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Meraki Dashboard vs NETSCOUT vSTREAM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

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
19th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NETSCOUT vSTREAM
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
85th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Meraki Dashboard is 0.7%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NETSCOUT vSTREAM is 0.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Meraki Dashboard0.7%
NETSCOUT vSTREAM0.4%
Other98.9%
Network Monitoring Software
 

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.
KL
Network Engineer at Inniti Network Solution
A user-friendly solution that is easy to install and improves visibility
I would like to see improvements made to the user guide. From my personal experience, it is helpful to see a list of steps describing what to do next in different situations. An example is what to do and what to back up in the case of certain types of failure. There are also cases where a customer can't understand specific features. Enhancements to the user guide would be helpful for this. More features for network fragmentation would be helpful.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Some of the features I have valuable are ease of access, simple configuration, and monitoring."
"Every time we've deployed it, it's fantastic."
"It is very easy to manage. It has good security, and it is working well with our firewall."
"What I found most valuable in Meraki Dashboard is that it's well-organized, easy to use, and practical."
"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 allows for easy suite configuration. We can handle everything on there when there's a policy or any other requirement."
"For small businesses, I would recommend Meraki over pretty much anything else on the market."
"The ability of the product to perform with simplicity of deployment make it a valuable solution."
"I feel Meraki is one of the best at what it does even if it is not fitting to large enterprises."
"One of the valuable features is the packet decoding."
"The generation of KPI-like information that feeds to the nGeniusONE (management) server is the most valuable feature."
"Sometimes it took a month to troubleshoot something that we can now do within days."
"vSTREAM gives us better visibility and reporting about our network infrastructure, allowing for cost-optimization."
"vSTREAM gives us better visibility and reporting about our network infrastructure, allowing for cost-optimization."
 

Cons

"There is a bit of a problem when you try to log in and you don't have a fixed IP address. If you're granting access, you need to log in by using the IP address. If your administrator's IP address is not a fixed IP address and it has changed, you might need to update the changed IP address in the interface. For this, you need to log in to the interface to update the IP address. This issue might not have so much to do with Meraki interface."
"I’d like the product to allow for other solutions to be integrated with the dashboard as well."
"Regarding Meraki Dashboard, I would suggest improvements to Cisco ISE integration."
"The process of getting licensing can be a little bit painful, especially if you're doing it each year."
"The one issue that we have had is that the VPN tunnel would go down unless you worked out with the ISP that you would be using a static IP address on the WAN interface."
"One area that could use improvement in the Meraki Dashboard is user-friendliness when navigating to port configurations."
"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."
"As far as scalability, the product is not very scalable. The product will only be fit to cover small to medium businesses and Cisco is not likely to improve on that scalability as they have other products in line for the larger market."
"I would like for it to have a smaller footprint of the virtual appliance and better performance."
"The stability is okay, but sometimes we see that the memory on the server is not 100 percent correct and we need to stop and start the software to have it reallocated again."
"I would say that this is not a scalable solution."
"Room for improvement exists in filtering in the packet decode."
"I would like to see improvements made to the user guide."
"I would like for it to have a smaller footprint of the virtual appliance and better performance."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Typically, the license model is for one, three, and five years. They can just be a bit more flexible around it and look into providing an option for 24 months."
"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."
"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 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 pricing for a small setup is only a few hundred dollars a year. The fee is subscription-based."
"You don't have to pay for the dashboard."
"The solution is currently the most expensive on the market."
"It is said to be expensive."
"Licensing is quite expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Construction Company
18%
Energy/Utilities Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Retailer
6%
 

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, ...
Ask a question
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Also Known As

No data available
vSTREAM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Coop eG, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Priefert Manufacturing, Century Care Management, Clifton College, Zürs Ski Resort, Capital FM Arena, MAXI Autohöfe
Metropolitan Police Agency, Banpara, PropertyRoom.com
Find out what your peers are saying about Meraki Dashboard vs. NETSCOUT vSTREAM and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.