Softwr

Networking · head to head

Nebula vs ThousandEyes

Nebula logo

Nebula

Networking

Certificate based overlay network from Slack, with identity and firewall rules carried in the certificate

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ThousandEyes logo

ThousandEyes

Networking

Internet and network path monitoring, owned by Cisco but still sold as a standalone product on its own annual contracts

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Nebula has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Nebula the open source project has no user interface, no enrolment workflow and no revocation service, so certificate issuing, distribution and expiry become scripts you write and then have to keep working.; ThousandEyes cisco does not publish a current definitive rate card, so any price a buyer finds online is likely outdated and should be confirmed directly with sales before budgeting
  • They diverge on capability: Nebula covers Certificate carried identity, ThousandEyes covers Path visualisation.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Nebula and ThousandEyes actually diverge.

Attributes where Nebula and ThousandEyes differ
AttributeNebulaThousandEyes
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote, unit-based consumption on annual or prepaid contracts
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, FreeBSDWeb, API

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Networking).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Nebula

  • Certificate carried identity
  • Group based host firewall
  • Lighthouse discovery
  • Noise protocol encryption
  • Unsafe routes
  • Managed option

Only in ThousandEyes

  • Path visualisation
  • Cloud, enterprise and endpoint agents
  • Internet Insights
  • Cisco ecosystem integration
  • Unit-based consumption billing

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Nebula

  • Flattening a network across several clouds and datacentres without VPC peering or route tablesnot ThousandEyes
  • Very large fleets where a central policy service on the connection path is unacceptablenot ThousandEyes
  • Environments that already run an internal certificate authority and want the network to use itnot ThousandEyes
  • Replacing per host iptables rules with policy written against roles that follow the hostnot ThousandEyes

ThousandEyes

  • A network operations team at a large enterprise needing to diagnose whether a performance problem sits inside their network, with an ISP, or at the destinationnot Nebula
  • An organisation already standardised on Cisco networking wanting internet path monitoring that integrates with existing Cisco toolingnot Nebula
  • A company needing endpoint agent testing from real employee devices to reproduce user-reported performance issuesnot Nebula
  • An SRE team wanting aggregated internet outage and BGP visibility across a wide customer base rather than building that dataset themselvesnot Nebula

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Nebula

  • The open source project has no user interface, no enrolment workflow and no revocation service, so certificate issuing, distribution and expiry become scripts you write and then have to keep working.
  • Revoking a compromised host means distributing a blocklist entry to every other host and reloading them, which is a fleet wide operation rather than a click, and easy to get wrong under pressure.
  • Changing a host group membership means reissuing and redeploying its certificate, so policy changes are a deployment rather than a configuration edit.
  • There is no identity provider integration or single sign on in the open source version, so it maps well to servers and badly to a fleet of user laptops.
  • NAT traversal is best effort and hosts behind symmetric NAT need a relay configured deliberately, so connectivity failures show up as intermittent rather than immediate and are awkward to diagnose.

ThousandEyes

  • Cisco does not publish a current definitive rate card, so any price a buyer finds online is likely outdated and should be confirmed directly with sales before budgeting
  • A 12-month minimum contract removes the option to trial the platform under real production load on a shorter commitment
  • Unit-based consumption billing across different test types is not always intuitive to forecast, and usage can grow unpredictably as more tests and agents are added
  • Since the Cisco acquisition, purchasing now runs through Cisco's broader enterprise sales and licensing process, which can be slower and less transparent than dealing with a smaller standalone vendor
  • Deep Cisco ecosystem integration is a real advantage only for organisations already standardised on Cisco; it offers less differentiated value for a non-Cisco shop
  • Endpoint agent pricing tiers (Essentials versus Advantage) gate meaningfully different capability, and choosing the wrong tier at signup can mean a contract renegotiation to get needed features

Pricing, plan by plan

Nebula

Free
  • NebulaFree
    • Full functionality under the MIT licence
    • No host limit
    • You operate the certificate authority and lighthouses
  • Defined Networking$undefined/month
    • Hosted control plane and enrolment
    • Managed certificate lifecycle and revocation
    • Policy and DNS interface

ThousandEyes

On request
  • ThousandEyes$undefined/year
    • Cloud and enterprise agent testing
    • Endpoint agents
    • Internet Insights

Which should you pick?

Choose Nebula if

  • You need certificate carried identity.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, FreeBSD.
  • You also want group based host firewall.
Nebula review

Choose ThousandEyes if

  • You need path visualisation.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want cloud, enterprise and endpoint agents.
ThousandEyes review

Questions people ask

Is Nebula or ThousandEyes better?
Neither clearly leads. Nebula starts at Free and ThousandEyes at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Nebula or ThousandEyes?
Nebula has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Nebula and On request for ThousandEyes.
Does Nebula or ThousandEyes run on more platforms?
Nebula runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, FreeBSD. ThousandEyes runs on Web, API.
Can I use Nebula for free?
Yes. Nebula has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. ThousandEyes starts at On request.
What is Nebula best used for?
Nebula is most often used for flattening a network across several clouds and datacentres without vpc peering or route tables, very large fleets where a central policy service on the connection path is unacceptable, environments that already run an internal certificate authority and want the network to use it, replacing per host iptables rules with policy written against roles that follow the host. Of those, flattening a network across several clouds and datacentres without vpc peering or route tables and very large fleets where a central policy service on the connection path is unacceptable are not what ThousandEyes is typically brought in for.
What can Nebula do that ThousandEyes cannot?
Nebula covers Certificate carried identity, Group based host firewall, Lighthouse discovery, Noise protocol encryption. ThousandEyes covers Path visualisation, Cloud, enterprise and endpoint agents, Internet Insights, Cisco ecosystem integration.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Nebula: Does it use WireGuard?

No. Nebula predates the common WireGuard mesh tools and uses the Noise protocol framework with its own certificate format.

ThousandEyes: Is ThousandEyes still sold as a standalone product after the Cisco acquisition?

Yes, it remains a distinct, purchasable product line rather than being merged into another Cisco offering.

Nebula: Can I run it without Defined Networking?

Yes, entirely. Defined Networking sells the control plane conveniences, not the network itself.

ThousandEyes: Is there a published, current price list?

No, Cisco does not publish a definitive current rate card; historical unit prices exist online but should not be treated as confirmed 2026 pricing.

Nebula: How do I revoke a host?

Add its certificate fingerprint to the blocklist in the configuration of the other hosts and reload them. There is no online revocation check.

ThousandEyes: What is the minimum contract length?

12 months.

Nebula: Is it a good fit for laptops?

Less so than the identity provider based tools. There is no single sign on, so every laptop needs a certificate issued and renewed by whatever process you build.

Share

Related pages

More on Nebula

More on ThousandEyes

Keep looking

Other head to heads