Meraki Dashboard vs SolarWinds NPM comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Jul 29, 2023

We compared Meraki Dashboard and SolarWinds NPM 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. SolarWinds NPM is commended for its adaptability and extensive network surveillance functionalities.

  • 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. SolarWinds NPM needs improvement in edge computing capabilities and data reporting. Users also said the performance could be better and that they would like to see expanded IPAM functionality.

  • 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. While some customers described SolarWinds support as helpful and responsive, others reported delayed responses.

  • 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 users said SolarWinds NPM was straightforward to set up, while others perceived it as complex.

  • Pricing: Opinions on Meraki Dashboard's pricing varied, with some users finding it pricey and others deeming it fair. The cost of SolarWinds NPM varies depending on the customer’s size and requirements. Some users find it costly.

  • ROI: Meraki Dashboard simplifies IT operations, and some users expect returns within a few years. Some users reported immediate benefits from using SolarWinds NPM in terms of security and business outcomes, while others have not.

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. SolarWinds NPM is a customizable solution that’s easy to deploy and features comprehensive network monitoring capabilities. However, some users consider it costly and voiced concerns about technical support and user experience.

To learn more, read our detailed Meraki Dashboard vs. SolarWinds NPM Report (Updated: March 2024).
763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"We can manage the entire system across the network and troubleshoot the pain points."

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"The most valuable feature is their support, they get better every day.""Great visibility on the dashboard.""The most valuable feature is the single pane of glass that gives you multisite visibility.""What I found most valuable in the Meraki Dashboard is straight monitoring of the different devices, as well as the ability to easily set up VPNs, for example, both Meraki client VPNs and non-Meraki VPNs for different organizations that work with my company. I also like that the tool is a really good firewall.""It is very easy to manage. It has good security, and it is working well with our firewall.""We have found the client dashboard to be very simple to use, especially in our Meraki environment.""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 most valuable features are that it's easy to use and technically very complete. I can configure, do advanced troubleshooting in the dashboard, and reboot access points remotely."

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"We have configured multiple alerts for our network devices, including routers and switches, so that we are notified if any interface goes down.""The most valuable feature is the way it monitors the environment, and how user-friendly the console is for the end-user. The interface is also very easy and it captures all the information very well.""What I've found most valuable about the solution is that it's scalable.""You can monitor performance counters effortlessly.""It did a good job of the collection and then an investigation of the net flow of information for understanding the applications that were being used at certain locations.""We can proactively fix historical issues, so we won't face those problems in future.""SolarWinds NPM has a colorful UI and many easy-to-use features. It does not need to be configured as much and is also easy to install.""Their support team is efficient, and it is easy to set up."

More SolarWinds NPM Pros →

Cons
"The Wi-Fi side needs improvement."

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"What needs improvement in Meraki Dashboard is its configuration. It'll also be better if the tool has more functionality, and that is what I'd like to see in its next release.""The wait time to speak with a Meraki support engineer is always long, but they get the job done.""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.""When users are trying to roam from one location to another location, geographical tracking would be helpful.""We would like to be able to test the health of WAN connections.""If I am a user and I have a seat on the fourth floor, if I move across the building, the system should be able to track me and should be able to figure out my whereabouts or my position within the building if I'm connected to the wireless. That would make the administrator's life easier in terms of reachability.""Not a lot of training is available.""The pricing for this solution needs to be improved."

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"Time: A worldwide deployment can be confusing for dispersed users with non-local times. Each node should have a local time (with summer offset if appropriate) & each user should view & report in their local time.""A feature I would ask for is for them to have this solution available for Linux systems instead of Windows.""I would like to have a Syslog server module for this product. That would make the solution better.""I would like to see some enhancement on the reporting side, such as making it a little bit easier to create reports or having a larger assortment of canned reports.""This product could improve by adding cloud monitoring. I want SolarWinds NPM to do much more integration, and have more involvement in cloud monitoring, like AWS or Google, or Azure. I feel like it requires lots of improvement for cloud monitoring in NPM.""Technical support and releases are not particularly reliable.""Real-time analytics is the major weakness of the SolarWinds NPM platform today. They've done a fantastic job enabling the collection of data. Users are now demanding the ability to generate their own graphs, views, and so on; all of this must be done by an admin today.""The solution is not always good with new features, so it's take a long time."

More SolarWinds NPM Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
Information Not Available
  • "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."
  • "From a pricing perspective, they are still expensive."
  • "The licensing fees are $180 USD, per AP, for three years."
  • "It is said to be expensive."
  • "The pricing for a small setup is only a few hundred dollars a year. The fee is subscription-based."
  • "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."
  • "My view is that it's expensive, but it's the best."
  • "The price of Meraki Dashboard is not expensive because knowing that it is a cloud-based solution has its benefits."
  • More Meraki Dashboard Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "I’d suggest that people be aware that licensing has tiers."
  • "Excluding the costs of running VMs and physical blade servers, our licensing costs run around US$200,000/year for over 60 polling engines."
  • "I think that the cost has risen, but the functionality and versatility is way above other products."
  • "The licensing model is such that you can purchase only what you need; and then grow into the next level by paying only the difference in price and the associated maintenance costs."
  • "The price points are more than competitive when compared to other vendors."
  • "I believe the original setup cost was around $3500 with an annual cost of around $1200-$1500 to renew the support license. This would bring the average day-to-day cost of around $5-$6 over three years."
  • "You have to license it per year, for the support. You don't really need to have support once you've already set it up. Once you install SolarWinds, you can skip on the licensing. It will still work."
  • "The pricing needs to be improved. It is too high. One full engine costs around $10 000, which is why we don't have high availability right now."
  • More SolarWinds NPM Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
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    Top Answer:It is a reliable product. It provides a lot of information that is easy to read.
    Top Answer:The product’s pricing is neither high nor low. I rate the product’s pricing a five out of ten, where one is cheap, and… more »
    Top Answer:There could be an on-premise server for the dashboard. Meraki can download the full server from the cloud to on-prem for… more »
    Top Answer:It actually depends on the exact purpose or kind of devices (network devices, servers, something else). Some tools are… more »
    Top Answer:From my point of view, SolarWind is the best tool.
    Top Answer:We are partners with SolarWinds and we sell a lot of Network management to large enterprises also because of… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer
    Learn More
    Overview

    Juniper Mist Premium Analytics is a comprehensive network analytics solution that provides organizations with valuable insights into their network performance and user experience. The primary use case of this product is to enable IT teams to proactively monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize their network infrastructure.

    The most valuable functionality of Juniper Mist Premium Analytics is its AI-driven insights and recommendations. Leveraging machine learning algorithms, it analyzes vast amounts of network data to identify anomalies, predict potential issues, and suggest remediation actions. This proactive approach helps organizations minimize network downtime, improve user experience, and optimize network performance.

    By providing real-time visibility into network performance, Juniper Mist Premium Analytics helps organizations quickly identify and resolve network issues. It offers detailed analytics on network traffic, application performance, and user behavior, allowing IT teams to pinpoint the root cause of problems and take immediate action. This not only reduces troubleshooting time but also enhances overall network reliability.

    Furthermore, Juniper Mist Premium Analytics enables organizations to optimize their network infrastructure. It provides insights into network capacity utilization, application usage patterns, and user behavior, allowing IT teams to make informed decisions about network design, resource allocation, and capacity planning. This helps organizations to ensure that their network is efficiently utilized and can support the growing demands of their users.

    Meraki Dashboard is a comprehensive cloud-based platform that offers centralized management and control for all Meraki networking and security products. It provides a user-friendly interface, allowing administrators to easily monitor and configure their network infrastructure from anywhere. With real-time visibility, troubleshooting becomes effortless, ensuring optimal performance and minimizing downtime. 

    The intuitive dashboard offers a holistic view of the network, enabling quick identification of potential issues and proactive measures. It simplifies network deployment and scaling, with zero-touch provisioning and automatic firmware updates. The robust security features include advanced threat protection, content filtering, and VPN connectivity. 

    Meraki Dashboard also offers powerful analytics and reporting capabilities, providing valuable insights into network usage, application performance, and user behavior. With its seamless integration and scalability, 

    Meraki Dashboard is the ideal solution for organizations of all sizes, ensuring efficient network management and enhanced productivity.

    SolarWinds NPM is a network monitoring solution that enables you to detect, diagnose, and resolve network performance issues and outages quickly and efficiently. The solution is a powerful tool that can help you increase service levels, reduce downtime with multi vendor network monitoring, simplify the management of complex network devices, improve operational efficiency, and much more.

    SolarWinds NPM Features

    SolarWinds NPM has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Increased scalability
    • Fault, performance, and availability monitoring
    • Dynamic network discovery and mapping
    • Cross-stack network data correlation
    • Customizable topology
    • Dependency-aware intelligent alerts
    • Intelligent maps
    • Automated capacity forecasting, alerting, and reporting
    • Logical and physical network monitoring
    • Monitor Azure vNet gateway visibility

    SolarWinds NPM Benefits

    There are several benefits to implementing SolarWinds NPM. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Comprehensive monitoring for advanced network devices: With SolarWinds NPM, you can gain insight into the health and performance of your load balancers, Cisco ASA and Palo Alto Networks, firewalls, and Cisco Nexus switches.
    • Hardware health monitoring: SolarWinds NPM makes it easy for you to monitor, alert, and report on key device metrics, including power supply, fan speed, and temperature.
    • Customizable performance and availability reports: With this feature, you can choose from more than 100 templates to schedule and also generate custom network performance reports.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the SolarWinds NPM solution.

    PeerSpot user Andrew N., Senior Network Engineer at Element Critical, says, “The "Performance Analyzer" feature is the solution's most valuable aspect. It's able to do the bounded graphs of all the interface stats, from errors to broadcasts and to current traffic. With a click of a button you're able to, in one interface, look at historical data for those items.” He also adds, “From the troubleshooting point of view, just having that peace of mind is great. And, The solution is extremely stable. We haven't had any issues in that regard. We haven't had issues with bugs, glitches, or crashes."

    Daniel S., Systems and Data Warehouse Supervisor at MMSD, mentions, “The alerting and usage tracking is a valuable feature because it alerts us when we're getting near capacity on disk space, network utilization or processor utilization. It helps us manage our capacity and enables us to be proactive.”

    A Senior Vice President and CIO at a financial services firm explains, “As we look to add more servers to our virtual environment and to understand the impact, the solution allows us to dig into the historical charts related to capacity planning. It also gives us visibility of spikes and allows us to track down the reasons for their occurrences. So too, it makes room for potential processes that have gotten hung or runaway and to know when it's time to reboot a server or service.”

    Dinesh N., Digital Innovation at Bobcat Company, states, “The best part of the solution is the sharing display. It gives a general public ID wherein everyone can link to a public display. That's a good feature.”


    Fazal A., Implementation & Support Specialist at 360Factors, comments, “We have configured multiple alerts for our network devices, including routers and switches, so that we are notified if any interface goes down. In the event an interface goes down, we have multiple reports that include availability monitoring, network uptime monitoring, and network downtime monitoring. These reports are on multiple schedules such as the end of the day, end of the last business day of the week, monthly, and quarterly. This gives us the ability to provide reports to our management and let them know the performance of our network.”

    Sample Customers
    Information Not Available
    Coop eG, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Priefert Manufacturing, Century Care Management, Clifton College, Zürs Ski Resort, Capital FM Arena, MAXI Autohöfe
    Microsoft, Federal Express, Hewlett-Packard, and MasterCard
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Financial Services Firm12%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Government8%
    REVIEWERS
    Retailer13%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Computer Software Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company24%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Construction Company5%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company12%
    Comms Service Provider12%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Healthcare Company9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization50%
    Computer Software Company7%
    Government5%
    Manufacturing Company5%
    Company Size
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise63%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business38%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise38%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise58%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise50%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business12%
    Midsize Enterprise55%
    Large Enterprise33%
    Buyer's Guide
    Meraki Dashboard vs. SolarWinds NPM
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Meraki Dashboard vs. SolarWinds NPM and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Meraki Dashboard is ranked 9th in Network Monitoring Software with 30 reviews while SolarWinds NPM is ranked 4th in Network Monitoring Software with 30 reviews. Meraki Dashboard is rated 8.6, while SolarWinds NPM is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Meraki Dashboard writes "Provides reports on hacking attempts, threats to devices, and how well access points are working". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SolarWinds NPM writes "Simple to set up with good visualizations and helpful support". Meraki Dashboard is most compared with ThousandEyes, Mist AI and Cloud, Cisco DNA Center, Zabbix and Cisco Secure Network Analytics, whereas SolarWinds NPM is most compared with Zabbix, PRTG Network Monitor, ManageEngine OpManager, ThousandEyes and ScienceLogic. See our Meraki Dashboard vs. SolarWinds NPM report.

    See our list of best Network Monitoring Software vendors.

    We monitor all Network Monitoring Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.