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Cisco Crosswork Network Insights vs Nmap 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

Cisco Crosswork Network Ins...
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
58th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Nmap
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
17th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco Crosswork Network Insights is 0.1%. The mindshare of Nmap is 0.8%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Nmap0.8%
Cisco Crosswork Network Insights0.1%
Other99.1%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Sai Aditya Panda - PeerSpot reviewer
Student at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Penetration testing has become efficient as I identify open ports and security risks with confidence
Nmap could potentially become a GUI and provide automatic reports with one-click downloads. For example, the report could show all the open ports for an IP address with a professionally formatted report. This is a far-fetched suggestion and not really required, but it could make the work a little better. On a scale of one to ten, I give Nmap a solid nine. I mean, how can you fix something that is not broken? Nmap is already the best, and I do not think there are any other features that can be added. Its job is reconnaissance, so I do not think there is more to add to it. However, if I get any ideas, I will let them know about this.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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 impacted my organization positively as it has saved a lot of time, reduced management overhead, and simplified operations through a single pane of glass."
"Nmap has a powerful command line tool and a set of diagnostic features."
"The solution detects the operating systems, which makes testing the software much easier before making the payload."
"It enables us to delve deeper and identify the services and open ports on the system and visualize this information on a dashboard automatically."
"From a functionality standpoint, it's robust and straightforward to comprehend."
"The real-time reporting feature of Nmap is particularly valuable. It generates detailed reports on the source and destination IP addresses, the protocols used, and the types of traffic."
"It’s an excellent tool and allows its users a multitude of solutions to scan a network."
"This was my first project, and Nmap was the best tool that I have used to date, and I recommend it to everyone."
"Nmap's performance is great, and I've never noticed any issues in this respect. It really doesn't put a heavy load on the machine when using it."
 

Cons

"I have not seen a return on investment yet; we are still working on it."
"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."
"The tool's license limits the number of scans it can perform. Improving the license model could benefit customers by allowing more scans for compliance and other purposes."
"The price is high and could be cheaper."
"Customization is not very user-friendly in Nmap."
"There could be a specific option to check non-pingable endpoints for the product."
"They should deliver Playtech's username and password."
"The solution's initial setup could be better."
"Nmap will be a little difficult for beginners because of the learning curve and the CLI-based system, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes very powerful."
"The challenge often lies in finding suitable courses and professional resources."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The solution is open source so it is free."
"I am using the free version of Nmap."
"The solution is free of cost."
"The solution is free of cost, but there are specific services that we have to buy."
"Nmap is an open-source product. You don't need a license to install it."
"Nmap is an open-source and free product."
"The product's pricing is fine. The licensing options for Nmap include perpetual licenses and volume-based licenses. For perpetual licenses, once you purchase it, there's no need to invest in renewals. And for volume-based licenses, enterprise companies can use it multiple times based on the number of users or devices they need to scan. It's a pay-as-you-go model, similar to how you pay for what you use."
"It's an open-source product, and I haven't seen any premiums. Options are available for those who purchase, but for my use case, everything I need is available in the community and forums."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
53%
Healthcare Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Transportation Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Construction Company
10%
Government
9%
University
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cisco Crosswork Network Insights?
Cisco Crosswork Network Insights is really good, but we just need to get updates.
What is your primary use case for Cisco Crosswork Network Insights?
My main use case for Cisco Crosswork Network Insights involves Cisco products.A specific example of how I use Cisco Crosswork Network Insights includes Cisco UCS blade servers, Cisco UI, and Cisco ...
What do you like most about Nmap?
Nmap is mostly helpful during compliance checks. We run the scanner to see how many devices are on our network and find vulnerabilities in those that aren't compliant. We also use it monthly to sca...
What is your primary use case for Nmap?
Nmap is used for network scanning to map the network, identify devices, and assess their status. It helps determine open ports and services running on a particular endpoint or server within an ente...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Lockheed Martin, Eastern Bank Boston, Perspecta, Harris Corporation, Discovery Communication
Find out what your peers are saying about Zabbix, Auvik, Datadog and others in Network Monitoring Software. Updated: March 2026.
885,376 professionals have used our research since 2012.