Cisco Nexus Dashboard vs. PRTG Network Monitor

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Nexus Dashboard
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Nexus Dashboard unifies data center management by integrating network monitoring, troubleshooting, orchestration, management and automation into a single platform. It allows businesses to configure, operate, and analyze network infrastructures through a simplified interface. Cisco Nexus Dashboard leverages automation, predictive analytics, and security features to enhance operational efficiency, improve scalability, and reduce time to resolution for critical networking tasks.N/A
PRTG
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
PRTG Network Monitor is the flagship offering from German software company Paessler, for monitoring local and wide area networks (LANs & WANs), servers, websites, apps, and more.
$2,149
per year
Pricing
Cisco Nexus DashboardPRTG Network Monitor
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
PRTG 500
$2,149
per year
Hosted 500
$2,149
per year
PRTG 1,000
$3,899
per year
Hosted 1000
$3,899
per year
PRTG 2,500
$8,099
per year
Hosted 2500
$8,099
per year
PRTG 5,000
$14,199
per year
Hosted 5000
$14,199
per year
PRTG 10000
$17,899
per year
PRTG Enterprise
Custom Pricing
subscription license
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Nexus DashboardPRTG
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Nexus DashboardPRTG Network Monitor
Features
Cisco Nexus DashboardPRTG Network Monitor
Network Performance Monitoring
Comparison of Network Performance Monitoring features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Nexus Dashboard
-
Ratings
PRTG Network Monitor
7.8
65 Ratings
4% below category average
Automated network device discovery00 Ratings8.158 Ratings
Network monitoring00 Ratings9.464 Ratings
Baseline threshold calculation00 Ratings7.655 Ratings
Alerts00 Ratings8.765 Ratings
Network capacity planning00 Ratings6.746 Ratings
Packet capture analysis00 Ratings6.833 Ratings
Network mapping00 Ratings6.946 Ratings
Customizable reports00 Ratings7.055 Ratings
Wireless infrastructure monitoring00 Ratings7.447 Ratings
Hardware health monitoring00 Ratings8.962 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco Nexus DashboardPRTG Network Monitor
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Dell PowerConnect Switches
Dell PowerConnect Switches
Score 8.3 out of 10
PingPlotter
PingPlotter
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Score 9.3 out of 10
PingPlotter
PingPlotter
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Nexus DashboardPRTG Network Monitor
Likelihood to Recommend
8.2
(50 ratings)
8.8
(66 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(4 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(2 ratings)
8.7
(5 ratings)
Performance
8.8
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(18 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.8
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Nexus DashboardPRTG Network Monitor
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
Nexus Dashboard is a vital tool for Cisco data center Nexus deployments, in my opinion. By utilizing multiple applications in the suite, a business can utilize orchestration, monitor services and traffic, test deployment scenarios, verify upgrade processes and readiness, etc. The capabilities of the system can allow for SAN MDS controls, traditional Nexus NXOS integration, and/or essential ACI tools
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Paessler
integrates seamlessly with Windows servers via WMI and PowerShell, providing deep insights into resource usage, performance metrics, and system health. It's excellent at tracking CPU, memory, disk space, and event logs, enabling rapid troubleshooting and proactive maintenance. PRTG Network Monitor also effectively monitors Fortigate devices, providing detailed data on firewall health, traffic patterns, bandwidth utilization, VPN status, and security alerts. This visibility helps detect and resolve network security issues promptly.
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Pros
Cisco
  • It is a flexible tool that helps streamline and facilitate the development of new services.
  • Ideal for automating tasks such as network modification, configuration, and removal, which provides great time savings.
  • Ensures services without interruption and without difficult scheduling.
  • It has a simple user interface and excellent support, made up of several providers.
  • It facilitates the administration of managed services.
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Paessler
  • Switch monitoring and finding out if there are communication issues or throughput alerts are reached
  • Big picture view of the whole infrastructure and what is functioning and what is not
  • Uptime tracking is great and lets us know for how long a device is down or overall uptime
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Cons
Cisco
  • With the latest version release of Cisco Nexus Dashboard to version 3.0.1 I can say that most of the features have already improved but one of the wishlists that I want for ND is the possibility of extracting lists of Anomaly.
  • Include older versions of Firmware in the list of choices when doing the firmware upgrade analysis, currently only the recommended is in the list of choices.
  • If possible, include all the prechecks in the Firmware pre-upgrade analysis same in the script provided by Cisco.
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Paessler
  • Licensing on a per entity basis can be cumbersome for devices which have a ton of monitoring points like network switches\routers. Each sensor may count against a license, which could be a lot of you were monitoring every TX\RX of an SFP for example
  • A better method to easily template\copy monitors across devices
  • The navigation in the web GUI could be a little more straightforward in terms of the hierarchy
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Likelihood to Renew
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Paessler
I would renew it because the platform has brought us many technical and economic benefits that make the cost-benefit ratio very good. Additionally, to do so does not require large investments in training, licensing or infrastructure, and at the administration level, extensive knowledge is not required to be able to bear it.
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Usability
Cisco
For the end user, it is relatively easy to use. However, some training and practice is a must because the NSO is not as straightforward as the traditional router CLI. For the administrator, Cisco Network Service Orchestrator (NSO) is just like another program running on the Linux system--there is no big difference.
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Paessler
The tool is very intuitive to use and it is Windows-based (everybody knows how to use Windows) so it's easy to get into. Every time is setup in a hierarchy so if you have a good initial hierarchy design, it will really reduce administrative effort down the road.
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Performance
Cisco
Great and effective automation functionalities and the tools on network security management are the best and easy data reports building. Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller feature for the network monitoring and easy management of various services and even offers the best analytics and also powerful integration tools for easy data migration.
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Paessler
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Paessler
PRTG does everything we need it to do and more. Ease of use, ease of management and maintenance and clarity of monitoring of hundreds of different types of device and service gives this a large advantage over other products on the market that I have tried. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who needs a network monitoring product in their environment and even to people who don't know they need a solution yet!
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Implementation Rating
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Paessler
It's very important that de project's teams have different member of the TI. We have learned too late the importa of Security Analyst at the design architecture moment. We have to rebuild part of the implementation for made this big mistake.
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Alternatives Considered
Cisco
The Cisco Nexus Series switches perform admirably in our blended distributed system. We have been dealing with any of these sorts of switches for over 5 years and have been exceptionally happy with their functionality. Several of our other computer networks in our data rooms have proved effective with Cisco equipment. Because of the simplicity of maintenance and the high quality of technical support provided by Cisco representatives, there is a high level of trust in these switches.
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Paessler
PRTG offers more versatility in monitoring when compared to the other solutions we tested. The other solutions were also limited as far as customization options, which made them less adaptable to our networks. When compared to Auvik, for instance, we prefer PRTG as it offers immediate notifications through the desktop client - not limited to email notifications as with Auvik. We also appreciate the fact that PRTG can be self/on-prem hosted vs Auvik's cloud model. This makes for an easier deployment and less firewall adjustments to allow traffic to cloud-hosted solutions.
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Scalability
Cisco
The platform is very well done, and to date, I have had no complaints about the implementation of the platform and no security issues or vulnerabilities. Cisco in all its product releases new versions to resolve security issues or bugs that appear on the platform, this is a big plus.
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Paessler
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Cisco
  • Bit pricey.
  • Need to be purchased with vendor support. As far as I know, now support other vendors.
  • It's upgrade from DCNM and worth looking into.
  • It's still evolving and may need minor cosmetic adjustment
  • Easy to create and maintain vxlan and non vxlan fabrics.
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Paessler
  • The ability to analyze multiple pieces of information in one place, especially with historical data, has saved our IT department time and headaches. It would be so much more difficult to trace an issue without PRTG, just relying on event logs and an open task manager window.
  • The cost is not cheap, so it's an expense that hits the bottom line like everything else. Figure in hardware costs as well, ideally a server outside of your main environment.
  • I keep saying this, but the historical data piece is worth so much. There's really no good way to collect all of that information in one place without something like PRTG. And that definitely saves time and money in the long run.
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ScreenShots