Cisco ACI vs Cisco APIC-EM [EOL] comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Cisco ACI and Cisco APIC-EM [EOL] are both solutions in the Network Virtualization category. Additionally, 85% of Cisco ACI users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Cisco APIC-EM [EOL] users who would recommend it.

Cisco ACI

Read 106 Cisco ACI reviews

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1,349 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Cisco APIC-EM [EOL]

Read 1 Cisco APIC-EM [EOL] review

100% willing to recommend

Cisco ACI

Cisco APIC-EM [EOL]

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco ACI and Cisco APIC-EM [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Broadcom, ZeroTier, Inc. and others in Network Virtualization.

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Network Virtualization

October 2026

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Helped 920,223 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

Cisco ACI

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

106

Ranking in other categories

Network Virtualization (1st), Software Defined Networking (SDN) (2nd), Cloud and Data Center Security (7th)

Cisco APIC-EM [EOL]

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

Sulaiman Olubiyi

Senior Network Automation Engineer at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Network automation has simplified secure multi-site connectivity and reduced daily operational effort

I believe Cisco ACI could improve by incorporating something related to agentic AI, where it can execute tasks based on particular evaluations or loop engineering, enhancing fault identification or suggestions based on each tenant's configuration. Additionally, I think they should ensure that the documentation is comprehensive. I appreciate that Cisco provides documentation, and their support engineers are helpful in case of any issues. In terms of governance and security regarding Cisco ACI's AI capabilities, I think what we call evals or evaluations is important, whereby the engineer can evaluate the functionalities of the AI in Cisco ACI, preventing it from making deletions or modifications on its own. Therefore, there should be evaluations or guardrails incorporated into the development capabilities. Regarding accuracy and reliability of output for Cisco ACI's AI capabilities, it hasn't met my expectations. What we need is something called RAG, or retrieval-augmented generation. If Cisco can implement that to utilize customer-specific data instead of general knowledge, while ensuring data privacy under GDPR laws, I think that will result in very good, reliable output.

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it_user817026

Sr. IT & Business Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Enabling business agility and accelerated time to market with the automated service delivery

Infrastructure as a Service for managed services and other customers, including computing, storage, and networking Business agility and accelerated service delivery Automated processes/workflow automation Better manageability Eliminating the IT administration silos for our datacenter and…

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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

"One area where it has an advantage... is that you're able to reuse a specific integration. If you add another server, you can use a specific integration and assign it to another port."

"The most valuable features of Cisco ACI are micro-segmentation, the VXLAN, and the ACI flattening services."

"The product works very well with our virtual environment."

"For companies starting from scratch, ACI is the best solution in terms of the space needed and time to delivery."

"Instead of taking days or multiple days for a deployment of a server or application, they can do it immediately within minutes because all the configuration templates are already there in the control plane, which we can push immediately when the new server gets added."

"The most valuable feature is programmability, where we can manage a network via APIs and software, as opposed to having to manage complex hardware."

"Cisco support is way better than the competition in my experience."

"It offers multitenancy. The opportunity to install it on the same platform with a huge amount of customers."

More Cisco ACI pros

"Eliminating the IT administration silos for our datacenter and infrastructure by providing a single managed and converged infrastructure which provides unified compute, storage, and networking environment with a single point of management."

"The environment enables a DevOps culture, continuous delivery, and automated processes."

"Enabling business agility and accelerated time to market with the automated service delivery."

Cons

"It is more about resolving bugs early on in the code. Otherwise, as the product gets more mature and those bugs get discovered sometimes by the customer, then Cisco will resolve them."

"Technical support needs to be more helpful. It's rare that you get a knowledgeable person."

"The initial setup of this solution is complex. Our environment is not very complex, but the product itself is very complex."

"This is a good solution, but I would really like to see the network-centric philosophy of configuration be a little bit easier; the learning curve is steep."

"Our company had a lot of issues with the starter kit."

"I would like for them to develop integration with AWS."

"We faced some issues while configuring the microsegment."

"I would like for there to be more information about it available. While using the ACI in the graphical interface, I would like if there was something that explained every step that you can click and it will tell you what you are doing in more detail."

More Cisco ACI cons

"Need a better workflow definition tool with tracking on existing provisioned services, and to improve multitasking in the workflow automation."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing cost for ACI is expensive - I would rate its price 2.5 out of five."

"We have seen time improvement using the product."

"It saves time and resources."

"We used Cisco Professional Services for the deployment. They were outstanding, but very expensive."

"We have saved time on the provisioning and configuration."

"It is quite expensive. It is not at all on the cheap or medium side."

"Yearly, we pay around one point two million for the solution."

"Cisco ACI is more expensive than Juniper, however, ACI is not the most expensive option."

More Cisco ACI pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Outsourcing Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	22
Midsize Enterprise	19
Large Enterprise	89

No data available

Questions from the Community

What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?

There are some very major differences between both the Products and to name a few. -Cisco ACI have physical network gear (9K Switches) where the Code runs in ACI Policy Mode & the UCS server wh...

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What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?

Once you know your way around the Cisco ecosystem, using Cisco ACI is not so difficult. It is a global product, so when you change one interface, changes are automatically reflected on every switch...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco ACI?

Cost is one thing that could be improved, as it is heavy for an emerging market like ours.

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Comparisons

VMware NSX vs Cisco ACI

Compared 14% of the time

Juniper Contrail Networking vs Cisco ACI

Compared 8% of the time

TrendAI Deep Security vs Cisco ACI

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Secure Workload vs Cisco ACI

Compared 7% of the time

Nuage Networks vs Cisco ACI

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco ACI Competitors

Array AVX Series vs Cisco APIC-EM [EOL]

Compared 100% of the time

More Cisco APIC-EM [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco ACI

October 2026

Download Cisco ACI product report

Buyer's Guide

Network Virtualization

October 2026

Download Cisco APIC-EM [EOL] product report

Also Known As

No data available

Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module

Overview

Cisco ACI provides advanced capabilities with features like seamless integration with VMware and APIs for programmability. It offers centralized management for streamlined operations, efficient micro-segmentation, and robust security, addressing modern data center needs.

Cisco ACI brings automation to data center infrastructure, enabling transitions from legacy to modern environments with centralized management. Organizations benefit from optimized server farms, seamless integration with VMware, and support for Kubernetes, making it suitable for large-scale environments. Offering support for healthcare, finance, and public sectors, Cisco ACI facilitates tasks such as virtual networking and multi-site connectivity with application-centric and network-centric designs.

What are the key features of Cisco ACI?

Seamless Integration with VMware: Ensures smooth operation with existing virtualized environments.
Programmability via APIs: Offers flexibility in network configuration and management through APIs.
Centralized Management: Provides a unified view of the network, simplifying oversight.
Automation: Reduces manual configuration workload, speeding up deployment.
Scalability: Adapts to growing network demands with ease.
Robust Security: Enhances protection against threats with comprehensive security measures.
Efficient Micro-Segmentation: Improves network segmentation for security and efficiency.

What benefits or ROI should users look for when evaluating Cisco ACI?

Streamlined Operation: Reduced complexity in network management.
Enhanced Performance: Improved network and application efficiency.
Cost Efficiency: Better resource allocation reduces operational costs.
Improved Security: Advanced features for increased protection.
Scalability: Allows growth without significant redesigns.

In the healthcare industry, Cisco ACI supports secure and efficient data management, accommodating regulatory needs and enhancing patient data handling. Financial institutions benefit from robust security and seamless integration with existing infrastructures, facilitating smooth transaction processing. In the public sector, it's utilized for reliable network management and servicing a diverse range of applications.

Cisco

APIC-EM is a central part of Cisco Digital Network Architecture. It delivers software-defined networking to the enterprise branch, campus, and WAN. Its simple user interface lets you automate policy-based application profiles. With this module, IT can respond rapidly to new business opportunities.

Cisco

Sample Customers

Bowling Green State University, du, Qatar University

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Network Virtualization

October 2026

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We monitor all Network Virtualization reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.