BlueCat Gateway vs NetBrain comparison

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BlueCat Gateway

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 6, 2025

NetBrain and BlueCat Gateway are competing products in network automation and management. NetBrain seems to have the upper hand in ease of deployment and support flexibility, while BlueCat Gateway is noted for its comprehensive feature set.

Features: NetBrain offers dynamic map-based network visibility, automated diagnostics, and real-time monitoring capabilities. BlueCat Gateway provides integration capabilities with existing infrastructure, robust DNS management, and automated IP address assignments. The differences arise in network visibility and DNS management, making BlueCat Gateway attractive for organizations prioritizing DNS functionalities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NetBrain provides a straightforward deployment with supportive customer service that quickly addresses concerns, suitable for enterprises seeking rapid implementation. BlueCat Gateway's deployment is slightly more complex, with detailed configuration options and strong DNS management support. Differences are evident in the ease of initial setup, with NetBrain being more streamlined.

Pricing and ROI: NetBrain is associated with a moderate setup cost, providing significant ROI through efficient network troubleshooting and reduced downtime. BlueCat Gateway may involve a higher setup cost but justifies it with extensive DNS and IP management capabilities. The differences highlight NetBrain as cost-effective in ongoing operations, while BlueCat Gateway's higher initial investment promises valuable returns for those emphasizing DNS and IP management efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed BlueCat Gateway vs. NetBrain Report (Updated: January 2026).

BlueCat Gateway vs. NetBrain

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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

BlueCat Gateway

Ranking in Network Automation

18th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

8.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NetBrain

Ranking in Network Automation

5th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Troubleshooting (16th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Automation category, the mindshare of BlueCat Gateway is 2.0%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetBrain is 9.7%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Automation Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
NetBrain	9.7%
BlueCat Gateway	2.0%
Other	88.3%

Network Automation

Featured Reviews

Frederic Girard

Developer for DDI Team at Cgi Deutschland KG

Simple to use, straightforward to deploy, and provides good support and documentation

One area for improvement in BlueCat Gateway is the time it takes to fill in the dropdown in the UI of the solution because the speed with which the data loads isn't that fast. It would be better if you didn't have to wait for old items to load before seeing the first data. Another area for improvement in BlueCat Gateway is the discovery probe, as it doesn't allow you to see all the setup parameters after you've set it up. This may not be a big issue, but it's something my team noticed that may not be good in the solution.

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Deborah Gamelin

Vice President at Asset Track for Cloud, LLC

Good monitoring and troubleshoot capabilities, improves overall network traffic visibility

In my organization, we had 130,000 network devices that needed to be brought into the solution and mapped. NetBrain can handle the scale but the engineers that manage those devices have to go in and update all of them to allow NetBrain permission to poll them. It can get a little stressful for everybody when you're trying to roll out new stuff when you've got other issues that have to be addressed with other devices. In some cases, our devices had no automation at all. One example is the Cisco 3650. Right now, if you went through the inventory list, you see that we have different versions running. Some are on one version, whereas others are on another version. The problem with upgrading them is that they need to be done overnight because we don't want to disrupt any network traffic during business hours. Consequently, it could take us years to upgrade the versions before we can even get them onto these new tools. This may be an internal issue but it's a big one when you have a lot of devices. Even if you had 10,000 devices, it's still an issue. You have to consider the compatibility of the device against the tool, and being able to use certain commands to upgrade it.

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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 ability to develop a kiosk-like solution for in-person assistance is crucial."

"We found IP and Network Discovery the most valuable features of BlueCat Gateway. Our team found it very easy to build, verify, and validate APIs in BlueCat Gateway, mainly if the users have a background in development and APIs. Our team found that BlueCat Gateway answers our needs well."

"Enables maps to be drawn out."

"A reliable, time-saving tool for providing accurate layer 2 and layer 3 network mappings."

"NetBrain is a very simple tool."

"This product has good network monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities."

"Chain management is a good feature. I don't get it on other solutions."

Cons

"One area for improvement in BlueCat Gateway is the time it takes to fill in the dropdown in the UI of the solution because the speed with which the data loads isn't that fast. It would be better if you didn't have to wait for old items to load before seeing the first data."

"My most significant concern is that the documentation has problems."

"Each device needs to be configured to allow NetBrain to poll for the information it needs, which can be very time-consuming for a large network."

"It would be nice if the setup was a little simpler. Also, if the solution could provide more training materials for new people coming into our company so they can quickly learn how to use the functionalities."

"The solution could integrate more automation."

"Support needs to improve for the installed product and some of the reporting could be more flexible to provide more complete cataloging."

"The IP interface brief isn't consistent."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost is actually quite favorable based on our negotiations."

"Licensing is based on a per-device basis, which means that it can get very expensive if you have a large number of devices."

"The product is expensive, but less expensive than some of the competition and worth the price."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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Product Reports

Network Automation

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Also Known As

BlueCat Network Automation

No data available

Overview

BlueCat Gateway allows you to automate and transform mission-critical business requirements into DNS, DDI, DHCP, and IPAM workflows, plugins, and applications and enables the rapid development of turn-key integrations with existing technology investments. Using zero-touch automation frees IT teams from time-consuming, error-prone, and repetitive network configuration and provisioning tasks so they can focus on the innovation business needs. BlueCat’s automation platform automates the DNS services necessary to provision and deallocates cloud and on-premises resources, enabling IT to respond faster to user requests.

BlueCat

Managing today’s networks with yesterday’s manual processes is no longer a viable solution. NetBrain’s network automation platform provides actionable insights into your network to help you make better and faster decisions - particularly when you’re troubleshooting, securing, and making changes to the network.

Sample Customers

US Department of Energy, Swisslos, DXC, Edeka SouthWest

CompuCon, TD Ameritrade, Move Inc.

BlueCat Gateway vs. NetBrain