Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs VMware NSX comparison

Akamai and Broadcom are both solutions in the Cloud and Data Center Security category. Akamai is ranked #1 with an average rating of 7.8, while Broadcom is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.9. Akamai holds a 20.8% mindshare in CDCS, compared to Broadcom’s 11.0% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Akamai users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Read 18 Akamai Guardicore Segmentation reviews

7,980 Views
5,347 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

VMware NSX

Read 106 VMware NSX reviews

6,667 Views
3,334 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

VMware NSX

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

VMware NSX and Akamai Guardicore Segmentation are leading solutions in network security. VMware NSX seems to have the upper hand for integration and ease of use within VMware ecosystems, while Akamai Guardicore Segmentation excels in process visibility and platform adaptability.

Features: VMware NSX offers microsegmentation, VXLAN encapsulation for virtual machine traffic management, and a distributed firewall facilitating scalable integration with VMware products. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation provides advanced breach detection, visibility features with strong process-level connection insights, and network anomaly detection supported by its open APIs.

Room for Improvement: VMware NSX users frequently seek improvements in multi-cloud security, pricing transparency, and integration with third-party solutions. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation could enhance policy automation, simplify policy management, and improve its cost structure and integration capabilities with major security appliances.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VMware NSX is praised for its robust deployment capabilities across various cloud environments and generally high customer service ratings, although there are recent concerns about support quality. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is appreciated for flexibility, but integration with existing cloud services requires more focus. Customer support experiences vary, with VMware benefiting from direct lines to engineers.

Pricing and ROI: VMware NSX is perceived as expensive due to a modular licensing approach and complex pricing model, but users value its infrastructure support and ROI through reduced network management overhead. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation also faces high pricing criticisms; however, users acknowledge its cost-effectiveness relative to its security functionalities.

To learn more, read our detailed Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. VMware NSX Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. VMware NSX

September 2025

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Helped 872,846 peers since 2012

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

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security

1st

Ranking in Microsegmentation Software

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (12th), Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) (6th)

VMware NSX

Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security

3rd

Ranking in Microsegmentation Software

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

106

Ranking in other categories

Network Virtualization (2nd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (7th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (9th), Network Automation (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Cloud and Data Center Security category, the mindshare of Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is 20.8%, down from 24.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware NSX is 11.0%, down from 15.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud and Data Center Security Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation	20.8%
VMware NSX	11.0%
Other	68.2%

Cloud and Data Center Security

Featured Reviews

Uday Varma

Solution Architecht at Inspira Enterprise

Offers granular control and ease of policy creation with features like telemetry and micro-segmentation but incident tagging is missing

Our customers use the solution for micro-segmentation within the data center or cloud environments. One customer uses it for their on-premises infrastructure, deployed at the code level across their massive network. Another customer uses it in a data center to monitor microsegmentation for their 500-node workload. Moreover, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation has helped our customers manage and secure traffic between different applications or workloads. Earlier, they were using VMware NSX-v, which offered good logging for distributed services on an analytical level. However, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation provides them with better overall visibility and granular control over-segmentation, even for inter-application and inter-routing traffic.

Read full review

TAIYAB HASAN

Windows Redhat Linux Vmware & Azure & Cloud & Nutanix Ahv-Vmware & Backup Senior System Administrator at AlDawaa Medical Services

Has improved network visibility and security through micro-segmentation and SDN capabilities

This feature gives us flexibility and allows us to manage everything under one pane. We can see everything on one console, including network operations and behavior. Monitoring and security are among the best features for VMware NSX. For micro-segmentation, it's integrated with our endpoint security. If there are any issues with servers or VMs, it notifies us so we can isolate the servers and investigate. It provides distributed security features such as firewall and intrusion, IDS, IPS. The security level with IPS and IDS in VMware NSX is excellent. It also provides logical switching and routing which gives an extra layer for Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching requirements. The solution provides flexibility, automation, and self-service capabilities, resulting in cost savings as extensive expertise isn't required. Once automation and self-service are implemented, many tasks can be completed automatically. Load balancing is another excellent feature. Multiple servers can run on load balancing features, which is particularly useful since we have many application servers running. Sharing loads between servers provides the best performance.

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

"Its deception features are great, providing a rich telemetry of lured origins, and are a great resource for any active defense strategy."

"I found the solution to be stable."

"The tool is a complete package that offers many features like visibility. You can get a graph with real-time workflows and visibility into server-to-server communication. We get visibility into many things happening within our environment."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its visibility."

"Initially, I liked the telemetry part. But later, we used the microsegmentation features that we were able to deploy and found that they really stood out from other vendors. It allows us to see microsegmentation as distributed services."

"This tool greatly helps in understanding the footprint of the attacks."

"The real bonus is the fact that we can secure applications, all the way down to the individual services, on each host. It's actually more granular security than we can get out of a traditional firewall."

"That is primarily because I've seen increased rules. It's kind of caught us a little off guard. With GuardiCore, I have had to deal with their technical support and engineering team in Israel. They are amazing. They are very quick to adapt."

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation pros

"NSX helps us by making IT management and operations more efficient. When VMs spin off from the DC to the DR site, all required settings on the network level are handled automatically."

"It provides a single pane of glass. You can do the switching, routing, load balancing, IPS, IDS, etc. Everything is under one umbrella. So, there is no vendor dependency over there."

"It is easy to implement it."

"The solution is very good at micro-segmentation."

"The security offered by VMware NSX is the most valuable, plus it's a feature-rich product that's straightforward to install and configure."

"I rate the scalability as ten out of ten."

"This is a good firewall and overall it is rich in features."

"The firewall is its most valuable feature."

More VMware NSX pros

Cons

"Incident tagging could be improved. Other vendors offer semi-automatic tagging, which Guardicore doesn't yet have."

"Supports become difficult when it's for a big organization. For a small organization, medium organization, it still makes sense, however, for a big organization, it makes life difficult."

"They can maybe improve their customer service just because they are kind of a small organization, and customer service isn't as big as others such as VMware."

"The dashboard needs improvement. It should be more flexible so that I can easily see what I want or need to see."

"Clients would like to see that the security policies of GuardiCore can continue to be comparable to all the major firewall players out there."

"Sometimes, the speed needs improvement, especially when it comes to the generation of maps, where it can be a bit slow."

"Guardicore Centra should incorporate automation so that we don't require to write custom scripts and APIs. The tool also has limitations on rules where it allows only sixty thousand rules. Our clients have also commented that there are too many manual clicks and effort to do changes. I think that the incorporation of automation can help our clients make changes with confidence and without the possibility of human error."

"In our version, when using the terminal server, we cannot exclude user tasks for each session."

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation cons

"In the future, the solution should be compliant with internet NIC."

"This solution is really unusable from my perspective at this point. Overall, I would rate the solution a one of ten."

"The solution could benefit from improvements in its pricing and scalability."

"Everybody needs a network to connect to, and VMware doesn't readily provide one."

"The price could be better. The non-enterprise version of the product should also be improved. I would like VMware to expand beyond the network and provide some VLAN technologies and more. I think we have one, but it's more on the distribution side because it's more on the upper side of the network. I'm looking forward to that."

"The cost of the solution has room for improvement."

"In the next release, they should enhance the visual interface. With NSX-T, it's difficult to communicate between the public cloud and the container."

"A faster resolution time would be beneficial."

More VMware NSX cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is the same as other products in the market. There's no price argument to choose one or the other product, it will cost the customer approximately the same."

"Compared to the pricing we were seeing from both Illumio and Edgewise, Guardicore was very competitive."

"The customer would complain about the cost."

"The solution is reasonably priced and I would rate it a six out of ten. The tool's licensing costs are yearly."

"Guardicore Centra provides better value for money than NSX, was the other solution that we looked at, which was too expensive for what it does."

"The pricing is too high."

"GuardiCore has made some new changes to the license now. We've seen monthly and annual licenses based on a subscription. We have a few clients that pay anywhere from $25,000 a year."

"This is not a cheap solution but you have to consider the bigger picture, which is what it is giving you."

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation pricing and cost advice

"The solution is very expensive."

"The price of this product is too high."

"The subscription is on a yearly basis."

"There is a license required for this solution, we pay annually."

"VMware has a subscription and perpetual license. In the New Year, they're changing many things about the licensing model. Previously, NSX was licensed according to the number of sockets inside the appliance, so we bought VMware licenses based on that. However, that may have changed this year. We are still contacting the vendors to understand the new licensing strategy."

"VMware has always been geared towards enterprise and their pricing options are a bit high. Their price is higher than other options in the market."

"The price of VMware NSX is very good compared to other solutions."

"There is a license required for this solution and there is also a support license available. The price of the solution could be better."

More VMware NSX pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	9

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	33
Midsize Enterprise	23
Large Enterprise	69

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Guardicore Centra?

I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive. I know other micro-segmentation tools like Cisco or Illumio, and so I think they are in the middle.

See all answers

What do you like most about Guardicore Infection Monkey?

Initially, I liked the telemetry part. But later, we used the microsegmentation features that we were able to deploy and found that they really stood out from other vendors. It allows us to see mi...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Guardicore Infection Monkey?

When we have more than one interface, we can only have one policy for both interfaces. Normally, you have assets with a production interface and a server interface that are only for management. But...

See all answers

What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?

There are some very major differences between both the Products and to name a few. -Cisco ACI have physical network gear (9K Switches) where the Code runs in ACI Policy Mode & the UCS server wh...

See all answers

What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?

Once you know your way around the Cisco ecosystem, using Cisco ACI is not so difficult. It is a global product, so when you change one interface, changes are automatically reflected on every switch...

See all answers

What do you like most about VMware NSX?

The product has valuable features for security and network extension.

See all answers

Comparisons

Illumio vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 44% of the time

Cisco Secure Workload vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 9% of the time

Zero Networks vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 4% of the time

Trend Micro Deep Security vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 3% of the time

Cisco ACI vs Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

Compared 3% of the time

More Akamai Guardicore Segmentation Competitors

Illumio vs VMware NSX

Compared 18% of the time

Nutanix Flow Network Security vs VMware NSX

Compared 15% of the time

Cisco Secure Workload vs VMware NSX

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco ACI vs VMware NSX

Compared 6% of the time

Trend Micro Deep Security vs VMware NSX

Compared 4% of the time

More VMware NSX Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation

November 2025

Download Akamai Guardicore Segmentation product report

Buyer's Guide

VMware NSX

October 2025

Download VMware NSX product report

Also Known As

Guardicore Centra, GuardiCore

VMware Nicira, Lastline Defender

Overview

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation is a software-based microsegmentation solution that provides the simplest, fastest, and most intuitive way to enforce Zero Trust principles. It enables you to prevent malicious lateral movement in your network through precise segmentation policies, visuals of activity within your IT environment, and network security alerts. Akamai Guardicore Segmentation works across your data centers, multicloud environments, and endpoints. It is faster to deploy than infrastructure segmentation approaches and provides you with unparalleled visibility and control of your network.

Akamai

VMware NSX is a comprehensive tool for network virtualization and security, offering advanced features like micro-segmentation and multi-cloud networking to enhance scalability and management efficiency within enterprises.

VMware NSX revolutionizes enterprise networking by integrating security and scalability into one streamlined platform. With capabilities like dynamic policy updates and automation, it simplifies complex configurations and provides robust API integration. Its support for Layer 4 and 7 load balancing, along with its seamless integration in multi-cloud environments, makes it a preferred choice among companies. Although deployment speed and management console features require refinement, NSX is an effective solution for private cloud and hybrid environments, enabling centralized orchestration and management of complex networks.

What are the key features of VMware NSX?

Micro-segmentation: Provides secure, granular network segmentation for enhanced security.
Distributed Firewall: Offers policy-driven firewall capabilities across all network endpoints.
Automation: Enables dynamic policy updates and simplifies network configurations.
API Integration: Facilitates seamless third-party integrations and improves configuration processes.
Multi-Cloud Networking: Supports seamless integration across various cloud environments.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Scalability: Offers significant improvements in network scalability and management efficiency.
Security: Ensures enhanced security through advanced features like micro-segmentation.
Cost-Effectiveness: Potential to reduce costs through network automation and efficiency improvements.
Flexibility: Supports various enterprise requirements with its comprehensive feature set.

In the tech industry, VMware NSX is instrumental in managing private and hybrid cloud environments, allowing companies to replace traditional networking with software-defined networks. In finance, it helps secure transactional data through micro-segmentation. Healthcare organizations leverage its flexibility for managing sensitive patient information securely and integrating cloud services.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Santander, Frontier Airlines, OpenLink, Intermountain Healthcare, Cellcom, BancoBASE

City of Avondale, Lumeta, Kroll Ontrack, Heartland Payment Systems, Baystate Heallth, Exostar, Tribune Media, iGATE, NTT Communications, Synergent, California Natural Resources Agency, Bloomington Public Schools, Columbia Sportswear, Join Experience S.A, Schuberg Philis

Buyer's Guide

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. VMware NSX

September 2025

Free Report: Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs. VMware NSX

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