersecurity strategy mainly for compliance and correlation of network, user, and decision activities, particularly for network firewalls and access control."

"Visibility is a valuable feature, the ability to see even if the traffic is not going into the firewall"

More NetMon pros

Cons

"Not a lot of training is available."

"There is a bit of a problem when you try to log in and you don't have a fixed IP address. If you're granting access, you need to log in by using the IP address. If your administrator's IP address is not a fixed IP address and it has changed, you might need to update the changed IP address in the interface. For this, you need to log in to the interface to update the IP address. This issue might not have so much to do with Meraki interface."

"The pricing for this solution needs to be improved."

"As far as scalability, the product is not very scalable. The product will only be fit to cover small to medium businesses and Cisco is not likely to improve on that scalability as they have other products in line for the larger market."

"It would be nicer if the dashboard was lighter."

"We would like to be able to test the health of WAN connections."

"Monitoring overload is an area that can be improved. I would like to see an alert event feature that monitors what users are downloading and how to block some applications."

"They could offer API functionality for Meraki Dashboard. It will help us develop software immediately using available solutions."

More Meraki Dashboard cons

"Could use a topology diagram which would help get an exact visual."

"Our customers would always like to see additional features."

"I would like to see better integration with multiple products. Integration is not something that is readily available for most of the products."

"The main concern is that LogRhythm has not improved NetMon but instead introduced a separate product, which many customers, including us, would prefer to be integrated into a single platform for easier management."

"Sometimes it may be difficult to incorporate new additional databases in NetMon, and we faced some challenges at that time."

"Sometimes it's hard to find the network devices' self-audit logs."

"Previously, it was typically every Monday that I was coming in - it would die over the weekend - and I would spend a day cleaning up databases."

"LogRhythm's support team isn't responsive enough - it's common to wait a day or two for someone to deal with a case."

More NetMon cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"From a pricing perspective, they are still expensive."

"The solution is currently the most expensive on the market."

"It is said to be expensive."

"Licensing is around under 1000 pounds. The licensing is either one year, three years, five years or ten years and during the licensing, we can choose to renew it per year or per every three years. We've got a license for three years. It's about 160 or about 200 pounds each."

"You don't have to pay for the dashboard."

"My view is that it's expensive, but it's the best."

"Typically, the license model is for one, three, and five years. They can just be a bit more flexible around it and look into providing an option for 24 months."

"Meraki Dashboard's pricing is reasonable. It is sold yearly, typically for one, three, or five years. I rate its pricing a five out of ten."

More Meraki Dashboard pricing and cost advice

"The price of this solution is too high, so it should be made more practical and more valuable for the customer."

"Pricing is okay. There were some competitors that were extremely expensive and there were some which were really inexpensive but LogRhythm stayed in the middle of them."

"The product is expensive for smaller companies."

"I don't have visibility into the pricing of LogRhythm NetMon as it's handled through our commercial partnerships."

"NetMon's licensing costs about $85k per year, with some extra costs for support."

"LogRhythm's licensing part is something that depends on the license you want since they offer it on a perpetual and subscription basis."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

13%

Transportation Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	23
Midsize Enterprise	14
Large Enterprise	29

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	7

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki Dashboard?

My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing is that it is what it is. It is pricey and sometimes surprising. Of course, with Cisco, you pay for the premium because it is a premium produc...

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What needs improvement with Meraki Dashboard?

I think Meraki Dashboard can be improved with a couple of additional features, such as the ability to download analytics into a spreadsheet, which is not currently available, the ability to configu...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Meraki Dashboard?

The main use case for Meraki Dashboard is to manage the Meraki Dashboard ecosystem, and the main reason is the ease of use.

See all answers

What needs improvement with LogRhythm NetMon?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for LogRhythm NetMon?

We have outsourced our SIEM solutions at the moment, and we are using it.We have been using LogRhythm in our organization as a SaaS offering. We have outsourced it as part of the actual scope where...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering LogRhythm NetMon?

We use AWS as our cloud provider in a private cloud environment.It completely depends upon when incidents happen. To find the root cause analysis, we need to first gather the logs from the team. It...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

Zabbix vs Meraki Dashboard

Compared 4% of the time

SolarWinds User Device Tracker vs Meraki Dashboard

Compared 3% of the time

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SolarWinds NPM vs NetMon

Compared 6% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs NetMon

Compared 6% of the time

Vectra AI vs NetMon

Compared 5% of the time

Ixia CloudLens vs NetMon

Compared 5% of the time

ObserverLIVE vs NetMon

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Meraki Dashboard

July 2026

Download Meraki Dashboard product report

Buyer's Guide

NetMon

July 2026

Download NetMon product report

Also Known As

No data available

LogRhythm Network Monitor

Overview

Meraki Dashboard offers intuitive, cloud-based network management, simplifying tasks with centralized control, real-time monitoring, and comprehensive security.

Offering ease of use and a single-pane-of-glass view, Meraki Dashboard enhances network management through centralized monitoring and configuration. Its intuitive interface allows remote device management, policy configuration, and real-time alerts. Cloud-based access provides scalability and automatic updates, while detailed analytics and security measures ensure robust control over networks. Though some users mention complexity in certain configurations and third-party integration gaps, its continuous improvement and network management efficiency accommodate extensive business requirements.

What are the Key Features of Meraki Dashboard?

Ease of Use: Simplified interface that allows easy navigation and operations.
Single-Pane-of-Glass View: Centralized management of all network components from one platform.
Real-Time Monitoring: Provides up-to-date insights for proactive network management.
Cloud-Based Access: Accessible from anywhere, enabling remote management and updates.
Automatic Updates: Ensures the system is always up-to-date with the latest features and security patches.
Detailed Analytics: Offers insights into network performance and security analytics.
Comprehensive Security Measures: Features built-in security protocols and tools for enhanced protection.

What Benefits and ROI Should Users Consider?

Centralized Control: Streamlines network management across multiple sites.
Scalability: Grows with business needs, supporting a wide range of devices and configurations.
Integration Capabilities: Merges easily with existing systems, though improvements are desired for third-party devices.
Improved Network Efficiency: Enhances visibility and control, reducing downtime and improving performance.
Remote Management: Facilitates convenient configuration and monitoring from any location.

Enterprises deploy Meraki Dashboard for diverse network management purposes, including monitoring, access point deployment, security configuration, and VLAN and LAN management. In education, it provides centralized Wi-Fi management and ensures secure student access. Retail businesses utilize it for seamless device integration and analytics, while healthcare facilities employ its robust security and real-time monitoring to safeguard patient data and maintain network efficiency. Its cloud-based interface enhances control and visibility across numerous sites, simplifying management and configurations.

Cisco

NetMon offers significant capabilities in log aggregation, traffic analysis, and real-time network insights. Its ease of use accommodates both entry-level and advanced functionalities, enhancing network visibility and threat detection.

NetMon provides seamless analytics with its real-time dashboards and advanced AI integration. The platform is designed for comprehensive monitoring and detailed analysis, making it indispensable for identifying network traffic, origins, destinations, and facilitating threat detection through lateral traffic visibility. Despite its powerful analytics and customization features, improvements in product integration, customer support, and pricing could increase its competitive edge. Connectivity, topology visualization, and server performance are areas noted for enhancement. Integration with protocols like Gflow and Netflow might alleviate agent-based restriction challenges. NetMon sends correlated data to LogRhythm SIEM for enhanced threat analysis and is used for tasks like traffic analysis and DPA.

What are NetMon's key features?

Log Aggregation: Seamless collection of diverse network logs for analysis.
Traffic Analysis: Detailed inspection of network traffic for identifying irregular patterns.
AI Integration: Advanced analytics powered by robust AI capabilities.
Customizable Dashboards: Real-time insights tailored to user requirements.
Correlation Engine: In-depth correlation of network activity for comprehensive reports.
Deep Packet Analytics: Thorough examination of data packets for granular insights.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Enhanced Threat Detection: Significant improvements in identifying lateral threats.
Comprehensive Insights: Complete visibility into network and user activities.
Efficient Monitoring: Real-time analytics streamline network monitoring processes.
Compliance Support: Strong integration supports adherence to compliance standards.

NetMon is widely adopted in industries requiring detailed traffic monitoring and security, such as finance and healthcare. Its capabilities in traffic type identification and correlated analysis make it essential for environments where detecting irregular patterns is critical. It's utilized for network security through comprehensive analysis and integration with SIEM systems.

Exabeam

Sample Customers

Coop eG, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Priefert Manufacturing, Century Care Management, Clifton College, Zürs Ski Resort, Capital FM Arena, MAXI Autohöfe

Sera-Brynn

Buyer's Guide

Meraki Dashboard vs. NetMon

August 2026

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