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Symantec Data Center Security vs VMware NSX comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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

Symantec Data Center Security
Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security
11th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
4.9
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware NSX
Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
107
Ranking in other categories
Network Virtualization (2nd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (7th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (8th), Network Automation (5th), Microsegmentation Software (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Cloud and Data Center Security category, the mindshare of Symantec Data Center Security is 3.7%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware NSX is 9.1%, down from 11.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud and Data Center Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
VMware NSX9.1%
Symantec Data Center Security3.7%
Other87.2%
Cloud and Data Center Security
 

Featured Reviews

Muhammad Ejaz ul Hassan - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Continuous server hardening has protected critical legacy workloads and simplified security control
Symantec is lagging on the reporting side. I have been working for 10 years and I have identified many gray areas. As a user protecting your infrastructure, you need to sell the value to your management. Management buys the tool for preventing threats, and it works for them. However, you cannot sell it because every solution needs to show what happened in the last few years or how you will be protected in the future. Reporting is the most important thing for the CIO level, not the admin level. I have seen Symantec really lag in this area. I am creating my own tool to build a dashboard to share with the CIO level because they want to know what happened last week, last month, and last year. These reports will tell you about activities. Symantec changed the licensing when Broadcom acquired the company. The question of who will provide support became unclear. Support has now changed and they are making money. I have seen that most of the time when you ask implementation questions, they do not answer you. If you have a problem, they give you a low-level engineer at the first level. This delays resolution. Support has to be better.
Mahesh Bhadoriya - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Manager at Allianz Cloud Private Limited
Micro segmentation has strengthened zero trust security and isolates production from test environments
The advantages of VMware NSX include its micro-segmentation for internal security at the firewall and VM levels, which is very powerful and helps us comply with complete Zero Trust security models. We are able to achieve this and configure network level virtualization with no dependency on VLANs. Micro-segmentation helps improve our security significantly. We are not totally dependent upon our physical upfront firewall, and it makes sense to configure everything using VMware NSX, leading to multiple improvements in our organization. We moved from traditional networking such as VLANs from the firewall and switches to VMware NSX segmentation. We achieve one firewall per VLAN and can stop lateral movement such as ransomware control. The Zero Trust model is the main functionality and architecture it offers, allowing application isolation, such as having a separate production and test environment. Consistent networking and security policies across different environments have a major and very positive impact on our business operations, allowing us to achieve the security posture we want with compliance and regulations.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The ability to finely control permissions and restrictions on servers or assets through a customizable rule set is a key strength."
"The advantage of Data Center Security is its ease of use and that it serves as a single unified platform, where I can apply all my security policies to protect that server."
"The most valuable feature is the centralized console, which can handle different products that we have."
"We use the product to prevent unauthorized access to data, systems, and servers. It provides essential features for data center security."
"The most valuable feature is the endpoint protection system."
"The file integrity monitoring features are the most valuable features of this product."
"The granularity of applying the policies is valuable."
"The monitoring in the management console allows us to find out what is going wrong, and it gets reports even before the user reports it."
"The microsegmentation is a good feature, and you can segment details, products, or hardware information."
"NSX is extremely invaluable from the standpoint of security."
"When using for K8s container platforms or a networking backed for on premises cloud using a CMP(VRA, VIO) then VMware NSX is the best SDN solution."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"The alert features are the most valuable."
"The feedback we're getting from the labs is that the stability is rich and that we haven't had any trouble with it."
"The product has valuable features for security and network extension."
"VMware NSX is a very good solution. It's also a scalable solution."
 

Cons

"It would be advantageous if Symantec or Broadcom, given the rebranding, could simplify the process, enabling users to leverage the antivirus functionality more easily."
"A user or administrator making the policy in the DCS should have a very thorough knowledge of the operating system or policy making. You have to be very specific about the data structure."
"There is room for improvement in enhancing its graphical user interface for a more user-friendly experience."
"Could have better reporting capabilities and better support."
"There is plenty of room for improvement with this product, and it could start with platform metrics."
"This solution clashes with Microsoft defender, which results in performance degradation on the machine."
"Agent management is a challenging task."
"I think that technical support in general is not really capable of doing their work. They don't have enough knowledge to provide quick solutions, so we usually try to resolve problems within our team."
"It should be more adapted to the physical side of network topology in order to prevent unavailability."
"I would like to see automation capabilities in the deployment process."
"Lastline is not a cheap product if compared with their competitors."
"Any technical product has its own limitations in one place or another."
"The reporting functionality could be better, and there could be an easier way of forwarding events. There's room for improvement in the product."
"Since most people are very much used to physical networking, they find it difficult to use VMware NSX in the initial stage."
"Occasionally the licensing is not very clear. They should make it easier to understand."
"The solution could benefit from improvements in its pricing and scalability."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Compared to some other solutions, such as CrowdStrike, Symantec is more expensive."
"It is notably more expensive when compared to other solutions."
"The product is a bit costly."
"There is a license required for this solution and there is also a support license available. The price of the solution could be better."
"The price is pretty high."
"It is an expensive product, but cheaper than some competing solutions."
"The pricing is higher than other options from Palo Alto, Fortinet, and Cisco because it is sold in a bundle."
"We have saved man-hours and decreased our security exposure."
"The price of VMware NSX is very good compared to other solutions."
"We are using a perpetual license to use the solution and we have support."
"The licensing is renewed every three years. The cost for implementation and renovation are a huge portion of that price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
17%
Construction Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Healthcare Company
6%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise70
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Symantec Data Center Security?
Symantec is lagging on the reporting side. I have been working for 10 years and I have identified many gray areas. As a user protecting your infrastructure, you need to sell the value to your manag...
What is your primary use case for Symantec Data Center Security?
As a partner support, we handle all Symantec products for various clients. Currently, we work with DLP, Symantec Endpoint Protection, Data Loss Prevention, Data Center Security, Email Security, and...
What advice do you have for others considering Symantec Data Center Security?
I am still a Symantec partner. Price rating is five out of ten. Symantec Data Center Security is a perfect solution, but it needs to elaborate its functionalities and functions to the market. Peopl...
What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?
There are some very major differences between both the Products and to name a few. -Cisco ACI have physical network gear (9K Switches) where the Code runs in ACI Policy Mode & the UCS server wh...
What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?
Once you know your way around the Cisco ecosystem, using Cisco ACI is not so difficult. It is a global product, so when you change one interface, changes are automatically reflected on every switch...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware NSX?
When measuring complexity and costs for our organization, we consider some parameters for effectiveness. In terms of effectiveness in reducing operational complexity, I measure it to be high on the...
 

Also Known As

No data available
VMware Nicira, Lastline Defender
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
City of Avondale, Lumeta, Kroll Ontrack, Heartland Payment Systems, Baystate Heallth, Exostar, Tribune Media, iGATE, NTT Communications, Synergent, California Natural Resources Agency, Bloomington Public Schools, Columbia Sportswear, Join Experience S.A, Schuberg Philis
Find out what your peers are saying about Symantec Data Center Security vs. VMware NSX and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.