Kentik vs vRealize Network Insight comparison

Kentik and VMware are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Kentik is ranked #35 with an average rating of 9.0, while VMware is ranked #20 with an average rating of 8.9. Kentik holds a 0.8% mindshare in NMS, compared to VMware’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Kentik users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of VMware users who would recommend it.

Kentik

Read 14 Kentik reviews

1,127 Views
772 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

vRealize Network Insight

Read 46 vRealize Network Insight reviews

1,506 Views
883 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Kentik

vRealize Network Insight

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

vRealize Network Insight and Kentik compete in network performance management, focusing on visualization and analysis of network data. vRealize appears to have the upper hand in comprehensive network flow visualization and integration with VMware NSX, while Kentik stands out in real-time traffic analysis and DDoS alert handling capabilities.

Features: vRealize Network Insight excels in comprehensive visualization of network flows, assisting with microsegmentation, and integrates seamlessly with NSX. It is also praised for its intuitive design and natural language queries. Conversely, Kentik is recognized for robust NetFlow visualization and traffic analysis, effective DDoS alert handling, and real-time visibility across network infrastructures, along with API integration that enhances traffic pattern insights.

Room for Improvement: vRealize Network Insight users suggest improved integration with more third-party services and enhanced user-friendliness due to complex interfaces and pricing structures. Kentik could offer more actionable insights for traffic anomalies and deeper application performance integration. Both products are noted for high costs, with suggestions for more flexible and cost-effective pricing.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: vRealize Network Insight is typically deployed on-premises with strong technical support attributed to VMware's backing. Kentik offers deployment flexibility in private clouds, receiving favorable feedback for reliable support, although its interface could be more user-friendly. Both benefit from strong assistance, with Kentik users reporting lower support engagement needs.

Pricing and ROI: vRealize Network Insight is perceived as expensive yet valuable for reducing operational time and costs, improving labor efficiency through network management. Kentik's pricing is steep, especially for larger deployments, but offers scalability with flexible licensing based on device volume. Both tools provide high ROI by simplifying network management, though users suggest potential cost improvements.

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

Buyer's Guide

Kentik vs. vRealize Network Insight

March 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

Kentik

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

35th

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (19th)

vRealize Network Insight

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

20th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (19th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Kentik is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vRealize Network Insight is 0.6%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

ADRIANA SALDARRIAGA TOBON

Sales Manager at IFX NEtworks

Client experience and cybersecurity have improved with an easy setup

The solution is valuable for client experience, especially in the financial sector. The most important feature is cybersecurity. The pricing is good, but the functionality is the most important aspect for clients. The solution is easy to deploy and requires only one person to set up, making it easy and quick. Overall, the ease of use and the fact that it meets client expectations are major positives.

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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.

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

"We're also using Kentik to ingest metrics. It's a useful feature, and its response time, whenever we're pulling back the data, is higher than our on-prem solution."

"I really love the Data Explorer. I use it all the time to go in and craft exactly what I need to see. I'm able to then take that story and explain it to the executives. I've done that a couple of times and it is helpful."

"The most valuable feature is being able to pull traffic patterns; to and from destinations. We're able to understand where our traffic is going, our top talkers from an AS set, as well as where our traffic's coming from."

"Overall, the ease of use and the fact that it meets client expectations are major positives."

"We're pretty happy with the API functionality. It's web, and it's very simple to set up queries. It has served us well and you don't need to be an expert on the API or the product to set these things up."

"The most important feature is cybersecurity."

"Having the API access allows us to do a great deal of automation around a lot of our reporting and management tools."

"The drill-down into detailed views of network activity helps to quickly pinpoint locations and causes. All the information is there."

More Kentik pros

"I find it user-friendly and intuitive. With the GUI interface that we do use on a regular basis, it's easy to navigate, it's easy to see, easy to query. We get reports. It's easy to use."

"vRNI can trace the flow of each and every packet and it is easy for us to troubleshoot all the issues that we do have with the networking. We can trace down the packet to a point where it has been dropped."

"The most valuable features are the monitoring and tracking. It's also intuitive and user-friendly. The screen looks exactly the same as the other appliances for VMware, so it's easy to navigate."

"A lot of time is saved when you use this type of software solution for the network. We have moved systems into the new data center and the servers and systems are much faster because of the very low latency between virtual machines."

"By doing dependency mapping, it makes migrations more efficient. There are less outages that require engineers to spend additional hours troubleshooting the migration failures."

"The solution has helped improve our organization by directing the network traffic using SDN."

"The most valuable feture is NetFlow to help us understand how VMs communicate with each other over ports that are known and ports that are also unknown to us. Our company is a security company, so it's very important for us to know exactly which VMs are doing what at all times."

"The solution helps reduce time to value, increase performance, provide deep visibility, and easily manage networks."

More vRealize Network Insight pros

Cons

"The only downside to Kentik, something that I don't like, is that it's great that it shows you where these anomalies lie, but it's not actionable. Kentik is valuable, don't get me wrong, but if it had an actionable piece to it..."

"I've checked out the V4 version of the interface and it's still a little bit clunky for me to use. I still go back to the old interface. That's definitely one that they still need to work on. It doesn't seem like everything that you get in the V3, the older interface, is there. For instance, I was trying to add a user or do the administrative tasks in V4, and I couldn't figure out where I was supposed to do that."

"I believe they're already working on this, but I would love for them to create better integrations from network flow data to application performance — tracing — so that we could overlay that data more readily. With more companies going hybrid, flow logs and flow data, whether it be VPC or on-prem, matched with application performance and trace data, is pretty important."

"There is room for improvement around the usability of the API. It's a hugely complex task to call it and you need a lot of backing to be able to do it. I should say, as someone who's not in networking, maybe it's easier for people who are in networking, but for me that one part is not very user-friendly."

"I consider the pricing model as an area for improvement."

"Sometimes, the tool has complications, so we must deal with the additional support from the tool's end."

"We asked for a way, regarding the potential networks that exist, to hook Kentik up with external tools like peering DBs to correlate things together and see what we can do... This is all in the [next] beta now."

"The product could strive for more improvements to become closer to perfect."

More Kentik cons

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

"The only issue we have is that the solution does not always capture the host names."

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

"There's enough information there, especially in the visualizations, but I would love to see this in a kiosk mode, where I could have a dashboard for interested stakeholders to see and appreciate what's going on. Then, moving on to a more practical level for our Help Desk, our operations team could benefit by seeing, in real-time, a visual view of the network."

"The solution is very much viewer centric and it would be nice if it would transcend just the virtual infrastructure."

"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 Broadcom acquired VMware, I would rate their support at five or less in many cases. It's difficult to find necessary documentation, open tickets, and get support."

"If it had some kind of plugins with vSphere, more effective plugins with Horizon View or other VMWare products, if it had interconnectivity, I think it would be more effective than it is today."

More vRealize Network Insight cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have an annual contract with Kentik that we renew each year for a set number of licenses. We also have some burstable licenses which we can spin up and spin down, and those are paid as they are used."

"The tool is cheaply priced."

"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."

"It has brought more money into our company."

"vRealize Network Insight is expensive."

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

"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."

"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."

"Cost always has room for improvement, you could always make it cheaper. But I think it's a good value for what you pay for it."

"I rate vRealize Network Insight's pricing a seven point five out of ten."

More vRealize Network Insight pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

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 Kentik?

It offers a simple yet powerful feature of classifying applications, going beyond basic statistics.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kentik?

The pricing is good and aligns with the market target.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Kentik?

The product could strive for more improvements to become closer to perfect.

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

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Kentik

March 2025

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Buyer's Guide

vRealize Network Insight

March 2025

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Also Known As

No data available

Arkin

Overview

Kentik's AIOps Network Traffic Intelligence platform unifies network operations, performance, security, and business intelligence.

With a purpose-built big data engine delivered as public or private SaaS, Kentik captures a high-resolution view of actual network traffic data and enriches it with critical application and business data, so every network event or analysis can be tied to revenue & costs, customer & user experience, performance & risk.

Kentik

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

Pandora, Yelp, Neustar, Box, University of Washington, Zoom, Tata, and Cogent.

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

Buyer's Guide

Kentik vs. vRealize Network Insight

March 2025

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