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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Meraki Dashboard

    Score9.3 out of 10
    N/AAs a cloud-managed network management solution, the Cisco Meraki Dashboard enables users to provision, configure, and troubleshoot global networking and IoT deployments.N/A

    N-able N-central

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AMSPs and IT professionals use N-able™ N-central® to monitor and manage devices and complex networks remotely. N-central provides visibility and efficiency as the user's needs scale. N-central can help users: 1. Proactively monitor everything on a customer network—not just servers and workstations—and troubleshoot. 2. Stay on top of threats with features like MFA, antivirus, integrated endpoint detection and response, data backup, disk encryption, email protection,…N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Meraki DashboardN-able N-central
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Meraki DashboardN-able N-central
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco Meraki DashboardN-able N-central
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    N-able
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    37 Answers
    73%
    Would buy again
    11 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    37 Answers
    79%
    Delivers good value for the price
    11 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    37 Answers
    80%
    Happy with the feature set
    12 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    27 Answers
    60%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    30 Answers
    77%
    Implementation went as expected
    10 Answers
    Features
    Cisco Meraki DashboardN-able N-central
    Monitoring Tasks
    Comparison of Monitoring Tasks features of Cisco Meraki Dashboard and N-able N-central
    Feature
    Cisco Meraki Dashboard
    -
    Ratings
    N-able N-central
    7.4
    6 Ratings
    0% below category average
    Remote monitoring00 Ratings9.76 Ratings
    Network device monitoring00 Ratings8.36 Ratings
    Management Tasks
    Comparison of Management Tasks features of Cisco Meraki Dashboard and N-able N-central
    Feature
    Cisco Meraki Dashboard
    -
    Ratings
    N-able N-central
    9.0
    7 Ratings
    19% above category average
    Patch Management00 Ratings9.07 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Meraki DashboardN-able N-central
    Small Businesses
    Pulseway
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Panda Systems Management
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset
    Score9.3 out of 10
    N-able N-sight RMM
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Prime LAN Management (discontinued)
    Score8.5 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Meraki DashboardN-able N-central
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.7
    (25 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.3
    (7 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.0
    (8 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.4
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Meraki DashboardN-able N-central
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    Cisco Meraki Dashboard is a great solution for managing a large number of networks across a single organization or multiple. For new projects we are able to set up the entire network in the dashboard with all of the needed settings, plug all of the devices in at our office and have them download their settings, so on the date of deployment, the equipment comes online and is ready to go immediately.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    N-able
    N-Able is perfect for an MSP environment. It gives all the standard functionality an IT professional needs out of the box and can be configured to show almost anything required. For example, we have configured a dashboard to show when our backups need attention for each customer. This is achieved by running a small script on repeat via N-Central everyday/evening, and the result gives us information on the dashboard to help us identify exactly what is working and what needs looking into.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • The ability to monitor any port and get accurate information on its activity.
    • The ability to port cycle and reboot remotely. This is best for off-hour reboots.
    • Being able to search for devices through the client page with an IP address or MAC address saves time on device searches.
    • It is an easy process to add and remove devices to different organizations.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    N-able
    • Remote tasks - entry-level techs can run basic tasks without physically touching a piece of equipment.
    • Remote support - remote controlling user devices is easy and saves a lot of time with having to initiate a remote session.
    • Management of devices, particularly patch management and anti-virus management - you can automatically approve and deploy patches and schedule automatic AV scans.
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • Cloud communication could be improved
    • Rebooting network switch like an MS120 remotely takes more time vs MX64 for some reason
    • Quicker response time for status updates. Cisco Meraki Dashboard take too long to update sometimes
    • Uptime for all devices not just the switches but firewalls and APs would be great to have
    • Timeline improvements/more detail timeline
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    N-able
    • Customer support just points to online guides and I feel they aren't helpful.
    • During the trial they turn on a lot of features. In my experience, if you play around with the features, they charge you for them. Keep this in mind if you move forward with N-Able - they will charge for "trialed" services.
    • In my experience, some services that you're being charged for can't be disabled or monitored by you or your team. You only see them on the monthly invoice.
    • In my opinion, the "Scripting Automation" doesn't provide value. You're either going to be writing your own batch or Powershell to make scripting work.
    • In my opinion, monitoring software deployments is painful.
    • The default monitoring template can't be duplicated, edited, or referenced. You'll find that the default monitors in an unusual way and will throw needless recurring alerts into your ticketing system. To avoid this, you need to create a template from scratch which takes many hours to set up.
    • In my opinion, they're more concerned about a quick buck than customer service. "Buyer beware" company.
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    N-able
    Overall we have liked our solar winds experience, however, as our company has grown to support larger enterprises, this product does not have the functionality that our teams need in order to fully support them. The lack of granularity with backups and lack of ability to support nutanix environments is slowly drawing us into the use of other tools.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cisco
    The dashboard is easy to navigate and offers many pages that are loaded with information. Cisco Meraki adds new features to the dashboard based on customer feedback and I have seen so many updates and changes that have improved upon the previous version. Most recently they have added Cisco's AI and are looking at an Automation option that will only further improve usability.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    N-able
    The user interface is fairly straight forward, with logic groupings for objects. I did not deploy this software, but am one of the daily administrators. Once you get the correct agent package (Which can be a challenge) the integration into AD is not bad. The UI could be more customized, but that may have been a design choice.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    N-able
    Every time we have reached out to SolarWinds they are quick to respond, even offering support chat 24/7. Their support team is great and works with you to find solutions to issues. They have taken items we had issues with before and used those to create updates so that the issue is handled better in the future.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    N-able
    Make sure if you your using a vm you follow the instructions for provisioning to the letter or it will be starting from square one
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    The Cisco Meraki Dashboard is of course the most user friendly and the NDFC is being modified to look similar to the Cisco Meraki Dashboard as of today.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    N-able
    Our version of SolarWinds was old and running on old hardware, but it was way easier to setup and do things with. It did not do everything N-able does such as patch management, or at least we didn't have a module to do so if one existed. However it definitely seemed easier to use and possibly more stable.
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • It's definitely allowed us to operate with a smaller team and allowed us to troubleshoot issues quicker. The Meraki dashboard with Meraki APs has helped us identify issues on our wireless network, monitor the health, and really help our remote locations out with troubleshooting and getting devices online quicker.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    N-able
    • We have lost hundreds of hours on the phone/emailing support with no resolution for any of our issues
    • We had to move all of our services away which was very painful
    • Staff satisfaction was low having to deal with this company
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Cisco Meraki Dashboard Screenshots

    Screenshot of Connect MS225 24portScreenshot of ConnectMS225 24portScreenshot of SECURITY MX64WScreenshot of SECURITY MX64WScreenshot of Connect MS225 24port

    N-able N-central Screenshots

    Screenshot of N-able N-central DashboardScreenshot of Remote desktop access with Take Control