IBM Tivoli NetCool vs NetScaler comparison

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IBM Tivoli NetCool

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

IBM Tivoli NetCool and NetScaler compete in network management and optimization. NetScaler appears to have the upper hand due to its advanced traffic management and application delivery features, despite higher costs.

Features: IBM Tivoli NetCool offers customizable alerts, real-time monitoring, and a robust event management system with a focus on adaptability and scalability. NetScaler provides traffic management, load balancing, and security features such as SSL offload and application firewalls, aiming to enhance network performance.

Room for Improvement: IBM Tivoli NetCool could improve its integration capabilities and reduce setup complexity to better fit diverse environments. Additionally, enhancing user interface intuitiveness and simplifying deployment could offer significant improvements. For NetScaler, refining documentation and support responses, enhancing the GUI for more intuitive navigation, and addressing issues with specific Citrix integrations could be beneficial.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Tivoli NetCool utilizes a traditional deployment model with comprehensive support, though setup can be complex. NetScaler allows for quick system integration with a user-friendly approach, streamlined processes, and reliable customer service that simplifies deployment and integration.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Tivoli NetCool involves higher initial costs but offers scalability and long-term ROI for larger infrastructures. NetScaler may have more competitive initial pricing and delivers value through efficiency and performance. The investment is justified by its robust capabilities, offering a compelling option for businesses prioritizing performance optimization.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Tivoli NetCool vs. NetScaler Report (Updated: July 2025).

IBM Tivoli NetCool vs. NetScaler

July 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

IBM Tivoli NetCool

Ranking in Network Management Applications

13th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NetScaler

Ranking in Network Management Applications

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

107

Ranking in other categories

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (1st), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (14th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of IBM Tivoli NetCool is 2.2%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetScaler is 1.5%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Management Applications

Featured Reviews

Petar Ganev

Senior Enterprise Monitoring Engineer at Commerzbank

Reliable for enterprise monitoring but no longer actively developed

There are problems with the latest security requirements because many things have changed in recent years, and now the security audits are very strict. And we need to switch to something else. We need to patch it constantly. Moreover, it is a very old tool and a little bit difficult to support. Otherwise, they work okay.

Read full review

DEMİRHAN ÇAVUŞOĞLU

Cloud Consultant at Migros Ticaret A.Ş.

A tool for centralized management including inventory and sales tracking

Citrix ADM has the ability to implement policies to tighten security. For instance, you can restrict access to your network from outsiders or lack necessary security measures such as antivirus programs. Additionally, there's the Delivery Controller, which allows for comprehensive monitoring and management tasks such as remote restarts, maintenance, and registration. Another essential component is the Director, which provides detailed insights into sessions, including identifying session failures, connection issues, user lockouts, etc. It presents a list of problems to address, enabling you to click on them and resolve them efficiently.

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 solution has very good integration capabilities."

"It's very easy to use."

"The scalability of monitoring, the breadth of supported network components, the scale of the number of monitoring events, and the flexibility in customization make this a well-rounded product."

"Tivoli NetCool allows us to grasp a lot of data that can be applied toward predictive analytics and auto-remediation."

"NetCool has a huge database that can collect and process about one million alarms a day."

"Support is one of the best aspects of this solution. NetCool is a good product that has good flexibility. There are a lot of documents available online which is one of the best features of IBM Tivoli Suite. Whenever an issue happens, rather than going to technical support, if you find the exact issue in Google, you can get tech notes for that particular issue."

"The tool had many built-in automation capabilities."

"The tool is much easier to manage than running scripts and figuring out how many endpoints have been exceeded."

More IBM Tivoli NetCool pros

"Provides resiliency for applications that reside on servers, as well as connectivity to remote applications."

"The NetScaler appliance has provided a lot of customers with greater high availability for their enterprise applications within a single site and across multiple locations."

"Citrix Director has been great. It gives us one pane of glass to be able to monitor what's going on with the user sessions as well as to keep on top of the virtual desktops, any servers that may be offline or behaving suspiciously, or any troublesome spots like disconnections. We also use Citrix Studio for maintaining the actual servers that are hosting these applications. We use it for delivery groups in case we need to modify delivery groups in regards to which groups have access to which applications. It has been very helpful."

"For desktop application management, I recommend the NetScaler edition. This product is like a Swiss army knife. Citrix NetScaler ADC supports the education front-end."

"Scalability is great. One of the best features of NetScaler is that it can scale out."

"I like the monitoring ability as it enables me to identify when an internal (load-balanced) resource is having issues before it becomes a problem in production."

"My customers have told me that the performance of this solution is good."

"The solution is easy to work with and manage."

More NetScaler pros

Cons

"The solution does not have any AI capabilities."

"UI is outdated, very old legacy."

"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."

"Tivoli NetCool is based on a Linux platform, it would be beneficial if they moved it to Windows because not everyone is acquainted with Linux."

"In terms of improvement, I would like to see more AIOps, Artificial Intelligent Operations in the next release. IBM develops new features for Power BI or Cognos Analytics, which is good. As of now, we use Cognos Analytics, we are not using Power BI. They have the Insight concept but we don't like that."

"Customization and integration that you need to do to make the product fit your needs is very complex. It is not a product that somebody could easily pick up without any prior training or experience."

"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."

"The solution is not user-friendly."

More IBM Tivoli NetCool cons

"Technical support sometimes takes a little longer because of the multilevel ticket priority."

"An area for improvement in Citrix Web App and API Protection is for it to give real-time notifications and alerts. It would be practical if the solution warns you if there's an attack or if the load or traffic volume increases or decreases. An additional feature I'd like to see in Citrix Web App and API Protection is a prediction or artificial intelligence on what is happening, for example, attacks."

"There are some features which are missing."

"Their upgrades are not very backward compatible, and sometimes they mess up."

"The licensing model and technical support of the solution could be improved."

"Deployment is complicated."

"The customization has always been a key area where some improvements are required. In the beginning, everything was for customizing the outer shell of it. You had to use the command-based utility and you had to do a lot of manual work. They have improved it a little bit and now there are some GUI-based functionalities that can be used. However, more can be done that doesn't require a lot of intervention. Right now there are some features, there are some customizations that can be done, but it's still very tedious, very cumbersome, a lot of work. So that could be simplified."

"We have issues with the certificates. All authorization processes need certificates, however, every three months we needed to change certificates. This process iss complicated for us because Citrix does not have a not user-friendly interface and does not off user-friendly services. This needs a lot of improvement."

More NetScaler cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the product is too expensive."

"Customers are required to pay a licensing fee."

"It costs around 100k for every ten servers, which is lower than similar products from other vendors."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"Regarding pricing, while it's expensive, I can't comment on the exact ROI without a budget analysis. However, in terms of service quality, it's worth the price."

"It is true that it is a bit pricey compared to newer technologies coming to the market. For example, A10 is a load balancer that does everything that Citrix can and it does a lot more than what NetScaler does when it comes to the security space, and their prices are so cheap. Every box comes with its own license and support built into it. When you compare that with NetScaler, you have to buy licenses separately, you have to buy a support agreement that is going to be separate. A small NetScaler, even if it is a VPX which is a virtual server, could cost you close to $150,000 to $200,000 dollars. So the pricing is really high."

"This product is more expensive than some of the competitors."

"I do not have any experience with the pricing of the product."

"NetScaler does the same thing as an F5 and it's cheaper."

"We get value for money. Its price is fair. I don't think it is overpriced."

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

"The solution's pricing is very high compared to its competitors."

More NetScaler pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

30%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

I have worked from 1973 with all kind of systems in large enterprises across the world. And have experience with all kind of software in monitoring from infra to end to end, it depends on the funct...

What do you like most about IBM Tivoli NetCool?

The tool had many built-in automation capabilities.

What needs improvement with IBM Tivoli NetCool?

The main challenge is its licensing model, which is very complicated.

What do you like most about Citrix ADC?

The most valuable feature for us is the application firewalling in Citrix NetScaler, ensuring only valid traffic enters our environment.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix ADC?

After deployment, Citrix Netscaler shifted to a subscription-based license scheme for support, which is slightly more expensive.

What needs improvement with Citrix ADC?

Citrix NetScaler is a robust product, but mastering it requires significant learning and training due to its complexity. While it could be easier to manage, it is like transitioning from driving a ...

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Product Reports

Download IBM Tivoli NetCool product report

IBM Tivoli NetCool

June 2025

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June 2025

Also Known As

Tivoli NetCool

Citrix ADC, Citrix NetScaler VPX, NetScaler Console, NetScaler Web Application Firewall

Overview

IBM Tivoli Netcool delivers near real-time, consolidated event management across business infrastructure, data centers, complex networks and IT domains. The software provides full management and automation to help you deliver continuous uptime of business services and applications.

IBM

One platform for a consistent application delivery and security experience because nobody has time to learn multiple systems to manage ADC deployments. NetScaler is built with a single code base using a software-based architecture, so no matter which ADC form factor you choose — hardware, virtual machine, bare metal, or container — the behavior will be the same.

Sample Customers

Claranet, Consolidated Communications, Telus, €sterreichische Bundesbahnen (€BB), Telekom Srbija, Bendigo Community Telco, Capgemini, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB)

ABB Schweiz, Aer Lingus, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Amnet Technology Solutions, Aramex International, Ascenty, Atos, Autodesk