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Meraki Dashboard vs NetBrain comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (22nd)
NetBrain
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Network Troubleshooting (17th), Network Automation (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Management solutions, they serve different purposes. Meraki Dashboard is designed for Network Monitoring Software and holds a mindshare of 0.7%, down 1.3% compared to last year.
NetBrain, on the other hand, focuses on Network Troubleshooting, holds 3.2% mindshare, up 2.7% since last year.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Meraki Dashboard0.7%
Zabbix4.3%
SolarWinds NPM3.6%
Other91.4%
Network Monitoring Software
Network Troubleshooting Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
NetBrain3.2%
Wireshark15.0%
AirMagnet Survey PRO9.8%
Other72.0%
Network Troubleshooting
 

Featured Reviews

MURALI NIDAMANURI - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Dashboard provides comprehensive network security and management capabilities
I don't have specific handy names. Meraki Dashboard uses multiple functions where we can configure SSIDs, firewall policies, DHCP, multiple VLANs and DHCP configurations, VLAN configurations, access control policies, MAC binding, client access based on MAC authentication and certificate-based authentication. We have configured SSO for Windows Active Directory by configuring the RADIUS services. We have implemented many customer requirements in Meraki Dashboard. With the detailed visibility feature of Meraki Dashboard, I get connected clients information, including how much data each client downloaded and what applications they accessed. I can obtain detailed data including ISP links level monitoring and speed. I can perform speed tests, generate analytics reports, convert to Excel based on each user for each department, create dashboards, monitor and limit bandwidths, and restrict specific URLs. The advanced security configuration in Meraki Dashboard is useful for network security. Substantial security can be achieved within Meraki Dashboard itself, eliminating the need for additional firewalls to protect your network. You can configure WAN monitoring, users' ACLs, URL filtering, web filtering, and department-wise access configuration for specific client applications. It's completely cloud-managed, and in a simplified way, you don't need to visit any physical infrastructure to monitor activities. Apart from access points, everything is in the cloud. We have monitored IoT solutions, CCTV monitoring, and can detect and control intrusions. When people connect IoT devices to your network, Meraki Dashboard can detect what device it is and control those access controls, even with different operating systems.
Deborah Gamelin - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President at Asset Track for Cloud, LLC
Good monitoring and troubleshoot capabilities, improves overall network traffic visibility
In my organization, we had 130,000 network devices that needed to be brought into the solution and mapped. NetBrain can handle the scale but the engineers that manage those devices have to go in and update all of them to allow NetBrain permission to poll them. It can get a little stressful for everybody when you're trying to roll out new stuff when you've got other issues that have to be addressed with other devices. In some cases, our devices had no automation at all. One example is the Cisco 3650. Right now, if you went through the inventory list, you see that we have different versions running. Some are on one version, whereas others are on another version. The problem with upgrading them is that they need to be done overnight because we don't want to disrupt any network traffic during business hours. Consequently, it could take us years to upgrade the versions before we can even get them onto these new tools. This may be an internal issue but it's a big one when you have a lot of devices. Even if you had 10,000 devices, it's still an issue. You have to consider the compatibility of the device against the tool, and being able to use certain commands to upgrade it.

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 their support, and they get better every day."
"It has improved my organization in the way that we've got a much better wireless coverage than we had before, and secondly, we have the visibility of all the users."
"It's an easy-to-use product; it's really user-friendly, with a great, simple user interface and a very stable platform, and the initial implementation process is simple."
"There is no need to swap the hardware at all the locations, and importing the APs into the Dashboard was a simple and quick process."
"What I found most valuable in Meraki Dashboard is that it's well-organized, easy to use, and practical."
"Meraki dashboard deserves an Oscar."
"The most valuable feature is ease of use."
"It is very stable and we have been using it for five years."
"NetBrain is a very simple tool."
"A reliable, time-saving tool for providing accurate layer 2 and layer 3 network mappings."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that you can click once and have a link test, see your network, and get an overall view of your network and its state."
"Enables maps to be drawn out."
"This tool is exactly what we wanted and needed."
"Once it's up and running and you don't have the strange requirements I had, and you just want some basic maps, it'll work."
"Chain management is a good feature. I don't get it on other solutions."
"This product has good network monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities."
 

Cons

"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 is complex and can be made more straightforward."
"There is a bit of a problem when you try to log in and you don't have a fixed IP address."
"I’d like the product to allow for other solutions to be integrated with the dashboard as well."
"Meraki Dashboard could improve the user interface by making it more user-friendly. The configuration can at times be difficult."
"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."
"While the visibility in Meraki Dashboard is good, the solution is too heavy and complex."
"I appreciate the security that has been provided by Meraki, but they specifically require port 80 which is highly vulnerable towards Meraki domain itself, so I would like to remove it."
"The solution could integrate more automation."
"Netbrain must get AWS functionality done."
"The pricing needs to be improved."
"Licensing is based on a per-device basis, which means that it can get very expensive if you have a large number of devices."
"The IP interface brief isn't consistent."
"When I used the installed product before, I wasn't very satisfied with the support."
"If you're comparing NetBrain as an NDR, I would rate it as a four or five, however, NetBrain has a different aspect of looking at things within the network."
"It's okay on the value, a bit expensive for just maps, but makes it a lot easier to see things visually and take it from there."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Meraki Dashboard's pricing is reasonable. It is sold yearly, typically for one, three, or five years. I rate its pricing a five out of ten."
"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 pricing of the tool is relatively high compared to other solutions. It comes with a premium that exceeds that of its competitors by approximately 25 percent."
"The licensing fees are $180 USD, per AP, for three years."
"My view is that it's expensive, but it's the best."
"The solution is currently the most expensive on the market."
"I’m not sure of the exact cost, however, it’s my understanding the Meraki WiFi is around $800. That’s for a three-year license. It’s about $150 a year."
"Licensing is based on a per-device basis, which means that it can get very expensive if you have a large number of devices."
"The product is expensive, but less expensive than some of the competition and worth the price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise26
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Meraki Dashboard?
Regarding Meraki Dashboard, I would suggest improvements to Cisco ISE integration. I have used Cisco ISE for port security and I never liked the GUI because it is difficult. If I need to check the ...
What is your primary use case for Meraki Dashboard?
My main use case for Meraki Dashboard is as a NOC engineer for the MSP, where we have three sites. We add all the sites to Meraki Dashboard for live monitoring. I am the one who uses LogicMonitor, ...
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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Coop eG, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Priefert Manufacturing, Century Care Management, Clifton College, Zürs Ski Resort, Capital FM Arena, MAXI Autohöfe
CompuCon, TD Ameritrade, Move Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about Meraki Dashboard vs. NetBrain and other solutions. Updated: May 2020.
886,077 professionals have used our research since 2012.