Atera vs. Cisco Meraki Dashboard

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Atera
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Atera is presented as an Agentic AI platform for IT management, that offers a digital workforce of AI agents that proactively and autonomously support entire IT operations. Atera’s all-in-one IT management platform consolidates RMM, helpdesk, ticketing, and automation, so IT teams and MSPs can manage and protect infrastructure, automate tasks, and boost service quality by reducing downtime and improving SLAs. Atera has shifted focus from automation to AI-powered autonomy in IT. With…
$129
per month (billed annually) per user
Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
As a cloud-managed network management solution, the Cisco Meraki Dashboard enables users to provision, configure, and troubleshoot global networking and IoT deployments.N/A
Pricing
AteraCisco Meraki Dashboard
Editions & Modules
MSP - Pro
$129
per month (billed annually) per user
IT Department - Professional
$149
per month (billed annually) per user
MSP - Growth
$179
per month (billed annually) per user
IT Department - Expert
$189
per month (billed annually) per user
MSP - Power
$209
per month (billed annually) per user
IT Department - Master
$219
per month (billed annually) per user
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AteraCisco Meraki Dashboard
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsUnlimited devices.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AteraCisco Meraki Dashboard
Considered Both Products
Atera
Chose Atera
Atera is well designed for remote monitoring and management purposes. The other tools, such as ManageEngine endpoint central, are more focused on managing the endpoints and applications, such as installation or removal of applications, and blocking or whitelisting applications.
A…
Chose Atera
We used Logmein for remote access and used another platform called Fresh Service for our ticketing. Logmein was okay but the ability for us to merge the two together, on top of all of the other features that Atera offers (reporting and monitoring!) has been game changing. We …
Chose Atera
I think Atera is the leader here. The aggressive pricing along with feature set is unparalleled in my opinion. They seem to be headed in the right direction and keep pushing the envelope in what the tool can do. The one thing lacking for me is the Apple integration into …
Chose Atera
Atera is very similar to Syncro in feature set and pricing, but we liked Atera just a bit better. (We switched from Atera to Syncro and then back to Atera, and have stuck with Atera for several years now.) Kaseya gave us bad vibes from their sales department and we ultimately …
Chose Atera
I also used other org suites, but Atera is the winner here. It offers services like IT service management, network monitoring, and billing. We get most of the service under one roof. Hence, Atera is the winner compared to other applications I have used.
Chose Atera
In my opinion, Datto is not a great company to partner with. In my experience, billing is crazy and when you call in for support you get sales.
Chose Atera
Atera Billing of per technician is a great way to save
Atera has 24/7 support that response in a matter of seconds
The Copilot that they have added recently is a game changer and will make anyone wants to associate themselves with Atera
Chose Atera
NinjaOne is a great tool for Remote management and patch management. However, Atera is more polished and gives better functionality for the end user side through things like work from home, and the support portal knowledge base. Also, when using NinjaOne, I don't remember there …
Chose Atera
ManageEngine Endpoint Central and GoTo Resolve
Chose Atera
Because Atera is a much more effective and efficient solution to manage all our IT operations, it automates each of our business processes. It offers us the best support to respond to any problem that may arise. I think Atera is much more cost-effective and reliable; its value …
Chose Atera
Comparison from ConnectWise and Autotask, Atera is more simplified, Cost effective and Integration RMM, PSA and automation features
Chose Atera
In my experience, Atera lured us in with the pricing per technician to try and save us money. They then proceeded to take features away and lock them behind higher-tiers. In addition, in my opinion, their customer support is atrocious. I think if you enjoy long times between …
Chose Atera
It is live in our organization and it works along with Atera in our organization, however I have more trust on Atera due to its stability and ruggedness, so Atera is the only choice most of the IT dept works on.
I would not comment on the ManageEngine PAM solution as I have less …
Chose Atera
The user interface is easier to navigate, and remote desktop capabilities for troubleshooting were the differentiating factor.
Chose Atera
Atera was very similar with Syncro but a bit more user friendly. There were a few features with Syncro I really liked that Atera does not have yet like custom reporting.
Chose Atera
Atera has so many features that are fully functional.
Atera is easy to use.
Chose Atera
Atera is way more user friendly , it has a smooth learning curve and the pricing is favorable. Atera also has a lot of features that make it superior. They even have additional features like the ticketing system that was a pleasant surprise to have. Overall Atera stands out at …
Chose Atera
Atera's pay-per-technician pricing just made sense for us. They don't nickel-and-dime either. NinjaOne, by contrast, was over twice as expensive to start out, but they wanted to charge extra just for a ticketing system and many other things.
Chose Atera
NinjaOne is a great platform but is simple overall versus Atera. Atera is so feature rich that it can be overwhelming at times but is worth the learning curve. Take time to go through the onboarding, reading the help articles, and even reaching out to support directly through …
Chose Atera
Atera pulls the best features from the above systems I have previous experience in and unites them in an All-in-one solution that simplifies and improves everyone's experience.
Chose Atera
Atera was the clear winner for us. The interface and tools were very easy to learn and setup. Atera's licensing incorporates good feature sets and value levels.

Some of the other products were difficult to setup and lacked good flow between tools. The value proposition was …
Chose Atera
In comparing Atera with similar products I've used or evaluated, like SolarWinds, ConnectWise, and Kaseya, Atera stands out for its user-friendly interface and cost-effectiveness. While SolarWinds offers robust features, it can be overwhelming and pricey for smaller setups. …
Chose Atera
Atera was more cost effective, easy to deploy and had all the features and tools we needed. It's still a little rough around the edges but we can work around those considering its a fraction of the cost compared to others.
Chose Atera
This Year I started an IT company and was in need of monitoring and PSA software. In the past I've worked with Datto, Datto RMM and Ncentral so one of these would be a logical choice for me to choose. However their pricing is from a different world. For a starting company, …
Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Meraki Dashboard is a better product but has limits due to being cloud managed. Missing full CLI and config backups
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Because I have full visibility and monitoring of the full network stack
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Closest thing would be Cisco Catalyst Center and we use that for our switch infrastructure. It's mainly configuration backup and firmware updater at this point, like keeping everything provisioned and up to date. We haven't really started pushing configs through there yet, but …
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Cisco Meraki Dashboard is less complex and has all product managed on the dashboard
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
The cloud version makes it easy for network administrators.
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Cisco Meraki Dashboard is more familiar actually and user friendly UI and giving comfortable CX.
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Fortimanager has deeper insight and is better for more technical, complex deployments.
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000)
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Point is more difficult to manage requires a lot more technical expertise.
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
CitizenOne by Portage
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Cisco Meraki Dashboard is better
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
The API is so much better on Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Juniper Mist AI, Juniper Mist Premium Analytics, Juniper Mist WAN Assurance, Juniper Mist Wi-Fi Assurance and Juniper Mist Wired Assurance
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Cisco Catalyst Center
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Juniper was a good alternative to Cisco, but in our company we already have all Cisco Products so was more easy the migration to Meraki. We have done also one POC for try Juniper but the only one difference was the AI assistance but Meraki implemented this recently so was no …
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Cisco Spaces, SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper, Grafana, Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points, Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco IOS and Cisco ThousandEyes
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
A number of networks we've taken over were using Ubiquiti Unifi, which is an okay solution, but a lot more cumbersome to manage. We've found the Cisco Meraki Dashboard system much more intuitive and way less time-intensive. Simple things like setting up dedicated DHCP entries …
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
WatchGuard AuthPoint and SonicWall Analytics
Chose Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Cisco Meraki MS and Cisco Duo
Features
AteraCisco Meraki Dashboard
Application Performance Management
Comparison of Application Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Atera
10.0
Ratings
31% above category average
Cisco Meraki Dashboard
-
Ratings
Virtualization monitoring10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
IT Asset Discovery10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Monitoring Tasks
Comparison of Monitoring Tasks features of Product A and Product B
Atera
9.4
Ratings
24% above category average
Cisco Meraki Dashboard
-
Ratings
Remote monitoring8.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Network device monitoring9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Activity Monitoring10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Management Tasks
Comparison of Management Tasks features of Product A and Product B
Atera
8.9
Ratings
18% above category average
Cisco Meraki Dashboard
-
Ratings
Patch Management8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Policy-based automation7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Remote Access
Comparison of Remote Access features of Product A and Product B
Atera
7.8
Ratings
14% above category average
Cisco Meraki Dashboard
-
Ratings
Attended device access10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Unattended device access10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile device access1.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Virtual device access10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple-display support7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple concurrent sessions9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AteraCisco Meraki Dashboard
Small Businesses
Panda Systems Management
Panda Systems Management
Score 9.8 out of 10
NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Action1
Action1
Score 9.5 out of 10
Intermapper
Intermapper
Score 8.4 out of 10
Enterprises
TeamViewer
TeamViewer
Score 8.5 out of 10
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AteraCisco Meraki Dashboard
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AteraCisco Meraki Dashboard
Likelihood to Recommend
Atera is doing well in the monitoring part as it is informing the real time ping of running devices and if any device goes down, it is informing us on the real time. It is helping us to monitor the last reboot status, current logged in users, time zone, IP addresses and other things so that we can track our end devices status. In the patching part Atera is pathing our all devices with the notification stating user to restart device at their convenient time. It is also patching our third party applications. It is good in installing and uninstalling of the third party application but limited to availability in the Atera inventory. Atera is not good in some parts such as in the patching part of applications, sometime it fails to update all 3rd party applications that were not installed via Atera. It is not good if you have to transfer a file to multiple systems at the same time.
Read full review
Cisco Meraki Dashboard is great for NOC teams with little network experience at helping give them all the tools they need to do the job and become more efficient with networks. From easy RMA processes to metric gathering the Cisco Meraki Dashboard does it all very well. The licenses are a problem for a lot of companies since there are no guarantees the product stays online and certain integrations like ThousandEyes are overlooked due to the additional cost despite it being a great product.
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Pros
  • Remoting in from anywhere, even on my phone or tablet, has enabled me to quickly diagnose, or even fully resolve, problems.
  • The ticketing, once users are set up, is a breeze. It also keeps everything in one place for them.
  • With Atera the need to travel on-site has been dramatically reduced.
Read full review
  • 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.
Read full review
Cons
  • Some basic functions need some extra work
  • Some basic things are behind paywalls
  • Feature board is not credible. Ideas taking very, very long to implement
  • Atera has no clear road map
  • SNMP monitoring needs a make over and needs more options
Read full review
  • More granular controls over devices. It definitely feels like, especially when you come from a CLI environment and you're working in a command line interface and then going into the dashboard, you can feel restricted sometimes because if they don't have the button you can't press it. So more buttons.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
As of right now, we have found nothing that can offer as many features as Atera does along with the affordability. They are doing monthly releases each month and not just making small changes (shared scripting library, chocolatey support, Install packages, Splashtop SOS support, Scheduled tickets to name a few). The uptimes are great and accessibility to the dashboard has yet to be limited. We are a happy customer and bordering on fanboy status now
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No answers on this topic
Usability
Atera has a user-friendly interface that improves navigation. Support staff can quickly access real-time alerts and remote devices and manage tickets without much training. ​Atera’s usability has positively impacted our organization by increasing operational efficiency and improving response times to resolve issues.
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At the time of writing this, it appears that Cisco Meraki Dashboard has finally integrated a Cisco IOS XE output window into the dashboard. This is a massive step in the right direction and something that it was dearly missing. At the moment, we do not have this integration and so a lot of the times, we have to navigate via several tools menus to get the info we need instead of being able to run a quick command.
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Support Rating
Atera support provides answers to my questions lightning fast. They have never left me feeling like I'm out there on my own. I can ask questions by email, or by chat, or by opening a ticket with them and they are always on it quickly. They also have a forum where other Atera users can help you if you need it, and you can also add feature requests via the forum.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Atera is well designed for remote monitoring and management purposes. The other tools, such as ManageEngine Endpoint Central, are more focused on managing the endpoints and applications, such as installation or removal of applications, and blocking or whitelisting applications. Atera is well structured for core monitoring and management purposes. It works like a well designed monitoring tool and at the same time works as a well designed management tool. Price point of Atera is very low as compared to other applications and the main part is that it does not cost you for the number of devices it covered, instead it will cost you on the basis of admin licenses you have. You can have one license and under that you can manage thousands of devices. Apart from this, Atera has a lot of tools that are integrated with it, and they are really useful.
Read full review
A number of networks we've taken over were using Ubiquiti Unifi, which is an okay solution, but a lot more cumbersome to manage. We've found the Cisco Meraki Dashboard system much more intuitive and way less time-intensive. Simple things like setting up dedicated DHCP entries or poking holes in VLAN firewalls are way easier in Cisco Meraki Dashboard.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • It helped us considerably increase the pace of onboarding people.
  • Deployment of updates was easier and seamless compared to before the Atera phase.
  • It was easier to control employee laptops to troubleshoot issues remotely since most of our employees worked from home.
Read full review
  • When there's an issue with communication to the cloud. EX: unable to fetch configs. This due to like new device being installed or if you have to factory reset the device. This has been a negative impact.
  • Incorrect status. Sometimes the status of the device or network is not reflected as it should be. This has had a negative impact in the past. However, for the most part, the Status is fairly accurate.
  • Incident response has been very good. Anytime an issue has been reported to Cisco regarding Cisco Meraki Dashboard, the issue is quickly investigated and doesn't take long to resolve.
  • Customer support and Cisco's technical team has been very helpful and responsive.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Atera Screenshots

Screenshot of Atera’s AI-powered solution.Screenshot of Atera's process automation.Screenshot of Atera's real-time monitoring, which gives visibility and control of the IT environment.Screenshot of Atera's ticketing, where users can deliver end-user support and issue resolution at scale.

Cisco Meraki Dashboard Screenshots

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