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FireMon Asset Manager vs IBM Tivoli NetCool comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

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

FireMon Asset Manager
Ranking in Network Management Applications
17th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (11th), Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management (CAASM) (6th)
IBM Tivoli NetCool
Ranking in Network Management Applications
14th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of FireMon Asset Manager is 1.0%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Tivoli NetCool is 2.7%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Tivoli NetCool2.7%
FireMon Asset Manager1.0%
Other96.3%
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

AN
Director of Delivery for IT and Cybersecurity at IMRI
Quickly discovers large IP address spaces, integrates seamlessly, and is easy to maintain
The fact that Asset Manager provides us with accurate updated asset information and details, is important for us. When FireMon Asset Manager is properly configured the data it provides is comprehensive. I have used Asset Manager to create dashboards for certificate monitoring to identify out-of-date certificates. I've also used it for operational technology, like industrial control system-type monitoring. They work well. They're a great resource when we're trying to learn more about our network, find a gap, or discover if something isn't being monitored that we need to be monitoring. The speed at which Asset Manager can discover large IP address spaces is impressive. It discovers things relatively quickly and with relatively minimal configuration and setup. Asset Manager's benefits became evident soon after implementation. Real-time data provided immediate clarity; even simple queries quickly demonstrated its value. Asset Manager identified unauthorized devices on the network, prompting a review of connections between various generative networks. In simpler terms, I discovered unexpected devices, addressed a potential security breach by isolating them, and identified additional unauthorized connections. This has a clear impact on overall network security. We have configured FireMon APIs for alerting.
Petar Ganev - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable aspects of FireMon Asset Manager are its integrations and its ability to passively monitor the network for unknown assets."
"The most valuable feature is the change modules. Whenever there is a change in the firewall, it automatically reflects on FireMon."
"It offers a single platform for managing firewalls of different brands and simplifies policy deployment and auditing. It helps push policies to different firewalls, and it also helps with policy auditing."
"The feature I have found most valuable with NetCool is how it collaborates all the alarms, and then it does a predictive analysis, providing a consolidated alarm view and management."
"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."
"It's very easy to use."
"The tool is much easier to manage than running scripts and figuring out how many endpoints have been exceeded."
"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."
"It's very easy to use."
"The tool had many built-in automation capabilities."
"Tivoli NetCool allows us to grasp a lot of data that can be applied toward predictive analytics and auto-remediation."
 

Cons

"While passive discovery remains important, active retrieval of asset details would be valuable, and this functionality is starting to be implemented, as I've observed in recent updates but it is not fully there yet."
"The discovery process could be improved. If incorrect credentials are entered, it should give an error message. That would make our work easy rather than having to troubleshoot why the issue is occurring."
"It is not very good at monitoring the Check Point firewall, but it works very well with other firewalls such as Palo Alto, Fortinet, and Cisco ASA."
"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."
"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."
"The solution does not have any AI capabilities."
"The solution is not user-friendly."
"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."
"UI is outdated, very old legacy."
"The solution is too expensive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"FireMon Asset Manager's pricing has been reasonable and has worked well for us from a licensing standpoint."
"FireMon is more expensive than other brands but justified by its comprehensive feature set. It includes several functions that might require additional subscriptions in other solutions."
"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."
"The price of the product is too expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
29%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Educational Organization
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FireMon Asset Manager?
FireMon is more expensive than other brands but justified by its comprehensive feature set. It includes several functions that might require additional subscriptions in other solutions.
What needs improvement with FireMon Asset Manager?
We used FireMon Asset Manager only for the firewalls. It could not always discover, so we had to go in and add it manually. The discovery was not always consistent. At times it worked, and at times...
What is your primary use case for FireMon Asset Manager?
We used FireMon Asset Manager for 12 clients. We used it for firewall audits and rule changes.
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.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Tivoli NetCool
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Claranet, Consolidated Communications, Telus, €sterreichische Bundesbahnen (€BB), Telekom Srbija, Bendigo Community Telco, Capgemini, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB)
Find out what your peers are saying about FireMon Asset Manager vs. IBM Tivoli NetCool and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,711 professionals have used our research since 2012.