We compared Meraki Dashboard and Nagios XI across several parameters based on our users' reviews. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below:
Features: Meraki Dashboard users like its centralized console, cable testing, firmware updates, and group policy features. The solution is also praised as user-friendly, stable, and scalable. Nagios XI received positive feedback for its versatility and adaptability. It offers a diverse selection of plugins and scripts for monitoring needs.
Room for Improvement: Users say Meraki Dashboard could improve its client VPN, hardware discovery, and integration with external solutions, Some users mentioned a need for more comprehensive documentation and granular control. Users have suggested Nagios XI could improve integration, simplify configuration, and make the platform more user-friendly. Nagios XI users also suggest improvements to network visibility and cloud discovery.
Service and Support: Meraki Dashboard's customer service receives mixed feedback. Some users spoke fondly of the technical support they received, while others expressed frustration over long wait times and had a hard time finding the right person to help them. Some Nagios XI customers complained about the lack of chat or phone support options.
Ease of Deployment: Users said Meraki Dashboard was effortless and intuitive to set up, noting that features like templates and configuration cloning saved time during deployment. Some Nagios XI users found the setup to be relatively simple, while others considered it challenging. Deployment can take a few months to complete, and there’s a steep learning curve.
Pricing: Opinions on Meraki Dashboard's pricing varied, with some users finding it pricey and others deeming it fair. Nagios XI’s pricing is considered reasonable and transparent, with no extra charges.
ROI: Meraki Dashboard simplifies IT operations, and some users expect returns within a few years. Nagios XI users reported positive outcomes overall, but some said visibility limitations lower the solution’s ROI.
Comparison Results: Meraki Dashboard is a scalable, user-friendly solution with a smooth, painless setup made easy by built-in templates and features like configuration cloning. However, some users complained that the solution is too expensive and needs better integration with non-Cisco platforms. Nagios XI is an affordable, flexible solution with a broad feature set and a selection of helpful plugins. At the same time, users say the setup can be complex, and some expressed a desire for more convenient ways to contact support.
"We can manage the entire system across the network and troubleshoot the pain points."
"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."
"The initial setup was easy."
"The most valuable feature is their support, they get better every day."
"Meraki Dashboard does not require a lot of maintenance. Cisco tells communicates through the Meraki Dashboard web client, it will automatically send updates to the equipment. They will send you an email on what day the updates will take place. If you want to proceed, you can click on accept, or you can decline them and schedule the updates at another time."
"It is very stable and we have been using it for five years."
"The most valuable feature is the single pane of glass that gives you multisite visibility."
"I would say the ease of use is the most valuable feature. It's very easy to set up and get up and running."
"You don't have to be a network engineer to use it."
"The Script Module in Nagios is really easy to use and is really cost efficient."
"I can monitor a software made in-house to software of bigger companies."
"Nagios XI is a simple monitoring tool with performance management."
"Since this is an open source technology, if we are capable of writing the plugins in any scripting language, this product allows us to monitor anything we want."
"The most valuable feature is its support for different types of devices, where it can use all of the equipment that you need."
"It is an open-source platform with valuable features for performance and stability."
"The features I've found the most useful are the plug-ins, the fact that you can connect almost everything to it. That's very useful."
"The most useful aspect of this solution is the ability to customize it for the client agent."
"The Wi-Fi side needs improvement."
"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."
"This solution can be quite complicated to configure and manage, unless you have a technical person with specific knowledge working on it."
"What we would like from the IT perspective is a lot more granular control, more visibility into the packets, into the routing, and things of that nature."
"I’d like the product to allow for other solutions to be integrated with the dashboard as well."
"The solution has a limited routing table and needs improvement by increasing the numbers as well as providing a summarization for the table."
"More integration would be an improvement."
"Some features could be added."
"Lacks an alert notification when there are IP or DNS issues."
"The product's stability could be even better."
"The Configuration Wizard needs improvement, because not all vendors are present."
"The product uses the backend as Perl and could be modified to a more lightweight solution like what's being offered by other vendors."
"The product could be optimized to improve the administrative user experience via the Nagios Core Configuration (NCC) GUI module."
"I would like to be able to extend it to all of our data centers, whether they are in the cloud or not. It would be helpful if I could connect everywhere."
"Open-source software is usually not user-friendly."
"The technical support is variable - sometimes I get answers, but most of my tickets go unanswered."
"The pricing has recently risen. I know they've changed what is covered under the license, however, it doesn't change the way we use it and adds nothing to our experience, and yet we now have to pay more."
Meraki Dashboard is ranked 9th in Network Monitoring Software with 51 reviews while Nagios XI is ranked 8th in Network Monitoring Software with 54 reviews. Meraki Dashboard is rated 8.6, while Nagios XI is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Meraki Dashboard writes "Incredibly easy to use, great troubleshooting and prevention of malicious events". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Nagios XI writes "Great for monitoring IT services infrastructure with nice tools and helpful notifications". Meraki Dashboard is most compared with Cisco DNA Center, SolarWinds NPM, ThousandEyes, Mist AI and Cloud and Centreon, whereas Nagios XI is most compared with Nagios Core, Zabbix, PRTG Network Monitor, Wireshark and Icinga. See our Meraki Dashboard vs. Nagios XI report.
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