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Meraki Dashboard vs Nagios Core comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 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

Meraki Dashboard
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
20th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Nagios Core
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
IT Infrastructure Monitoring (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Meraki Dashboard is 1.3%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nagios Core is 3.0%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

Bilal-Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamless connectivity and comprehensive control over network devices
All of the features we are looking for are already in control. I think those features, which we are not currently utilizing, are already there. For example, the control for the cameras and everything else. The cameras are not connected through Meraki, but all other devices are on Meraki networks.
Nishith-Vyas - PeerSpot reviewer
Valuable reporting and alert system with room for PDF export improvements
The NetEase reporting structure needs improvement, especially the availability report, which is weak. It should be generated automatically with minimal human intervention and should be exportable as a PDF. Besides that, an integrated PDF export feature for reports is necessary. Also, the alert mechanism and graphing mechanism need to be integrated properly into Nagios Core. Currently, integrating these requires advanced Linux knowledge. Integration of more visualization tools like Grafana and Prometheus for better graphing and visualization is also recommended.

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 feature is ease of use."
"It's a scalable solution."
"Meraki Dashboard does not require a lot of maintenance. Cisco tells communicates through the Meraki Dashboard web client, it will automatically send updates to the equipment. They will send you an email on what day the updates will take place. If you want to proceed, you can click on accept, or you can decline them and schedule the updates at another time."
"The most valuable feature is their support, they get better every day."
"It is very easy to manage. It has good security, and it is working well with our firewall."
"You don't have to be a network engineer to use it."
"The hardware of Meraki is very good quality."
"The most valuable feature is the single pane of glass that gives you multisite visibility."
"Dashboard provides monitor of total assets."
"The application performance monitoring feature is valuable."
"Nagios Core is very configurable. Whatever you want, you can do it."
"The solution's most valuable feature is that it offers proper alerting capabilities."
"Nagios Core integrates with tools like Splunk, Datadog, or Dynatrace. It is usually used as a feed to provide more technical information about devices or hosts to another system."
"Alert calls occur anytime a service goes down or a matrix is difficult and that helps us to quickly restore service and transfer work."
"The reporting structure and the feature set are valuable to me."
"The most valuable feature is the performance parameters of the system."
 

Cons

"The cost of the solution is high and can be improved."
"There is a need for price reductions in developing countries, as the cost of Meraki is quite high."
"The tool is useful for managing devices and monitoring their current state, but it falls short in troubleshooting network issues, particularly with access points. It does not provide a complete understanding of the root causes of the issues. As a result, network engineers have had to use additional tools to complement it and conduct assessments. The only way to improve the tool would be to enhance its capability to identify and resolve network issues effectively."
"There is a need for price reductions in developing countries, as the cost of Meraki is quite high."
"For instance, you should be able to see if something has been blocked by a firewall rule by looking at a live log of traffic moving through the device. It helps you troubleshoot issues and understand if your rules are working. You need to ensure the firewall is blocking the right things. That's unavailable in the Meraki Dashboard. You have to send the logs to a log server. We use SolarWinds locally, but it's not natively built into Meraki. We're also using Cisco ISA and another tool called Smoothwall."
"Lacks an alert notification when there are IP or DNS issues."
"For my purposes, I don't need to see any other features added to the Meraki Dashboard. I have no criticisms and I do like the tool. If I had a criticism for it, it would be about the pricing because it could be a little less, but again, for the service that you get, I won't complain about that too much."
"It would be helpful to have the ability to create a floor plan based on an existing PDF or JPEG, which is automatically converted into a usable network map."
"The initial setup process could be easier."
"Nagios Core is limited in terms of distributed setups, and there is no central view for remote data centers."
"Nagios Core does not have a graphic display."
"The tool needs to improve the integrations."
"The alerting mechanism in Nagios Core could be improved."
"t was a little hard to get our setup represented in the configuration."
"It would be nice if the company offered a sales or contract manager that was dedicated to our company so that we would have some sort of link to Nagios, and if we had issues or questions, we'd be able to contact them directly."
"Cloud monitoring is an area for improvement because there aren't too many plugins available."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"From a pricing perspective, they are still expensive."
"The price of Meraki Dashboard is not expensive because knowing that it is a cloud-based solution has its benefits."
"The pricing for a small setup is only a few hundred dollars a year. The fee is subscription-based."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"The licensing fees are $180 USD, per AP, for three years."
"Licensing is around under 1000 pounds. The licensing is either one year, three years, five years or ten years and during the licensing, we can choose to renew it per year or per every three years. We've got a license for three years. It's about 160 or about 200 pounds each."
"The Meraki Dashboard has more competitive pricing."
"Meraki Dashboard is a utility and portal that's part of the Meraki solution."
"We have saved a lot of time, money, and effort in reducing disaster times, which is owed to Nagios quick alerting."
"The enterprise version has technical support. The version we are using is free."
"I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"We are using the free version of Nagios Core."
"Nagios Core is a cheap solution."
"Most the plugin features are free."
"Nagios Core is an open source solution, and there are no licensing fees."
"It's free."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
23%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
6%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Meraki Dashboard?
We greatly utilize the network because we can plug it into the DNS, VPN, or equipment. It's very good. Meraki Dashboard enhances wireless network management. We appreciate its flexibility, as it al...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki Dashboard?
The cost of the Meraki solution is high, which may not be affordable for smaller companies, especially in developing countries.
What needs improvement with Meraki Dashboard?
There is a need for price reductions in developing countries, as the cost of Meraki is quite high. Additionally, it would be beneficial if Meraki Dashboard could integrate more Cisco devices such a...
What do you like most about Nagios Core?
What I like about Nagios Core is that it helps me ensure everything is running smoothly by checking the status of hosts and services.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nagios Core?
Nagios Core is a free and open-source product. We don't charge for the product itself, but we charge for the man-hour costs related to installation, configuration, ongoing operation, and maintenance.
What needs improvement with Nagios Core?
The dashboard should be improved. It's very simple. I don't have a very clear or specific suggestion. You can change the skin of the dashboard, however, it's good for me.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Coop eG, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Priefert Manufacturing, Century Care Management, Clifton College, Zürs Ski Resort, Capital FM Arena, MAXI Autohöfe
Airbnb, Cisco, PayPal, FanDuel
Find out what your peers are saying about Meraki Dashboard vs. Nagios Core and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.