Meraki Dashboard vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer comparison

The compared Cisco and SolarWinds solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #10 in NMS , with an average rating of 8.5, and holds a 1.5% mindshare in the category. SolarWinds is ranked #5 in NTA , with an average rating of 7.8, and holds a 5.8% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 82% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Meraki Dashboard

Read 55 Meraki Dashboard reviews

2,652 Views
1,957 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...

Read 40 SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer reviews

1,144 Views
656 Comparison Views

82% willing to recommend

Meraki Dashboard

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Meraki Dashboard and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Network Monitoring Software solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Meraki Dashboard vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Report (Updated: September 2020).

Buyer's Guide

Meraki Dashboard vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

September 2020

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Helped 841,004 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

Meraki Dashboard

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (10th)

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (5th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Management solutions, they serve different purposes. Meraki Dashboard is designed for Network Monitoring Software and holds a mindshare of 1.5%, down 2.1% compared to last year.
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, on the other hand, focuses on Network Traffic Analysis (NTA), holds 5.8% mindshare, down 7.1% since last year.

Network Monitoring Software

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)

Featured Reviews

Bilal-Ahmed

IT Manager at Fawaz

Seamless connectivity and comprehensive control over network devices

All of the features we are looking for are already in control. I think those features, which we are not currently utilizing, are already there. For example, the control for the cameras and everything else. The cameras are not connected through Meraki, but all other devices are on Meraki networks.

Read full review

DeepakVyas

Global-Manager Network & communications at Secure Meters Limited

Utilization alerts enhance monitoring with good alerts

The tool itself is very complicated, so training is required to handle it effectively. Configuration and the streamlining process are very complex. In my view, it is a good product if properly configured and streamlined according to your IT infrastructure. For enterprise-level organizations, SolarWinds is more appropriate than for small and medium enterprises. I would rate the solution eight 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 find that Meraki has all the features you need to be able to enable complex network protocols for AV equipment. We deal with a streaming product over IP, and Meraki is fantastic at that."

"We have found the client dashboard to be very simple to use, especially in our Meraki environment."

"There are some whitelist blacklist capabilities in the MX dashboard, which is very helpful."

"What I found most valuable in the Meraki Dashboard is straight monitoring of the different devices, as well as the ability to easily set up VPNs, for example, both Meraki client VPNs and non-Meraki VPNs for different organizations that work with my company. I also like that the tool is a really good firewall."

"Meraki Dashboard does not require a lot of maintenance. Cisco tells communicates through the Meraki Dashboard web client, it will automatically send updates to the equipment. They will send you an email on what day the updates will take place. If you want to proceed, you can click on accept, or you can decline them and schedule the updates at another time."

"It can analyze the traffic that it is picking up from what may be a rogue access point, and it is able to identify those and send relevant notifications."

"The product can scale if you need it to."

"You don't have to be a network engineer to use it."

More Meraki Dashboard pros

"I like that it is able to monitor multiple devices and it's vendor-agnostic."

"The monitoring is perfect, showing you the details for the utilization of resources and network bandwidth."

"It helps us know when a branch is down because it has a graphic presentation of all the locations a node represents."

"This tool provides insights into top utilization applications or it identifies which circuit or application is consuming the most on the complete one-gig circuit traffic path."

"The solution helps manage networks."

"What I like the most is the bandwidth assessment."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to look for any increases in bandwidth over time so that we can plan before it becomes critical."

"NTA's most valuable feature is traffic analysis and visibility."

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer pros

Cons

"The cost of the solution is high and can be improved."

"This solution can be quite complicated to configure and manage, unless you have a technical person with specific knowledge working on it."

"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."

"It would be helpful to have the ability to create a floor plan based on an existing PDF or JPEG, which is automatically converted into a usable network map."

"The initial setup is complex and can be made more straightforward."

"There are some issues with the NAT configuration, it is now impossible to some operations with the solution."

"The MDM, however, is bad. We're using another MDM now because Meraki was so bad."

"You can't really clone or replicate a device, that sort of feature would be useful. You can clone the site but you cannot clone the device."

More Meraki Dashboard cons

"Currently, it shows only the top ten applications or ports in use, while the remaining data appears as 'remaining traffic,' causing confusion."

"The pricing is expensive."

"NTA's documentation for the implementation phase needs some enhancement."

"Technical support could be improved with quicker response times."

"There is room for improvement when it comes to the traffic generated by the analyzer and the analysis of that traffic."

"The solution should improve its automation feature. It's quite limited compared to other products."

"It does not flow. It cannot do our metric performance monitoring. So it is very limited. They can do it but in a very limited fashion. It is only good for SNMP-based alerts."

"It is very slow to pick the dynamics of the network."

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"Meraki Dashboard is a utility and portal that's part of the Meraki solution."

"From a pricing perspective, they are still expensive."

"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."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"The solution is currently the most expensive on the market."

"My view is that it's expensive, but it's the best."

"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."

More Meraki Dashboard pricing and cost advice

"NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is reasonably priced."

"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."

"We have licenses for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. In terms of pricing, its license is not that expensive versus other tools such as HP."

"For our environment, we pay approximately $25,000 USD yearly."

"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."

"While the pricing is fair, it could be better."

"SolarWinds' pricing structure is the primary reason why some customers opt for another solution such as ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer. In NTA, you are charged per port, meaning that if you have a 24-port switch you will be charged for 24 individual nodes. ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer, on the other hand, charges per switch, such that if you add a switch, the entire switch will count as one single node."

"The pricing is reasonable."

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

22%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Educational Organization

72%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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 Dashboard enhances wireless network management. We appreciate its flexibility, as it al...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki Dashboard?

The cost of the Meraki solution is high, which may not be affordable for smaller companies, especially in developing countries.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Meraki Dashboard?

There is a need for price reductions in developing countries, as the cost of Meraki is quite high. Additionally, it would be beneficial if Meraki Dashboard could integrate more Cisco devices such a...

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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...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?

Prices care comparable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?

The plotting of the device on the map is not appropriate. It should be like a Meraki cloud, where if you are familiar with Meraki devices, you can locate any device directly on the world map.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 25% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

Mist AI and Cloud vs Meraki Dashboard

Compared 6% of the time

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Zabbix vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 14% of the time

Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 9% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 8% of the time

Darktrace vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 7% of the time

Plixer Scrutinizer vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Meraki Dashboard

February 2025

Download Meraki Dashboard product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

February 2025

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer report

Download SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer product report

Also Known As

No data available

Netflow Traffic Analyzer

Overview

Meraki Dashboard is a comprehensive cloud-based platform that offers centralized management and control for all Meraki networking and security products. It provides a user-friendly interface, allowing administrators to easily monitor and configure their network infrastructure from anywhere. With real-time visibility, troubleshooting becomes effortless, ensuring optimal performance and minimizing downtime.

The intuitive dashboard offers a holistic view of the network, enabling quick identification of potential issues and proactive measures. It simplifies network deployment and scaling, with zero-touch provisioning and automatic firmware updates. The robust security features include advanced threat protection, content filtering, and VPN connectivity.

Meraki Dashboard also offers powerful analytics and reporting capabilities, providing valuable insights into network usage, application performance, and user behavior. With its seamless integration and scalability,

Meraki Dashboard is the ideal solution for organizations of all sizes, ensuring efficient network management and enhanced productivity.

Cisco

SolarWinds Netflow Traffic Analyzer enables you to capture data from continuous streams of network traffic and convert those raw numbers into easy-to-interpret charts and tables that quantify exactly how the corporate network is being used, by whom, and for what purpose.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

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

Buyer's Guide

Meraki Dashboard vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

September 2020

Free Report: Meraki Dashboard vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Find out what your peers are saying about Meraki Dashboard vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer and other solutions. Updated: September 2020.

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