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NETSCOUT vSTREAM vs vRealize Network Insight comparison

NETSCOUT and VMware are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. NETSCOUT is ranked #82, while VMware is ranked #38 with an average rating of 8.7. NETSCOUT holds a 0.2% mindshare in NMS, compared to VMware’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of NETSCOUT users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of VMware users who would recommend it.
NETSCOUT vSTREAM
Read 3 NETSCOUT vSTREAM reviews
  • 417 Views
  • 202 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
vRealize Network Insight
Read 46 vRealize Network Insight reviews
  • 1,284 Views
  • 517 Comparison Views
89% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

vRealize Network Insight and NETSCOUT vSTREAM are competitors in the network performance management space. vRealize Network Insight has an advantage in terms of pricing and support, whereas NETSCOUT vSTREAM is preferred for its extensive feature set, which justifies a higher cost.

Features: vRealize Network Insight offers comprehensive network visualization, analytics for cloud environments, and application performance insights. NETSCOUT vSTREAM provides robust traffic analysis, real-time monitoring, and precise troubleshooting insights for complex networks.

Room for Improvement: vRealize Network Insight could enhance its traffic analysis capabilities, provide more in-depth real-time monitoring features, and improve its troubleshooting tools for large-scale networks. NETSCOUT vSTREAM may benefit from an improved cloud compatibility, streamlined onboarding process, and more user-friendly interfaces.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: vRealize Network Insight's cloud-based model ensures simplified onboarding, reducing initial complexity. NETSCOUT vSTREAM's on-premises deployment requires more time and effort, but it provides excellent ongoing support.

Pricing and ROI: vRealize Network Insight is noted for its competitive pricing and lower initial setup costs, resulting in a quicker ROI. NETSCOUT vSTREAM offers a significant ROI thanks to its advanced functionalities but at a higher initial investment.

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To learn more, read our detailed NETSCOUT vSTREAM vs. vRealize Network Insight Report (Updated: June 2025).
Buyer's Guide
NETSCOUT vSTREAM vs. vRealize Network Insight
June 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

NETSCOUT vSTREAM
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
82nd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
vRealize Network Insight
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
38th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
IT Infrastructure Monitoring (41st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of NETSCOUT vSTREAM is 0.2%, down from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vRealize Network Insight is 0.6%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

KL
A user-friendly solution that is easy to install and improves visibility
I would like to see improvements made to the user guide. From my personal experience, it is helpful to see a list of steps describing what to do next in different situations. An example is what to do and what to back up in the case of certain types of failure. There are also cases where a customer can't understand specific features. Enhancements to the user guide would be helpful for this. More features for network fragmentation would be helpful.
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NiteshKumar1 - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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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

"vSTREAM gives us better visibility and reporting about our network infrastructure, allowing for cost-optimization."
"One of the valuable features is the packet decoding."
"With this product, we can precisely identify communication patterns between virtual machines within our data center, whether it's east-east or east-west communication."
"The most valuable feature is the profiling of the applications for micro-segmentation... It has made the migration to NSX much easier. Most of the sys admins within the smaller silos, they have no idea what ports are needed to run their stuff at all. I am pretty sure the micro-segmentation would never, ever have occurred without it."
"The most valuable feature for us is that insight into what our network is really doing - it's a fairly complex network. Not having to go through thousands of lines of network configuration to find firewall ports that were open or closed, for various ports, was very valuable. It went out and found everything we need very quickly."
"It's user-friendly. It's similar to the GUI that most VMware products are moving to, and the consistency across those makes it easy to switch from one product to another. Also, the search bar at the top is plain text and it helps you, it guides you along with your search query, so that helps. The first day you're in there you can start building actual queries."
"The most valuable features are the monitoring and tracking. It's also intuitive and user-friendly. The screen looks exactly the same as the other appliances for VMware, so it's easy to navigate."
"The solution is extremely intuitive and user-friendly. When you log in to the application you are presented with a dashboard that is very reasonable for an initial user, and you can then customize it to your specific needs. But for all the data that we've found, we've only had to go through two or three drill-downs to get into that information."
"A lot of time is saved when you use this type of software solution for the network. We have moved systems into the new data center and the servers and systems are much faster because of the very low latency between virtual machines."
"The initial setup was straightforward."
More vRealize Network Insight pros
 

Cons

"I would like for it to have a smaller footprint of the virtual appliance and better performance."
"I would like to see improvements made to the user guide."
"Room for improvement exists in filtering in the packet decode."
"In a very general way, I would like to see an improvement in interoperability with third-party product, from other vendors."
"There could be some deeper analytics into packet inspection and trace flows. It could use some kind of machine learning to look at Layer 7 traffic for potential malware or corrupt packets."
"The only real improvement they can make is to add more third-party vendors into the environment, mostly switch manufacturers, because it's really limited to Cisco equipment and there are a lot of companies out there other than Cisco."
"If it were more application-aware, more descriptive; if it were able to determine the application that is actually doing the communication, that would be easier. More application information: which user or account it's accessing, is it accessing this application, doing these calls, if it is accessing a script, what script is it accessing. Things like that would provide deeper analytics so I can track what's going on. It would not just be, "These people shouldn't be talking," but who is actually doing these calls."
"It needs to be a little easier to use and to understand the information it's putting out. That would make it more helpful. If you're not a network person you need to understand things like network policies and concepts. If you gave it to a regular admin, it would be nice if it were easier for them to pick up what is going on, understand the flows and whether or not stuff should be talking to each other, as opposed to just port groups and IP addresses."
"It just needs to be more reliable and more accurate. At some point, there are some things where it does not match properly."
"The only issue we have is that the solution does not always capture the host names."
"The compatibility with each and every component of the infrastructure is the main thing that I am looking for. I would like them to make sure that it's compatible with different kinds of storage systems, etc. I have seen the compatibility list. I feel it can be more compatible than it is right now."
More vRealize Network Insight cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing is quite expensive."
"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."
"It has brought more money into our company."
"It's an expensive product because we have a lot of nodes."
"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."
"Cost always has room for improvement, you could always make it cheaper. But I think it's a good value for what you pay for it."
"They should include the product in NSX because it's important to have it for deployment."
"I rate vRealize Network Insight's pricing a seven point five out of ten."
"We have spent less time investigating network flows, so it is absolutely cost-effective."
More vRealize Network Insight pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
12%
Energy/Utilities Company
11%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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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.
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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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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Network Monitoring Software
May 2025
NETSCOUT vSTREAM reportDownload NETSCOUT vSTREAM product report
Buyer's Guide
vRealize Network Insight
June 2025
vRealize Network Insight reportDownload vRealize Network Insight product report
 

Also Known As

vSTREAM
Arkin
 

Overview

The vSTREAM virtual appliance complements existing Adaptive Session Intelligence (ASI)-based instrumentation to provide the same level of visibility within virtualized and cloud infrastructures that is already possible in physical environments. The vSTREAM virtual appliance is ideal for monitoring service-critical traffic running within virtualized or cloud infrastructures, either locally on a host or as an aggregation point for multiple hosts. With complete visibility across physical, virtual and cloud networks, the vSTREAM virtual appliance presents real-time views of end-to-end call trace data and network-wide KPIs, to protect the reliability and availability of networks and application services.

NETSCOUT
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

Metropolitan Police Agency, Banpara, PropertyRoom.com
NTTi3, VCIX-NV, VMware Networking and Security Business Unit, Illumio, CompuNet
Buyer's Guide
NETSCOUT vSTREAM vs. vRealize Network Insight
June 2025
Free Report: NETSCOUT vSTREAM vs. vRealize Network Insight
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