Cisco UCS Director vs vCenter Orchestrator comparison

The compared Cisco and VMware solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #22 in CM , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 1.3% mindshare in the category. VMware is ranked #6 in PA , with an average rating of 8.1, and holds a 0.3% mindshare. Additionally, 71% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of VMware users who would recommend it.

Cisco UCS Director

Read 14 Cisco UCS Director reviews

559 Views
302 Comparison Views

71% willing to recommend

vCenter Orchestrator

Read 50 vCenter Orchestrator reviews

162 Views
83 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Cisco UCS Director

vCenter Orchestrator

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco UCS Director and vCenter Orchestrator based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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Buyer's Guide

Cloud Management

June 2025

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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 UCS Director

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Management (22nd)

vCenter Orchestrator

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Process Automation (6th)

Mindshare comparison

Cisco UCS Director and vCenter Orchestrator aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco UCS Director is designed for Cloud Management and holds a mindshare of 1.3%, down 1.5% compared to last year.
vCenter Orchestrator, on the other hand, focuses on Process Automation, holds 0.3% mindshare, down 0.4% since last year.

Cloud Management

Process Automation

Featured Reviews

Sunny Nair

Solution Architect and Senior Consultant at Keysight Technologies

Good multi-cloud management capability, but third-party and legacy integration needs improvement

Normally, UCS Director is used primarily for orchestration, but when we look at a non-Cisco data infrastructure components, the UCS Director needs a bit more improvement in terms of integration with third-party systems and with existing older systems. I feel that more development or a more integrated road map should be set up so that it becomes a common platform for any infrastructure. In the next release of this solution, I would like to see changes in the navigation controls of UCS Director. That would be helpful. Modifying the icons that are available for use, as well as virtualization aspects.

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Gerhard Gmelch

IT architect endpoint at Rohde & Schwarz

Enhance automation efficiency with cost-effective graphical workflow design

I use vCenter Orchestrator for automation purposes, specifically to run automation workbooks The most valuable features are the graphical UI for designing the workflows and the interfaces that come out of the box. Additionally, it is included in the VMware Vitalization Stack, which means there…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The reason we went with Cisco is that it comes at a very negligible cost as part of the BOQ. Compared to the competition's products, which are incredibly expensive, UCS Director is low-cost."

"This is a user-friendly solution that is very good and easy to use."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the fabric sharing."

"Cisco's knowledge base is extensive."

"A product that really aids in systems management without complexity."

"The product is flexible and compact. It has a lot of features."

"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"An easy and strong configuration, along with its low cost, are some of the features of the solution."

More Cisco UCS Director pros

"We can manage and relocate resources easily."

"The solution's most valuable feature is its good automation features."

"What I like best about vCenter Orchestrator is that it makes life easier through automation. People can request to automate all processes with vCenter Orchestrator, such as adding storage, creating VMs, removing VMs, and extending VMs."

"Snapshots and similar features were managed well."

"The stability of the product is very good."

"The product's integration is good, it works well with other programs and solutions."

"The implementation phase for vCenter Orchestrator was easy."

"In regards to the workflows, the fact that we can actually have a full dashboard library of all the existing workflows on this is great. We can see all the workflows and what all the actions do and can work with scripts."

More vCenter Orchestrator pros

Cons

"The areas where this product can be improved are the integrations and the UI. These features are not as friendly compared to VMware products."

"I would like to see more integration with other solutions."

"There aren’t any areas of improvement that immediately come to mind."

"Simplifying the user interface would go a long way to making it more usable."

"Normally, UCS Director is used primarily for orchestration, but when we look at a non-Cisco data infrastructure components, the UCS Director needs a bit more improvement in terms of integration with third-party systems and with existing older systems."

"The tool should be a lot more intuitive and make it easy for us to understand and migrate."

"The product's pricing needs to improve."

"Currently, Cisco UCS Director is unable to integrate with another product or with a server from another brand."

More Cisco UCS Director cons

"I did not do the initial setup. However, it was complex at the beginning."

"It is practically difficult at this stage to really comment on the improvisations of V central. But more tech events and PoC cases would help the EA to design better solutions and utilization."

"The licensing is expensive and should be improved."

"The product’s cost needs improvement."

"This is an expensive solution."

"It is too expensive. One of the main issues is the price."

"The product lacks GUIs. The tool should have more GUIs available, along with easier product documentation."

"The snapshot technology of VMware is not good compared to other solutions in the market, like Nutanix."

More vCenter Orchestrator cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the product's pricing an eight out of ten."

"Cisco UCS Director is expensive...I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."

"The budget doesn’t work for the state and local governments."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price and ten is a high price, I rate the pricing around five to six out of ten."

"The cost of this solution is significant."

"I rate Cisco UCS Director's price a three out of ten. Cisco UCS Director is not an affordable product. With Cisco UCS Director, there is a need to pay an overall price, which consists of the product, software, and support."

"The licensing cost is manageable because they have different versions available, standard, essential, and advanced."

"We renew the solution's license every one or two years."

"My company needs to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product."

"The product is expensive."

"This solution is expensive and the licensing is more attractive for Haveri."

"The solution is a bit expensive."

"Our licensing is on a yearly basis. We pay for the license and then we pay the support every year."

"vCenter Orchestrator could be more affordable."

More vCenter Orchestrator pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

26%

Financial Services Firm

21%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

21%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

13%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco UCS Director?

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco UCS Director?

While the pricing might be seen as expensive, it provides value for money due to reliable service and excellent technical support.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco UCS Director?

There aren’t any areas of improvement that immediately come to mind.

See all answers

What do you like most about vCenter Orchestrator?

The stability of the product is very good.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vCenter Orchestrator?

We're running a low-profile budget. This is not our main focus on investment technology, so we're trying to reduce costs due to the change from perpetual to subscription licenses.

See all answers

What needs improvement with vCenter Orchestrator?

After the change from perpetual licensing to subscriptions, the cost model changed. We are considering alternatives since we lost the perpetual aspect, and support is changing.

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Intersight vs Cisco UCS Director

Compared 54% of the time

VMware Aria Automation vs Cisco UCS Director

Compared 30% of the time

OpenNebula vs Cisco UCS Director

Compared 16% of the time

More Cisco UCS Director Competitors

VMware Aria Automation vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 44% of the time

VMware Aria Operations vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 25% of the time

VMware Cloud Director vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 19% of the time

Microsoft System Center Orchestrator vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 12% of the time

More vCenter Orchestrator Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco UCS Director

June 2025

Download Cisco UCS Director product report

Buyer's Guide

vCenter Orchestrator

June 2025

Download vCenter Orchestrator product report

Overview

Cisco UCS Director enables automated delivery of physical and virtual data center resources, empowering data centers to move at the speed of business.

Cisco

VMware vCenter Orchestrator simplifies the automation of complex IT tasks and integrates with VMware vCloud Suite components to adapt and extend service delivery and operational management, effectively working with existing infrastructure, tools and processes.

VMware

Sample Customers

Entel, Data#3, Cegal, NESIC, LightEdge

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