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OpenText Network Automation vs VMware Aria Automation comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 6, 2025

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

OpenText Network Automation
Ranking in Network Automation
13th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware Aria Automation
Ranking in Network Automation
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
172
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Management (3rd), Configuration Management (7th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (21st), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Network Automation category, the mindshare of OpenText Network Automation is 3.2%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Aria Automation is 4.2%, down from 9.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Automation Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
VMware Aria Automation4.2%
OpenText Network Automation3.2%
Other92.6%
Network Automation
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1480065 - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Operations Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Allows to upload necessary firmware to your device and perform the upgrade
With OpenText Network Automation, firmware can be uploaded for specific devices. If you need to upgrade a device, you can use this tool, though it may not apply to all devices. The software allows you to upload the necessary firmware to your device and perform the upgrade. Additionally, it enables you to check multiple devices for specific configurations and automates the search process and the configuration of multiple devices.
VasilisGiannitsiotis - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT at ITSolutions
Automation has streamlined complex financial workflows but still needs more intuitive orchestration
Something to improve in VMware Aria Automation would be related to VCF 9, as I do not know what it is trying to bring because they exposed it as the solution of everything. So VCF 9 will bring VCF Automation and VCF Operations, the new product line of VMware. I have not seen what this brings or what else it includes. Maybe in the area of vRealize Orchestrator, this would be beneficial because VRO can do everything. Perhaps a more user-friendly way to use that tool would be helpful because the possibilities there are endless. I am looking for more user-friendly navigation in VMware Aria Automation.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"With OpenText Network Automation, firmware can be uploaded for specific devices. If you need to upgrade a device, you can use this tool, though it may not apply to all devices."
"It's great because you have a one-unit solution to aggregate network data, so it's one entry point for getting all the configuration into the same dashboard or same application."
"We're able to set security policies and configure devices exactly how we want them."
"Micro Focus tools are mature tools, that are well developed."
"Pushing the network configuration to bulk devices. This saves a considerable amount of time that the engineer spends in pushing the network configuration."
"When compared with SolarWinds, it is more user-friendly, and tasks can be completed more quickly."
"The most valuable feature is the automation of the deployment of the whole machine."
"It is mostly for our tech support to test new versions, find bugs, and troubleshoot what is happening at customer sites."
"The extensibility of it and the customization of a lot of the Blueprints, that you can customize, and the community as a whole. There's a ton of community-generated Blueprints that might be (helpful) to set up a design for your automation needs, that you can use as a base and go on from there and make changes to it."
"One of the valuable features is controlling VM standards and server sprawl while at the same time providing the ability for end users to self-provision VMs."
"Using the solution we are able to automate database refreshment; this process used to consume a number of working days, but with vRA fully automating this process, it is now down to five or 10 minutes."
"The most valuable feature would be the scalability, as it's very easy to add more capacity once it's set up, and in terms of provisioning, it has definitely helped speed-wise by simplifying making the environment bigger without the downtime of waiting for more hardware."
"What I like the most about vRA: Its seamless ability for users to be able to go pick a catalog item that we have created for them, while they are testing a new version of their code and say, "Okay, I want you to make my old version (based on these blueprints) run, please deploy me - my entire environment.""
"The most valuable feature is the ability to see both compliance and vulnerabilities in a dashboard view."
 

Cons

"The tool performs slowly."
"Level one administration task can be defined in Micro Focus Network Automation but it could be more simplified."
"When compared to other automation tools that are available in the market, more can be done to improve this solution."
"We've found some problems that may or may not have to do with our infrastructure. There are also some software defects that we've found."
"Compatibility of the devices needs to be enhanced, as it seems to be limited."
"We just spoke with some of the product managers. We are getting some serious performance issues that have some serious repercussions for support."
"They should concentrate on navigation and service improvements."
"Having an overview and managing all this is a bit difficult in the beginning."
"I would like to see support for Google Cloud and Azure. Because they don't support Google and Azure today, we need something that's cohesive with our entire landscape. There is a gap right now with VMware. If you want support for these environments, you have to go elsewhere right now."
"Windows support is advertised as a first-rate supported platform; however, it is ripe with issues that have added countless hours to our roadmap."
"VMware should go the way of vROps, with everything in one machine, the ability to scale out, and a more distributed environment instead of having the usual centralized SQL database."
"We are migrating from vRA version 7 to 8, but the migration is really hectic and time-consuming."
"Upgrades are always a pain."
"The initial setup was not straightforward. It was not simple, and we had a PoC. We had VMware help us deploy it, and it took them an exorbitant amount of time."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing is reasonable, but if you compare it with other network Operation Management tools that are available on the market, it's expensive."
"Better pricing is always handy, but I feel it's at the right price point."
"It is an open-source product."
"We do plan to see ROI with any new implementation of new technologies being implemented within our environment."
"I would rate the pricing a ten out of ten, with ten being very expensive."
"As far as value is concerned, it has been essential to our environment. We have been able to deploy VMs quickly and the developers have their own sandbox, so they can spin up and destroy VMs at their own will."
"The solution is pretty expensive but provides good workload management."
"It is pricey for what you get."
"There is confusion between licensing levels. There are three different licensed versions of vRealize Automation, and there are different things which can happen in each of them."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Performing Arts
17%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Construction Company
9%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise131
 

Questions from the Community

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What's the difference between VMware vRA (automation) and vROps (operations)?
vROP is a virtualization management solution from VMWare. It is efficient and easy to manage. You can find anything you need from the software interface. It provides complete visibility over applic...
Is there any way to try VMware Aria Automation for free?
When it comes to VMware Aria Automation, you have three choices for free runs: Hands-on Lab (HOL) Advanced lab A free trial I cannot describe in detail the second and third options as my company ...
Which sectors can benefit the most from VMware Aria Automation?
I was looking at VMware Aria Automation case studies recently and I got the impression that three main kinds of companies were using it most often: Social organizations Financial institutions and ...
 

Also Known As

Micro Focus Network Automation, HPE Network Automation
VMware vRealize Automation, vRA, VMware DynamicOps Cloud Suite, SaltStack
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tech Mahindra, Avea, China Merchants Bank, NNIT, Distinctive Software Solutions, Virgin Media, NEC Australia, Osiatis, Hostworks, Retegal, Allianz Shared Infrastructure Services SE (ASIC), State of Kansas Division of Information Services and Communications (DISC)
Rent-a-Center, Amway, Vistra Energy, Liberty Mutual
Find out what your peers are saying about OpenText Network Automation vs. VMware Aria Automation and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.