Cisco Intersight vs vRealize Network Insight comparison

Cisco and VMware are both solutions in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category. Cisco is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.2, while VMware is ranked #19 with an average rating of 8.9. Cisco holds a 2.1% mindshare in IM, compared to VMware’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of VMware users who would recommend it.

Cisco Intersight

Read 13 Cisco Intersight reviews

2,611 Views
2,086 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

vRealize Network Insight

Read 46 vRealize Network Insight reviews

960 Views
556 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Cisco Intersight

vRealize Network Insight

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

vRealize Network Insight and Cisco Intersight compete in the enterprise network management and cloud management categories. While vRealize is noted for its strong network insight capabilities, Cisco Intersight appears to have an advantage in comprehensive cloud management with its hybrid capabilities.

Features: vRealize Network Insight provides comprehensive log analysis across hypervisors and virtual servers, network visualization, and aids in network troubleshooting and microsegmentation. It excels in tracking data flows and optimizing firewall rules. Cisco Intersight integrates cloud management with hybrid capabilities, supports Kubernetes, and offers detailed insights into data center operations.

Room for Improvement: vRealize Network Insight needs better integration, more intuitive interfaces, and improved support for third-party products, with pricing and advanced analytics being areas of concern. Cisco Intersight users desire expanded automation, improved hybrid cloud management, and deeper integration with non-Cisco products.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: vRealize Network Insight is primarily deployed on-premises, praised for intuitive setup with strong VMware technical support, though initial challenges are noted. Cisco Intersight supports on-premises, public, and hybrid clouds, providing flexibility. Its technical support is well-regarded but could benefit from more in-depth assistance across platforms.

Pricing and ROI: vRealize Network Insight is considered costly but offers significant ROI through reduced troubleshooting and optimized deployments. Cisco Intersight, while expensive, provides value with competitive pricing and no extra fees for basic monitoring, ensuring efficient data center management and streamlined operations.

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

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Intersight vs. vRealize Network Insight

March 2025

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Helped 842,592 peers since 2012

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

Cisco Intersight

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

16th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Management (12th)

vRealize Network Insight

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

19th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (20th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category, the mindshare of Cisco Intersight is 2.1%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vRealize Network Insight is 0.5%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Infrastructure Monitoring

Featured Reviews

ItzikLiberman

System Presale at Bezeq

Provides data center management and full infrastructure visibility

Cisco Intersight is a very effective tool for data center infrastructure management. It provides visibility into other products and storage, and is beneficial for environments where Cisco and other vendors coexist, allowing full visibility of the entire infrastructure. We have visibility to other products and storages, some networking. It is also valuable for its integration capabilities with other products.

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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.

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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

"What I like most about Cisco Intersight is its manageability."

"We enjoy having an inside view of all the data centers and all the EdgeX nodes within a single portal rather than going into the EdgeX connections one by one."

"Cisco Intersight has valuable features for workflow automation and inventory administration."

"Scalable portfolio of services for remote device management, with good cloud integration. It's also easy to set up."

"Provides an overall view using a single portal."

"Our organization uses Cisco Intersight since it helps manage our physical infrastructure."

"Cisco Intersight is a very effective tool for data center infrastructure management."

"This solution has provided time savings and required fewer people to operate this tool."

More Cisco Intersight pros

"The initial was straightforward. You can have it up and running in one hour."

"It helps a lot because, until now, we didn't have the tools to figure out the micro level, VM-to-VM kind of traffic; that was not in the current environment. We could not figure out VM-to-VM communication from the other tools. This is the tool which gives us end-to-end transparency."

"I like being able to see the flows coming in and out of the product. In terms of monitoring network flows, we use it to verify whether or not different servers/applications should be communicating with each other."

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

"As a troubleshooting tool, it's a level-3 troubleshooting-skills tool and it's very easy to use and very easy to find the information that you need."

"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."

"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 ability to use the natural language query and see the visualization is quickly intuitive, and it works very well."

More vRealize Network Insight pros

Cons

"I do not have notes for improvement."

"In the future, the solution needs to plan on an extension to cover a broader range of objects since, at present, there are some Cisco devices within the range of Intersight UCS that it can't manage."

"The unique problem with Cisco Intersight is that it's not supporting some players."

"Technical support from Cisco has been mixed. For complex issues, it's challenging to get the right engineer quickly unless you have a specific contract like CX."

"The product could be easy to use."

"It's a very complex solution."

"There is a significant issue regarding migration from UCS Manager into Intersight without formatting the Fabric Interconnects (FI), which is problematic in a production environment."

"Cisco Intersight needs some improvement in terms of stability. Hybrid cloud management and proper hyperscaler tie-up are other areas for improvement."

More Cisco Intersight cons

"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 only reason I would not give it a nine or a 10 is for cost reasons. It seems to be one of those things that really belongs as part of the product inherently and not as an add-on. That would be my only concern."

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

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

"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."

"After you use it for a little while you become accustomed to it but the layout doesn't feel very intuitive. You have to dig around and find the exact place where you can find the information, where you can actually see your east-west traffic, etc. I would like them to bring that information more to the forefront, instead of having to find it."

"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."

"I would like to see them expand the capabilities to infrastructure types other than just VMware."

More vRealize Network Insight cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco Intersight is not cheap, but it's not the most expensive product either."

"The product is cost-effective."

"You can get a free license for monitoring but need to purchase a license if you need extra control."

"It's just the standard licensing cost. There are no additional fees."

"Cisco Intersight has competitive pricing. On a scale of one to five, my rating for its pricing is four."

"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."

"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."

"vRealize Network Insight is expensive."

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

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

"It's a little expensive, but for what you're getting out of the product, you often see the trade-off. It depends on the type of licensing you have. It might be a little too pricey for some."

"It has brought more money into our company."

"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."

More vRealize Network Insight pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

37%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

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 Cisco Intersight?

Intersight can validate our environment.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Intersight?

I do not have notes for improvement.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Cisco Intersight?

I use it mostly for managing servers and updating their hardware licenses to get the hardware status in the cloud. Mostly, my customers develop Intersight on-premises because there are many restric...

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

Comparisons

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Compared 47% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

VMware Aria Operations vs Cisco Intersight

Compared 7% of the time

IBM Turbonomic vs Cisco Intersight

Compared 6% of the time

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DX NetOps vs vRealize Network Insight

Compared 13% of the time

DX Spectrum vs vRealize Network Insight

Compared 12% of the time

AppNeta by Broadcom vs vRealize Network Insight

Compared 12% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Intersight

March 2025

Download Cisco Intersight product report

Buyer's Guide

vRealize Network Insight

March 2025

Download vRealize Network Insight product report

Also Known As

Intersight

Arkin

Overview

Cisco Intersight is Cisco’s systems management platform that delivers intuitive computing through cloud-powered intelligence. This platform offers a more intelligent level of management that enables IT organizations to analyze, simplify, and automate their environments in ways that were not possible with prior generations of tools. This capability empowers organizations to achieve significant savings in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and to deliver applications faster, so they can support new business initiates. The advantages of the model-based management of the Cisco UCS platform plus Cisco Intersight are extended to Cisco UCS servers and Cisco HyperFlex and Cisco HyperFlex Edge systems. Cisco HyperFlex Edge is optimized for remote sites, branch offices, and edge environments.

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

EXMAR, RapidScale

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

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Intersight vs. vRealize Network Insight

March 2025

Free Report: Cisco Intersight vs. vRealize Network Insight

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