VMware NSX is used for server virtual machines.
Executive Engineer at ONGC
User-friendly, free version available, and highly scalable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of VMware NSX is the ease of use and its user friendly. For example, it is simple to change the subnet masks."
- "The solution could improve by having a more streamlined setup."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of VMware NSX is the ease of use and its user friendly. For example, it is simple to change the subnet masks.
What needs improvement?
The solution could improve by having a more streamlined setup.
For how long have I used the solution?
I rate VMware NSX for approximately one year.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is highly stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have approximately 2,000 users using this solution.
VMware NSX scales well.
How are customer service and support?
I have rarely used the support of the solution.
I rate the support from VMware NSX an eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not used a similar solution to VMware NSX.
How was the initial setup?
The installation process for VMware NSX can be intricate. We obtained the executable file for the specific server we intended to install VMware NSX and then proceeded to configure it. This involved ensuring that the IP and ID matched the installation, as well as completing other necessary details such as setting up the gateways.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are using the free version of the solution.
What other advice do I have?
We have 10 analysts and administrators that do the maintenance of the solution.
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate VMware NSX a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Executive Officer 1B at Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC
Good firewall integration, stable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is the integration with the firewall."
- "The cost of the solution has room for improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for our DMC firewall to micro-segment the networks for the CRUD matrix.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the integration with the firewall.
What needs improvement?
The cost of the solution has room for improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
We have around 4,000 people using the solution.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is sometimes delayed but they always resolve our issues.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed by a vendor.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost of the solution is a bit high.
What other advice do I have?
I give the solution an eight out of ten.
The maintenance is done by our vendor.
The solution is great and I recommend it.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
VMware NSX
June 2025

Learn what your peers think about VMware NSX. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
860,632 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Consultant at Pi DATACENTERS
Great micro-segmentation, distributed IPS, and IDS functionality
Pros and Cons
- "This solution comes with an API that can easily integrate with other solutions."
- "Nowadays, NSX supports the KVM and ESXi hypervisors only. It should also support Hyper-V and Citrix hypervisors."
What is our primary use case?
I primarily use the product as network virtualization software.
VMware NSX is a great product for network virtualization. No other vendor can offer this kind of solution up until now, and it's great for enhancing security at the virtual machine level. There is micro-segmentation, and a distributed firewall, and all network and network security components can be virtualized with the help of this NSX-T stack. It is a pioneer software solution for network security in a virtualized environment.
How has it helped my organization?
This solution comes with an API that can easily integrate with other solutions.
What is most valuable?
NSX features include micro-segmentation, distributed IPS, IDS functionality, URL analysis, gateway firewall, logical routing, and all the staple networking solutions like DNS, DSCP, and routing. All these features are very interesting.
The solution is stable.
We can scale it if we need to.
What needs improvement?
It should support Hyper-V also. Nowadays, NSX supports the KVM and ESXi hypervisors only. It should also support Hyper-V and Citrix hypervisors.
There have already been lots of improvements. For example, they edited the intelligent plans and added an advanced load balancer. The latest version, 4.0, really has all the features you need.
It's a bit complex to set up the product.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have a total of around three years of experience using the NSX-T solution.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good architecture-wise. We haven't had any issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can scale well.
It is not a user-based solution. We deploy it to about 20 servers.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not previously use a different solution before this product.
How was the initial setup?
It is a little bit complex to set up. It depends upon deployment. Either it is greenfield or brownfield deployment. If it is greenfield, it is very easy. If it is a brownfield deployment, so you need to take care of multiple scenarios of your network, and you need to understand the network architecture, then the deployment of services.
While deployment requires a complete team, maintenance only requires on VMware administrator.
What about the implementation team?
We handled the initial setup with the help of a third-party SI team.
What was our ROI?
This product provides end-to-end visibility and security to your virtual environment. So it's a very huge return on investment in terms of security enhancement and maintaining cybersecurity posture.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost of the solution is moderate. I'd rate it three out of five in terms of affordability.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
There is no other option available for this kind of product.
What other advice do I have?
The product should be implemented in any IT infrastructure virtual environment. It is a must-have.
I'd rate it a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Competency Leader - Virtualization at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
End-to-end visibility, good integration, and highly scalable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of VMware NSX are the tight integration with the VMware Hypervisor natively and the management console. We have a lot of other integrations where you are able to see the virtual machine's end-to-end visibility."
- "VMware NSX can improve the migration tools from the older environments to the new environment. For example, the NSX-V has become a legacy solution, it's out of support, but customers are able to keep using it. For migration purposes, it's better for them to provide a proper tool. It will be easy to migrate from an old environment to a new one."
What is our primary use case?
We use VMware NSX for micro-segmentation.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of VMware NSX are the tight integration with the VMware Hypervisor natively and the management console. We have a lot of other integrations where you are able to see the virtual machine's end-to-end visibility.
What needs improvement?
VMware NSX can improve the migration tools from the older environments to the new environment. For example, the NSX-V has become a legacy solution, it's out of support, but customers are able to keep using it. For migration purposes, it's better for them to provide a proper tool. It will be easy to migrate from an old environment to a new one.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used VMware NSX within the last 12 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of VMware NSX is very high.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VMware NSX can scale to any sized organization, small or large.
Our recent clients had approximately 1,000 users using this solution.
How are customer service and support?
I have not had any problems with the support from VMware NSX.
I rate the support from VMware NSX a four out of five.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used other network virtualization tools and the main difference is VMware NSX is tightly integrated with the Hypervisor layer. We've been able to have end-to-end visibility of the virtual machine traffic, and we have been able to see the flow. The other solution will be agent-based.
How was the initial setup?
The setup of VMware NSX is very easy.
I rate the setup of VMware NSX a four out of five.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of VMware NSX is very good compared to other solutions.
I rate the price of VMware NSX a five out of five.
What other advice do I have?
I rate VMware NSX an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner / Integrator
General Manager at Oplee
Has a straightforward setup process and enables efficient network management
Pros and Cons
- "The product has valuable features for security and network extension."
- "The network-extending capabilities for the physical environment need improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We use the product for disaster recovery purposes. It helps us expand the network and security for workloads running inside the environment. In the cloud, specifically with Azure VMware Solution or AWS, VMware NSX provides protection-related capabilities.
How has it helped my organization?
Regarding network management, it enables the ease of creating a network configuration for any application.
What is most valuable?
The product has valuable features for security and network extension. We can secure customer environments by effectively managing and securing traffic and facilitating seamless network extension. We can address challenges related to workload migration, where we often need to relocate workloads between environments due to changes in licensing or applications. The DFW, i.e., Distributed Firewall, is the most beneficial feature for network security and micro-segmentation.
What needs improvement?
The network-extending capabilities for the physical environment need improvement. Instead of virtualization, the ability to add physical servers to the network could be enhanced.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using VMware NSX since 2018. We have worked with different versions depending on the customer's requirements. We are working with the latest version as well.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable platform.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have medium to enterprise-level customers for VMware NSX. Regarding scalability, we can add new nodes or servers to the cluster. It automatically extends in a horizontal scale-out approach when the nodes are added.
I rate the scalability a ten out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
We open a case and await the engineer's reply on escalation. It is a process similar to that of other vendors.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. The implementation time ranges from days to weeks, depending on the business use cases per customer requirements. It involves the assessment of design, deploying, and verifying the same. I rate the process an eight out of ten.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product pricing ranges from medium to expensive. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
VMware NSX has played a significant role in supporting your organization's efforts in automated network provisioning and creating multi-tenant networks, especially when integrated with vRealize Automation or other automation tools. We were able to create an automated orchestrated workload and manage IP assignments.
I rate the product a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. partner
A highly stable solution that provides several features like VPN, load balancers, DFW, and gateway firewall
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of VMware NSX is the DFW (distributed firewall)"
- "Since most people are very much used to physical networking, they find it difficult to use VMware NSX in the initial stage."
What is our primary use case?
I was part of the NSX troubleshooting team from VMware, where we worked with different customers to troubleshoot their NSX operational issues. Also, I was part of the design and deployment team. We do PSO projects and migration for customers.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of VMware NSX is the DFW (distributed firewall). The distributed firewall is much better and more powerful than the physical firewall because it's applied at the beginning level.
The software-defined version of VMware NSX contains all the security features like IPS and IDS. In the physical space, you have to get separate IDS, security, or load balancer products. VMware NSX provides several features like VPN, load balancers, DFW, and gateway firewall.
What needs improvement?
Since most people are very much used to physical networking, they find it difficult to use VMware NSX in the initial stage.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware NSX for the past six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution's stability is very good compared to its older versions. It is advisable not to go in a production environment with the latest version because it might sometimes have new features that can break.
I rate VMware NSX a nine out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We can easily scale the solution with the current product version if we have more users.
I rate VMware NSX a nine out of ten for scalability
How was the initial setup?
The solution's implementation is easy.
What about the implementation team?
The initial phase of deployment involves deploying three NSX Managers. Then, you have to plan to do a lot of things like configurations and routing. If you have everything ready for configuration, you should be able to complete the VMware NSX installation in a month.
In the case of daily deployment, it depends on how much we are deploying and how many configurations we are doing. Two weeks should be more than sufficient to complete the configurations if we do it daily.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
VMware NSX is a cheaper product compared to its competitor, Cisco.
What other advice do I have?
Since most people are very much used to physical networking, they find it difficult to use VMware NSX in the initial stage. However, once you start using it, you'll be very much fond of the particular product. VMware NSX is very easy to manage.
You can deploy the solution on the cloud or on-prem, depending on the customer's requirement.
When changing from the physical to the virtual space, you have to plan the routing part. You'll have a hardening of networks in the physical space. However, when you bring it to NSX, everything is at the hypervisor level in the virtual space. That's one thing you will have to plan because a few critical applications might require a VLAN-backed network.
They have a restriction that they can't move it to the overlay networks and must remain in the physical VLAN. We have to plan properly for migrations because improper planning can break the current network or operations.
It would be good if users use all the features in the solution to have everything in one place. Users can access the web UI to manage security, load balancer, and VPN protection.
Overall, I rate VMware NSX an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Head of SDN at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Good stability and easy-to-use solution
Pros and Cons
- "The solution's customer service is good."
- "Its licensing model could be VM based."
What is most valuable?
The solution's most valuable feature is ease of use. Its filtering features work best for our business requirements.
What needs improvement?
It could be helpful if the solution's licensing model is based on the number of VMs rather than hypervisors.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution. I rate its stability as an eight.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution's scalability depends on the licensing model.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's customer service is good.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is reasonable at the local level. But it is expensive to deploy it globally.
What other advice do I have?
I advise others to understand their business requirements. They should know if they want the solution to block some protocols or to make accurate filtering. I rate the solution as an eight.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Presales Technical Consultant - Enterprise and Cybersecurity at Westcon ME
Easy deployment, micro-segmentation, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "VMware NSX offers some of the best features for security, such as micro-segmentation."
- "Despite being somewhat behind in the cybersecurity field, VMware should develop a cloud and a red team to continuously monitor for new malware and ransomware."
What is our primary use case?
The solution is primarily used for micro-segmentation for the security of virtual machines.
What is most valuable?
VMware NSX offers some of the best features for security, such as micro-segmentation. This feature allows us to define policies on a per-virtual machine basis. For example, if we have four virtual machines, we can have four different firewalls attached to each of the VMs. This allows us to monitor the traffic between each VM, as they will have to go through two firewalls or two IPs. This added layer of security provides a great benefit to those utilizing the solution.
What needs improvement?
Despite being somewhat behind in the cybersecurity field, VMware should develop a cloud and a red team to continuously monitor for new malware and ransomware. They must maintain their own cloud to do their own research, and send the resulting hashes or values to all customers using VMware NSX. This will ensure that each customer is regularly updated with the latest malware and ransomware hashes to keep their systems secure.
Web filtering is a good feature that I would like to have added to the solution.
I would like the ability to limit the bandwidth per virtual machine to ensure that I understand the throughput requirements of any application that is running. This way, I can be protected from the risks of a DoS or DDoS attack, which may require a high level of throughput. This limitation would apply to Layer 4 or Layer 5 of the network.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VMware NSX is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The great advantage of VMware is its scalability and hardware independence; The solution is compatible with a wide range of server brands, including Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Cisco.
How are customer service and support?
My job was to offer consultancy, demonstrations, and conceptual approval to the VMware official team and their partners.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
Of all the cybersecurity vendors we have, the installation of VMware products is the most straightforward. The time needed to deploy depends on the purpose of the use case. Complex tasks between two data centers could take up to four days, whereas micro-segmentation would usually take only two days.
What other advice do I have?
I give the solution an eight out of ten. The solution is missing the red teams and R&D necessary to continuously receive updates from the cloud. Additionally, two other features are absent from VMware NSX which are bandwidth limitation and URL filtering.
We have two people using the solution. I'm the only architect, and the other person is mainly responsible for checking logs to determine if any resources are needed and then assigning those resources to the appropriate virtual machines.
For someone who wants to secure their data center and three-tier application architecture (database, web application, etc.), they should use micro-segmentation with VMware NSX. This would enable them to set policies on a per-virtual machine basis. For example, if each VM has two virtual NICs assigned to it, each virtual NIC would have its own firewall, policy, and IP. This way, even when two virtual machines need to communicate with each other, their traffic will pass through two separate firewalls within the server. In addition to micro-segmentation, NSX also provides switching and routing services. The use of a data center firewall can be cost-effective for enterprise customers, SMBs, and medium-sized customers. By utilizing the routing, switching, and firewall capabilities provided by the data center firewall, the load on data center switches and routing can be reduced, making it a more cost-efficient option. The throughput required by the data center firewall, be it a Fortinet or Palo Alto Checkpoint, is directly proportional to the cost. With increased throughput, the cost of the firewall will also increase. VMware NSX offloads the workload from the data center firewall, taking on the task itself. This is possible without impacting performance because it is a software firewall, so it absorbs all the load from the data center firewall, providing the same security measures as the legacy firewall would.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner

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Updated: June 2025
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