AWS Control Tower vs Cisco UCS Director comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Cisco are both solutions in the Cloud Management category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.7, while Cisco is ranked #22 with an average rating of 8.0. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 1.4% mindshare in CM, compared to Cisco’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 71% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

AWS Control Tower

Read 17 AWS Control Tower reviews

816 Views
816 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Cisco UCS Director

Read 14 Cisco UCS Director reviews

595 Views
559 Comparison Views

71% willing to recommend

AWS Control Tower

Cisco UCS Director

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Cisco UCS Director and AWS Control Tower are competing products in cloud management and automation. AWS Control Tower generally has the advantage with its strong cloud governance features, while Cisco UCS Director is preferred for data center automation capabilities.

Features: Cisco UCS Director provides orchestration and provisioning of physical and virtual resources, advanced automation for data center management, and integration with Cisco solutions. AWS Control Tower offers automated best practices, guardrails, multi-account management, and centralized authentication for AWS accounts.

Room for Improvement: Cisco UCS Director could improve its ease of use, expand integration capabilities, and enhance its GUI for better user management. AWS Control Tower could benefit from more flexible customization options, enhanced user interface, and additional security features to meet diverse compliance needs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco UCS Director requires meticulous planning for deployment within data center infrastructures, supported by strong customer service. AWS Control Tower facilitates a streamlined deployment model for cloud environments with extensive AWS support available for straightforward initial setup.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco UCS Director involves higher initial costs due to integration with data centers, focusing on long-term ROI for complex environments. AWS Control Tower follows AWS's subscription model, resulting in predictable costs and ROI through enhanced cloud governance and efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS Control Tower vs. Cisco UCS Director Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AWS Control Tower vs. Cisco UCS Director

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

AWS Control Tower

Ranking in Cloud Management

7th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Cisco UCS Director

Ranking in Cloud Management

22nd

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Cloud Management category, the mindshare of AWS Control Tower is 1.4%, down from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco UCS Director is 1.3%, down from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Management

Featured Reviews

MuhammadAzhar Khan

Senior DevOps Engineer at Alibaba Group

Unified security management ensures comprehensive compliance for account safety

Control Tower offers many valuable features for managing all account security. I can manage user security and user IAM, firewall, and other security-related tasks via Control Tower. The unified security management is a crucial aspect, and whenever an AWS organization is used, Control Tower is typically included to ensure comprehensive compliance fulfillment.

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Sunny Nair

Solution Architect and Senior Consultant at Keysight Technologies

Good multi-cloud management capability, but third-party and legacy integration needs improvement

Normally, UCS Director is used primarily for orchestration, but when we look at a non-Cisco data infrastructure components, the UCS Director needs a bit more improvement in terms of integration with third-party systems and with existing older systems. I feel that more development or a more integrated road map should be set up so that it becomes a common platform for any infrastructure. In the next release of this solution, I would like to see changes in the navigation controls of UCS Director. That would be helpful. Modifying the icons that are available for use, as well as virtualization aspects.

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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

"Control Tower offers many valuable features for managing all account security."

"Security is the most valuable feature of Control Tower."

"It provides centralized solutions for all AWS accounts in one place, customized to meet the organization's specific needs."

"It aligns well with the customer's needs and it ultimately fosters a strong customer-company relationship."

"It provides a central point for account management, access control, and compliance monitoring."

"AWS Control Tower helps to save a lot of work and manage multiple accounts."

"Compliance is the most valuable feature."

"The most significant benefit of Control Tower is its capability to align with our organization's standards."

More AWS Control Tower pros

"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the fabric sharing."

"I can manage multiple workloads whether it's on AWS, Azure, or on-premises. They can be managed by using the UCS Director."

"UCS director enables us to be more productive and more agile, and also more self-sufficient because we don't have to depend on anybody else."

"The reason we went with Cisco is that it comes at a very negligible cost as part of the BOQ. Compared to the competition's products, which are incredibly expensive, UCS Director is low-cost."

"The product is flexible and compact. It has a lot of features."

"This is a user-friendly solution that is very good and easy to use."

"The main feature of this solution is the integration with all the Cisco solutions and other vendors."

More Cisco UCS Director pros

Cons

"AWS should provide more resources, examples, and tutorials."

"There is a sync issue within the organization."

"The initial setup is complex."

"While using the solution recently, it broke a certain activity. So, AWS Control Tower needs to consider making the solution better."

"The tool's setup is very technical. Its pricing can be cheaper."

"There aren't any additional features that I feel are missing. However, it's worth noting that Control Tower seems to function as a layer utilizing standard AWS products in the background. Occasionally, the interface may appear less streamlined, with changes in layout based on the underlying products being used. While this doesn't impact functionality, having a more standardized user interface, irrespective of the background products, could enhance the user experience."

"The integration with other AWS functions has room for improvement."

"It is essential to clarify that this isn't necessarily a drawback of the service, but having a clear and concise set of predefined guidelines from AWS for moving existing accounts under AWS Control Tower would be highly beneficial as it would simplify the process and make it more user-friendly."

More AWS Control Tower cons

"The areas where this product can be improved are the integrations and the UI. These features are not as friendly compared to VMware products."

"Simplifying the user interface would go a long way to making it more usable."

"Currently, Cisco UCS Director is unable to integrate with another product or with a server from another brand."

"There are a lot of bugs in the solution. This is an area in the solution that can be improved."

"There aren’t any areas of improvement that immediately come to mind."

"The product could allow more programmatic opportunities through better development of the API."

"The tool should be a lot more intuitive and make it easy for us to understand and migrate."

"It is not easy to add or expand the product."

More Cisco UCS Director cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's affordability depends on the value it brings to specific organizations."

"The pricing is efficient, not overly expensive but also not very cheap."

"I believe it's free of charge or comes at a very low cost. It's an additional feature. Even if there is a fee, it's minimal. AWS seems to assist customers in gaining a comprehensive view of their security setups within AWS. Using Control Tower is highly recommended, especially as your company grows and involves Active Directory, various departments, and different architectural aspects. It becomes more advisable to leverage Control Tower rather than managing these aspects manually, especially for larger organizations."

"The pricing structure is closely intertwined with the specifics of your environment and the billing strategy you employ."

"The pay-as-you-go model ensures you're only charged for what you use, which offers great flexibility for different types of companies."

"It is expensive but it is an investment in my opinion."

"It operates on a pay-as-you-go model, meaning we are charged only for the services we actively use within it."

"The cost is reasonable, but there are opportunities for improvement in terms of pricing for larger enterprises."

More AWS Control Tower pricing and cost advice

"Cisco UCS Director is expensive...I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."

"The cost of this solution is significant."

"The budget doesn’t work for the state and local governments."

"I would rate the product's pricing an eight out of ten."

"I rate Cisco UCS Director's price a three out of ten. Cisco UCS Director is not an affordable product. With Cisco UCS Director, there is a need to pay an overall price, which consists of the product, software, and support."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price and ten is a high price, I rate the pricing around five to six out of ten."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

26%

Financial Services Firm

20%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AWS Control Tower?

The most intriguing feature is the automatic generation of user accounts. Leveraging Active Directory and global company settings, AWS Cloud Tower enables the creation of AWS user accounts based on...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Control Tower?

Control Tower within the AWS Organization does not have a charge. It is free and does not incur additional charges.

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What needs improvement with AWS Control Tower?

There is a sync issue within the organization. It is important that the system syncs automatically instead of requiring me to manually choose sync options.

See all answers

What do you like most about Cisco UCS Director?

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco UCS Director?

While the pricing might be seen as expensive, it provides value for money due to reliable service and excellent technical support.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco UCS Director?

There aren’t any areas of improvement that immediately come to mind.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 54% of the time

VMware Aria Automation vs Cisco UCS Director

Compared 29% of the time

OpenNebula vs Cisco UCS Director

Compared 16% of the time

More Cisco UCS Director Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AWS Control Tower

July 2025

Download AWS Control Tower product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco UCS Director

July 2025

Download Cisco UCS Director product report

Overview

AWS Control Tower offers the easiest way to set up and govern a new, secure, multi-account AWS environment. It establishes a landing zone that is based on best-practices blueprints, and enables governance using guardrails you can choose from a pre-packaged list.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Cisco UCS Director enables automated delivery of physical and virtual data center resources, empowering data centers to move at the speed of business.

Cisco

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

Entel, Data#3, Cegal, NESIC, LightEdge

Buyer's Guide

AWS Control Tower vs. Cisco UCS Director

July 2025

Free Report: AWS Control Tower vs. Cisco UCS Director

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