Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs Cisco Secure Workload vs VMware NSX comparison

Akamai and Cisco are both solutions in the Cloud and Data Center Security category. Akamai is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.7, while Cisco is ranked #8 with an average rating of 9.5. Akamai holds a 15.2% mindshare in CDCS, compared to Cisco’s 9.5% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Akamai users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Read 26 Akamai Guardicore Segmentation reviews

8,556 Views
5,476 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Cisco Secure Workload

Read 15 Cisco Secure Workload reviews

5,498 Views
3,574 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

VMware NSX

Read 107 VMware NSX reviews

9,569 Views
4,115 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Cisco Secure Workload

VMware NSX

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, Cisco Secure Workload, and VMware NSX based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Akamai, Broadcom, Illumio and others in Cloud and Data Center Security.

To learn more, read our detailed Cloud and Data Center Security Report (Updated: May 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cloud and Data Center Security

May 2026

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Helped 896,467 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Cloud and Data Center Security category, the mindshare of Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is 15.2%, down from 24.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Workload is 9.5%, down from 14.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware NSX is 10.2%, down from 13.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud and Data Center Security Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation	15.2%
VMware NSX	10.2%
Cisco Secure Workload	9.5%
Other	65.1%

Cloud and Data Center Security

Featured Reviews

Vibin Thomas

Team Lead, Technical Content Security at Valuepoint Systems

Zero-trust micro-segmentation has strengthened security and improves east-west traffic visibility

While Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is a very powerful solution, there are a few areas where it could be improved. One of the main challenges is the initial deployment and policy design complexity. In large environments, understanding all application dependencies and creating the right policies can take time and requires close coordination with application teams. The user interface and policy management can also be improved. As the number of policies grows, managing and organizing them becomes slightly complex. A more simplified or intuitive policy structure would help operational teams. Another area is integration with other security tools such as SIEM or SOAR platforms. While integration is possible, making it more seamless and easier to configure would add value. Additionally, the reporting and dashboard could be enhanced to provide more customizable and business-level insights, especially for management and reporting. One small improvement I would suggest for Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is having more automation capabilities for policy creation and recommendation. For example, AI-driven suggestions based on observed traffic patterns would help reduce manual effort during the initial policy design. It would also help to have more predefined templates for common use cases, especially for industries such as banking, to speed up deployment. Another area is enhanced reporting customization where we can easily generate business-level dashboards for management and compliance teams without any additional effort.

Read full review

Raj Metkar

Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA

Discover internal application dependencies and create a dependency map

We actively seek improvements in integrating the Infoblox DDI platform with Cisco Secure Workload. This integration allows Cisco Secure Workload to learn about our networks and network tags, providing valuable insights into vulnerabilities related to the operating system and various applications installed on our servers. Recently, Cisco announced a new product called HyperShield, an AI-based autonomous micro-segmentation solution. While Cisco has not stated that HyperShield will replace Cisco Secure Workload, it represents a natural evolution for the company. HyperShield features dynamic policy discovery and enforcement; however, once policies are enforced, they do not change until a discovery occurs, requiring a re-enforcement process. This new platform operates autonomously, minimizing the need for user or security engineer intervention. I would have expected Cisco to incorporate more automatic discovery and enforcement features within the existing Cisco Secure Workload product. Instead of enhancing the current product, they have introduced a new solution. Cisco plans to honor existing Tetration licenses, allowing users to transition to HyperShield without additional costs, reflecting the investment enterprises have already made. From Cisco’s perspective, this represents a natural progression in their product line. While the product name changes, it seems more of a rebranding effort. The enhancements are greater autonomy, improved discovery, and automatic enforcement, which are now being introduced in HyperShield. Cisco Secure Workload offers automatic policy enforcement but cannot adjust policies dynamically as the application needs to change. Having used the platform for the past five years, the recent announcement has been reassuring. Cisco has confirmed that our investment in the platform will not go to waste. They will honor our existing licenses, providing a natural migration path to the new solution without any disruption

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TAIYAB HASAN

Windows Redhat Linux Vmware & Azure & Cloud & Nutanix Ahv-Vmware & Backup Senior System Administrator at AlDawaa Medical Services

Has improved network visibility and security through micro-segmentation and SDN capabilities

This feature gives us flexibility and allows us to manage everything under one pane. We can see everything on one console, including network operations and behavior. Monitoring and security are among the best features for VMware NSX. For micro-segmentation, it's integrated with our endpoint security. If there are any issues with servers or VMs, it notifies us so we can isolate the servers and investigate. It provides distributed security features such as firewall and intrusion, IDS, IPS. The security level with IPS and IDS in VMware NSX is excellent. It also provides logical switching and routing which gives an extra layer for Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching requirements. The solution provides flexibility, automation, and self-service capabilities, resulting in cost savings as extensive expertise isn't required. Once automation and self-service are implemented, many tasks can be completed automatically. Load balancing is another excellent feature. Multiple servers can run on load balancing features, which is particularly useful since we have many application servers running. Sharing loads between servers provides the best performance.

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

"When I say that the stability for Guardicore is high, I mean there's not much an issue."

"The change control in GuardiCore has improved our efficiency by over 75% in terms of implementing security policies, and the efficiency of the security team was improved by over 100% in terms of analytics, monitoring, and responding to incidents."

"This tool greatly helps in understanding the footprint of the attacks."

"The technical support has been excellent, and is probably one of the best customer services provided by any company, as they are helpful, reactive to problems, and constantly work to enable us to do what we want to do."

"Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is a very effective solution for organizations looking to strengthen their zero-trust security model, especially in complex hybrid environments."

"The real bonus is the fact that we can secure applications, all the way down to the individual services, on each host. It's actually more granular security than we can get out of a traditional firewall."

"No one has asked for more, so I find the technical support in my region is pretty good."

"That is primarily because I've seen increased rules. It's kind of caught us a little off guard. With GuardiCore, I have had to deal with their technical support and engineering team in Israel. They are amazing. They are very quick to adapt."

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation pros

"The only use case I can see that makes sense is micro-segmentation. I think there are other use cases for it. The main purpose of the product is to do micro-segmentation by collecting IP. That could be done by installing an agent, and then you have all the communication coming in and out. You could also use some flow sensors installed in the network that receive a copy of the traffic and then report that back to the system."

"This product does everything that you need it to do and more and does a lot to provide visibility in a network environment, save time and money, and make the organization IT operate in a much more streamlined fashion."

"A complete and powerful micro-segmentation solution."

"By using Tetration insight, we are able to get the latency on our level accounts and we can determine whatever the issue is with the application latency itself."

"Scalability is its most valuable feature."

"The solution is very user-friendly, which clients appreciate."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is security."

More Cisco Secure Workload pros

"Consistent networking and security policies across different environments have a major and very positive impact on our business operations, allowing us to achieve the security posture we want with compliance and regulations."

"Has a great firewall."

"You're building a scalable solution, a secure solution, and a stable end-to-end solution; these are the main measurable benefits VMware NSX provides to the users."

"The most valuable feature is to control application behavior, and it provides us with features that other products have not."

"The initial setup was straightforward. It follows a certain structure and you won't miss a step. It's all on the same level, step by step."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to create, develop, and deploy servers in minutes to hours, rather than days."

"Apart from the normal functionality, a few things are quite useful, including multi-cloud networking, container networking, and load balancing, which are quite useful when we are designing a solution, and it's a pretty mature platform right now."

"The solution is robust as it covers everything we want to do and is stable, so we're happy enough with it. We have had no problems so far. Everything is great."

More VMware NSX pros

Cons

"Customers would want to see the cost improved."

"The integration with other tools could be improved."

"The cost of licensing is the biggest issue for clients with GuardiCore."

"Guardicore Centra should incorporate automation so that we don't require to write custom scripts and APIs. The tool also has limitations on rules where it allows only sixty thousand rules. Our clients have also commented that there are too many manual clicks and effort to do changes. I think that the incorporation of automation can help our clients make changes with confidence and without the possibility of human error."

"Needs more customization of honeypots and a vaster catalog of systems able to be mimicked."

"Kubernetes is not installed in the way we need it."

"I think the pricing is very high."

"Incident tagging could be improved. Other vendors offer semi-automatic tagging, which Guardicore doesn't yet have."

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation cons

"Secure Workload is a little complicated to use, and the dashboard isn't intuitive, so it takes a while to learn how to use it."

"They should scale down the hardware a bit. The initial hardware investment is two million dollars so it's a price point problem."

"The problem is that we can only deploy the particular solution where we have the hardware with Cisco."

"It is highly scalable, but there is a limitation that it is only available on Cisco devices."

"I'd like to see better documentation for advanced features. The documentation is fairly basic. I would also like to see better integration with other applications."

"The scalability of this solution needs to be improved."

"A feature that I was looking for was emailed alerts and notifications so we'd get them right away."

"The product must be integrated with the cloud."

More Cisco Secure Workload cons

"We had some complexities implementing into the other parts of a network."

"If an organization is not able to use NSX to its full potential (Switching, Routing, Load-balancing, Firewall, IDS, IPS etc.) then its not worth it."

"The training costs a minimum of $3,000, which is expensive and should be reduced."

"I would like to have automating reporting built into common service management platforms, such as JIRA, Serviceaide, and ServiceNow."

"They have some limitations in the firewall features as compared to the on-prem or dedicated hardware appliance. They can add more features, such as IPS and IDS, to the cloud firewall."

"VMware NSX can improve the migration tools from the older environments to the new environment."

"The initial setup was a bit lengthy in the beginning."

"Just being more knowledgeable about the different functions."

More VMware NSX cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is expensive."

"The price is the same as other products in the market. There's no price argument to choose one or the other product, it will cost the customer approximately the same."

"GuardiCore has made some new changes to the license now. We've seen monthly and annual licenses based on a subscription. We have a few clients that pay anywhere from $25,000 a year."

"This is not a cheap solution but you have to consider the bigger picture, which is what it is giving you."

"Compared to the pricing we were seeing from both Illumio and Edgewise, Guardicore was very competitive."

"The pricing is too high."

"Guardicore Centra provides better value for money than NSX, was the other solution that we looked at, which was too expensive for what it does."

"The customer would complain about the cost."

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation pricing and cost advice

"The price is based on how many computers you're going to install it on."

"The cost for the hardware is around 300k."

"Pricing depends on the scope of the application and the features. Larger installations save more."

"The price is outrageous. If you have money to throw at the product, then do it."

"The pricing is a bit higher than we anticipated."

"It is not cheap and pricing may limit scalability."

"Regarding price, Cisco Secure Workload can be expensive if you don't have a budget. If you're not doing micro-segmentation, every extra security measure or enforcement you're putting on top of your existing environment will be an extra cost. It's not a cheap solution at all. But from my point of view, if you need to do micro-segmentation, this is one of the best tools I've seen for it. I can't compare that to Microsoft's solution because I haven't looked into it. I've looked into VMware and Cisco. Those are the only two that I know of. I didn't know that Microsoft could do micro-segmentation at all. Maybe they can, but I haven't heard anything about it."

"This solution requires a licence."

"It is an expensive product, but cheaper than some competing solutions."

"Our customers have definitely complained about its cost. It's expensive. I'd rate it a nine out of ten in terms of pricing where ten represents a high price. There are other products out there that are equally expensive."

"The product pricing ranges from medium to expensive. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten."

"The implementation of VMware NSX can be cost-intensive, especially if an organization is looking for a comprehensive solution. The costs can vary based on factors like the level of conversation and discounts obtained during negotiations. Some government organizations, for instance, may find the prices relatively high, leading to concerns about budget hikes, especially when deploying the solution across the entire organization. Regarding maintenance and support, they are typically included in the standard licensing costs for enterprise-level businesses. While these costs can be significant, many companies opt for standard licensing to ensure they have access to necessary support and maintenance services."

"All the institutions have to pay monthly for the services in the cloud. They have to pay $30,000 every month for this service every three years."

"The licensing fees are expensive and we pay on a yearly basis."

"I was not involved in the purchase of the solution but I hear it is on the expensive side."

More VMware NSX pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	15

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	34
Midsize Enterprise	23
Large Enterprise	69

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Guardicore Centra?

Regarding pricing and setup cost, I don't have information because I am from a consulting team and not from the sales...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Guardicore Infection Monkey?

Reporting is one area where I think Akamai Guardicore Segmentation can be improved. They are working on it, but as of...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Guardicore Infection Monkey?

My main use case for Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is related to Kubernetes instrumentation and visibility, although...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Workload?

CloudStrike offers antivirus capabilities and firewall features for servers and VDI but lacks automatic policy discov...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Workload?

We actively seek improvements in integrating the Infoblox DDI platform with Cisco Secure Workload. This integration a...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Workload?

When we onboarded Cisco Secure Workload, the usual use case was to discover internal application dependencies and cre...

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 g...

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 wh...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware NSX?

When measuring complexity and costs for our organization, we consider some parameters for effectiveness. In terms of ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Illumio vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 28% of the time

TrendAI Deep Security vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 5% of the time

Zero Networks vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 3% of the time

Check Point Email Security (formerly Harmony Email & Collaboration) vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 3% of the time

Tigera vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 3% of the time

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation Competitors

Illumio vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 14% of the time

Cisco Hypershield vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 6% of the time

TrendAI Deep Security vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 5% of the time

Cisco ACI vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 5% of the time

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 4% of the time

More Cisco Secure Workload Competitors

Nutanix Flow Network Security vs VMware NSX

Compared 10% of the time

Illumio vs VMware NSX

Compared 10% of the time

Cisco ACI vs VMware NSX

Compared 4% of the time

TrendAI Deep Security vs VMware NSX

Compared 4% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs VMware NSX

Compared 4% of the time

More VMware NSX Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

May 2026

Download Akamai Guardicore Segmentation product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Workload

May 2026

Download Cisco Secure Workload product report

Buyer's Guide

VMware NSX

May 2026

Download VMware NSX product report

Also Known As

Guardicore Centra, GuardiCore

Cisco Tetration

VMware Nicira, Lastline Defender

Overview

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation offers extensive visibility and micro-segmentation capabilities, integrating seamlessly with diverse environments to enhance security measures. Organizations benefit from its platform agnosticism and centralized firewall management, maximizing protection and operational efficiency.

Known for its detailed network visibility, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation streamlines security operations across different platforms. It facilitates ease of policy creation and allows for effective segmentation, even of legacy systems. With advanced threat intelligence and real-time traffic monitoring, organizations optimize security and compliance, reducing attack surfaces through precise process and port control. This capability extends to seamless operation in environments like Kubernetes and data centers, implementing Zero Trust security models and server-to-server segmentation.

What are the key features?

Extensive visibility: Offers comprehensive insight across network environments.
Platform agnosticism: Operates effectively on multiple platforms.
Micro-segmentation: Enables detailed control over network traffic.
Centralized management: Simplifies firewall administration and monitoring.
Threat intelligence: Incorporates AI for dynamic threat assessment.

What benefits or ROI should organizations seek?

Enhanced security: Reduces attack surfaces and prevents lateral movements.
Operational efficiency: Streamlines policy creation and enforcement.
Integration flexibility: Aligns with diverse systems for seamless deployment.
Compliance achievement: Supports adherence to industry standards.

In sectors like banking and financial services, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is crucial for implementing Zero Trust models and enhancing server-to-server segmentation. These industries utilize its capabilities to replace traditional firewalls and manage complex environments, boosting security through application dependency mapping and optimized east-west traffic control.

Akamai

Cisco Secure Workload offers advanced auditing, micro-segmentation, and network visibility, automating policy presentation for improved security. It enhances application dependency mapping and provides comprehensive telemetry with strategic policy enforcement.

Cisco Secure Workload specializes in automating micro-segmentation, data center management, and traffic analysis. Its capabilities facilitate application dependency mapping and enhance internal micro-segmentation, providing invaluable network visibility. Users find its automation in policy presentation and strategic enforcement beneficial, along with granular control and scalability, despite needing improvements in scalability and integration capabilities. Enhanced notification features, troubleshooting options, and an efficient interface are desired for seamless deployment, along with stronger multi-tenancy, redundancy, and monitoring functions. Broader platform support and integrated cloud connectivity are desired for unified management across tools.

What are the most important features?

Auditing: Provides in-depth network analysis and security auditing capabilities.
Micro-Segmentation: Enhances network security by automating segmentation at a granular level.
Application Dependency Mapping: Visualizes connections and interactions between applications.
Network Visibility: Delivers comprehensive insight into network activities and dynamics.
Policy Discovery: Streamlines policy creation through automation and reduces manual intervention.
Comprehensive Telemetry: Offers complete coverage and insights for better security assessment.

What benefits and ROI should be evaluated?

Enhanced Security Measures: Offers robust features for network security improvement.
Automated Processes: Reduces manual efforts through automation, increasing efficiency.
Scalability: Adapts to growing network demands with flexible scalability options.
Granular Control: Allows detailed control over network policies and enforcement.

Entities in finance, gas, and oil sectors utilize Cisco Secure Workload for networking site management and compliance maintenance. It integrates into extensive Cisco infrastructure, aiding routers, switches, and endpoints, thus supporting auditors in network synchronization and auditing needs.

Cisco

VMware NSX is a comprehensive tool for network virtualization and security, offering advanced features like micro-segmentation and multi-cloud networking to enhance scalability and management efficiency within enterprises.

VMware NSX revolutionizes enterprise networking by integrating security and scalability into one streamlined platform. With capabilities like dynamic policy updates and automation, it simplifies complex configurations and provides robust API integration. Its support for Layer 4 and 7 load balancing, along with its seamless integration in multi-cloud environments, makes it a preferred choice among companies. Although deployment speed and management console features require refinement, NSX is an effective solution for private cloud and hybrid environments, enabling centralized orchestration and management of complex networks.

What are the key features of VMware NSX?

Micro-segmentation: Provides secure, granular network segmentation for enhanced security.
Distributed Firewall: Offers policy-driven firewall capabilities across all network endpoints.
Automation: Enables dynamic policy updates and simplifies network configurations.
API Integration: Facilitates seamless third-party integrations and improves configuration processes.
Multi-Cloud Networking: Supports seamless integration across various cloud environments.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Scalability: Offers significant improvements in network scalability and management efficiency.
Security: Ensures enhanced security through advanced features like micro-segmentation.
Cost-Effectiveness: Potential to reduce costs through network automation and efficiency improvements.
Flexibility: Supports various enterprise requirements with its comprehensive feature set.

In the tech industry, VMware NSX is instrumental in managing private and hybrid cloud environments, allowing companies to replace traditional networking with software-defined networks. In finance, it helps secure transactional data through micro-segmentation. Healthcare organizations leverage its flexibility for managing sensitive patient information securely and integrating cloud services.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Santander, Frontier Airlines, OpenLink, Intermountain Healthcare, Cellcom, BancoBASE

ADP, University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC)

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

Cloud and Data Center Security

May 2026

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