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Azure Network Watcher vs Cisco Crosswork Network Insights comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Azure Network Watcher
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
46th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Crosswork Network Ins...
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
35th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Azure Network Watcher is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Crosswork Network Insights is 0.2%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Crosswork Network Insights0.2%
Azure Network Watcher0.5%
Other99.3%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

Bijoyendra Roychowdhury - PeerSpot reviewer
Program Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Network monitoring provides comprehensive analytics while the interface requires further development
The quality of Azure Network Watcher is quite good in terms of the in-depth analysis you can create from these matrices. There are other monitoring tools such as New Relic, AppDynamics, and Dynatrace which provide very detailed network tracing. Cloud providers such as Azure or AWS do not have that kind of GUI-based capability at this point, but using PowerShell or Python, you can develop it yourself. From the GUI perspective, it still needs to evolve in terms of quality and standard, though overall, it is quite good for troubleshooting. Regarding areas for improvement, when comparing to other network tools beyond Azure Monitor or Azure Network Watcher, those tools can identify single failed packets. This level of granularity is not currently possible with cloud providers as they only go to a certain level rather than the granular level needed for deep troubleshooting, though they do provide hints with available matrices.
James  Scot - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Specialist at FedEx
Automation has transformed endpoint deployment and streamlines multi-vendor network operations
The best features that Cisco Crosswork Network Insights offers include a single pane of glass, multi-vendor comparison, and the ability to reduce engineer workload. The single pane of glass and multi-vendor comparison features help my team day-to-day because with the single pane of glass, we are able to manage everything at a single place, hence saving a lot of time, and the administration becomes very easy. Additionally, there is real-time network monitoring and analytics, multi-vendor and multi-domain support, scalable AI-driven insights to make data-driven decisions easy, and a modular application ecosystem with open APIs. Cisco Crosswork Network Insights has empowered our team to deploy network devices at customer locations more efficiently than ever before, and it also delivers critical network telemetry, streamlining troubleshooting and reducing reliance on manual processes. Cisco Crosswork Network Insights has positively impacted my organization by enhancing automation for endpoint deployment, hence saving a lot of time, and network usage statistics delivery to the end user's environment has been quicker.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"My advice to others looking into using Azure Network Watcher is to go for it, as you'll have the tool by default when you're subscribed to Azure VNet."
"The solution is stable."
"We use the solution to monitor network services. It helps to capture any network issues."
"It provides good visibility."
"This will help the company or the administrator, by helping them see how the traffic moves, to make sure that no entities are having any communication issues or different endpoints with task issues."
"The most valuable feature of Azure Network Watcher is using the gateways with the connections. The monitoring is useful for the logs and application insights into the data. The traffic filtering issues when it comes to deploying those applications are helpful."
"The solution is stable, there are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze, it's reliable."
"The stability is very good. I rate it a ten out of ten."
"The major benefits of using Cisco Crosswork Network Insights are that it is a better product to plan and deploy the network, as it is quite a comprehensive product that gives real-time visualization and lifecycle management, reduces the operating expenses eventually, decreases the deployment time, and definitely creates interest for the staff and boosts their productivity."
"What I personally appreciate about Cisco Crosswork Network Insights are the monitoring and real-time features, which are quite helpful for us, as they provide us the previous logs and the current situation, specifically for troubleshooting issues and conducting RCAs."
"The advanced visualization tools were really nicely done."
"Cisco Crosswork Network Insights has impacted my organization positively as it has saved a lot of time, reduced management overhead, and simplified operations through a single pane of glass."
"The real-time analytics feature of Cisco is very good."
"Cisco Crosswork Network Insights has been very fundamental and robust and helpful in my organization, empowering our team to deploy network devices at customer locations more efficiently than ever, and it also delivers critical network telemetry, streamlining troubleshooting and reducing reliance on manual processes."
"Cisco Crosswork Network Insights has positively impacted my organization primarily through security and trust, as it provides monitoring of routing health, IP health, and protection from hijacks or leaks."
"Cisco Crosswork Network Insights has positively impacted us by securing our data, including customer data, and it secures our cybersecurity products while being excellent for security purposes."
 

Cons

"Azure is good, however, the Fortinet GUI is more intuitive and I like it more than anything else."
"Sometimes, you encounter a VPN tunnel, network, or routing issue, but finding out more about the blockage is challenging."
"The initial setup and deployment could be improved to be simplified."
"The initial setup and initial learning curve could be improved to be easier."
"The solution could use some additional components of the network culture, not only VMs. I'd like to see some additional security features because what they currently have concentrates only on the network."
"User experience could be improved."
"Technical support from Microsoft needs significant improvement compared to other product vendors."
"I would like to see in the future if we can troubleshoot as a firewall because it is equipment as a network player and some diagnostics."
"For monitoring capabilities of Cisco Crosswork Network Insights, the monitoring is for Cisco only, from my knowledge."
"The reason I did not give a nine or ten for Cisco Crosswork Network Insights is integration and price, as that is what prevents me from giving the maximum points."
"There are a couple of things I would improve about Cisco Crosswork Network Insights, such as capital efficiency and better utilization of operating expenses, allowing for multi-vendor integration."
"Cisco Crosswork Network Insights is not an easy-to-use product and thus requires some training to ensure that it can be used to the best of its capabilities."
"Cisco Crosswork Network Insights can improve in its setup complexity, as it has a very complex setup that requires skilled network engineers for deployment and tuning."
"I have not seen a return on investment yet; we are still working on it."
"In future updates of Cisco Crosswork Network Insights, I would like to see more integrated AI with such tools."
"From my perspective, there is some room for improvement in the product, as you have to check your competitors, such as what Juniper is doing and what HP is offering, and those things have to come in to stay and survive in the market."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Azure Network Watcher is a little bit expensive."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"The pricing is good. It's not too expensive."
"Price-wise, I have no information on how much Azure Network Watcher costs."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Construction Company
13%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Construction Company
39%
Outsourcing Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Network Watcher?
I do not have the exact setup cost information on hand, but it is available in the public Azure portal. You can access the calculator there to get detailed pricing information.
What needs improvement with Azure Network Watcher?
The main area for improvement is AI-based features. Currently, many intelligent tools are coming from third parties, and Azure Network Watcher needs to improve in this area. The focus should be on ...
What is your primary use case for Azure Network Watcher?
Azure Network Watcher is used for monitoring network traffic. It provides insight into egress and ingress traffic, which helps determine whether consumption can be controlled. Most Azure services c...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Crosswork Network Insights?
The purchasing of Cisco Crosswork Network Insights is managed by generating the PR and then the procurement team takes care of the pricing and purchasing, which are directly from Cisco or another m...
What needs improvement with Cisco Crosswork Network Insights?
In future updates of Cisco Crosswork Network Insights, I would like to see more integrated AI with such tools.
What is your primary use case for Cisco Crosswork Network Insights?
Currently, our infrastructure has very limited use of Cisco Crosswork Network Insights, so we haven't explored much of those technologies, and I'm not getting anything to improve from that perspect...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Network Watcher vs. Cisco Crosswork Network Insights and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.