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Meraki Dashboard vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
1.0
Organizations struggle to quantify ROI but report time savings and efficiency from Meraki Dashboard, anticipating future returns.
Sentiment score
4.0
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer offers ROI through bandwidth management, yet budget-conscious users consider cheaper alternatives with similar features.
There is a return on investment when purchasing SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, as in the long run, there is a return on investments.
Technical Manager at APRAL
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.3
Meraki Dashboard's customer service is praised for quick, knowledgeable support, though occasional delays occur; users rate it highly.
Sentiment score
6.5
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's customer service receives mixed feedback, with varying response times and expertise contributing to inconsistent experiences.
The support response time can be slow, sometimes taking up to fifteen hours.
Senior Assistant Director Information Technology at a non-tech company with 10,001+ employees
They are instantly available for technical support from Meraki Dashboard.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
For technical support, I would give it a ten.
Network Technology Project Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
They often say that only premium subscribers receive support within one or two hours.
Technical Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I would rate support eight out of ten.
Global-Manager Network & communications at Secure Meters Limited
I received efficient responses to many questions.
Content Specialist at PeerSpot
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
4.8
Meraki Dashboard is scalable, supporting diverse environments, easy expansion, global networks, and receives high user satisfaction ratings.
Sentiment score
6.6
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is scalable but costly, with performance challenges in large infrastructures due to licensing and capacity limits.
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is a scalable solution, and by adding licenses, I can use the same deployment and instance to onboard more elements and nodes.
Technical Manager at APRAL
The license is based on the count of the ports.
Global-Manager Network & communications at Secure Meters Limited
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
5.8
The Meraki Dashboard is highly stable with minimal disruptions, offering reliable performance and quick resolutions for occasional issues.
Sentiment score
6.4
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is stable and reliable, though occasional performance issues exist, especially in demanding environments.
We have not encountered any downtime related to the Meraki cloud feature in the last five years.
Senior Assistant Director Information Technology at a non-tech company with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Meraki Dashboard requires improvements in licensing, user interface, scalability, support, third-party integration, and enhanced AI capabilities.
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer needs improved integration, AI, documentation, performance, security, UI, and reduced licensing costs for better user experience.
There is a need for price reductions in developing countries, as the cost of Meraki is quite high.
Senior Assistant Director Information Technology at a non-tech company with 10,001+ employees
The cameras are not connected through Meraki, but all other devices are on Meraki networks.
IT Manager at Fawaz
It provides many insights out of the box without any need to search for them.
CTO at Trust-IT Solutions
Ideally, NetFlow should have a robust alerting mechanism.
Technical Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It should be like a Meraki cloud, where if you are familiar with Meraki devices, you can locate any device directly on the world map.
Global-Manager Network & communications at Secure Meters Limited
Deployment needs improvement; the process is complicated, requiring attention to infrastructure settings and installation of components like the origin application server, platform, close storage, and policy agents.
Content Specialist at PeerSpot
 

Setup Cost

Meraki Dashboard pricing is high but valued for quality and management ease, with costs varying by duration and features.
Enterprise users find SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer valuable, though its pricing can be high compared to alternatives, especially when scaling.
The cost of the Meraki solution is high, which may not be affordable for smaller companies, especially in developing countries.
Senior Assistant Director Information Technology at a non-tech company with 10,001+ employees
If we involve a third-party vendor, the price will definitely go up.
IT Manager at Fawaz
I would rate the pricing for Meraki Dashboard as one.
Network Technology Project Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
provide a rating of nine out of ten
Content Specialist at PeerSpot
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model is quite costly compared to other brands.
Technical Manager at APRAL
 

Valuable Features

Meraki Dashboard is favored for its user-friendly management, efficient device control, insightful analytics, and seamless scalability for businesses.
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer provides traffic analysis, bandwidth monitoring, and customizable reporting for efficient network management and performance tracking.
Meraki Dashboard positively impacts my organization by enabling live monitoring. If someone unplugs the power cable, if the switches are down, if there is an outage, or if there is any misconfiguration, we get an alert from Cisco in our mailbox.
System Analyst II at IT solutions consultings
Meraki Dashboard offers an exceptional centralized management solution that allows easy updates and monitoring of various network features, including bandwidth usage and content filtering.
Senior Assistant Director Information Technology at a non-tech company with 10,001+ employees
The most valuable feature for me is the cloud dashboard.
Senior Network Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
It provides proactive monitoring, rather than waiting for applications to go down due to heavy bandwidth or latency.
Manager Observability at ICE
This tool provides insights into top utilization applications or it identifies which circuit or application is consuming the most on the complete one-gig circuit traffic path.
Technical Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The bandwidth indicates the utilization of the devices; if any issue occurs, it triggers an alert for me.
Global-Manager Network & communications at Secure Meters Limited
 

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)
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (4th)
 

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.
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, on the other hand, focuses on Network Traffic Analysis (NTA), holds 6.3% mindshare, up 5.4% since last year.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Meraki Dashboard0.7%
Zabbix4.3%
SolarWinds NPM3.6%
Other91.4%
Network Monitoring Software
Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer6.3%
Darktrace16.5%
Cisco Secure Network Analytics10.1%
Other67.1%
Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)
 

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.
Raja Xabi - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Manager at APRAL
Improved bandwidth management and network visibility have resulted in financial benefits and streamlined operations
There is always room for improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, such as implementing instant reporting based on business intelligence reports and more granular filters in their dashboard to improve the GUI view and reporting. The licensing model of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is always an issue for users because competitors offer unlimited and perpetual licenses, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model is quite costly compared to other brands. If users are comfortable with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, they have to make the hard decision to invest, and it's suggested from a user's perspective that SolarWinds should improve their financial model and licensing to become competitive, especially for small to medium businesses.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Healthcare Company
8%
Construction Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise26
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise26
 

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, ...
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
I have worked from 1973 with all kind of systems in large enterprises across the world. And have experience with all kind of software in monitoring from infra to end to end, it depends on the funct...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?
The licensing model of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is always an issue for users because competitors offer unlimited and perpetual licenses, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model i...
What needs improvement with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?
Regarding improvement, the application monitoring capabilities are not exceptional. If SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer could improve in that area, it would be helpful. It is less AIOps driven a...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Netflow Traffic Analyzer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Coop eG, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Priefert Manufacturing, Century Care Management, Clifton College, Zürs Ski Resort, Capital FM Arena, MAXI Autohöfe
Oceaneering International, Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, 335th Signal Command, Immofori
Find out what your peers are saying about Meraki Dashboard vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer and other solutions. Updated: September 2020.
889,855 professionals have used our research since 2012.