We compared Meraki Dashboard and SolarWinds NPM across several parameters based on our users' reviews. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below:
Features: Meraki Dashboard users like its centralized console, cable testing, firmware updates, and group policy features. The solution is also praised as user-friendly, stable, and scalable. SolarWinds NPM is commended for its adaptability and extensive network surveillance functionalities.
Room for Improvement: Users say Meraki Dashboard could improve its client VPN, hardware discovery, and integration with external solutions, Some users mentioned a need for more comprehensive documentation and granular control. SolarWinds NPM needs improvement in edge computing capabilities and data reporting. Users also said the performance could be better and that they would like to see expanded IPAM functionality.
Service and Support: Meraki Dashboard's customer service receives mixed feedback. Some users spoke fondly of the technical support they received, while others expressed frustration over long wait times and had a hard time finding the right person to help them. While some customers described SolarWinds support as helpful and responsive, others reported delayed responses.
Ease of Deployment: Users said Meraki Dashboard was effortless and intuitive to set up, noting that features like templates and configuration cloning saved time during deployment. Some users said SolarWinds NPM was straightforward to set up, while others perceived it as complex.
Pricing: Opinions on Meraki Dashboard's pricing varied, with some users finding it pricey and others deeming it fair. The cost of SolarWinds NPM varies depending on the customer’s size and requirements. Some users find it costly.
ROI: Meraki Dashboard simplifies IT operations, and some users expect returns within a few years. Some users reported immediate benefits from using SolarWinds NPM in terms of security and business outcomes, while others have not.
Comparison Results: Meraki Dashboard is a scalable, user-friendly solution with a smooth, painless setup made easy by built-in templates and features like configuration cloning. However, some users complained that the solution is too expensive and needs better integration with non-Cisco platforms. SolarWinds NPM is a customizable solution that’s easy to deploy and features comprehensive network monitoring capabilities. However, some users consider it costly and voiced concerns about technical support and user experience.
"We can manage the entire system across the network and troubleshoot the pain points."
"Everything is in a single pane and you can look at your network in one centralized place."
"The most valuable features are the ease of use and a single-pane-of-glass that allows us to identify issues across the entire network from one dashboard."
"There is no need to swap the hardware at all the locations, and importing the APs into the Dashboard was a simple and quick process."
"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."
"Meraki Dashboard centralizes control of all our equipment into one cloud-based console, so we can manage it from anywhere. We can resolve problems remotely outside of business hours because it is on the cloud. You can use the dashboard to change security settings or configure routers and switches."
"An excellent dashboard that is currently unique in covering both SD-WAN and SD-LAN with built-in security."
"The most valuable feature of Meraki Dashboard is we can manage our switches and access point in one place."
"You don't have to be a network engineer to use it."
"The solution is very user-friendly."
"As we look to add more servers to our virtual environment and to understand the impact, the solution allows us to dig into the historical charts related to capacity planning."
"Reporting tools are a great feature along with the ability to create customized reports for you"
"We had some interfaces where the SFP Ports were having some problems after a while. We found which of the SFP Ports was having the error and changed it, so the bandwidth become okay."
"The nice thing about SolarWinds is that it's kind of all-in-one. I can manage the status of my networking devices, whether they are up or down, I can see how much traffic is going across an interface, and I can run a report that tells me exactly what that traffic is."
"Network performance is the main issue clients are facing. SolarWinds checks if a node is down, and we can set thresholds for performance metrics. For example, we set it up to get an alert automatically if a value is over 80 percent. It has a full dashboard that covers CP, hard disk, and node monitoring."
"There are a lot of valuable features with SolarWinds NPM. We can receive a lot of detailed data from the monitoring that can use useful for investigations, especially when you are troubleshooting. It is very helpful. Overall it was a very good experience."
"One of the best features is the reports feature."
"The Wi-Fi side needs improvement."
"It is not appropriate for large, enterprise businesses."
"This solution can be quite complicated to configure and manage, unless you have a technical person with specific knowledge working on it."
"It would be nicer if the dashboard was lighter."
"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."
"Not a lot of training is available."
"The pricing for this solution needs to be improved."
"The one issue that we have had is that the VPN tunnel would go down unless you worked out with the ISP that you would be using a static IP address on the WAN interface."
"The integration with the APIs and the web servers deployed can definitely be improved."
"Each model has different features, so clients need to purchase a separate model for SQL monitoring, database monitoring, network traffic analyzer, HTTP traffic, etc. So each feature they need is in a different model, but customers would prefer an all-in-one solution."
"It has covered everything, so no improvement is required at their end. The only thing is the price."
"The product is scalable, but at a cost. Extra modules have to be purchased for each extra server. The initial set up isn't complex, but will require someone who is experienced with the network monitoring system"
"We decided that we were no longer going to trust that their products have not been capitalized."
"Technical support and releases are not particularly reliable."
"The improvement would be that SolarWinds NPM thoroughly checks its patches before releasing them to the market. Better testing, alpha testing, and then releasing it to the market."
"It is not that stable. As a Windows software, I have seen issues with SolarWinds. The performance is slow."
Meraki Dashboard is ranked 9th in Network Monitoring Software with 51 reviews while SolarWinds NPM is ranked 4th in Network Monitoring Software with 147 reviews. Meraki Dashboard is rated 8.6, while SolarWinds NPM is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Meraki Dashboard writes "Incredibly easy to use, great troubleshooting and prevention of malicious events". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SolarWinds NPM writes "High-level, comprehensive, and proactive monitoring in a user-friendly interface". Meraki Dashboard is most compared with Cisco DNA Center, ThousandEyes, Mist AI and Cloud, Zabbix and Cisco Secure Network Analytics, whereas SolarWinds NPM is most compared with Zabbix, PRTG Network Monitor, ManageEngine OpManager, ThousandEyes and OpsRamp. See our Meraki Dashboard vs. SolarWinds NPM report.
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