Cisco Nexus Dashboard vs. PRTG Network Monitor

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Nexus Dashboard
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Nexus Dashboard provides a simplified, centralized data center dashboard that enables businesses to manage their hybrid cloud network operations.N/A
PRTG
Score 8.5 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.
$1,750
perpetual license
Pricing
Cisco Nexus DashboardPRTG Network Monitor
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
PRTG 500
1,750
perpetual license
PRTG 1,000
3,200
perpetual license
PRTG 2,500
6,500
perpetual license
PRTG 5,000
11,500
perpetual license
PRTG XL 1
15,500
perpetual license
PRTG Enterprise
Custom Pricing
subscription license
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Nexus DashboardPRTG
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Nexus DashboardPRTG Network Monitor
Top Pros
Top Cons
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
7.0
55 Ratings
16% below category average
Automated network device discovery00 Ratings7.449 Ratings
Network monitoring00 Ratings7.654 Ratings
Baseline threshold calculation00 Ratings6.647 Ratings
Alerts00 Ratings7.655 Ratings
Network capacity planning00 Ratings6.639 Ratings
Packet capture analysis00 Ratings5.328 Ratings
Network mapping00 Ratings7.639 Ratings
Customizable reports00 Ratings7.448 Ratings
Wireless infrastructure monitoring00 Ratings7.438 Ratings
Hardware health monitoring00 Ratings6.852 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco Nexus DashboardPRTG Network Monitor
Small Businesses
NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.2 out of 10
NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.2 out of 10
Nmap
Nmap
Score 8.8 out of 10
Enterprises
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Score 8.8 out of 10
Nmap
Nmap
Score 8.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Nexus DashboardPRTG Network Monitor
Likelihood to Recommend
8.2
(36 ratings)
8.4
(55 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(2 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
8.8
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.5
(17 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.8
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Nexus DashboardPRTG Network Monitor
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights is a powerful network monitoring software. It may assist you in more effectively monitoring your network. With the program's assistance, we can detect a wide range of network flaws and irregularities. Furthermore, it eliminates an interruption in the services we offer our consumers while also allowing us to reduce our high rates. Technicians no longer need to utilize CLI to copy and paste hundreds of coding lines. If you want a powerful programmable management program for your next-generation data centre, this is the program for you.
Read full review
Paessler
If there are a number of different protocols and devices to monitor PRTG is really an all in one solution. There are network specific solutions, telephony solutions, server solutions, etc - but this tool can do anything. Even if you don't use this tool as your main "monitoring solutions" every IT professional should have access to this tool for at least troubleshooting purposes. If you are looking for something specific built for a task you may be able to find [a] more direct and easy tool to use that would be easier and quicker to setup as customization is not needed.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Paessler
  • Very, very configurable. You can create all kinds of monitors for all kinds of things. Plus it has loads of suggestions out of the box. It can get complicated but monitoring is complicated. Pretty decent interface and good support - active community.
  • I really liked how easy it was to add alerts by SMS. So easy to setup.
  • I like their sizing models (for purchase). We're actually small enough that we are free. But it's not free as in stripped down - it's free because we don't use many "sensors" and don't honestly have the need.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Paessler
  • The probe service can be quite resource-intensive. This can cause false-positive readings from some sensors sometimes.
  • The software gets updated very regularly. Whilst this is usually a good thing to fix bugs etc, it does meantime downtime of the monitoring quite often while they are installed.
  • The ability to create Maps from Libraries. Very specific issue but a lot of people have been asking for it for years and it is still not available.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Paessler
It is now an essential tool for monitoring and maintaining the health of our network and systems.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Paessler
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Paessler
I am giving this a 6 simply because I have never had to contact support. The online documentation is adequate for most things, and the user-maintained knowledgebase is excellent. The few times I have run into issues that were not easily resolvable with intuitive UI, I was able to find the answers that I needed either in the PRTG-provided documentation, the knowledgebase, or with a quick online web search.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Cisco
It's an upgrade from DCNM and worth looking into. We're trying to solve the issue of Creating and maintaining VLAN fabrics. Speed and ease of use are much better than other options. The app is great; the functionality is solid. Though It can have an improved UI, and user navigation could be simpler. It helps track your data and pipelines; you can set it up in different ways to monitor different flows about where its data is. It has in-built integration with Splunk, which is what was helpful.
Read full review
Paessler
I have deployed and tested three products for evaluation I found [PRTG Network Monitor] very easy to deploy, the deployment literally took not more than one hour including basic configuration and network discovery. After deployment few configuration changes and creation of maps, reports and little tweaking is required. [Then] it would go through its process of recommendation that took some time to complete, while [on] other hand other software's took lot of time to install and configure. And features were also missing, which resulted in decision in favor of [PRTG Network Monitor].
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Paessler
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Cisco
  • From the experience of use, I can affirm that the tool improves the user experience since it reduced the time in the administration of the infrastructure, the prediction of events, as well as the suggestions for solving the problems.
  • all the aforementioned has been simplified thanks to the tool, in turn, it helps us to maintain the network in high availability.
  • The impact has been very positive due to the simplification of the administration, which in turn reduces the detection times, leading to a reduction in costs.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
ScreenShots