IBM Tivoli NetCool vs NetScaler comparison

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IBM Tivoli NetCool

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

IBM Tivoli NetCool and NetScaler compete in network management and optimization. NetScaler appears to have the upper hand due to its advanced traffic management and application delivery features, despite higher costs.

Features: IBM Tivoli NetCool offers customizable alerts, real-time monitoring, and a robust event management system with a focus on adaptability and scalability. NetScaler provides traffic management, load balancing, and security features such as SSL offload and application firewalls, aiming to enhance network performance.

Room for Improvement: IBM Tivoli NetCool could improve its integration capabilities and reduce setup complexity to better fit diverse environments. Additionally, enhancing user interface intuitiveness and simplifying deployment could offer significant improvements. For NetScaler, refining documentation and support responses, enhancing the GUI for more intuitive navigation, and addressing issues with specific Citrix integrations could be beneficial.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Tivoli NetCool utilizes a traditional deployment model with comprehensive support, though setup can be complex. NetScaler allows for quick system integration with a user-friendly approach, streamlined processes, and reliable customer service that simplifies deployment and integration.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Tivoli NetCool involves higher initial costs but offers scalability and long-term ROI for larger infrastructures. NetScaler may have more competitive initial pricing and delivers value through efficiency and performance. The investment is justified by its robust capabilities, offering a compelling option for businesses prioritizing performance optimization.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Tivoli NetCool vs. NetScaler Report (Updated: July 2025).

IBM Tivoli NetCool vs. NetScaler

July 2025

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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

IBM Tivoli NetCool

Ranking in Network Management Applications

13th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NetScaler

Ranking in Network Management Applications

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

107

Ranking in other categories

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (1st), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (14th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of IBM Tivoli NetCool is 2.2%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetScaler is 1.5%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Management Applications

Featured Reviews

Petar Ganev

Senior Enterprise Monitoring Engineer at Commerzbank

Reliable for enterprise monitoring but no longer actively developed

There are problems with the latest security requirements because many things have changed in recent years, and now the security audits are very strict. And we need to switch to something else. We need to patch it constantly. Moreover, it is a very old tool and a little bit difficult to support. Otherwise, they work okay.

Read full review

DEMİRHAN ÇAVUŞOĞLU

Cloud Consultant at Migros Ticaret A.Ş.

A tool for centralized management including inventory and sales tracking

Citrix ADM has the ability to implement policies to tighten security. For instance, you can restrict access to your network from outsiders or lack necessary security measures such as antivirus programs. Additionally, there's the Delivery Controller, which allows for comprehensive monitoring and management tasks such as remote restarts, maintenance, and registration. Another essential component is the Director, which provides detailed insights into sessions, including identifying session failures, connection issues, user lockouts, etc. It presents a list of problems to address, enabling you to click on them and resolve them efficiently.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution has very good integration capabilities."

"Tivoli NetCool allows us to grasp a lot of data that can be applied toward predictive analytics and auto-remediation."

"It's very easy to use."

"The scalability of monitoring, the breadth of supported network components, the scale of the number of monitoring events, and the flexibility in customization make this a well-rounded product."

"Anything is possible with Tivoli. It's quite a robust system."

"The feature I have found most valuable with NetCool is how it collaborates all the alarms, and then it does a predictive analysis, providing a consolidated alarm view and management."

"NetCool has a huge database that can collect and process about one million alarms a day."

"The tool had many built-in automation capabilities."

More IBM Tivoli NetCool pros

"The solution improves security performance."

"If you need PCI-compliance and have high security requirements, WAF is the most valuable feature. If you need to monitor your load-balancing services with complex types of monitoring, make sure everything is alright, and load balancing is important, Content Switching and Monitoring features are the keys to your needs. If you want to provide a lot of static images or data, the Caching feature works best for you."

"The best feature of Citrix is its track record of stability in its features."

"Its customer support service is good."

"The most valuable features of Citrix ADC are load balancing and application firewall."

"The solution can scale."

"The load balancing is one of the most valuable features."

"The web application firewall is one feature I found valuable in the solution."

More NetScaler pros

Cons

"In terms of improvement, I would like to see more AIOps, Artificial Intelligent Operations in the next release. IBM develops new features for Power BI or Cognos Analytics, which is good. As of now, we use Cognos Analytics, we are not using Power BI. They have the Insight concept but we don't like that."

"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."

"Tivoli NetCool is based on a Linux platform, it would be beneficial if they moved it to Windows because not everyone is acquainted with Linux."

"Customization and integration that you need to do to make the product fit your needs is very complex. It is not a product that somebody could easily pick up without any prior training or experience."

"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."

"The solution does not have any AI capabilities."

"The solution is too expensive."

"The solution is not user-friendly."

More IBM Tivoli NetCool cons

"The interface needs to be improved because the competition is coming up with ones that are more eye-catching, straightforward, and sophisticated."

"When a new version comes out, sometimes, my existing configuration gets wiped out. They should work on this so that my existing configuration doesn't get impacted with an upgrade to a newer version. There could also reduce frequent firmware upgrade activities and have a stable version so that once we upgrade it, we don't have to upgrade it for two to three years."

"Does not include security. A web application firewall would be a nice addition."

"There are certain features that are very useful and Citrix makes you pay a bit more for them."

"They can improve the scalability and the multi-tenancy feature. We recently tried to configure an authentication, and we ran into some issues while using the web-based GUI. It was very slow when you log in with your credentials in the web-based GUI. Each time we clicked on the menu, it tried to do the authentication. It works properly in the console."

"We had some bugs in the previous firmware. These were not big issues, but more testing on the firmware would be key to happier customers."

"Improvements are needed to address the issue of machines becoming unregistered, ensuring stability for end users. Troubleshooting with Citrix support can be challenging, so clearer diagnostics would be beneficial. As for global server load balancing, it works well on-premises, depending on user volume and service stability. Overall, it's satisfactory for us."

"The product provides some templates to integrate with applications like MS Exchange, MS SharePoint, SAP Enterprise Portal, and others. However, the last update for these templates was 2013 (lots of applications are running on versions newer then 2013)."

More NetScaler cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Customers are required to pay a licensing fee."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"It costs around 100k for every ten servers, which is lower than similar products from other vendors."

"The price of the product is too expensive."

"We have been evaluating F5, Citrix, and other ADC products. Citrix is the most expense of all of them."

"I do not have any experience with the pricing of the product."

"You can do CapEx and then a yearly monthly fee, or you can do a subscription model, whether that's one month, month-to-month, or three-year subscription model."

"Our licensing fees including technical support are approximately $3,500 USD."

"In Turkey, everything is good, but it seems expensive for us due to the currency exchange. I don't have a specific rating scale, but if I had to rate the price, I would say it's around a six out of ten."

"When compared to other solutions, the cost is high."

"For the specific use case that my customers primarily engage with, I would give the pricing a rating of seven out of ten."

"This product is more expensive than some of the competitors."

More NetScaler pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

30%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

I have worked from 1973 with all kind of systems in large enterprises across the world. And have experience with all kind of software in monitoring from infra to end to end, it depends on the funct...

What do you like most about IBM Tivoli NetCool?

The tool had many built-in automation capabilities.

What needs improvement with IBM Tivoli NetCool?

The main challenge is its licensing model, which is very complicated.

What do you like most about Citrix ADC?

The most valuable feature for us is the application firewalling in Citrix NetScaler, ensuring only valid traffic enters our environment.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix ADC?

After deployment, Citrix Netscaler shifted to a subscription-based license scheme for support, which is slightly more expensive.

What needs improvement with Citrix ADC?

Citrix NetScaler is a robust product, but mastering it requires significant learning and training due to its complexity. While it could be easier to manage, it is like transitioning from driving a ...

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Product Reports

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IBM Tivoli NetCool

July 2025

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June 2025

Also Known As

Tivoli NetCool

Citrix ADC, Citrix NetScaler VPX, NetScaler Console, NetScaler Web Application Firewall

Overview

IBM Tivoli Netcool delivers near real-time, consolidated event management across business infrastructure, data centers, complex networks and IT domains. The software provides full management and automation to help you deliver continuous uptime of business services and applications.

IBM

One platform for a consistent application delivery and security experience because nobody has time to learn multiple systems to manage ADC deployments. NetScaler is built with a single code base using a software-based architecture, so no matter which ADC form factor you choose — hardware, virtual machine, bare metal, or container — the behavior will be the same.

Sample Customers

Claranet, Consolidated Communications, Telus, €sterreichische Bundesbahnen (€BB), Telekom Srbija, Bendigo Community Telco, Capgemini, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB)

ABB Schweiz, Aer Lingus, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Amnet Technology Solutions, Aramex International, Ascenty, Atos, Autodesk