NetBrain vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
NetBrain
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
NetBrain Technologies in Burlington offers their network automation and management platform, emphasizing dynamic and accurate network mapping and automated troubleshooting and basic security analysis, as well as integration with an existing CMDB.N/A
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is network diagnostics and troubleshooting technology, from Austin-based SolarWinds.N/A
Pricing
NetBrainSolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
NetBrainSolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
NetBrainSolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Considered Both Products
NetBrain
Chose NetBrain
NetBrain is a specialized tool and other tools in the market nowhere stands up to its capabilities. Some capabilities are beyond what competitor are meant to designed for example - Network configuration auditing using a simple click, Out of the box runbook reports availability …
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
NetBrainSolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Small Businesses
NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.1 out of 10
Auvik
Auvik
Score 8.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Intermapper
Intermapper
Score 8.6 out of 10
PingPlotter
PingPlotter
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Score 8.8 out of 10

No answers on this topic

All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
NetBrainSolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(4 ratings)
9.1
(141 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(6 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
7.1
(8 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.7
(9 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
NetBrainSolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Likelihood to Recommend
NetBrain Technologies
Great for our large global environment. Works well with our legacy and newer equipment. Ease of install was exciting compared to other products we POC'd. Less of a learning curve when training Teams on how to monitor and troubleshoot while in production. Service desk were able to capture the logs and load into our ticketing system with ease.
Read full review
SolarWinds
If your IT team isn't proficient in automation and scripting, Solarwinds NCM can fill that gap (assuming your company's security team signs off on approving SW in your environment given the hack.) Basic device configuration, pushing mass changes reliably and backups are NCM's strong suites. If you have a complex scenario where if/then cases are needed, NCM is a bit lack luster. Auto discovery isn't as easy either as certain parameters need to be met for that feature to work 100% of the time
Read full review
Pros
NetBrain Technologies
  • Network Issues Troubleshooting
  • Visualizing the root cause using color coding
  • out of the box runbooks available
Read full review
SolarWinds
  • Integrates with Network Performance Management for Alerting and Reporting.
  • NetPath and detects issues due to Configuration Change.
  • Keeps a record of which user made the change.
  • Which devices are not being backed up, devices where backups are failing, dashboard and alerting available.
Read full review
Cons
NetBrain Technologies
  • Not all devices are integrated with the same quality.
  • Not all steps are self-explaining.
  • The updates were difficult (but thanks to the help of support no real problem).
Read full review
SolarWinds
  • For our use case, it does everything great and some of the features we underutilize but I would like to be able to set a configuration baseline when initially adding a node instead of after the configuration is pulled but it's not a particularly big deal to let it pull the configuration then set it as the baseline.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
NetBrain Technologies
No answers on this topic
SolarWinds
Medium complexity to set up in the beginning if using any non-standard devices or configurations, else fairly easy (e.g. Cisco Nexus or IOS-based devices). Reports are fairly straightforward to set up. Updates to the platform are fairly straightforward and don't take a major effort. Easy to add or remove devices.
Read full review
Usability
NetBrain Technologies
No answers on this topic
SolarWinds
The user interface is lacking. It is difficult to navigate at times and things can be done multiple ways. Quite often I am confused by how their notification structure works. It is not very intuitive. They do offer a free Academy. They also offer a community of other technical folks. I have enjoyed both.
Read full review
Support Rating
NetBrain Technologies
No answers on this topic
SolarWinds
To be fair, I have not had to involve Support in a number of years, but when I did, I was greeted with enthusiastic engineers who wanted to understand and solve the issue. It was a fairly complex scenario and I have discovered in my most recent implementation that engineering included that option as a standard now.
Read full review
Online Training
NetBrain Technologies
No answers on this topic
SolarWinds
Solarwinds has actually produced new training since I last used it that is available on their site at any time. Their previous training was more than enough to get us started but now there is significantly more content. Since I'm comfortable with the Orion platform and the products we use I haven't checked the new training out yet but we have new staff go through portions of that training and they always come away with an understanding of the platform and ready to use it
Read full review
Implementation Rating
NetBrain Technologies
No answers on this topic
SolarWinds
it was a fairly easy implementation and everything was pretty straightforward. only challenge we had was getting all the snmp communities updated on the networking equipment
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
NetBrain Technologies
Best part of NetBrain is that it is customisable ,you can create apps based on your requirement and run them in your environment. Lot of flexibility
Read full review
SolarWinds
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is a great tool and matches much of the functionality of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. Nothing about Ansible will likely be overwhelming to an engineer with a little time to spare, but that spare time combined with SolarWinds already being our monitoring tool made the decision easy. Time is at a premium in small teams and SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is very easy to use right out of the box without all the tweaking required by powerful command line driven tools like Ansible.
Read full review
Return on Investment
NetBrain Technologies
  • Time it takes for Service Desk to identify issues has been cut into 1/2
  • Able to present maps to management for circuit throughput issues and why we need a larger circuit
  • The logs are clear and easy to understand
Read full review
SolarWinds
  • The time savings from automatic daily backups is significant
  • The compare configuration tool is super helpful at spotting errors when small changes occur that are hard to detect otherwise.
  • The compliance check tool saves countless hours going through configurations for errors.
Read full review
ScreenShots

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) Screenshots

Screenshot of Network Automation -  manage rapid change across complex and multi-vendor networks, reduce time needed to complete repetitive tasks, and maintain standards and service levels for uninterrupted ITScreenshot of Config Backup - rest easy knowing you can locate the most current configuration and quickly apply it to a replacement spare, or to roll back a blown configuration.Screenshot of Vulnerability Scanning - Take the hassle out of vulnerability scanning using NCM's integration with the National Vulnerability Database and access to the most current CVE’s to identify vulnerabilities in your Cisco devices.Screenshot of Inventory Management - Be able to know what devices are connected to your network, their hardware and software configurations, and when they approach end-of-service and end-of-life, with NCM device configuration management tool.Screenshot of User Management - Use NCM's integrated console to lock down devices from unauthorized access, delegate who can view device details and make configuration changes, and determine when network changes can occur.Screenshot of Baselines and Diffs - IT professionals can get a more comprehensive view by leveraging baselines across multiple nodes. Diff view in NCM’s network configuration management tool is designed to highlight only those lines that changed.