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Illumio vs VMware NSX comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

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
7.4
Illumio provides East-West traffic visibility and log auditing, offering substantial value with cost-effectiveness and time efficiencies despite incomplete data.
Sentiment score
6.4
VMware NSX enhances infrastructure efficiency, CAPEX savings, cybersecurity, and ROI, but initial costs and security effectiveness have mixed reviews.
Illumio is known to be the cheapest solution among the security solutions we evaluated.
Senior Technical Analyst at Allianz
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
1.0
Illumio's customer service is generally responsive with 24/7 availability, but experiences and satisfaction vary among users.
Sentiment score
6.7
VMware NSX customer service is praised for efficiency and expertise, but improvements in accessibility and responsiveness are desired.
Even if we raise an issue on non-working days like Saturdays or Sundays, we receive prompt responses.
Senior Technical Analyst at Allianz
From my experience, they are very responsive.
Technical Associate at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
They were always helpful.
Senior VMware Administrator at Johnson Controls, Inc.
They are quick and understand things easily, so the support is aligned very effectively.
Windows Redhat Linux Vmware & Azure & Cloud & Nutanix Ahv-Vmware & Backup Senior System Administrator at AlDawaa Medical Services
Our technicians have a good support experience from the company.
Joint Staff Officer at Hellenic National Defence General Staff
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Illumio effortlessly scales in large installations, supports diverse environments, and receives high user satisfaction across various professional roles.
Sentiment score
7.7
VMware NSX is praised for its scalability, robust performance, and efficient network integration, despite some complexity in scaling.
Scaling it to a large level is not an issue for us.
Cyber Security Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
There is a high level of satisfaction with its ability to scale.
Senior IT Strategy Consultant at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Illumio is praised for stability and reliability, using native firewalls with high user satisfaction and an 8.5 rating.
Sentiment score
8.1
VMware NSX is highly stable, with strong performance, scalability, and frequent updates addressing most bugs and integration concerns.
Illumio is a stable solution with no glitches or bugs reported, making it a reliable product for us.
Senior Technical Analyst at Allianz
The product performs at 99% efficiency without any showstoppers or significant issues.
Windows Redhat Linux Vmware & Azure & Cloud & Nutanix Ahv-Vmware & Backup Senior System Administrator at AlDawaa Medical Services
For stability, I would rate VMware NSX as a nine out of ten.
Services Presales Solutions Architecture - UAE & Gulf at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Illumio needs improved support, integration, OS compatibility, data security, detailed logs, interactive sessions, and tagging automation guidance.
VMware NSX faces challenges in costs, complexity, and user satisfaction, needing enhancements in automation, scalability, and security features.
There could also be more examples of how the automations can be done using Illumio.
Cyber Security Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
That's why I'm looking for comparisons with other products.
Technical Associate at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
There should be an option to upgrade from the console to the latest version instead of performing manual upgrades.
Senior Technical Analyst at Allianz
The initial configuration and integration within our existing environment were not easy.
Senior IT Strategy Consultant at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The pricing for the product is another area for improvement as I'm not satisfied nowadays.
Senior VMware Administrator at Johnson Controls, Inc.
The licensing model is expensive and could be more flexible, especially after Broadcom bought VMware.
Services Presales Solutions Architecture - UAE & Gulf at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Illumio offers flexible pricing based on workloads, with mixed views on cost, subscribing every three years.
VMware NSX is viewed as costly, with complex licensing and high initial costs, particularly impacting smaller organizations.
I know that Illumio is the cheapest solution in the security area.
Senior Technical Analyst at Allianz
I think it's not very expensive if we compare it with Guardicore.
Cyber Security Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The cost of VMware NSX is considered high.
Senior IT Strategy Consultant at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
VMware NSX is a little higher in price compared to the competition.
Joint Staff Officer at Hellenic National Defence General Staff
There is room for improvement in terms of pricing.
Senior VMware Administrator at Johnson Controls, Inc.
 

Valuable Features

Illumio enhances security and usability with its Application Dependency Map, traffic analysis, and centralized policy management, aiding visibility and micro-segmentation.
VMware NSX offers enhanced security, seamless management, and flexibility with automation, scalability, and integration for cloud and on-premises solutions.
Illumio helps in audit purposes by saving data and showing blocked traffic, ensuring no outside traffic is allowed.
Senior Technical Analyst at Allianz
The most important feature is the traffic review analysis, where we use the draft view and the reported view that helps us understand how the application interacts with other applications in the environment, and based on that, we are able to define the policies.
Cyber Security Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The dependency map is the most valuable aspect.
Technical Associate at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
Micro-segmentation enhances security and provides more secure data in your data center.
Services Presales Solutions Architecture - UAE & Gulf at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The most powerful feature of VMware NSX is the micro-segmentation that allows us to separate the different protocols our application works with.
Joint Staff Officer at Hellenic National Defence General Staff
I value the ability to dynamically configure our network on the fly using VMware NSX.
Senior IT Strategy Consultant at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Illumio
Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security
6th
Ranking in Microsegmentation Software
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (13th)
VMware NSX
Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security
2nd
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) (5th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (7th), Network Automation (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Cloud and Data Center Security category, the mindshare of Illumio is 20.8%, down from 25.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware NSX is 10.6%, down from 15.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud and Data Center Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
VMware NSX10.6%
Illumio20.8%
Other68.6%
Cloud and Data Center Security
 

Featured Reviews

US
Cyber Security Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Have created granular security policies based on roles and application behavior
The best feature that Illumio offers is that we can easily understand how to label the applications, how to install Illumio agent on the client machines, how to install the agent on the servers, and how to do the ring-fencing. The log analysis is very simple, and we can map the traffic very easily, such as the traffic view and map view. We have many views to do that, and then we have a topology environment where we can expand the topology and understand how we want to prepare our policy based on the requirement. These are some of the very good use cases that Illumio provides, which none of the other vendors can offer in such an easy and usable way. The most important feature is the traffic review analysis, where we use the draft view and the reported view that helps us understand how the application interacts with other applications in the environment, and based on that, we are able to define the policies. It has increased the business for the organization. We are creating business by supporting the client. The client is getting more security and is more confident in their network because they now have the micro-segmentation feature in their environment. This is new technology and that's how it helps the organization as a whole. The clients we support are benefited, and at the same time, we are making money out of it. This is definitely a good approach. After implementing Illumio, there has been significant progress. Most of the app owners now understand what applications are communicating, how these applications interact with others, and we are more aware of which application is talking to what other servers and applications, and their roles. For instance, whether an application is talking to the DB server or an app server. We have a more granular understanding of the traffic view. Additionally, after implementing Illumio, there is greater segmentation, and fewer incidents are occurring. There have been times when an attack was halted from expanding laterally.
TAIYAB HASAN - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise69
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Illumio Adaptive Security Platform?
My experience was really good because I think it's not very expensive if we compare it with Guardicore. I believe that's a good product.
What needs improvement with Illumio Adaptive Security Platform?
Illumio can be improved if we have more interactive sessions with the tech team. The support of Illumio can be better since it's a new tool, and people can explore it more. There could also be more...
What is your primary use case for Illumio Adaptive Security Platform?
The main use case for Illumio is providing micro-segmentation where we don't want to segment the network based on IP addresses but rather segment them based on roles, applications, and environments...
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...
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...
What do you like most about VMware NSX?
The product has valuable features for security and network extension.
 

Also Known As

Illumio Adaptive Security Platform, Illumio ASP
VMware Nicira, Lastline Defender
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Plantronics, NTT Innovation Institute Inc.
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
Find out what your peers are saying about Illumio vs. VMware NSX and other solutions. Updated: November 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.