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

Meraki Dashboard vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Juniper Mist Premium Analytics
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (58th)
Meraki Dashboard
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (11th)
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Network Monitoring Software
Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)
 

Featured Reviews

ALEXANDRE VIANNA - PeerSpot reviewer
May 3, 2024
Has a single dashboard, but is expensive
We use this solution to manage our mission environment The single dashboard is a valuable feature.  The technical support needs improvement. The initial setup is straightforward. The solution is expensive. I rate the pricing an eight out of ten.  Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of…
Pete Grimshaw - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 21, 2023
It's intuitive and allows you to manage your devices from a single pane of glass
We're refreshing our networks and looking at the new Meraki MX250 firewall, one of the higher-end security devices. We're happy with what the devices can do, but they lack a few features found on older firewalls or competing products. For instance, you should be able to see if something has been blocked by a firewall rule by looking at a live log of traffic moving through the device. It helps you troubleshoot issues and understand if your rules are working. You need to ensure the firewall is blocking the right things. That's unavailable in the Meraki Dashboard. You have to send the logs to a log server. We use SolarWinds locally, but it's not natively built into Meraki. We're also using Cisco ISA and another tool called Smoothwall.
Diego Del Pozo Saiz - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 25, 2022
Easy to deploy and well-integrated; has useful default graphs and responsive technical support
What needs improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is performance because sometimes, my team struggles too much for the solution to perform correctly for a specific deployment in my organization. Having a more detailed view in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is another area for improvement, but that's more part of the protocol than the actual solution. I'd like to see better performance in the next release of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. I'd like it to be faster to drill down and move into different views. My organization typically works with the interface view. It would be good for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer to have additional widgets that would allow you to drill up or down from the widget.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The single dashboard is a valuable feature."
"We can manage the entire system across the network and troubleshoot the pain points."
"What I found most valuable in Meraki Dashboard is that it's well-organized, easy to use, and practical."
"The dashboard itself is very simplified and easy to navigate."
"It is very stable and we have been using it for five years."
"We greatly utilize the network because we can plug it into the DNS, VPN, or equipment. It's very good. Meraki Dashboard enhances wireless network management. We appreciate its flexibility, as it allows for easy suite configuration. We can handle everything on there when there's a policy or any other requirement."
"The initial setup process is quite simple."
"The most valuable feature is ease of use."
"The most valuable feature is knowing the wireless and switch are healthy."
"We've been spending a lot less time on tickets and deployments, so we have more time to do other things."
"For managing the traffic, it provides you a response about whether the traffic is down, up, or heavy, which is a very powerful feature. It has a good response time. We have been using this solution for many years, and we don't have any problem with this solution."
"They have instructional videos and other information available on the site to assist you with learning it."
"NTA's most valuable feature is traffic analysis and visibility."
"We conduct network traffic analysis for a couple of key reasons. First, we look for traffic anomalies, such as unexpected increases or decreases in network traffic within specific segments. This helps us determine if the network needs to be re-architected."
"What people found most valuable in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is its report customization feature."
"The software management tools are very useful for our customers."
"What my organization likes best about SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is its easy deployment. It's also well-integrated in terms of monitoring because my organization also uses a SolarWinds solution for monitoring. You can connect SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer directly to that monitoring tool to get information. My organization also finds the default graphs that appear before the configuration in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer very useful."
"As it offers enterprise solutions, it has all the essential features for business."
 

Cons

"The technical support needs improvement."
"The Wi-Fi side needs improvement."
"The downside to the simplicity is that you can't get as granular as you could with the Cisco APs."
"I would like to receive decent notification alerts regarding the license's expiry. Or any help on correcting or optimizing licenses, because in certain circumstances you can add a license but it's the wrong licensing. However, the Dashboard adds the license in some way, and you do not utilize it. You can simply extend the license's expiration date."
"The price could be lower because the license for access points is expensive."
"If I am a user and I have a seat on the fourth floor, if I move across the building, the system should be able to track me and should be able to figure out my whereabouts or my position within the building if I'm connected to the wireless. That would make the administrator's life easier in terms of reachability."
"One area that could use improvement in the Meraki Dashboard is user-friendliness when navigating to port configurations."
"It is not appropriate for large, enterprise businesses."
"What needs improvement in Meraki Dashboard is its configuration. It'll also be better if the tool has more functionality, and that is what I'd like to see in its next release."
"An area for improvement in Meraki Dashboard is licensing management because it's a little complex. Product licensing can be made a little bit easier through license concurrency and a more straightforward approach to applying the license to products and services."
"I'm expecting to see a little bit more artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. They need a bit more sophistication in that."
"This solution would benefit from having more security-based communications between the actual devices and the software itself."
"An area for improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is application visibility because some applications aren't being recognized correctly. You can see applications such as Facebook and YouTube, but SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer needs to have more visibility into more applications. Currently, SolarWinds fails to detect more powerful applications, such as Zoom and Teams. If SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer can recognize every application and be able to report on each in terms of bandwidth, then that would be good. This is what I'd like to see in the next release of the solution."
"I would like to see better customization capabilities."
"I would like to see more artificial intelligence capabilities."
"Technical support needs improvement."
"Technical support could be improved with quicker response times."
"The pricing is expensive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."
"Meraki Dashboard's pricing is reasonable. It is sold yearly, typically for one, three, or five years. I rate its pricing a five out of ten."
"Licensing for Meraki Dashboard is paid every year, and it's on a per-device model that costs roughly $300 to $400 per device, but that comes with full support and troubleshooting, etc. Compared to similar products, Meraki Dashboard is quite high-end, but the costs you pay are all-in."
"The pricing of the tool is relatively high compared to other solutions. It comes with a premium that exceeds that of its competitors by approximately 25 percent."
"My view is that it's expensive, but it's the best."
"The licensing fees are $180 USD, per AP, for three years."
"I’m not sure of the exact cost, however, it’s my understanding the Meraki WiFi is around $800. That’s for a three-year license. It’s about $150 a year."
"From a pricing perspective, they are still expensive."
"Typically, the license model is for one, three, and five years. They can just be a bit more flexible around it and look into providing an option for 24 months."
"The price of this solution is exceptional."
"The pricing is really good."
"We have licenses for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. In terms of pricing, its license is not that expensive versus other tools such as HP."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"Licensing for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is paid yearly, and there are no additional costs that you need to pay apart from the standard licensing fees because you don't need to purchase another solution to make SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer work. Pricing for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is more expensive than other solutions."
"Pricing for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is very high. I have a customer that needs the solution but doesn't have the budget for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer because the problem is that you can't use the solution only. You have to buy requirements such as the SolarWinds NPM first, and some companies don't have the budget for all the required components and modules. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer can cost up to $10,000, and some customers don't have that budget. Another product has all the modules that SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer has, with a very low price, that can be a replacement, which is ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer. PRTG is another solution that can replace SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer."
"I don't have information on the licensing cost for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer because it's bundled with another SolarWinds solution. My organization has seven different models and pays for the license yearly. My organization also had to deploy additional pollers, but the cost wasn't very expensive, though I can't give the exact numbers."
"The solution's licensing is high-priced."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Monitoring Software solutions are best for your needs.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
25%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Educational Organization
70%
Computer Software Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Government
3%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Juniper Mist Premium Analytics?
We can manage the entire system across the network and troubleshoot the pain points.
What do you like most about Meraki Dashboard?
We greatly utilize the network because we can plug it into the DNS, VPN, or equipment. It's very good. Meraki Dashboa...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki Dashboard?
Meraki Dashboard's pricing is reasonable. It is sold yearly, typically for one, three, or five years. I rate its pric...
What needs improvement with Meraki Dashboard?
They could improve the product by providing enhanced utilization reports and more detailed independent access reports.
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 ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?
The product is expensive. I rate the product’s pricing as one out of ten, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap.
What needs improvement with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer could improve its flexibility and integration with AI to provide analytics beyond...
 

Also Known As

No data available
No data available
Netflow Traffic Analyzer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Coop eG, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Priefert Manufacturing, Century Care Management, Clifton College, Zürs Ski Resort, Capital FM Arena, MAXI Autohöfe
Oceaneering International, Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, 335th Signal Command, Immofori
Find out what your peers are saying about Meraki Dashboard vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer and other solutions. Updated: September 2020.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.