Meraki Dashboard vs vRealize Network Insight comparison

Cisco and VMware are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Cisco is ranked #20 with an average rating of 8.5, while VMware is ranked #23 with an average rating of 8.8. Cisco holds a 1.4% mindshare in NMS, compared to VMware’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of VMware users who would recommend it.

Meraki Dashboard

Read 55 Meraki Dashboard reviews

2,529 Views
1,859 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

vRealize Network Insight

Read 46 vRealize Network Insight reviews

1,462 Views
862 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Meraki Dashboard

vRealize Network Insight

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

vRealize Network Insight and Meraki Dashboard compete in the network management category. Based on available data, vRealize Network Insight holds an advantage in network flow analysis and detailed strategic insight, while Meraki Dashboard excels in ease of use and deployment flexibility.

Features: vRealize Network Insight enables comprehensive network visualization, providing capabilities for detailed network flow analysis and advanced microsegmentation. It also supports application mapping and data flow tracking across virtual environments. Meraki Dashboard offers an integrated platform for network visibility with Layer 7 filtering, a single-pane view for management, and includes features like presence analytics and SD-WAN configuration, emphasizing user-friendly setup and management.

Room for Improvement: vRealize Network Insight needs better integration with third-party services and a more intuitive user interface. Its pricing complexity and documentation depth could be improved. Meraki Dashboard would benefit from refined pricing models and more granular control over network settings. Enhanced integration with non-Cisco platforms and more detailed user guides are needed for assisting non-technical users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: vRealize Network Insight is mainly deployed on-premises, with technical support noted for its quick responses and specialized assistance. Meraki Dashboard supports various deployment options, including public, private, and hybrid clouds, known for a straightforward cloud-based setup. Its customer support is considered reliable, despite some reports of high support costs.

Pricing and ROI: vRealize Network Insight is regarded as expensive, offering efficiency gains, reduced deployment errors, and strategic network management insights, contributing to a positive ROI. It helps decrease troubleshooting time and supports cloud transitions. Meraki Dashboard’s high pricing is due to its premium subscription model, delivering value in ease of network management and flexibility. Discussion on its cost-benefit is ongoing, depending on simplicity and visibility.

To learn more, read our detailed Meraki Dashboard vs. vRealize Network Insight Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Meraki Dashboard vs. vRealize Network Insight

March 2025

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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

20th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

vRealize Network Insight

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

23rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (23rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Meraki Dashboard is 1.4%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vRealize Network Insight is 0.6%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Bilal-Ahmed

IT Manager at Fawaz

Seamless connectivity and comprehensive control over network devices

All of the features we are looking for are already in control. I think those features, which we are not currently utilizing, are already there. For example, the control for the cameras and everything else. The cameras are not connected through Meraki, but all other devices are on Meraki networks.

Read full review

NiteshKumar1

Principle consultant at Infosys

The tool's configuration is easy and artifacts are easily accessible through professional services and the web

The product is highly regarded, and many customers have been using it along with other VMware products like vSphere and VMware vCloud Usage Insight. However, recently, there's been a trend among customers, especially those using VMware for a considerable period, to explore the potential of migrating to the public cloud. The common concern among these customers is how the VMware products will perform in the public cloud environment. Migrating instances from VMware to different platforms is not easy, especially when dealing with many instances across multiple customers. Customers are keen to maintain the functionality of their existing VMware products but prefer to run them on the public cloud instead of on-premise servers. Our clients for vRealize Network Insight are enterprise businesses. I rate it a nine out of ten.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The ability to view the entire project stack, including the camera, features, and routers, which I believe are the most important or relevant components."

"Meraki dashboard deserves an Oscar."

"The solution scales well."

"What I love most about the Meraki Dashboard are its user-friendly features."

"We greatly utilize the network because we can plug it into the DNS, VPN, or equipment. It's very good. Meraki Dashboard enhances wireless network management. We appreciate its flexibility, as it allows for easy suite configuration. We can handle everything on there when there's a policy or any other requirement."

"It is very easy to manage. It has good security, and it is working well with our firewall."

"Scalability is one of Meraki Dashboard's strongest features. We have thousands of users if we're counting the end-users on our clients' network, but we have hundreds of clients."

"The ease-of-use and the analytics are really effective tools."

More Meraki Dashboard pros

"One of the most valuable features is the ability to look at the traffic flows, to look at NetFlow data."

"It allows us to see how the network devices function as well as to see network glitches or fluctuations or dropping of packets."

"I find that the interface of most VMware products is very similar, which I consider an advantage due to its ease of use compared to other tools like Splunk."

"The solution helps reduce time to value, increase performance, provide deep visibility, and easily manage networks."

"It has enabled us to set up and do application discovery, as far as network traffic is concerned, and set up the appropriate rules that we need to make sure we're compliant with our security frameworks."

"It is user-friendly. It's pretty simple to deploy and to run. It gives you pretty easy-to-understand reports, very graphically intense, so you can visualize what's going on in your network."

"The most valuable features are the packet trace flow and that the view of the whole environment is deep."

"It gives the visibility that was either broken or there in pieces only. This solution provides a unified view of the whole system, back and forth. It has helped to reduce time to value, increase performance, more easily manage networks, and provide deep visibility."

More vRealize Network Insight pros

Cons

"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 cost of the solution is high and can be improved."

"The tool needs to incorporate more integration platforms. Integrating technical support features directly into the dashboard would be highly beneficial. This would allow technicians to troubleshoot issues more efficiently."

"Meraki Dashboard could improve integration with non-Cisco platforms."

"It would be helpful to have the ability to create a floor plan based on an existing PDF or JPEG, which is automatically converted into a usable network map."

"I’d like the product to allow for other solutions to be integrated with the dashboard as well."

"Some features could be added."

"More integration would be an improvement."

More Meraki Dashboard cons

"In a very general way, I would like to see an improvement in interoperability with third-party product, from other vendors."

"The IT infrastructure industry is expected to evolve towards a hybrid cloud model in the next five to ten years. In this model, most of the customer's resources reside on-premise within a private cloud setup, such as VMware. Another segment operates within public cloud environments like Azure and AWS, and a portion remains in traditional data centers. There should be seamless interoperability between public and private clouds. AWS and VMware need to work together to make it possible. Whether users interact with on-premise infrastructure or configure resources in the public cloud, the user experience must be seamless."

"The product is slightly complex use, while still being user-friendly. It could use more training modules, as it is not a straightforward product."

"Since Broadcom acquired VMware, it has been experiencing challenges. Many sales processes are not well defined."

"I want to see more in terms of microsegmentation. As of now, I can see the rules, but they are not in a readable format that I can convert to microsegmentation and can fit into NSX Manager."

"I want to be able to monitor a network flow that is approximately two weeks back, but I haven't found an easy way to do this."

"I'd like to see better support for being able to search the hardware NetFlow data. It ingests fairly well, but you can't tell, in a lot of cases, what source the data came from. I'd like to see more support for picking specific sources. That way you could really make a compelling use case. There are also some difficulties where it can't exactly trace the path between source and destination but if you hit the reverse flow on the same search it shows the entire path."

"The solution can be improved by making it more compatible with other brands, allowing for better integration."

More vRealize Network Insight cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Meraki Dashboard is not expensive because knowing that it is a cloud-based solution has its benefits."

"Meraki Dashboard is a utility and portal that's part of the Meraki solution."

"The pricing of the tool is relatively high compared to other solutions. It comes with a premium that exceeds that of its competitors by approximately 25 percent."

"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."

"The licensing fees are $180 USD, per AP, for three years."

"The Meraki Dashboard has more competitive pricing."

"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."

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

More Meraki Dashboard pricing and cost advice

"It reduces costs. It takes something that may be challenging and makes it more usable and visual by being able to bring in tools, seeing what their impact is, such as microsegmentation and application rationalization, and seeing it quickly."

"We have spent less time investigating network flows, so it is absolutely cost-effective."

"They should include the product in NSX because it's important to have it for deployment."

"The solution has reduced the time that we spend on other products. For example, with NSX, we were able to quickly find things that we would normally spend days trying to figure out."

"I rate vRealize Network Insight's pricing a seven point five out of ten."

"It has brought more money into our company."

"It's an expensive product because we have a lot of nodes."

"The solution has helped us to reduce time, increase performance, reduce costs, and even easily manage networks. We are probably seeing 10 to 20 percent labor savings because we are able to be very specific and focused on what we want to do. It ends up saving the customer money and makes us be more efficient on our cost deliveries."

More vRealize Network Insight pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

22%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Meraki Dashboard?

We greatly utilize the network because we can plug it into the DNS, VPN, or equipment. It's very good. Meraki Dashboard enhances wireless network management. We appreciate its flexibility, as it al...

See all answers

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

The cost of the Meraki solution is high, which may not be affordable for smaller companies, especially in developing countries.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Meraki Dashboard?

There is a need for price reductions in developing countries, as the cost of Meraki is quite high. Additionally, it would be beneficial if Meraki Dashboard could integrate more Cisco devices such a...

See all answers

What do you like most about vRealize Network Insight?

The tool's ease of configuration and use and the availability of information and artifacts through professional services and the web are key factors that customers find valuable.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vRealize Network Insight?

Broadcom is known for increasing product prices, making them expensive compared to what people used to pay. I liken the subscription model to not truly owning what you pay for.

See all answers

What needs improvement with vRealize Network Insight?

Right now, I do not see a specific area for improvement. My main concern is understanding the intentions of Broadcom, which has acquired VMware. Broadcom should improve by going back to what was wo...

See all answers

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 18% of the time

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Compared 15% of the time

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Compared 15% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

AppNeta by Broadcom vs vRealize Network Insight

Compared 11% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Meraki Dashboard

March 2025

Download Meraki Dashboard product report

Buyer's Guide

vRealize Network Insight

March 2025

Download vRealize Network Insight product report

Also Known As

No data available

Arkin

Overview

Meraki Dashboard is a comprehensive cloud-based platform that offers centralized management and control for all Meraki networking and security products. It provides a user-friendly interface, allowing administrators to easily monitor and configure their network infrastructure from anywhere. With real-time visibility, troubleshooting becomes effortless, ensuring optimal performance and minimizing downtime.

The intuitive dashboard offers a holistic view of the network, enabling quick identification of potential issues and proactive measures. It simplifies network deployment and scaling, with zero-touch provisioning and automatic firmware updates. The robust security features include advanced threat protection, content filtering, and VPN connectivity.

Meraki Dashboard also offers powerful analytics and reporting capabilities, providing valuable insights into network usage, application performance, and user behavior. With its seamless integration and scalability,

Meraki Dashboard is the ideal solution for organizations of all sizes, ensuring efficient network management and enhanced productivity.

Cisco

VMware vRealize Network Insight delivers intelligent operations for software-defined networking and security. It helps customers build an optimized, highly-available and secure network infrastructure across multi-cloud environments. It accelerates micro-segmentation planning and deployment, enables visibility across virtual and physical networks and provides operational views to manage and scale VMware NSX deployments.

VMware

Sample Customers

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

NTTi3, VCIX-NV, VMware Networking and Security Business Unit, Illumio, CompuNet

Buyer's Guide

Meraki Dashboard vs. vRealize Network Insight

March 2025

Free Report: Meraki Dashboard vs. vRealize Network Insight

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