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Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs VMware NSX comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 28, 2025

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
7.0
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform boosts efficiency, saving time and resources, despite initial costs, by automating server provisioning.
Sentiment score
6.4
VMware NSX enhances infrastructure efficiency, CAPEX savings, cybersecurity, and ROI, but initial costs and security effectiveness have mixed reviews.
The work that previously took two months now takes 10 to 15 minutes.
Senior DevOps engineer at Elevenxcapital
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.2
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform offers extensive online resources and community support, though response times and support scope need improvement.
Sentiment score
6.7
VMware NSX customer service is praised for efficiency and expertise, but improvements in accessibility and responsiveness are desired.
The Ansible sales and technical support services need significant improvement.
Cognitive Business Operation at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
I have not escalated any questions to the Red Hat support team regarding Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, as their modules are professional and complete.
DevOps Engineer at a consultancy with 201-500 employees
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform has a large community with many written blogs and resources available, making it easy to maintain.
Senior DevOps engineer at Elevenxcapital
They were always helpful.
Senior VMware Administrator at Johnson Controls, Inc.
They are quick and understand things easily, so the support is aligned very effectively.
Windows Redhat Linux Vmware & Azure & Cloud & Nutanix Ahv-Vmware & Backup Senior System Administrator at AlDawaa Medical Services
Our technicians have a good support experience from the company.
Joint Staff Officer at Hellenic National Defence General Staff
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Red Hat Ansible excels in scalability, handling diverse environments with modular features, though performance tweaks may be needed.
Sentiment score
7.7
VMware NSX is praised for its scalability, robust performance, and efficient network integration, despite some complexity in scaling.
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is easily maintainable and highly scalable.
Senior DevOps engineer at Elevenxcapital
Ansible can face scalability issues, such as limitations when trying to scale up infrastructure.
Associate Software Test Solution Architect at AFour Technologies
There is a high level of satisfaction with its ability to scale.
Senior IT Strategy Consultant at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is highly stable, reliable, and suitable for large-scale deployments, meeting enterprise needs effectively.
Sentiment score
8.1
VMware NSX is highly stable, with strong performance, scalability, and frequent updates addressing most bugs and integration concerns.
The stability of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is excellent, deserving a 10 out of 10 rating.
Cognitive Business Operation at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
The product performs at 99% efficiency without any showstoppers or significant issues.
Windows Redhat Linux Vmware & Azure & Cloud & Nutanix Ahv-Vmware & Backup Senior System Administrator at AlDawaa Medical Services
For stability, I would rate VMware NSX as a nine out of ten.
Services Presales Solutions Architecture - UAE & Gulf at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Red Hat Ansible requires enhancements in modules, speed, scalability, UI, documentation, integration, credentials, dashboards, and community involvement.
VMware NSX faces challenges in costs, complexity, and user satisfaction, needing enhancements in automation, scalability, and security features.
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is very easy to use with Jinja templating capabilities that make it really straightforward.
Senior DevOps engineer at Elevenxcapital
The dashboarding capabilities should be improved by bringing CMP (Cloud Management Platform) into Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.
Cognitive Business Operation at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform could improve by creating modules for upcoming AI and ML tech stacks.
DevOps Engineer at a consultancy with 201-500 employees
The initial configuration and integration within our existing environment were not easy.
Senior IT Strategy Consultant at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The pricing for the product is another area for improvement as I'm not satisfied nowadays.
Senior VMware Administrator at Johnson Controls, Inc.
The licensing model is expensive and could be more flexible, especially after Broadcom bought VMware.
Services Presales Solutions Architecture - UAE & Gulf at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform offers free and paid pricing options, valued for its open-source model and automation advantages.
VMware NSX is viewed as costly, with complex licensing and high initial costs, particularly impacting smaller organizations.
The pricing is high, and since I'm not using all functionalities, it would be better if the price depended on the functionalities used.
IT Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The cost of combining Red Hat Developer Hub and Ansible is extremely high, which presents a significant challenge with the Red Hat product.
Cognitive Business Operation at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
There is no pricing and no licensing required, as Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is always free to use.
Senior DevOps engineer at Elevenxcapital
The cost of VMware NSX is considered high.
Senior IT Strategy Consultant at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
VMware NSX is a little higher in price compared to the competition.
Joint Staff Officer at Hellenic National Defence General Staff
There is room for improvement in terms of pricing.
Senior VMware Administrator at Johnson Controls, Inc.
 

Valuable Features

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform offers agentless architecture, user-friendly syntax, and scalability, ensuring efficient task automation and management.
VMware NSX offers enhanced security, seamless management, and flexibility with automation, scalability, and integration for cloud and on-premises solutions.
The agentless architecture of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, using the SSH key, makes it passwordless and allows us to push configurations with one click, creating a major advantage.
DevOps Engineer at a consultancy with 201-500 employees
For 200 to 300 servers, the maintenance took about one to two months. New patches would arrive and we would have to repeat the process. Now, it is a one-night work or a 10 to 15 minutes task.
Senior DevOps engineer at Elevenxcapital
The automation capabilities streamline deployment processes, providing reliability and reducing manual intervention and errors.
Associate Software Test Solution Architect at AFour Technologies
Micro-segmentation enhances security and provides more secure data in your data center.
Services Presales Solutions Architecture - UAE & Gulf at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The most powerful feature of VMware NSX is the micro-segmentation that allows us to separate the different protocols our application works with.
Joint Staff Officer at Hellenic National Defence General Staff
I value the ability to dynamically configure our network on the fly using VMware NSX.
Senior IT Strategy Consultant at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Red Hat Ansible Automation ...
Ranking in Network Automation
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
72
Ranking in other categories
Release Automation (3rd), Configuration Management (1st), AWS Pro Service Providers (1st)
VMware NSX
Ranking in Network Automation
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Network Virtualization (2nd), Cloud and Data Center Security (2nd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (5th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (6th), Microsegmentation Software (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Automation category, the mindshare of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is 14.6%, down from 21.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware NSX is 4.2%, up from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Automation Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform14.6%
VMware NSX4.2%
Other81.2%
Network Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Manas Kashyap - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior DevOps engineer at Elevenxcapital
Automation has transformed server patching and has reduced months of work to minutes
The best features that Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform offers is that it does not require any additional resources inside the servers. Python is the only requirement, and since Python is already present inside the servers, we can run it from our location and it automatically deploys things and does the work for us. The minimal requirements and easy deployment have definitely impacted my daily work and my team's efficiency. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is one of the best features that we depend on. We have evaluated other options, but Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform was the best choice because it has saved us a tremendous amount of time. We do not need to manually intervene in the servers or install third-party software to maintain these things. It is very easy to write playbooks for Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. Ansible Galaxy contains many playbooks that are readily available and ready to be used. It is highly configurable with Jinja templating, making it easy to maintain. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform has positively impacted my organization. Previously, we needed to go into the servers and maintain them manually, which used to take a lot of time. For 200 to 300 servers, the maintenance took about one to two months. New patches would arrive and we would have to repeat the process. Now, it is a one-night work or a 10 to 15 minutes task. We write a playbook, maintain an inventory, and roll out the updates and it starts working for us. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform uses conditional clauses and has rollback options, functioning like a standard coding language that is simple to use. There is definitely a reduction in errors with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform because we have playbooks written with all the necessary clauses and rollback options. Manual work automatically creates more errors, whereas in automation, we have written sets that we do not forget every time we run it. We have protected written sets that we execute consistently.
TAIYAB HASAN - PeerSpot reviewer
Windows Redhat Linux Vmware & Azure & Cloud & Nutanix Ahv-Vmware & Backup Senior System Administrator at AlDawaa Medical Services
Has improved network visibility and security through micro-segmentation and SDN capabilities
This feature gives us flexibility and allows us to manage everything under one pane. We can see everything on one console, including network operations and behavior. Monitoring and security are among the best features for VMware NSX. For micro-segmentation, it's integrated with our endpoint security. If there are any issues with servers or VMs, it notifies us so we can isolate the servers and investigate. It provides distributed security features such as firewall and intrusion, IDS, IPS. The security level with IPS and IDS in VMware NSX is excellent. It also provides logical switching and routing which gives an extra layer for Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching requirements. The solution provides flexibility, automation, and self-service capabilities, resulting in cost savings as extensive expertise isn't required. Once automation and self-service are implemented, many tasks can be completed automatically. Load balancing is another excellent feature. Multiple servers can run on load balancing features, which is particularly useful since we have many application servers running. Sharing loads between servers provides the best performance.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise48
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise69
 

Questions from the Community

What is the difference between Red Hat Satellite and Ansible?
Red Hat Satellite has proven to be a worthwhile investment for me. Both its patch management and license management have been outstanding. If you have a large environment, patching systems is much ...
How does Ansible compare to Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (SCCM)?
Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager takes knowledge and research to properly configure. The length of time that the set up will take depends on the kind of technical architecture that your org...
What do you like most about Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform?
The most valuable features of the solution are automation and patching.
What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?
There are some very major differences between both the Products and to name a few. -Cisco ACI have physical network gear (9K Switches) where the Code runs in ACI Policy Mode & the UCS server wh...
What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?
Once you know your way around the Cisco ecosystem, using Cisco ACI is not so difficult. It is a global product, so when you change one interface, changes are automatically reflected on every switch...
What do you like most about VMware NSX?
The product has valuable features for security and network extension.
 

Also Known As

Ansible, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Subscription on AWS
VMware Nicira, Lastline Defender
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

HootSuite Media, Inc., Cloud Physics, Narrative, BinckBank
City of Avondale, Lumeta, Kroll Ontrack, Heartland Payment Systems, Baystate Heallth, Exostar, Tribune Media, iGATE, NTT Communications, Synergent, California Natural Resources Agency, Bloomington Public Schools, Columbia Sportswear, Join Experience S.A, Schuberg Philis
Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs. VMware NSX and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.