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Meraki Dashboard vs SolarWinds NPM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

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
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
20th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds NPM
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
158
Ranking in other categories
IT Infrastructure Monitoring (5th), Cloud Monitoring Software (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Meraki Dashboard is 1.4%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds NPM is 4.7%, down from 5.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

Bilal-Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
MohitKumar - PeerSpot reviewer
High-level, comprehensive, and proactive monitoring in a user-friendly interface
The solution needs to integrate with additional SDN technologies that are part of the hyper market. The solution supports many vendors by default and just included Meraki SDN with the new release, but continued expansion is important. We created a custom method to pair with unsupported vendors but that can produce a lag in performance so future releases should expand SDN support. The solution does a good job of automating features but could expand that even more.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Meraki Dashboard is we can manage our switches and access point in one place."
"It's really user-friendly."
"The ability to view the entire project stack, including the camera, features, and routers, which I believe are the most important or relevant components."
"The product can scale if you need it to."
"Great visibility on the dashboard."
"The ability of the product to perform with simplicity of deployment make it a valuable solution."
"I like that Meraki Dashboard is a user-friendly product."
"Easy to configure with great troubleshooting feature."
"I like that SolarWinds NPM is a strong tool for monitoring network devices, switches, and routers. It's also a user-friendly tool. My team also likes how scalable it is."
"It did a good job of the collection and then an investigation of the net flow of information for understanding the applications that were being used at certain locations."
"The solution is extremely stable. We haven't had any issues in that regard. We haven't had issues with bugs, glitches, or crashes."
"The interface is user-friendly, making it easy to use."
"SolarWinds NPM has specific modules for monitoring different network capabilities, which provides rich features for carrying out specific tasks."
"It's easy to understand, even if you are not too technical."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the alerts."
"All the features are very good. The monitoring of the equipment, the configuration manager, and the IP address monitoring are great."
 

Cons

"Price could be reduced."
"For my purposes, I don't need to see any other features added to the Meraki Dashboard. I have no criticisms and I do like the tool. If I had a criticism for it, it would be about the pricing because it could be a little less, but again, for the service that you get, I won't complain about that too much."
"This solution can be quite complicated to configure and manage, unless you have a technical person with specific knowledge working on it."
"Meraki Dashboard could improve the user interface by making it more user-friendly. The configuring can at times be difficult."
"In general, how I add firewall rules is not great. It is just a little bit too simple the way it is right now."
"The solution can be expensive."
"Lacks an alert notification when there are IP or DNS issues."
"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."
"The reporting is good, but I want it to be a little easier when creating custom reports. The reports are all on the website now, but it takes some know how to get some to display the way you would like."
"In terms of scalability, there is room for improvement. When you start monitoring, if you have so many interfaces and you're trying to monitor them at a faster interval, or a shorter interval, you get to a point where you need to request another node."
"Technical support can be slow to respond."
"SolarWinds NPM needs to increase its elements. One polling engine can only support 10,000 elements then it becomes slow. There are limitations even if you have the full SLX version license."
"The tool can only monitor up to 1000 instances in a single SolarWinds console. Customers may have over 1000 instances. Hence, it needs to support a minimum of 1500 instances. It should also improve support."
"The interface could be made more user-friendly."
"Fortigate firewalls are one example of a product that we are unable to monitor properly via SolarWinds NPM."
"My team has had a lot of issues with support."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"From a pricing perspective, they are still expensive."
"My view is that it's expensive, but it's the best."
"It is said to be expensive."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"The Meraki Dashboard has more competitive pricing."
"Most of the licenses are perpetual, and the annual maintenance charges are not high."
"Though I don't remember the price for SolarWinds NPM, its price is somewhat okay when you compare it with other tools in the market. The price isn't too high and isn't too low, so it's okay."
"I would rate the pricing a five out of ten"
"The solution can become very expensive and commercially not viable in countries, such as India."
"There are a lot of sub-products and it just continued to increase the price."
"SolarWinds is expensive. That's why it's primarily banks using the solution. Small businesses can't afford it. Due to its pricing, most smaller enterprises like manufacturing companies are not interested. For example, we have a client who is also interested in traffic monitoring, but they are not purchasing SolarWinds because of the cost."
"I think that the cost has risen, but the functionality and versatility is way above other products."
"The cost of the personal perpetual license for SolarWinds NPM is approximately $2,000."
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Comparison Review

it_user174738 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 31, 2015
Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor
I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
23%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
6%
Educational Organization
56%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
4%
 

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...
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.
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...
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
It actually depends on the exact purpose or kind of devices (network devices, servers, something else). Some tools are better for only network devices while others are better for a cloud monitoring...
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
We are partners with SolarWinds and we sell a lot of Network management to large enterprises also because of scalability, products like Network Performance Monitor & Netflow Traffic Analyzer ar...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Coop eG, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Priefert Manufacturing, Century Care Management, Clifton College, Zürs Ski Resort, Capital FM Arena, MAXI Autohöfe
Microsoft, Federal Express, Hewlett-Packard, and MasterCard
Find out what your peers are saying about Meraki Dashboard vs. SolarWinds NPM and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.