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Cisco Intersight vs VMware Aria Operations comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 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
7.9
Cisco Intersight reduces costs and time via hyper-converged tech, simplifying management and improving user satisfaction over time.
Sentiment score
7.2
VMware Aria Operations enhances VM efficiency, reduces costs, optimizes performance, and improves infrastructure with initial investment and substantial returns.
It simplifies the onboarding of new hardware, reducing time spent on manual installations and configurations.
Systems Engineer at First Rand Bank Ltd.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.2
Cisco Intersight's support is available 24/7, praised for competence but can be slow for complex issues. Ratings vary.
Sentiment score
6.6
VMware Aria Operations is praised for customer service but faces mixed reviews on technical support efficiency and responsiveness.
For complex issues, it's challenging to get the right engineer quickly unless you have a specific contract like CX.
Senior Network Architect at ocp tech
Cisco provides better support than anyone else.
Sr. Network Engineer at Saudi Business Machines - SBM
Cisco technical support is helpful.
Systems Engineer at First Rand Bank Ltd.
They remain in the top 25% of vendors.
IT Solution Architect at DCS
I rate the customer service and support for VMware very highly, at nine out of ten.
Team Lead Virtualization at Hybrid Tech
I would rate technical support around eight or nine.
Owner at Micronet Systems
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Cisco Intersight is highly scalable, effortlessly managing multi-environments and automating tasks, with high user satisfaction across various settings.
Sentiment score
7.4
VMware Aria Operations is praised for its scalability, efficient resource management, and seamless integration with various VMware solutions.
I rate its scalability a ten out of ten due to its capability to manage multiple domains and automate service requests.
Systems Engineer at First Rand Bank Ltd.
Cisco Intersight is scalable enough for our needs, allowing management in a multi-environment setup and working remotely while deploying servers.
Student at University of Helsinki
I consider VMware Aria Operations to be very scalable, earning a high rating of nine out of ten.
Team Lead Virtualization at Hybrid Tech
I find VMware Aria Operations to be quite scalable for my needs.
IT Solution Architect at DCS
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Cisco Intersight is generally stable and secure, but upgrades and documentation gaps may pose challenges, affecting stability ratings.
Sentiment score
7.8
VMware Aria Operations is reliable and stable, with minor issues occasionally arising, often linked to improper setup.
Some steps are not included in the official documentation, which can create challenges.
Senior Network Architect at ocp tech
It is always accessible online, secure, and allows access from any location, following strict authentication standards.
Systems Engineer at First Rand Bank Ltd.
The solution is not very stable.
IT Solution Architect at DCS
I have never experienced any downtime or lost connectivity.
Senior System Network Analyst at Net spa
I find the stability of VMware Aria Operations to be impressive, rated as a stable nine out of ten.
Team Lead Virtualization at Hybrid Tech
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Intersight needs improved hybrid cloud integration, enhanced automation, AI assistance, easier migration, setup, and broader device management.
VMware Aria Operations faces user interface complexity, integration issues, high costs, steep learning curve, and needs better documentation.
There is a significant issue regarding migration from UCS Manager into Intersight without formatting the Fabric Interconnects (FI), which is problematic in a production environment.
System Presale at Bezeq
It would be great to have a chat session mode AI so that when I am on standby and encountering issues, I could engage with it, much like ChatGPT.
Systems Engineer at First Rand Bank Ltd.
When registering our devices and servers using tokens, auto-detection could make it easier by automatically identifying resources and adding them to the platform.
Student at University of Helsinki
Stability is a significant area that needs improvement as I experience frequent disconnections and interruptions in data collection.
IT Solution Architect at DCS
Customers have commented on the pricing issues, noting that doubling the price is not normal.
Founder and CEO at Zed
The primary issue is the pricing, which is very expensive for my company's budget.
Senior System Network Analyst at Net spa
 

Setup Cost

Opinions on Cisco Intersight pricing vary, though most agree it offers fair value and justifiable investment for enterprises.
Enterprise reviewers find VMware Aria Operations costly, exceeding budgets, prompting some to consider alternatives for better value.
The pricing is fair and reasonable, particularly for enterprises.
Systems Engineer at First Rand Bank Ltd.
Cisco Intersight's license cost is very high compared to AWS and Azure solutions, which have lower initiation costs.
Student at University of Helsinki
The pricing mechanism sounds fair.
System Presale at Bezeq
The pricing is very expensive for my company's budget.
Senior System Network Analyst at Net spa
The pricing and cost of VMware Aria Operations increased significantly after Broadcom acquired VMware.
IT Solution Architect at DCS
This makes the cost complex to determine individually.
Team Lead Virtualization at Hybrid Tech
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Intersight provides integration, orchestration, analytics, and automation for enhanced manageability, scalability, and security in data centers.
VMware Aria Operations offers comprehensive monitoring, management, and scalability with predictive analytics, real-time visibility, and vCenter integration.
This solution has provided time savings and required fewer people to operate this tool, rather than direct cost savings.
Sr. Network Engineer at Saudi Business Machines - SBM
It provides visibility into other products and storage, and is beneficial for environments where Cisco and other vendors coexist, allowing full visibility of the entire infrastructure.
System Presale at Bezeq
It also provides predictive analysis, predicting data leaks and making it easy to scale up servers remotely without requiring physical interference.
Student at University of Helsinki
It allows me to perform deep monitoring and logging of the entire environment, providing a quick alarm and warning system through email.
Team Lead Virtualization at Hybrid Tech
The valuable features of VMware Aria Operations include the single pane of glass for all my environments, which allows a deep dive into the metrics.
IT Solution Architect at DCS
The most valuable features of VMware Aria Operations are its stability, ease of use, and extensive range of features.
Founder and CEO at Zed
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Intersight
Ranking in Cloud Management
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
IT Infrastructure Monitoring (12th)
VMware Aria Operations
Ranking in Cloud Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
376
Ranking in other categories
Virtualization Management Tools (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Cloud Management category, the mindshare of Cisco Intersight is 1.9%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Aria Operations is 4.9%, down from 8.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
VMware Aria Operations4.9%
Cisco Intersight1.9%
Other93.2%
Cloud Management
 

Featured Reviews

HH
Systems Engineer at First Rand Bank Ltd.
Automation and seamless incident handling transform operational efficiency
I would like AI to be more integrated into Cisco Intersight. It would be great to have a chat session mode AI so that when I am on standby and encountering issues, I could engage with it, much like ChatGPT. For instance, if I need to find commands for UCS Manager, it should provide that information.
AldoDomini - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Network Analyst at Net spa
Have faced limitations due to high costs but have maintained reliability over time
The primary issue is the pricing, which is very expensive for my company's budget. We cannot afford to pay such a large fee. We are not Microsoft or BMW; we are a small company. As a small company, I have no power to negotiate directly with VMware. Perhaps larger companies have more opportunity to contract directly with VMware, but I do not have that leverage. The only path I can follow is to change solutions. Net.spA is a company working in the field of waste management. We are not a technological company, so we do not have a large margin to justify purchasing and maintaining the VMware infrastructure at current costs.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Management solutions are best for your needs.
879,711 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
21%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business64
Midsize Enterprise62
Large Enterprise278
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Intersight?
Intersight can validate our environment.
What needs improvement with Cisco Intersight?
I would like AI to be more integrated into Cisco Intersight. It would be great to have a chat session mode AI so that when I am on standby and encountering issues, I could engage with it, much like...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Intersight?
We use Cisco Intersight ( /products/cisco-intersight-reviews ) for operational tasks. We run patches and import firmware updates from the Cisco site. In the event of a component failure, such as a ...
What's the difference between VMware vRA (automation) and vROps (operations)?
vROP is a virtualization management solution from VMWare. It is efficient and easy to manage. You can find anything you need from the software interface. It provides complete visibility over applic...
Is VMware Aria Operations a user friendly solution?
In terms of user-friendliness, VMware Aria Operations is one of the best solutions out there. It is not overly complex to set up and you can rely on the technical support to provide you with assis...
What is the most useful new feature of VMware Aria Operations?
For me, the alerts features are the most unique part of this product, no matter the current name it uses. When they introduced the new version of VMware Aria Operations, they also introduced more a...
 

Also Known As

Intersight
VMware vRealize Operations (vROps), vCenter Operations Manager (VCOPS)
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

EXMAR, RapidScale
Science Applications International Corporation, Tribune Media, Heartland Payment Systems, Telkom Indonesia, Columbia Sportswear, iGATE, CSS Corp, Angel Broking, Adira Finance, Hipskind, Beiersdorf Shared Services, Innovate Mas Indonesia, Adobe, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi , Join Experience S.A, Borusan Holdings, Department of Transport - Abu Dhabi
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Intersight vs. VMware Aria Operations and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,711 professionals have used our research since 2012.