AlertSite vs Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance comparison

SmartBear and Cisco are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. SmartBear is ranked #35 with an average rating of 8.0, while Cisco is ranked #46 with an average rating of 8.0. SmartBear holds a 0.1% mindshare in APM, compared to Cisco’s 0.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of SmartBear users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

AlertSite

Read 7 AlertSite reviews

415 Views
340 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Provider Connectivity...

Read 24 Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance reviews

2,152 Views
710 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

AlertSite

Cisco Provider Connectivity...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

AlertSite and Accedian Skylight are two prominent monitoring solutions, each with distinct strengths and areas for improvement. While users appreciate the comprehensive features of Accedian Skylight, AlertSite is favored for its easier deployment and superior customer service experience.

Features: AlertSite is praised for its simplicity and ease of use, with users highlighting its reliable monitoring and alerting capabilities. Accedian Skylight, on the other hand, is noted for its advanced features and detailed analytics, offering deeper insights into network performance. Despite Accedian Skylight's robust feature set, the user-friendly nature of AlertSite gives it an edge for those who prioritize ease of operation.

Room for Improvement: Users of AlertSite suggest enhancements in reporting capabilities and more customization options. Accedian Skylight users, meanwhile, seek improvements in the initial setup process and a more intuitive interface.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: AlertSite receives positive feedback for its straightforward deployment process and responsive customer support. Accedian Skylight's deployment is seen as more challenging, with users noting the need for a smoother setup experience. Customer service for AlertSite is frequently lauded, whereas Accedian Skylight's support, while competent, does not receive the same level of praise.

Pricing and ROI: Users report that AlertSite offers good value for money with reasonable setup costs and a satisfactory ROI. Accedian Skylight, although more expensive, is viewed as worth the investment due to its extensive capabilities and insights.

To learn more, read our detailed AlertSite vs. Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AlertSite vs. Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

July 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

AlertSite

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

35th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

API Monitoring Software (5th)

Cisco Provider Connectivity...

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

46th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (44th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of AlertSite is 0.1%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance is 0.3%, down from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

SandeepTarwe

Team lead at Tata Consultancy

Alerting capabilities have enabled timely escalation and resolution of issues

In AlertSite, I was monitoring the kiosks and servers for JetBlue Airlines. The servers would trigger alerts if there were any outages or issues with any of the kiosks, servers, or the ticketing tool. I monitored these alerts and escalated them to the concerned team to rectify them at the earliest…

Read full review

Pifu Lin

Senior System Engineer at DYNASAFE TECHNOLOGIES PTE. LTD.

Addresses connectivity issues with real-time monitoring while offering good local support

I had prepared for COC and the client. I work as a vendor for a client using Flow Mount for network performance monitoring. I focus on resolving client-side issues related to Packy Performance and quality use. This involves addressing network device issues, specifically Cisco network devices One…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The best feature of AlertSite is that it shows you a visual graph and also sends you notifications about errors, so you get immediate notifications about errors which means that your support team can start taking steps and more quickly make sure the site is up and that customer experience isn't interrupted in terms of using your system and your products. AlertSite is a very good tool. It's user-friendly, and you can see everything on the dashboard. Configuring it is also easy."

"I highly recommend AlertSite to other users."

"If there are any issues, it triggers an alert within 30 seconds. When it triggers the alert, we go ahead and check it immediately. The alert is triggered on a real-time basis."

"There are custom reports available along with the inbuilt reports."

"The alerting capabilities of AlertSite were really helpful."

"The alerting capabilities were really helpful."

"This solution has numerous advantages. It's extremely simple to configure. Either digital monitors or single-URL monitors are simple to configure and build."

"I found multiple features in AlertSite that I like. One is data monitoring history, for example, a history of the blackouts and the data. Sometimes, there's a glitch in the application that AlertSite can capture, and the tool notifies you about that glitch. It also identifies issues that could happen in the future. AlertSite is also a fast tool that you can use to monitor on-premise servers, internal applications, and even global applications. The data is available on a single UI in AlertSite, so there's no need to monitor and click on different applications or URLs. I also love that the tool is quite user-friendly, apart from being fast."

"The performance of Accedian Skylight is better than other vendors."

"Capturing traffic [is very interesting]. Currently, with our configuration, we don't capture the payload of the packets, just the header. But when we want the body, the payload of the packets, we can do a PCAP, and then analyze it within Wireshark."

"The response times, with the performance, are really interesting too, where you can see the packet loss."

"The solution’s UI and single pane of glass is good. The new dashboard is modern with its new design. The look of it is not pretty, but it is efficient, which is good. It is user-friendly; you can find what you need on the interface quickly."

"This solution has helped to improve the interaction between our network, datacenter, and application teams. I have used other tools, but this tool can pinpoint the root cause of my application or network issue in the majority of the cases. So, it helps different divisions or groups in the IT department to troubleshoot together and get an issue resolved. This tool helps a lot in our day-to-day networking application and IT operations."

"What I like most about Accedian Skylight is that it's a UI application, so using it is easy. I also like that the support for Accedian Skylight is helpful."

"The ability to measure performance end-to-end across the cloud data center allows us to take corrective action to keep our channels online."

"For us, the most valuable feature is something called TWAMP that allows for real-time traffic in a way that is 10 times lighter than things like SolarWinds. It's in the sub-milliseconds of accuracy, and you can divide tasks so that you can literally see things like the tagging for Quality of Service. That had been incorrect with the carrier, but there was no way on this planet you'd be able to tell a carrier that they're wrong. I have dozens of scenarios where we found "No, that's not right," and got it resolved instantly."

More Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance pros

Cons

"I could use a few changes to the user interface."

"AlertSite sometimes triggers false alerts or fake alerts, which needs to be rectified. When we see an alert and go ahead and run certain tests on it, the test always passes. However, on the main screen, it shows up as critical. Therefore, the false alert needs to be fixed."

"It is not compatible with all of the product platforms that we use."

"What needs improvement in AlertSite is the documentation, particularly the lack of documentation. If there's a specific activity you want to do, you can't even find information on how to do it, so you have to contact the AlertSite support team to assist you, and only then would the issue be resolved. At the moment, it's not easy to find or get full documentation on how to deal with different issues. You always have to go back to AlertSite support and get help. The documentation for AlertSite could be improved and it's what I'd like to see in the next release of the tool because at the moment, the documentation isn't complete, so you'll have to contact support, but contacting support isn't an issue because the team responds to you quickly."

"Additionally, support from AlertSite is not at an enterprise level since it is not offered 24/7."

"I would like the ability to get more data points with regard to some of the unique requirements that we have."

"One area that needs improvement in AlertSite is the slow UI. I'm using the classic UI because it's quite user-friendly, or in human-readable format, but it's a little slow. It takes time to load all the monitors, so if that could be sped up, that would be helpful. The AlertSite support team also needs improvement in terms of availability. Most of the agents in the team aren't available 24 x 7, so if there's something you need to discuss, you need to tell the support team ahead of time to schedule it. Multiple times, when a case comes up during weekends or whenever my team is doing an update, support needs improvement, availability-wise. I use AlertSite for synthetic monitoring, so whatever is available right now is okay, but if I want to request a new feature on a website, currently, the UI refreshes automatically. I would like to have the option on AlertSite to configure that manually. The UI auto-updates every few minutes, so if I can control that manually, that would be helpful."

"It's a bit slow. When I execute a query, something general with a short timeframe that covers one month, for instance, and I do not specify the IP source or IP destination, it can take ages because it has to query the whole database."

"I would like to see some improvements in parts of their synthetic transactions, which includes all the latency, jitter, and throughput. I would like to see some Layer 7 analytics in there. I want to be able to do a DNS request, HTTP GET request, or even SIP call point-to-point or via registration."

"It needs the possibility to export data because it is not easy to see larger data sets, e.g., for one month. It would be interesting to export data into a PDF or dashboard to keep a history of the situation."

"If you want a new version, you go to the website. The hardest part is finding the link, where is that .bin file? Sometimes it's pretty hidden in a document... it's hidden in the release notes or in another file somewhere. And it's usually not on the first page either."

"The Accedian Skylight user interface still has room for improvement."

"There should be an option to update and upgrade the solution to the new version without having to re-buy it. I have clients switching to other solutions. The old solution is great, but if you change your license to a new one, you have to almost re-buy it completely."

"The UI interface of Accedian Skylight could improve."

"Human resource costs can be high when dealing with connection issues."

More Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My company pays to use AlertSite, but I'm unsure of the exact costs because it depends on how many monitors you have."

"We purchased the license once and had the option of selecting the number of user licenses."

"The cost is high."

"It provides value and the cost is not huge."

"The price is competitive overall, depending on the type of customer."

"The pricing is cheaper than other competing products, which is better for our budgets."

"The pricing of Accedian Skylight is really good. The sensors are low cost. Their model to analytics for sensors is by license, endpoint, or session. With the probes for their analytics, if they get deployed virtually, they are free. The licensing is only based on flows. So, you can effectively deploy probes everywhere in your network. Then, if you want to look at a specific type of traffic, you can enter into it with a very low cost license. You can just use things like spam ports, mirrors, TAPs, and aggregators to optimize what sort of traffic you send to these analysis tools. Then, if you want to start looking at more, you can up your licensed as you go. You are not getting forced into expensive appliances or subscription models."

"If you look into Riverbed, it's a licensing nightmare. You need to pay for every type of analysis... If you don't look into licensing, Riverbed and SolarWinds are pretty comparable. But if you look into licensing it would not be smart to go for either of them. On the pure, bare-metal basis, it's the same. But when you get the bare metal and a few basic licenses, then you need all those other licenses just to be sure that there's no issue... One of the great things about Skylight is you have them all, and you actually need them all."

"We understand there's a significant cost difference, but have yet to investigate fully."

"It's not for free, clearly. But on the other hand, it offers very interesting functionality. We pay around €100,000."

"Pricing is a little bit expensive."

More Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

36%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AlertSite?

I would rate the pricing aspects of AlertSite as nine out of ten, indicating it is good or low-priced.

See all answers

What needs improvement with AlertSite?

SmartBear, as a vendor, is focusing more on API management and testing rather than monitoring. AlertSite could benefit from more future-focused innovation, especially with competencies in generativ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for AlertSite?

I have been working with the AlertSite ( /products/alertsite-reviews ) product since 2019. Within our organization, specifically one service unit at one of the Big Four firms, this product has been...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Accedian Skylight?

Human resource costs can be high when dealing with connection issues. I require more tools to file and resolve these issues efficiently.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Accedian Skylight?

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Accedian Skylight?

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

See all answers

Comparisons

Dynatrace vs AlertSite

Compared 30% of the time

Apica vs AlertSite

Compared 25% of the time

Broadcom DX Application Performance Management vs AlertSite

Compared 23% of the time

Postman Enterprise vs AlertSite

Compared 23% of the time

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ThousandEyes vs Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

Compared 39% of the time

Dynatrace vs Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

Compared 14% of the time

Zabbix vs Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

Compared 10% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

Compared 9% of the time

NETSCOUT nGeniusONE vs Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

Compared 9% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AlertSite

August 2025

Download AlertSite product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

August 2025

Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance report

Download Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance product report

Also Known As

No data available

Accedian Skylight, Accedian SkyLIGHT PVX, SkyLIGHT PVX, SecurActive, Performance Vision

Overview

SmartBear's AlertSite is an application performance management and system monitoring software. AlertSite is an early warning system that users can rely on to monitor their websites, web apps, and APIs from any physical location as well as from within their private networks. It offers real-time alerting with root-cause analytics and robust reporting. AlertSite allows you to proactively monitor from an independent network of over 350 monitoring nodes worldwide.

Here are AlertSite’s 6 use cases:

Monitor web: AlertSite monitors beyond availability to detect performance anomalies and notify the appropriate people when deviations occur, whether it's online apps or websites.
Monitor APIs: Check to see that your internal, external, and third-party APIs are working properly, returning the correct content, and performing as expected.
Monitor apps: With nearly any action, monitor your online sites and applications using actual browsers, just like a consumer. There is no need for scripting.
Monitor mobile: Monitor your mobile-friendly websites, native mobile apps, carrier-based nodes, and network speeds with real devices (3G, 4G LTE).
Monitor SLAs: Make sure you're meeting service-level agreements' requirements. SLA requirements are monitored and reported on by AlertSite.
Monitor cloud: Monitor your cloud-based applications to improve mobility. AlertSite monitors your apps across public and private clouds, giving you complete visibility into their status.

AlertSite Features

AlertSite has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Enables a comprehensive view of UI and API performance.
Monitoring coverage from 350+ worldwide nodes and private networks.
Integrates with DevOps and Ops tool stacks.
Displays availability and performance data that assist in determining the root cause of performance problems.
With AlertSite's Single Sign-On (SSO) support, you can assist your authentication procedures.
Free training and assistance. AlertSite’s responsive team is always there to assist you, from the initial rollout through day-to-day support.
Eliminates the stress of false alerts using these key features:
- Tracks the performance of your apps, APIs, and websites.
- Sets up monitor and alarm schedules, as well as blackout periods and retry choices.
- Sets alert thresholds that are both static and dynamic.
- Calculates the number of failures needed to set off an alarm.
- After the first failure, retries logic.
- Based on error code, sends an alert to recipients and group routing.
- Tests from over 85 different locations across the world, with internal and external monitoring.
- Defines assertions and validations.
- Integrates with PagerDuty, Slack, Splunk, VictorOps, and more.

Easy configuration with help from these key features:
- DejaClick is an intuitive, seamless plug-in for documenting web transactions and user journeys.
- Use the point-and-click script creation for website, web, and mobile monitor scripts.
- Benefit from using native API monitor creation.
- Scripts for functional tests can be reused.
- Automate monitor creation by using Swagger Specs or OpenAPI Specification files.

SmartBear

Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance is known for its user-friendly approach to network analysis and performance monitoring. It excels in real-time diagnostics, helping organizations quickly resolve network issues and optimize performance effortlessly.

Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance focuses on comprehensive network troubleshooting and performance monitoring, assisting in identifying bottlenecks and analyzing applications. Real-time data collection and evaluation ensure IT infrastructure efficiency. With active monitoring of latency, jitter, and throughput, users maintain smooth operations across multiple sites and applications. While highly effective, improvements in data handling, protocol support, and dashboard aesthetics are suggested to enhance user experience.

What are the key features of Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance?

Flow Matrices: Advanced analysis of network paths and traffic distribution.
SQL and DNS Analysis: In-depth insights into database and domain queries for troubleshooting.
Bandwidth Assessment: Evaluation of network capacity and utilization for performance optimization.
Real-time TWAMP Monitoring: Tracks network performance using Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol.
Application Performance Modules: Monitors the performance of various applications and services.
Customizable Dashboards: Personalized views for tracking critical network metrics and trends.
PCAP Capturing: Detailed packet analysis using tools like Wireshark for deeper insights.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Ease of Use: Intuitive design allowing users to swiftly diagnose network issues.
Comprehensive Monitoring: Enhanced visibility of network activity for better control.
Performance Efficiency: Optimization of throughput, reducing downtimes and improving service delivery.
Cost-Effectiveness: Balances features and functionality with competitive pricing for better ROI.

In industries such as telecommunications and finance, where network reliability is crucial, Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance offers critical network performance insights. It supports high-demand environments by providing data-driven decisions, ensuring infrastructures handle increased loads efficiently.

Cisco

Sample Customers

JetBlue, Payless ShoeSource, Hilton Inc., StubHub, Symantec, Newegg, Sapient, AstraZeneca, Dell, Quest Diagnostics

T-Systems, Thomson Reuters, Bordeaux Metropole, CGI, Citadelle Regional Hospital Center, Lorraine Institute of Oncology, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Groupe BPCE, Group S, Splitpoint, Horus-Net, Audatex, Indexis, Province de Liège, EASI, Spie Batignolles, Faymonville

Buyer's Guide

AlertSite vs. Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

July 2025

Free Report: AlertSite vs. Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

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