VMware Aria Automation vs VMware NSX comparison

VMware Aria Automation and VMware NSX are both solutions in the Network Automation category. VMware Aria Automation is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.9, while VMware NSX is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.0. Additionally, 94% of VMware Aria Automation users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of VMware NSX users who would recommend it.

VMware Aria Automation

Read 168 VMware Aria Automation reviews

2,786 Views
1,462 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

VMware NSX

Read 99 VMware NSX reviews

1,095 Views
709 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

VMware Aria Automation

VMware NSX

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between VMware Aria Automation and VMware NSX based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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

To learn more, read our detailed VMware Aria Automation vs. VMware NSX Report (Updated: August 2024).

Buyer's Guide

VMware Aria Automation vs. VMware NSX

August 2024

Download the complete report

Helped 805,335 peers since 2012

Categories and Ranking

VMware Aria Automation

Ranking in Network Automation

3rd

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

168

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Management (1st), Configuration Management (7th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (15th), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (5th)

VMware NSX

Ranking in Network Automation

5th

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Virtualization (2nd), Cloud and Data Center Security (1st), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (7th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (8th), Microsegmentation Software (1st)

Featured Reviews

PardhaNallan

Solution Architect at Presidio Networked Solutions

Mar 20, 2023

Helps to customize the entire user frontend experience and is flexible, reliable, and scalable

As is the case with any other automation product, VMware Aria Automation also requires a journey. You will need to start slow, build the platform, and make sure you have good out-of-the-gate use cases. You can start with automating basic server requests. If you already have CICD tools in your environment, then you can integrate them and try a few playbooks. You will definitely need to train your staff so that they can keep moving forward with the tool. It is a complex product, and you will need at least one full-time employee who has experience with scripting and an interest in automation who can be dedicated to this solution. Overall, VMware Aria Automation is flexible, reliable, and scalable. With VMware Aria Automation as a cloud service, it is even easier to deploy and manage. Therefore, I would give this solution an overall rating of eight out of ten.

Read full review

VinayKumar7

Manager Data Centre at a consultancy with 51-200 employees

Sep 17, 2024

Efficient IT management with automatic VM configuration and room for improved support

We host citizen-centric portals. They are web portals where citizens can enter and fetch data. For example, we have tax-related portals, health-related portals, and education-related portals. These are social welfare portals, and for that, we use AWS services NSX helps us by making IT management…

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

"It benefits the speed of our development, and the speed of anything we test and send through to production."

"The DevOps for infrastructure capabilities has saved time for our developers by automating processes and reducing provisioning time. Task time has been reduced by 40 percent."

"Instead of only deploying templates, we can deploy blueprints which are easier on day-to-day operations."

"The setup is getting better with each version."

"It provides visibility into the VM space."

"The automation part is valuable, especially where vRA integrates with vRO, because it reduces the amount of effort we have to make."

"The self-service capabilities are by far the best that we've seen in terms of features. If the user is being able to log in and make requests himself, from the onboarding process all the way to the end, that's very helpful."

"The product is stable."

More VMware Aria Automation pros

"It's what we use the CIS Benchmarks for. It's for employing hardening rules and keeping them up to date when things happen on our systems. So it's really configurations and stuff that harden and report back."

"The initial setup was straightforward. You just have to click it and follow the manuals."

"The installation is straightforward, it took a couple of hours."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"The we can actually extend Layer 2 networking across datacenters, and also Layer 3 networking, which comes along with it."

"It is easy to implement it."

"It's a beneficial tool."

"The solution is very good at micro-segmentation."

More VMware NSX pros

Cons

"Its configuration process could be better."

"Broadcom has acquired the tool, which could lower its pricing. Many customers are moving away from VMware infrastructure towards enterprise systems like Azure or AWS. This shift could be due to two main reasons: pricing and uncertainty about the future, especially regarding how Broadcom will handle licenses and strategy."

"They could extend the ability to use vRealize Orchestrator Automation for organizations with multiple tenants. It should be easier to operate and extend different capabilities from vRealize Orchestrator. Currently, it's difficult to build advanced services in Aria Automation because you need to use the vRealize Orchestrator."

"The deployment mechanisms for the initial deployment of the product line lacks the appropriate documentation to give someone who's never used it before... There might be cases where someone wants to go to the website, go to the doc section, and do a step-by-step on how to deploy it. That's really not as brushed-up as other documents I've seen that they have. That would definitely be an improvement on their end."

"I would like to see a simpler way of provisioning it. As is, we can automate the provisioning of a VM, however, when it comes to the external IPs, that is outside of VMware. But that has to be automated as well. If there was a way for us to have the virtual machines connect to switches that are external to VMware, that would be great. That way, it would handle the entire workflow from creation and provisioning of a VM to the connectivity to the external IP addresses which allow our customers to have access to the VM. Currently, that IP configuration has to be done manually."

"The stability is why I rated it a seven and not higher. There were several cases where we had to restart some services because it wasn't working correctly anymore. People cannot extend their machine or replay their machine. There is no alert to say that there is a problem and that we should stop the service. The monitoring system is not very good."

"Stability has gotten a lot better. However, the vRO aspect, when you have a multi vRA head, is a little bit finicky still. vRO still needs to stay on one appliance and be one application, because, when you have two, you can't see runs on the other one that are happening when you're not logged into that one."

"We still struggle a little bit with the configuration as far as making sure that we have all the endpoints where they need to be, because that's not as agile as we'd like in the back-end. We're working towards that with our DevOps teams to make sure that we're touching the right endpoints and getting the right data."

More VMware Aria Automation cons

"Since most people are very much used to physical networking, they find it difficult to use VMware NSX in the initial stage."

"VMware NSX could improve by having more compatibility with other none Window-based operating systems."

"I want to see the solution expand to more than just the network, for example, perhaps it could provide some VLAN technologies."

"Quite a complex solution."

"Our technical team is always looking for the solutions that they work with to offer more convenient integrations."

"They have to work more and more on the integration for public cloud services and have cyber security platform integration."

"Its licensing model could be VM based."

"I would rate this product an eight because it's a good product but it needs more work. They should fix some of the bugs."

More VMware NSX cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Better pricing is always handy, but I feel it's at the right price point."

"It made the provisioning of the virtual machines easier and faster. We can react more quickly to customers' demands."

"SaltStack is an open-source product."

"We have seen significant ROI. We used to have physical servers, it took 90 days to get a server, order it, buy it, and get it in. We have it down to 10 minutes, building a server with virtualization, and now that's too slow. So, we let the customer do it at their speed. Therefore, it is pretty much up in a couple of minutes and they have a server."

"There is confusion between licensing levels. There are three different licensed versions of vRealize Automation, and there are different things which can happen in each of them."

"It is pricey for what you get."

"As far as value is concerned, it has been essential to our environment. We have been able to deploy VMs quickly and the developers have their own sandbox, so they can spin up and destroy VMs at their own will."

"The solution is pretty expensive but provides good workload management."

More VMware Aria Automation pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is higher than other options from Palo Alto, Fortinet, and Cisco because it is sold in a bundle."

"VMware has always been geared towards enterprise and their pricing options are a bit high. Their price is higher than other options in the market."

"VMware NSX isn't cheap."

"The price of VMware NSX is optimal. Additionally, the price of the solution can be negotiated with the vendor. Many areas of the solution can impact the cost, such as features, time for onboarding, and support needed."

"The price of VMware NSX is very good compared to other solutions."

"The pricing model for VMware NSX is good."

"You can scale NSX if you have the resources, but it's usually expensive and complex to scale up."

"We haven't had to hire a dedicated network engineer because NSX handles 90 percent of it. The reduced overhead in terms of managing networks has been the biggest plus."

More VMware NSX pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Automation solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

805,335 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What's the difference between VMware vRA (automation) and vROps (operations)?

vROP is a virtualization management solution from VMWare. It is efficient and easy to manage. You can find anything you need from the software interface. It provides complete visibility over applic...

See all answers

Is there any way to try VMware Aria Automation for free?

When it comes to VMware Aria Automation, you have three choices for free runs: Hands-on Lab (HOL) Advanced lab A free trial I cannot describe in detail the second and third options as my company ...

See all answers

Which sectors can benefit the most from VMware Aria Automation?

I was looking at VMware Aria Automation case studies recently and I got the impression that three main kinds of companies were using it most often: Social organizations Financial institutions and ...

See all answers

What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?

There are some very major differences between both the Products and to name a few. -Cisco ACI have physical network gear (9K Switches) where the Code runs in ACI Policy Mode & the UCS server wh...

See all answers

What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?

Once you know your way around the Cisco ecosystem, using Cisco ACI is not so difficult. It is a global product, so when you change one interface, changes are automatically reflected on every switch...

See all answers

What do you like most about VMware NSX?

The product has valuable features for security and network extension.

See all answers

Comparisons

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs VMware Aria Automation

Compared 21% of the time

VMware Aria Operations vs VMware Aria Automation

Compared 13% of the time

VMware Cloud Director vs VMware Aria Automation

Compared 11% of the time

Morpheus vs VMware Aria Automation

Compared 8% of the time

vCenter Orchestrator vs VMware Aria Automation

Compared 5% of the time

More VMware Aria Automation Competitors

Nutanix Flow Network Security vs VMware NSX

Compared 21% of the time

Illumio vs VMware NSX

Compared 18% of the time

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs VMware NSX

Compared 15% of the time

Cisco ACI vs VMware NSX

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Secure Workload vs VMware NSX

Compared 7% of the time

More VMware NSX Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

VMware Aria Automation

August 2024

Download VMware Aria Automation product report

Buyer's Guide

VMware NSX

August 2024

Download VMware NSX product report

Also Known As

VMware vRealize Automation, vRA, VMware DynamicOps Cloud Suite, SaltStack

VMware Nicira, Lastline Defender

Learn More

VMware

Overview

VMware Aria Automation is a cloud management tool that allows companies to simplify their cloud experience through a modern automation platform. The solution is designed to deliver self-service clouds, multi-cloud automation with governance, and DevOps-based security and infrastructure management. It helps organizations improve IT agility, efficiency, and productivity through its various features.

VMware Aria Automation has multiple use cases that include the following:

Self-service multi-cloud: VMware Aria Automation can be used to deliver consistent self-service consumption. Another use case in this area is for delivering infrastructure across VMware Clouds as well as public clouds.
Multi-cloud governance: The solution can be used to manage cost, performance, networking, configuration, and security at scale for multi-cloud environments. VMware Aria Automation offers all this with an everything-as-code approach.
DevOps for infrastructure: Through VMware Aria Automation, companies can enable a powerful infrastructure as code platform with support for iterative development and infrastructure pipelining.
Kubernetes automation: Users can utilize VMware Aria Automation to automate the management of Kubernetes clusters and namespaces with support for vSphere with Tanzu.
Security operations: VMware Aria Automation facilitates event-driven automation to deliver full-service IT system compliance enforcement and vulnerability remediation.

VMware Aria Automation Features

VMware Aria Automation has various features that allow users to easily perform operations. Some of the solution's capacities include:

VMware Cloud agnostic template: This feature allows organizations to use a single cloud template to deploy with Infrastructure as a Code. Deployment options include VMware Cloud as well as major public cloud platforms such as Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and more.
Extensibility and customization: This VMware Aria Automation feature allows users to get full extensibility and customization. This can be achieved through Aria Automation Orchestrator, Action-Based Extensibility (ABX), and built-in integrations with common third-party tools.
Self-service multi-cloud: This feature enables users to request and provision infrastructure resources. It can be done across clouds using a unified and consistent Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) consumption layer, idempotent REST API, and self-service catalog.
Centralized policies and governance: VMware Aria Automation offers a feature for users to manage multiple clouds with templatized cloud and policy definition, automated remediation, and cloud environment visibility.
Configuration management: Through this feature of the product, day 1 and 2 control can be achieved for virtualized and cloud environments. This can be done with intuitive configuration automation, compliance enforcement, and vulnerability remediation.
Infrastructure pipelining: Through this feature, organizations can access user-friendly release automation pipelines. They can be specifically tailored for CI/CD in infrastructure use cases.

VMware Aria Automation Benefits

VMware Aria Automation offers its users various benefits. Some of the biggest advantages that the solution brings to companies that utilize it include:

VMware Aria Automation provides faster time to market for companies through offloading manual tasks with advanced workflows and agile templating.
The solution offers high levels of security and control.
This product is suitable for beginners, as it offers a self-service consumption experience for users.
VMware Aria Automation accelerates innovation through Infrastructure as Code and DevOps principles.
The product provides users with flexibility, as it is compatible with the most popular public cloud solutions.
The solution offers fast deployment because of all natively integrated functions.

Reviews from Real Users

Awais J., CTO/CEO at a tech services company, likes VMware Aria Automation because it saves a lot of time, provides more visibility, and has extensive automation capabilities.

An IT consultant at a government rates VMware Aria Automation highly because the product gives you flexibility to analyze and consume resources.

VMware NSX is a sophisticated solution utilized for micro-segmentation, network security, software-defined networking, and private cloud construction. It aids in the transition from physical to virtual infrastructure, ensuring efficient network virtualization and security of production workloads.

VMware NSX empowers organizations to manage network functions, implement distributed firewalls, and enhance security within virtual environments. Crucial for disaster recovery and load balancing, it supports cloud-native application development and enterprise clients. Its ease of use, scalability, and seamless integration with existing VMware solutions ensure streamlined network management and swift deployment. Despite its extensive features, areas like pricing, routing functionality, and compatibility with certain platforms require attention.

What are the key features of VMware NSX?

Ease of Use: Simplifies network management with an intuitive interface.
Scalability: Adapts to growing infrastructure needs seamlessly.
Micro-Segmentation: Enhances security by dividing networks into smaller, manageable segments.
Integration: Seamlessly works with existing VMware solutions and third-party applications.
Dynamic Routing: Optimizes network traffic efficiently.
Security Options: Offers robust firewall features and security measures.
Automation: Facilitates quick deployment through comprehensive automation capabilities.
High Bandwidth: Ensures high-performance network operations.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Enhanced Network Security: Superior protection for virtual environments.
Efficient Disaster Recovery: Reliable support for business continuity.
Reduced Deployment Time: Fast implementation and configuration.
Improved Network Management: Centralized and streamlined control of network resources.

VMware NSX is widely implemented across industries such as finance, healthcare, and manufacturing. Organizations in these sectors utilize it to bolster security, enhance network efficiency, and support cloud-native applications. By extending on-premise networks into provider spaces and managing virtual access networks, VMware NSX significantly optimizes infrastructure operations.

Sample Customers

Rent-a-Center, Amway, Vistra Energy, Liberty Mutual

City of Avondale, Lumeta, Kroll Ontrack, Heartland Payment Systems, Baystate Heallth, Exostar, Tribune Media, iGATE, NTT Communications, Synergent, California Natural Resources Agency, Bloomington Public Schools, Columbia Sportswear, Join Experience S.A, Schuberg Philis

Buyer's Guide

VMware Aria Automation vs. VMware NSX

August 2024

Free Report: VMware Aria Automation vs. VMware NSX

Find out what your peers are saying about VMware Aria Automation vs. VMware NSX and other solutions. Updated: August 2024.

DOWNLOAD NOW

805,335 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our VMware Aria Automation vs. VMware NSX report.

See our list of best Network Automation vendors.

We monitor all Network Automation reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.