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Apstra Operating System vs Cisco DNA Center comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Apstra Operating System
Ranking in Network Automation
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco DNA Center
Ranking in Network Automation
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (1st), Network Monitoring Software (18th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Automation category, the mindshare of Apstra Operating System is 2.3%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 9.6%, down from 15.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Automation Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco DNA Center9.6%
Apstra Operating System2.3%
Other88.1%
Network Automation
 

Featured Reviews

HF
Works at wolterskluwer
Highly secure, useful AB test, and stable
I am using Apstra Operating System for some classes and for my personal use Apstra Operating System's most important features are the security and AB test to define what approach we need to take in my company. Additionally, the solution does not take a lot of maintenance. The report data could…
Mahir Öztürk - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at NGN Bilgi ve İletişim Hizmetleri
Client history has helped resolve past network issues more efficiently
I mostly use the client history feature of Cisco DNA Center. I didn't use the real-time monitoring capability of Cisco DNA Center because I primarily used it for client history regarding issues and problems. I don't use it for real-time monitoring. If there is a problem, I can inspect the situation and see what is happening, which is beneficial.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Apstra Operating System's most important features are the security and AB test to define what approach we need to take in my company. Additionally, the solution does not take a lot of maintenance."
"I think that their LAN automation is a very good feature."
"People like to use the dashboards to get an overview of their network."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it gives some kind of ease in operations, especially since our company is moving from CLI to GUI-based configuration."
"Scalability in Cisco DNA Center is good; we are using it for Software-Defined Access solution, and we haven't reached our device limit yet— from my experience, we can easily manage numerous devices."
"It is very versatile in terms of analytics."
"The automation features are significant, reducing configuration time. This means outstanding functionality. By deploying the controller automatically, the rest becomes automated"
"It is a stable solution."
"We have many people from the team who manage a lot of devices. By using Cisco DNA Center, it has taken some of that burden away, we are impressed with it. We did the investment in CAPEX, but in the OPEX was very low."
 

Cons

"The report data could improve in Apstra Operating System."
"It seems to be a little bit more centered toward wireless than wired. You've got more options you can do wirelessly than you can with the wired switches, but it works for what we need it to do. We would like to see a little bit more about the traffic, and we're looking at what's out there to see about that. We are looking at something that might give us a bit more insight into the actual traffic. If they had the full functionality on the wired side, as they do on the wireless side in terms of being able to view traffic and everything, it would be good."
"There is a limitation with the number of VRFs that you can have in your network, and this has caused us problems with some customers."
"Requires more focus on the digital side of things."
"We encountered issues with their response times, which had a big impact on our workflow."
"In terms of the clustering part, there are some concerns."
"Cisco DNA Center should improve its configuration management. It is better to have a dev version before pushing it."
"An area that needs improvement is the integration with other vendors."
"The tool's deployment is complex. It also needs to improve its GUI."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is competitive."
"We have a three-year license with them."
"The tool's licensing may not come across as something that may be friendly for users."
"The solution is expensive."
"The price could be better. It's a very expensive tool."
"Cisco DNA Center is too expensive."
"I rate the product's pricing an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is very cheap, and ten is very expensive."
"Cisco DNA Center is expensive."
"Affordability is a problem because it's created for large enterprises only. So, some customers, even if their engineers want the solution, might have problems with budget limitations."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
University
9%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise25
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What do you like most about Cisco DNA Center?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it gives some kind of ease in operations, especially since our company is moving from CLI to GUI-based configuration.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco DNA Center?
After evaluating other solutions, we will provide feedback.
What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?
In my opinion, the client history in Cisco DNA Center can be longer than 10 days, perhaps extending to 15 or 20 days. I am using it in a huge factory in Turkey, and sometimes I need to see what occ...
 

Also Known As

Apstra OS, AOS
DNA Center
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bloomberg Television, Energy Corporation, A mid-sized financial services company
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat, Cisco, Broadcom and others in Network Automation. Updated: January 2026.
881,227 professionals have used our research since 2012.