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Cisco ACI vs Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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
Ranking in Network Virtualization
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Networking (SDN) (2nd), Cloud and Data Center Security (7th)
Cisco Enterprise Network Fu...
Ranking in Network Virtualization
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Network Virtualization category, the mindshare of Cisco ACI is 25.0%, down from 41.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization is 9.3%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Virtualization Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco ACI25.0%
Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization9.3%
Other65.7%
Network Virtualization
 

Featured Reviews

Sulaiman Olubiyi - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Majdi Sabbah - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant Sales Engineer at BT Al-Saudia
Versatile, offering flexibility and scalability
I rely on Cisco Enterprise NFV for various sectors like government, campuses, and hospitality. It is a crucial foundational layer that is mandatory before delivering other services The most valuable feature is its user-friendly management dashboard. It is easy to use and covers everything in one…

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 integrate with other systems is the most valuable feature."
"It decreases network provisioning time and application provisioning time, and it also takes fewer resources to manage it because you have a centralized system where one APIC controller can manage more than 200 leaf switches."
"We are pretty satisfied with what we have."
"I especially like the host-based routing feature of Cisco ACI because it's straightforward to do it on different data centers. Another valuable feature of Cisco ACI is that its management controller works very well with no issues."
"I like features like policy control and micro-segmentation."
"Their technical support has been great, and they have a great partner, so there is nothing to comment on regarding the service."
"It improves security and automation; it is stable and provides flexibility with different workloads, and it is also more powerful from a security point of view."
"In legacy networks, managing changes requires individual tickets for each device. ACI's single pane of glass management through APIC is a big advantage. So, single-tenant management is a plus."
"Network Security is one of the most valuable features of Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization."
"Routing, switching, and wireless network security are the valuable features of Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization."
"The support system that they have in place is very good and they are easy to reach."
"Overall, I feel that this is a good product and I recommend it."
"Cisco is in our portfolio, which is one of the reasons that we keep working with them."
"It is easy to manage, easy to maintain, and stable, and if you set up everything alright, it will give years without any issues."
"Scalability is not a problem."
"The most valuable feature is its user-friendly management dashboard."
 

Cons

"I would like this solution to be integrated with Pure Storage."
"Deployment could be made a bit simpler and the licensing part could be a bit easier as well, along with improvements on the costing."
"Cisco ACI would benefit by providing the option to integrate easily with DNAC in their next release."
"It needs to be able to function on the cloud."
"It would be nice if I could specify network-centric in my design, and the system would organize and set itself up in that way."
"It would be better to introduce some wizards to guide you through the whole configuration process instead of clicking through a bunch of menus with no concrete path. It is too easy to forget one or another if you configure it this way."
"I think that technical support tickets should be escalated sooner."
"ACI's blade servers could be more flexible, and its storage interface is a little too complex because they use some third-party storage solution."
"The solution's orchestration part could be improved."
"One of the things that can be improved is trimming all mobile numbers so that it aids in swiftly acquiring information for tablets or any necessary solution."
"This is a software solution, which is less stable than a hardware solution by definition."
"In terms of what could be improved, I would say the cost. The SDN hardware especially is much too expensive, specifically 799 and 9000, which act like a spine and those spines are connecting to the leaves."
"There is room for improvement in enhancing compatibility with other solutions and vendors."
"I would like to see the principle scan introduce more models, to help with scalability issues."
"It would be helpful if they offered modularized upgrades, such as additional memory or a faster processor."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is pretty good for new technology."
"We have seen time improvement using the product."
"A big company can automate it themselves or spend a lot of money and buy it."
"Cisco is much more expensive than other vendors, especially when it comes to the licensing."
"Yearly, we pay around one point two million for the solution."
"The price could be improved. It is expensive, but then again, it is Cisco. The price is worth what you pay for."
"It is quite expensive. It is not at all on the cheap or medium side."
"The good thing about Cisco is that you can trade in your old products to replace them with ACI."
"There is a separate charge for support."
"Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization is an expensive solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business22
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise89
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise2
 

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...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco ACI?
Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Cisco ACI, I observe that it is on the more expensive side, although discounts sometimes make it more affordable. Overall, it is recognized as a pr...
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Also Known As

No data available
Cisco NFV
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bowling Green State University, du, Qatar University
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco ACI vs. Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
921,148 professionals have used our research since 2012.