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Nutanix Database Service vs Spotlight comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 19, 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

Nutanix Database Service
Ranking in Database Development and Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Spotlight
Ranking in Database Development and Management
5th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Database Development and Management category, the mindshare of Nutanix Database Service is 3.3%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Spotlight is 6.5%, down from 8.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Development and Management
 

Featured Reviews

Prasad Pimple - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhancing database management with operational efficiency but needs better compatibility
Era should be compatible with various environments, such as VMware and Red Hat, to be hypervisor agnostic. Due to increasing adoption among enterprise clients, integration with Kubernetes platforms is also needed. Furthermore, the product can benefit from improving its understanding of architectural setup and communicating its limitations to users and partners.
Seha R - PeerSpot reviewer
Good tool for the design and development of public APIs
The software does not support webhooks. It doesn't support advanced versions of APIs. The tool also doesn't support advanced versions of specifications. The change that we do in one part of the model is not reflected throughout the specification. There are also some mutations in the clones. I am not able to do a local source control with the product as well.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I wanted a tool that offers enough monitoring for everything related to load balancing in my databases."
"The most valuable feature of Nutanix Database Service is the ability to manage multiple vendors."
"With Oracle, it took around one hour to refresh the database and now, with Nutanix, it takes a quarter of that time."
"I appreciate being able to provision a database quickly from our side. We provision it and hand it off. It makes work much easier. Previously, it would take a week or two to do the same in a traditional way, whereas now, it gets completed within about an hour."
"With the cloning technology in Nutanix Database Service, the time reduces to less than an hour, which is very useful."
"Days have been saved thanks to its provisioning utility."
"The Time Machine feature in Nutanix Database Service has definitely reduced turnaround time for when we need clones or other environments spun up off of our existing environment, such as for corruption."
"The most valuable feature is its robust infrastructure management tools."
"Spotlight provides valuable features such as the ability to get alerted and drill down to a very granular level to find out where actual problems are coming from."
"Spotlight provides valuable features such as the ability to get alerted and drill down to a very granular level to find out where actual problems are coming from."
"Its dashboards are most valuable. The drill-down of the dashboards is useful."
"The tool is a SaaS product where I just need to type a URL and start with the design process. I can integrate all elements of source control like GitHub, GitLab, etc. The tool also supports authentication-related provisions like SSH."
"I consider the solution very scalable."
 

Cons

"Patch management is an issue as it regularly causes stability problems."
"The solution needs to improve compatibility with other back-ups and products."
"The solution could improve by providing more support for more vendors."
"We are also overwhelmed with the quality of technical support associated with the product."
"Nutanix Database Service can be improved by enhancing logging; when we're trying to look for errors, one of the hiccups we always run into is that it's very hard to pinpoint and look through the logs."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing structure."
"It would be helpful if Nutanix added a billing system for databases. We need to automate this with a separate solution. We are service providers, so it would be easier for our customers if there were a built-in system that we could use for billing."
"Nutanix Database Service can be improved by enhancing logging; when we're trying to look for errors, one of the hiccups we always run into is that it's very hard to pinpoint and look through the logs."
"The software does not support webhooks. It doesn't support advanced versions of APIs. The tool also doesn't support advanced versions of specifications. The change that we do in one part of the model is not reflected throughout the specification. There are also some mutations in the clones. I am not able to do a local source control with the product as well."
"One improvement could be the inclusion of suggestions for missing indexes or better analysis of how indexes are utilized and how execution plans are used, similar to what other products offer."
"One improvement could be the inclusion of suggestions for missing indexes or better analysis of how indexes are utilized and how execution plans are used, similar to what other products offer."
"Some customizations of the dashboard, such as having backup reports, would be useful."
"There's no reporting with this tool, and there really should be. They should add that into future releases."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This solution is reasonably priced."
"Not everyone can afford it. It's a bit expensive, so the price has to be improved."
"Licensing costs will be the main scalability problem."
"Era is quite expensive. The thing that will be a showstopper for them in the long run is if you look at it from a technical perspective on what it provides and weigh it up against consolidation of multiple other software suites."
"The licensed-based pricing is confusing and too high."
"The pricing is competitive."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."
"It's priced fairly... It's a good value. When you go looking for something from Oracle that automates things and makes your life easier, it's always going to be a minimum of $500,000. Era's nothing like that."
"Its cost was somewhere in the middle."
"The tool is cloud-based. It is priced well."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
22%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
Transportation Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Healthcare Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Nutanix Database Service?
The most valuable feature is its robust infrastructure management tools.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nutanix Database Service?
It is amazing. The pricing compared to the time saved is nothing. It's worth the cost.
What needs improvement with Nutanix Database Service?
It has already saved me a lot of time, but it can still improve. In the past, there were built-in templates, and now, for some particular databases, I have to create my own templates and push them ...
What needs improvement with Quest Spotlight?
One improvement could be the inclusion of suggestions for missing indexes or better analysis of how indexes are utilized and how execution plans are used, similar to what other products offer.
What is your primary use case for Quest Spotlight?
I primarily use Spotlight for on-the-spot troubleshooting and alerting to see if there are any issues. The drill-down features allow me to pinpoint problems, whether they are indexing, long-running...
What advice do you have for others considering Quest Spotlight?
I would rate Spotlight probably an nine out of ten. My advice would be to consider its cost-effectiveness and ease of use in smaller environments.
 

Also Known As

Nutanix Era
Dell Spotlight
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

JetBlue, International Speedway Corporation, SAIC Volkswagen
Jenkon
Find out what your peers are saying about Nutanix Database Service vs. Spotlight and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.