Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Cisco Nexus vs VMware NSX comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Valuable Features

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
8.0
VMware NSX offers micro-segmentation, automation, scalability, and integration, enhancing security and flexibility across virtual environments and clouds.
The most powerful feature of VMware NSX is the micro-segmentation that allows us to separate the different protocols our application works with.
 

Room For Improvement

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
4.9
VMware NSX needs enhancements in integration, automation, deployment, and support to address complexity, pricing, and user-friendliness challenges.
 

Stability Issues

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
8.0
VMware NSX is stable and mature, praised for robust performance and dependability, despite occasional minor upgrade issues.
 

Scalability Issues

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
7.8
VMware NSX is scalable across large infrastructures, praised for adaptability, hardware independence, and seamless integration in various environments.
 

Customer Service

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
7.9
VMware NSX support is generally reliable but varies in responsiveness and expertise, with improvement needed in certain regions.
Our technicians have a good support experience from the company.
 

Setup Cost

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
4.8
VMware NSX pricing is higher than competitors, complex, and may discourage smaller organizations due to potentially unused features.
VMware NSX is a little higher in price compared to the competition.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Nexus
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
103
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (4th), Data Center Networking (3rd)
VMware NSX
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
101
Ranking in other categories
Network Virtualization (2nd), Cloud and Data Center Security (1st), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (8th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (7th), Network Automation (5th), Microsegmentation Software (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Cisco Nexus is designed for LAN Switching and holds a mindshare of 9.5%, down 11.7% compared to last year.
VMware NSX, on the other hand, focuses on Network Virtualization, holds 46.2% mindshare, up 45.9% since last year.
LAN Switching
Network Virtualization
 

Featured Reviews

Joe Benítez - PeerSpot reviewer
Offer high performance capabilities and enables efficient data transmission and processing
Before Nexus, I used to have Catalyst 6500 switches. Those 6500 series chassis gave us a lot of problems. Too many problems, actually. And we had a Cisco ASA firewall blade within those chassis. And they were running outdated software. So, in fact, it was the firewall blade that caused us too many problems instead of the chassis. The chassis itself was working well and performing fine, but the firewall card was not suitable for our needs. That was one aspect. Additionally, those chassis had been in operation for more than five years. As we are a local government, we have a policy to renew hardware every five years. That's because we need to maintain all the hardware and software in the latest versions and keep up with the technology lifecycle of the technology we use.
Chris Nixon - PeerSpot reviewer
Overly complex, initial setup could be simplified, but the migration methods are good
The on-premises version of VMware NSX is not scalable. The cloud version is most likely fine. I couldn't really say, but after the on-premise system was implemented, everyone was afraid of change. It was really flaky. We don't have a large number of users. It is not used as such by people; it is a piece of infrastructure software. There would have been less than half a dozen, not very many.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which LAN Switching solutions are best for your needs.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
26%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Nexus?
The product's initial setup phase is very easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?
In most cases, there is a need to secure perpetual licenses to be able to use the product. When I set up the product, there isn't just a one-time cost that is involved. If you want to upgrade to iO...
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?
In my company, we encountered some challenges since the network was not stable. The network is unstable, making it an area where improvements are required. If you do some kind of configuration on t...
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

No data available
VMware Nicira, Lastline Defender
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins
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 Cisco Nexus vs. VMware NSX and other solutions. Updated: March 2023.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.