Atera vs Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Atera and Cisco are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Atera is ranked #36 with an average rating of 9.7, while Cisco is ranked #45 with an average rating of 8.0. Atera holds a 0.6% mindshare in NMS, compared to Cisco’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Atera users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Atera

Read 16 Atera reviews

8,304 Views
2,491 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Cisco Provider Connectivity...

Read 24 Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance reviews

6,817 Views
3,818 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Atera

Cisco Provider Connectivity...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Atera and Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Network Monitoring Software solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Atera vs. Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Atera vs. Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

September 2026

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Helped 915,383 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:

Categories and Ranking

Atera

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

36th

Average Rating

9.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Help Desk Software (13th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (39th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (11th), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (5th), Patch Management (13th), AIOps (23rd), Agentic Automation (12th), Autonomous Endpoint Management (7th)

Cisco Provider Connectivity...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

45th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (41st)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Atera is 0.6%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Atera	0.6%
Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance	0.8%
Other	98.6%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Ning Chane

IT Manager at Telstra

Remote monitoring has streamlined endpoint management and consistently reduced ticket resolution time

The best features Atera offers include the per-technician pricing, which is honestly one of the biggest things. Unlimited endpoints for a flat monthly fee per tech is a model that makes sense for us, since we are not paying more every time we add a new endpoint. The AI Copilot feature has been a nice addition that helps our techs summarize tickets and suggest fixes faster, which has cut our resolution times noticeably. The AI Copilot feature has specifically helped my team because the automation handles a lot of the routine work, such as patch deployments, maintenance tasks, and monitoring alerts. Atera has positively impacted my organization by transforming how our team operates day-to-day, and the pricing model is hard to beat. The outcomes or metrics showing how Atera has made a positive impact include the 30% reduction in ticket resolution time I mentioned earlier.

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…

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

"The most valuable features of this solution are automatic batch matching and unattended support access."

"Moreover, I find that if it wasn't for Atera, I wouldn't be gaining the number of clients I have and growing my business as I do."

"Atera has helped me to provide more accurate solutions based on a given problem."

"Just because it is low cost doesn't mean it is low quality."

"I would say it's the number one tool for all ITMS."

"Measuring the integration is very helpful when using Atera Assist Test. It takes the solution to the next level by automating activities. It doesn't just provide the solution but also allows running scripts to fix issues before a technician has to work on them."

"Pricing is definitely my favorite part of it. It is also extremely easy to use."

"We value the alerts that come with the product which allow me to reach out to my clients. Overall, Atera generates additional revenue streams for work done on their machines."

More Atera pros

"It is very stable, has reduced downtime and migration time, and with Skylight we never forget anything."

"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."

"I like this product because it is easy to use and it allows us to have a realistic vision of what is going on at the heart of our network."

"It is not that expensive of a solution and produces tremendous value."

"It is about finding operational problems. When sites go down, we try to determine who is at fault. While there is not much finger-pointing, the solution is just trying to analyse when there is an outage and where do we start looking to fix it. The very nature of why organization chooses to use the solution is to accelerate the meantime to resolution and find where problems lie to get them rectified as quickly as possible."

"We heavily use the "network analysis" section to dissect and analyze flows."

"Performance Vision saves time diagnosing performance problems and anticipates where investment is needed by pointing to the infrastructure limitations."

"When a remote contact complains about a slow application, we can immediately pinpoint the cause of concern."

More Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance pros

Cons

"The chat solutions need improvement because we first need to connect to the customer. This needs to improve so that there is a particular feature that can provide support to customers even if they are not connected to a computer."

"The solution is scalable. However, in the past, we did have some issues."

"The billing module has a standard layout which is too limited for my needs."

"The mobility of Atera is also a feature which needs to be addressed so that it can be used on iPads, iPhones and things of this nature. I would also like to see an agent included on these devices so that I can monitor, maintain and manage them."

"Reporting is probably the main frustration."

"Atera could be improved by adding more granular control over technician roles. We need more specific controls on what technicians can access, like limiting their ability to view certain sections or access devices and share files. This feature request has already been made. The IP asset management capabilities need improvement to better manage assets beyond just devices."

"It should improve its processes."

"Customization could be improved."

More Atera cons

"The licensing of the virtual pollers is problematic because they are attached to the physical ESX on which they are installed."

"Pricing is a little bit expensive."

"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."

"A lower price and more flexible versions will help the product."

"Increase the drive’s capacity to store more data, and maybe switch to a database system similar to 3Big-Data."

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

"The UI interface of Accedian Skylight could improve."

"This solution is expensive compared to some others."

More Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"One of the biggest issues I face is the need to pay per technician. I've dealt with other platforms that you need to have 250-500 devices. Even though the cost declines as the number of devices a person has increases, they still require you to pay for 250 or 500, respectively. With Atera, the number doesn't matter as you always pay the same amount. I approximate that Atera saves me $100 per week."

"Atera happened to have the best pricing model."

"Pricing is my favorite part of it. It was per user, not per client."

"In terms of cost, it's not very expensive. I’d rate it around three or four out of ten, considering its value for money."

"Atera's pricing stays fixed and predictable, enabling us to add more customers and unlimited monitored devices. We still have a number of clients who fit a break/fix IT model. This is something where clients are complaining more about having to pay extra month-by-month for technology services. With Atera's model, we don't have to be going out and asking for more from clients each month. Right now, with where we are at in terms of scale, this is very important to us."

"It comes with unlimited devices, so the fixed price cost is taken out of my budget. So, I'm all good."

"With Atera, the more you add, the cheaper the cost of the additional endpoints will be."

"Our company is a startup. The initial reason I looked into Atera was the fact that you pay by the technician, not per-device. That means you are able to jump right in with a service without having a large overhead."

More Atera pricing and cost advice

"The solution was previously well-regarded, but after being acquired by Accedian, the prices have significantly increased. This has made it challenging to sell the product due to its high cost. It is an expensive solution."

"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."

"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."

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

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

"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."

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

More Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

12%

Construction Company

Educational Organization

Outsourcing Company

14%

Construction Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Large Enterprise	1

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	9

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Atera?

The prices have increased over time. After expressing concerns about pricing to account managers, they offered a 30% discount option for annual commitments. The main benefit we see with this produc...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Atera?

Reporting is probably the main frustration. Some of the more advanced reports are locked behind higher pricing tiers, which feels restrictive. Atera can be improved in that the remote access can al...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Atera?

My main use case for Atera is remote monitoring and management across all our endpoints. We have devices spread across multiple sites, so having one platform where we can see everything, push patch...

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

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Compared 8% of the time

JIRA Service Management vs Atera

Compared 6% of the time

WhatsUp Gold vs Atera

Compared 5% of the time

Sendbird vs Atera

Compared 4% of the time

ConnectWise Asio Platform vs Atera

Compared 3% of the time

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Dynatrace vs Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

Compared 6% of the time

DX SaaS vs Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

Compared 5% of the time

Splunk AppDynamics vs Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

Compared 4% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

Compared 4% of the time

ThousandEyes vs Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

Compared 4% of the time

More Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Atera

October 2026

Download Atera product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

October 2026

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

Atera provides advanced tools for remote monitoring, automation, and ticketing, offering an intuitive design and competitive pricing that supports managed service providers with monitoring, alerts, and system management.

Atera stands out with its automation, remote access, and smooth integration capabilities like PowerShell commands, TeamViewer, and Splashtop. Its monitoring and alert systems allow IT professionals to preemptively address issues, enhancing productivity with features such as a robust ticketing system, patch management, and scripting tools. Cross-platform compatibility and collaboration tools streamline IT operations. Despite its strengths, Atera requires enhancements in identity access management, chat features, mobile device management, third-party integrations, customizable reports, and more detailed role management for technicians. A renewed interface and improved network and cloud service monitoring are desired. Users also look for seamless management across diverse platforms, particularly under connectivity issues.

What are Atera's key features?

Automation: Streamlines processes with powerful automation capabilities.
Remote Access: Facilitates easy access to client machines for issue resolution.
Intuitive Interface: User-friendly design enhances efficiency.
Integration: Seamless TeamViewer and Splashtop integration.
Monitoring: Effective monitoring and alert systems preempt issues.
Ticketing System: Boosts productivity with efficient workflow management.
Patch Management: Ensures systems are always up-to-date.
Scripting: Powerful tools for automation and task execution.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Efficiency: Automation and scripting enhance task management.
Cost-effective: Combines robust features with competitive pricing.
Scalability: Cross-platform compatibility supports business growth.
Productivity: Monitoring and alerts optimize resource allocation.

Atera is widely used by managed service providers and IT support companies to enhance efficiency in industries such as manufacturing and construction. It provides remote monitoring, automation, and comprehensive IT management, ensuring seamless integration with different products and systems for broad site coverage. Businesses leverage Atera's RMM, PSA, ticketing, and IT automation features to improve operational efficiency and responsiveness.

Atera

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

MSPs, IT consultants, and IT departments worldwide trust and use Atera.

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

Atera vs. Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

September 2026

Free Report: Atera vs. Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

Find out what your peers are saying about Atera vs. Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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