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BlueCat Integrity vs IBM NS1 Connect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.5
BlueCat Integrity boosts efficiency, reduces costs, and enhances stability, offering significant ROI through automation and centralization.
Sentiment score
5.4
IBM NS1 Connect boosts ROI through enhanced DNS management, improved uptime, automation, and efficiency without extra infrastructure costs.
As we are migrating other tools into this one, there can be 30% to 40% cost savings.
System Engineer at a aerospace/defense firm with 501-1,000 employees
We did see a return on investment as we only have a team of six who are managing BlueCat Integrity infrastructure 24/7, and with the help of automation, we were able to reduce the headcount as we automated most of the requests using BlueCat Integrity API.
Soc For Ddi at a tech consulting company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The consolidation of five different tools into one BlueCat solution did provide savings.
DevOps at a marketing services firm with 10,001+ employees
I have definitely seen a return on investment with IBM NS1 Connect as it has given our organization more control and flexibility in managing DNS at a global scale, which almost was impossible before.
Senior Software Engineer at PwC
I have seen a return on investment with IBM NS1 Connect, as application uptime has improved by 40% to 45%.
Software Engineer at Abbott
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.1
BlueCat Integrity receives praise for quick, professional customer support, though some report inconsistent response times for specific applications.
Sentiment score
8.3
IBM NS1 Connect offers 24/7 proactive support, with highly professional teams ensuring client satisfaction, despite occasional slow responses.
At that tier, when you are willing to pay for it, their support level is impeccable.
Engineering Specialist at Community Health Systems
I would give the support a score of 10.
Senior Network Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The support from BlueCat was exceptional, as all issues were addressed without any major impacts, with support being very quick and faster compared to the previous vendor we had.
Senior Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
They are very proactive and supportive, available 24/7.
Software Engineer at Abbott
The customer support for IBM NS1 Connect is very proactive and responsive twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Senior Software Engineer at PwC
You raise a PR, and then it takes several weeks for them to respond.
Assosiate Director at TIAA
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
BlueCat Integrity excels in scaling large networks with resource efficiency, despite potential cost increases as servers are added.
Sentiment score
6.5
IBM NS1 Connect excels at scalability, managing high query volumes and traffic shifts, ensuring reliability and responsiveness globally.
Currently, we are at over 150 BlueCat Integrity devices, running at least 70 primary mainstream hospitals and over 1,200 clinical locations.
Engineering Specialist at Community Health Systems
If we have the virtual infrastructure up and ready, we can scale without a need for licensing.
Soc For Ddi at a tech consulting company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Regarding scalability, our solution has so many servers and so much redundancy, and we did not even get into a point where we needed to add more servers because of load.
Senior Network Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It has managed to handle all my organization's growth.
Software Engineer at Abbott
When the number of users increases, it can distribute traffic automatically across multiple servers, clouds, or regions.
Especialista De Produtos at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
BlueCat Integrity is praised for stability and reliability, with minimal downtime and occasional issues from virtualization or CPU use.
Sentiment score
8.3
IBM NS1 Connect offers reliable performance and stability, effectively managing traffic and maintaining uptime even during DDoS attacks.
With the assistance of BlueCat Integrity and re-architecting, redesigning, and redeploying, our failure rate has gone to zero.
Engineering Specialist at Community Health Systems
BlueCat Integrity is a platform that is mature and that we can trust.
Senior Network Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
We encountered a couple of situations where our BlueCat Integrity Address Manager was in a hung state, requiring us to rebuild it after performing an upgrade.
Senior Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
IBM NS1 Connect is very stable as I have not experienced any lagging or downtime.
Senior Software Engineer at PwC
IBM NS1 Connect is very stable.
Software Engineer at Abbott
 

Room For Improvement

BlueCat Integrity requires upgrades in security, API, UI, integration, documentation, technical support, dashboards, IPv6, and onboarding tools.
IBM NS1 Connect users seek a more intuitive interface, improved features, better resources, pricing transparency, and clearer DNS management.
One has to be very clear with their requirements in terms of what they want to achieve in the target design before making a purchase decision.
Soc For Ddi at a tech consulting company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The API aspect could be improved with more use cases and better handling of object attributes.
System Engineer at a aerospace/defense firm with 501-1,000 employees
In order to update this environment with 150 plus devices, I have to go through one at a time.
Engineering Specialist at Community Health Systems
Pricing can be more transparent, especially when dealing with tight budgets.
Senior Software Engineer at PwC
DNS timeout issues should be resolved.
Software Engineer at Abbott
I think the support for upcoming technical updates in IBM NS1 Connect could be improved as they are not up to the mark, and their development or new enhancements are very slow.
Data Protection Specialist at CompuCom
 

Setup Cost

BlueCat Integrity provides flexible, valued solutions with competitive pricing, offering scalable subscription options that reduce downtime and enhance compliance.
IBM NS1 Connect offers good value with competitive pricing, though some users note transparency and cost challenges in competitive situations.
Our licensing model with BlueCat Integrity is cheaper than Infoblox.
System Engineer at a aerospace/defense firm with 501-1,000 employees
I heard that it wasn't that expensive, and what BlueCat offered for the price was very worthwhile.
DevOps at a marketing services firm with 10,001+ employees
We did see a cost reduction in overall infrastructure as BlueCat Integrity offered services at much more effective rates compared to other OEMs.
Soc For Ddi at a tech consulting company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Other competitors have offered a very low price compared to IBM, and that aspect is very tough for us to convince clients.
Data Protection Specialist at CompuCom
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing of IBM NS1 Connect has been that it is one of the most cost-effective tools and very affordable.
Software Engineer at Abbott
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing has been that I found it a bit expensive and had some difficulty with the language issue, having to use a translator for licensing.
Especialista De Produtos at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

BlueCat Integrity offers reliable DDI functionality, enhancing visibility, stability, user experience, and security for efficient infrastructure management.
IBM NS1 Connect offers API-driven automation, real-time monitoring, and intelligent traffic routing for enhanced performance and user experiences.
Centralized management is the number one and most critical advantage.
Engineering Specialist at Community Health Systems
The primary benefit my previous company realized from using BlueCat Integrity was that it was very cost-effective.
Senior Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
BlueCat Integrity provides a single-pane-of-glass view of the IP address space through integration of all infrastructure with BlueCat Integrity's Address Manager.
Lead Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
The intelligence criterion directs the user to the best server based on latency and availability with 100% SLA for DNS resolution, and the API makes automation easier and reduces manual errors, plus it detects failures and redirects users.
Especialista De Produtos at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The best features that IBM NS1 Connect offers include routing based on user verification, endpoint switching based on latency, DNS response time, real-time monitoring, intelligent traffic routing capabilities, API-driven functionality, HTTPS redirects, secondary DNS, and API integrations.
Senior Software Engineer at PwC
The intelligent traffic routing and API-driven features of IBM NS1 Connect have helped my team by allowing routing based on user location, endpoint switching based on latency, and DNS response time.
Software Engineer at Abbott
 

Categories and Ranking

BlueCat Integrity
Ranking in Managed DNS
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
IP Address Management (IPAM) Tools (1st), DDI (1st)
IBM NS1 Connect
Ranking in Managed DNS
9th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Managed DNS category, the mindshare of BlueCat Integrity is 2.0%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM NS1 Connect is 2.7%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Managed DNS Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
BlueCat Integrity2.0%
IBM NS1 Connect2.7%
Other95.3%
Managed DNS
 

Featured Reviews

Bob Fuller - PeerSpot reviewer
Engineering Specialist at Community Health Systems
Centralized DDI management has transformed our hospitals and now cuts manual effort to a minimum
There is not much to dislike about it. It is not a Microsoft product. It is based on Linux. I am a Microsoft guy learning to run these Linux environments. So there is a little bit of a learning curve there if you are not already a native or natural Linux user. We do have to patch our environments, probably quarterly, with hot fixes or updates that we have to apply. Updates and maintenance and applying them could be improved. Unfortunately, we can only do them one at a time. We have to follow them sequentially. We cannot do them all in mass. That does become a problem for us, especially if we have a zero-day threat that is sitting out there that is live. If I cannot update my environment within moments, then I am challenged. In order to update this environment with 150 plus devices, I have to go through one at a time. That can take us several days to be able to patch. Our API is the only automation capability. Our networking team who provisions our new networks as we build a new environment or a new site or we acquire a new organization handles a lot of that through automation via API. They provision and build up the permissions and rights and access model for each new network and sub-network. We are considering and trying to determine if we need to get even more automated and whether or not we need to leverage more API capability. We are building a team of automation engineers, and they are looking around and digging to find something to work on. We could do some more automation, but what would we do? We still have not figured out what else we would do. For my team that runs the actual BlueCat Integrity environment, we do not use API automation. Our networking team who provisions and builds the new networks handles that via API. We have thought about going through more in-depth automation, but we cannot find a good use case for it in terms of what level of engagement we want to take with it and how dedicated we want to be to become a development shop. That is still on the wings and we are trying to figure out if this is something that we can handle, or do we continually have to rely upon an external developer. BlueCat Integrity does not develop for us. They have a certain level of liability that they will not accept when it comes to automation and scripting through their API. They say they will guide us, but they will not do it for us.
DavidJackson1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer at Abbott
Smart routing has improved uptime and performance and enables real-time automated traffic control
The best features IBM NS1 Connect offers, in my opinion, are real-time monitoring, intelligent traffic routing capabilities, and being API driven. The intelligent traffic routing and API-driven features of IBM NS1 Connect have helped my team by allowing routing based on user location, endpoint switching based on latency, and DNS response time. Additionally, IBM NS1 Connect has API integration. IBM NS1 Connect positively impacts my organization by making our website load faster and enhancing the user interface to be more intuitive and user-friendly. It's very economical and cost-effective. I also love it because it saves time through automation, saving around 30% to 35% of our time and also saving man-source. Our application uptime has improved by 40% to 45%. Although there have been a few outages, the service uptime has significantly improved our trust with clients. It is very cost-effective and affordable, hence providing a great return on investment.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise29
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with BlueCat Adaptive DNS?
When evaluating BlueCat Integrity, challenges with dynamic DNS updates were encountered, but configuration issues can be fixed to mitigate those. Unlike QIP, BlueCat Integrity presents some complex...
What is your primary use case for BlueCat Adaptive DNS?
I currently integrated BlueCat Integrity with AWS and GCP, supporting multi-cloud environments. BlueCat Integrity helps manage the IPAM structure in a unified manner through a gateway that integrat...
What advice do you have for others considering BlueCat Adaptive DNS?
BlueCat Integrity's automation capabilities are leveraged, especially through the gateway with GCP, allowing automatic registration of host names in BAM whenever a virtual instance is provisioned u...
What needs improvement with NS1 Managed DNS?
The aspect that needs improvement about IBM NS1 Connect is that the integration with AI is not seamless at this moment. That particular portion needs to be re-evaluated. We were able to increase th...
What is your primary use case for NS1 Managed DNS?
I have worked on both deployment models of IBM NS1 Connect in the company's environment and in the clouds. I utilize IBM NS1 Connect's Intelligent Traffic Steering feature.
What advice do you have for others considering NS1 Managed DNS?
I purchased IBM NS1 Connect through AWS Marketplace. We do use analytical tools built into the product. I rate this product 9 out of 10.
 

Also Known As

BlueCat Adaptive DNS, BlueCat Automation Manager, BlueCat DDI
NS1 Managed DNS, NS1
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Computer Sciences Corporation
Avast Software, Bloomberg L.P., BBC, Carfax, CNBC LLC, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Disney Streaming, Dropbox, EBAY Inc, Gannett Media Corp, Salesforce, Wayfair, Workday
Find out what your peers are saying about BlueCat Integrity vs. IBM NS1 Connect and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
906,960 professionals have used our research since 2012.