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Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) vs SolarWinds NPM 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
8.0
Reviews on Cisco Secure Network Analytics show mixed ROI perceptions, highlighting both immediate benefits and debated long-term monetary savings.
Sentiment score
7.4
IBM SevOne enhances network monitoring and issue resolution, ensuring cost efficiency and improved operational performance for businesses.
Sentiment score
7.2
SolarWinds NPM enhances infrastructure visibility, delivering cost reductions, faster issue resolution, and significant ROI through optimized resource management.
The return on investment is significant as the solution effectively reduces costs while being worth its expense.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.2
Cisco Secure Network Analytics' support is generally well-regarded for responsiveness and expertise, despite occasional difficulty finding the right engineer.
Sentiment score
8.0
IBM SevOne NPM customer service is praised for responsiveness, expertise, friendly communication, fast response, and handling complex cases effectively.
Sentiment score
6.9
SolarWinds NPM support gets mixed reviews, praised for expertise yet noted for delays and aggressive sales tactics.
There is a lack of adequate local support from the Indian side.
For technical support of Cisco, the support they provide depends on how the client procures it, and so far, it's understandable.
The technical support from IBM for SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) is very good.
If there is no timely response, getting a resolution is more difficult.
We had contact with SolarWinds regarding the implementation, and they were helpful.
They have good technical support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.6
Cisco Secure Network Analytics excels in scalability and adaptability, though it can be costly and challenging in data management.
Sentiment score
8.1
IBM SevOne NPM offers scalable, flexible network monitoring, easily integrating devices and expanding for diverse business sizes and needs.
Sentiment score
6.9
SolarWinds NPM is scalable, adapts well to infrastructures, but may face performance and cost issues on virtual platforms.
It is suitable for small, medium, and enterprise-level companies.
SolarWinds NPM is scalable and effective in handling large network infrastructures.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Cisco Secure Network Analytics is highly stable with minimal downtime, improved firmware, and strong reliability reported by users.
Sentiment score
7.9
IBM SevOne NPM is stable and reliable, with most issues arising from non-SevOne components or specific scenarios.
Sentiment score
7.5
SolarWinds NPM is stable with issues from server limits and bugs, resolved through updates and proper configuration.
Cisco products are incredibly stable, boasting a 200% stability.
Once resolved, the system works well, and overall I think it's good.
The stability of IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) is excellent.
The NPM product is stable, particularly when used for simple network monitoring.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Secure Network Analytics needs better filtering, AI, integration, interface, speed, visibility, management, reporting, licensing, and cost efficiency.
IBM SevOne struggles with upgrade complexity, reporting detail, integration, visualization, and seeks enhanced analytics and cloud monitoring improvements.
SolarWinds NPM users report issues with network discovery, UI features, costs, automation, support, and security improvements are needed.
The solution should have the ability to analyze security events not only at the network layer but also at the application and OS layers.
Proper management of the database is also important; it should be centralized for easier data collection from a single database.
It would be beneficial to have out-of-the-box integration with third-party vendors and improvements in correlation features.
Customers have given feedback about the delayed response times from the technical team.
SolarWinds needs to upscale on observability and add full-fledged observability features, including security features.
Features such as taking backup of the devices or configurations of the devices can be included in further versions of SolarWinds NPM.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users find Cisco Secure Network Analytics costly due to complex licensing, with costs varying widely based on usage.
IBM SevOne NPM provides scalable, flexible licensing, though upfront costs can be high; negotiation is advised for cost management.
SolarWinds NPM pricing varies by setup size, with initial costs, tiered licensing, and maintenance fees influencing total expenses.
Cisco solutions are considered to be very expensive.
Regarding cost, for the Bangladesh context, Cisco Secure Network Analytics is a little bit high-priced because we are a developing country, making it tough to manage affordable solutions.
Pricing-wise, SolarWinds NPM is more expensive than PRTG.
The solution is considered expensive.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Secure Network Analytics offers visibility, threat detection, and analytics, enhancing security with AI-driven insights and encrypted traffic analysis.
IBM SevOne NPM offers scalable, real-time monitoring with integration, alerting, and reporting for proactive network management and optimization.
SolarWinds NPM offers ease of deployment, real-time monitoring, customizable alerts, and user-friendly design for efficient network management.
The most valuable features include encrypted traffic analytics and the ability to fulfill requirements at the network level.
Every solution is gradually integrated with AI, and Cisco has already implemented AI building features in their solution.
The most valuable features of IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) are its stability, usability, visibility, and user-friendly interface.
The most valuable feature for us is the database performance analyzer, which we use a lot.
It provides a detailed overview of the network, which is valuable.
SolarWinds NPM has specific modules for monitoring different network capabilities, which provides rich features for carrying out specific tasks.
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Network Analytics is 1.2%, down from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) is 1.0%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds NPM is 4.4%, down from 5.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

Muhammad Harun-Owr-Roshid - PeerSpot reviewer
Have streamlined network visibility and troubleshooting while seeing benefits from AI integration
In terms of improvements for Cisco Secure Network Analytics, from the implementation point of view, now that AI is in use, some other features need to be upgraded considering AI solutions. Proper management of the database is also important; it should be centralized for easier data collection from a single database. When precise manual analysis is needed, it's sometimes difficult, so having a centralized database will allow network admins to find actual scenarios more effectively, especially since some information may not be visible on the GUI. Cisco should upgrade their hardware part to run the database, because sometimes it cannot handle the load while all features are running in the network. The database management should indeed be centralized because while AI runs behind the systems, central management is essential. For example, in a network with 100 Cisco switches, a few routers, firewalls, and access points, all data generated should be preserved in a central database. This approach simplifies management and analysis for troubleshooting, as GUI interfaces may not always provide visible information. Centralizing the database will allow for better understanding of which information is preserved for each specific device.
Grzegorz Nowak - PeerSpot reviewer
Improves infrastructure planning by helping us analyze network traffic
We use SevOne to collect and report on network flows SevOne improves infrastructure planning by helping us analyze network traffic. We can look at bandwidth for specific endpoints on the customer's network and analyze traffic to identify issues. For example, maybe some connectors are unavailable.…
Masud Alam - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers alerting service to trigger alerts and easy to manage
For end-user performance monitoring, we like features such as availability of our all devices and device/interface monitoring. We have also used NCM (Network Configuration Manager) for our network. We use the alerting service to trigger alerts based on specific thresholds, like CPU or memory utilization exceeding a certain percentage. There are AI network initiatives in SolarWinds NPM for some lengthy issues. For example, it shows availability reports. But for bandwidth monitoring, it's not very clear how much bandwidth is being consumed. SolarWinds provide real-time bandwidth monitoring. It is not difficult to manage the network with SolarWinds. We have one customer with a satellite location. If we have a large network with, let's say, 43,000 elements, and our current SolarWinds license supports only 30,000, we would need to create another polling engine to accommodate the additional 13,000 elements. It's limited to the polling engine, so we can only support 30,000 elements per engine. So it's only for 30,000, but we have at least 40,000 elements in our network.
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Comparison Review

it_user174738 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 31, 2015
Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor
I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
25%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Legal Firm
6%
Educational Organization
16%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Stealthwatch?
The most valuable feature of Cisco Secure Network Analytics is the Threat Intelligence integration.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Stealthwatch?
Regarding cost, for the Bangladesh context, Cisco Secure Network Analytics is a little bit high-priced because we are...
What needs improvement with Cisco Stealthwatch?
In terms of improvements for Cisco Secure Network Analytics, from the implementation point of view, now that AI is in...
What needs improvement with SevOne Network Data Platform?
There is room for improvement in the integration with different vendors and the reporting capabilities. It would be b...
What is your primary use case for SevOne Network Data Platform?
The primary use case of IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) ( /products/ibm-sevone-network-performance-ma...
What advice do you have for others considering SevOne Network Data Platform?
To compete with custom-built tools, IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) should accommodate the desired fe...
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
It actually depends on the exact purpose or kind of devices (network devices, servers, something else). Some tools ar...
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
We are partners with SolarWinds and we sell a lot of Network management to large enterprises also because of scalabil...
 

Also Known As

Cisco Stealthwatch, Cisco Stealthwatch Enterprise, Lancope StealthWatch
SevOne
Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Edge Web Hosting, Telenor Norway, Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, Webster Financial Corporation, Westinghouse Electric, VMware, TIAA-CREF
ATOS, Devereux, Spark New Zealand, Access4, Rogers Communication, Lumen (formerly known as CenturyLink)
Microsoft, Federal Express, Hewlett-Packard, and MasterCard
Find out what your peers are saying about Zabbix, Auvik, SolarWinds and others in Network Monitoring Software. Updated: July 2025.
862,077 professionals have used our research since 2012.