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BMC TrueSight Network Automation vs Cisco DNA Center comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 6, 2025

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

BMC TrueSight Network Autom...
Ranking in Network Automation
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (20th)
Cisco DNA Center
Ranking in Network Automation
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (1st), Network Monitoring Software (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Network Automation category, the mindshare of BMC TrueSight Network Automation is 1.0%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 14.9%, down from 18.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Automation
 

Featured Reviews

SumitSrivastava1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables us to configure our network easily and get the most out of it
BMC TrueSight Network Automation transforms manual configuration tasks for network devices, which are complex and vary among different OEMs. With this tool, you can manage and control all new and old devices, ensuring they meet configuration needs. It provides updates on Cisco devices, and if any data is missing, you can generate it using a formula. I recommend BMC TrueSight Network Automation from the network side, as it provides excellent visibility and configuration management for vulnerabilities. The implementation requirements are certainly at level two. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
AvrahamSonenthal - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficiently manages our wireless network and provides valuable monitoring features
The platform's biggest benefit has been in managing our wireless network. Having a single pane of glass to control all wireless controllers and access points and to monitor activity has been a significant advantage. We're a small federal agency with around 300 network devices, so automation is a minor focus. It's more relevant for larger networks. The main benefits we've seen are in inventory management and the potential for configuration automation. However, I recommend using the DNA Centre only for larger networks with over a thousand devices; otherwise, it may not be cost-effective. Before proceeding, ensure that your devices are compatible with DNA Center, as not all Cisco devices are supported. Also, investing in proper training is different from plug-and-play. I rate it an eight.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Depending on who's looking at the data, they need to configure that data in different ways, and the dashboards help us to do that better than what was previously available."
"The backup and restore configurations are really helpful for a number of network devices, as you can automate them, then know what changes have been done, who made the changes, etc. So, it's quite helpful in the network management area."
"BMC is an excellent configuration manager. It allows you to configure your network easily and get the most out of it."
"The network security of BMC TrueSight Network Automation has been the best feature."
"The log audit and historical configurations are the most valuable feature."
"The most valuable feature of BMC TrueSight Network Automation is compliance management, configuration backup, and configuration management."
"We use it to back up configurations so the configuration management is valuable for us."
"The compliance management, patching, and OS upgrades are useful features."
"I like the visibility, instant build, network, policies, and the ability to control access. I also like that you can visualize your whole network."
"Has a good processing feature with a high level of accuracy."
"The solution has the capability to scale."
"The most valuable features of the solution are all of its security features...It is a highly scalable solution."
"Cisco VXLAN is a protocol that has been around for some time, but the practical implementation and operational capability of Cisco DNA Center bring it to life."
"The most valuable features of Cisco DNA Center are wireless assurance and visibility."
"The product offers an intuitive and automated way to manage user networks. It gives me an insight into the network health."
"Cisco DNA Center is a user-friendly solution."
 

Cons

"They need to have a single sign-on."
"I believe there could be new features in terms of the latest technology."
"I'd like to be able to get more devices into compliance with standards, but that means running additional rule sets and that takes time."
"It is tedious to scale the solution."
"I would like to see more device supported features, mostly on the new brands and models coming in. For any new version or model, it should be supported by the tool, especially the newest versions. For example, the newest devices, like Aruba Wireless, and routers need support from the tool."
"The product should be expanded to include more hardware, beyond Cisco and Juniper devices."
"For customized compliance, it takes some effort to implement things. If the device configuration is quite complex, then you have to do quite number of customizations in the DNA tool for out-of-the-box compliance. These regular expressions have to be modified based on the requirements of the compliance."
"There could be automated processes to retrieve the CVS and create a compliance tool."
"DNA Center has been on the market for a few years and they need to update it."
"From the recent DNA point of view, there are some stability challenges with Cisco, but very minor."
"They should include UTM features in the product."
"What could be improved is the licensing cost of Cisco DNA Center. It's a little bit expensive."
"An area for improvement in Cisco DNA Center is the latency in data correlation. For example, sometimes, when an issue happens, and I check the logs, I can't find the corresponding log. There's a delay in log replication, so this is what needs improvement in Cisco DNA Center. Reporting in Cisco DNA Center could also be improved because it only has a few templates, and you can't customize it based on your requirements. There aren't many options available in Cisco DNA Center regarding reporting, versus Cisco Prime, which has excellent features for different levels of detailed reports. I'd like to see real-time data replication in the next release of Cisco DNA Center, similar to what's done in Meraki. Data in Meraki is real-time with no delay, so data is immediately replicated in the cloud. Currently, there's a lag in Cisco DNA Center, and addressing that lag is the enhancement I'd like to see in Cisco DNA Center. The solution also needs to be more user-friendly."
"I would like is to have a small information pointer available. It could be a plus feature that I want to implement. When I hover my mouse over the user interface, it should provide a brief explanation. It would be helpful to have it incorporated into the UI."
"The solution can be quite pricey."
"In terms of the clustering part, there are some concerns."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is more costly than the other competitors."
"There's a fee for the licenses themselves, per contract, and then we have a yearly licensing fee that's many thousands of dollars. But that's not just for TrueSight, that's also for support for ITSM, Atrium Orchestrator, BBNA, and other BMC tools in the environment."
"The solution is worth the price."
"The partnership price is notably high, but it ultimately depends on the chosen business model."
"The solution is expensive."
"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"The price of the solution is expensive. The hardware is licensed on the device, but the hardware on the server is expensive."
"Cisco DNA Center is a licensed product with multiple levels of licensing available such as basic, advanced, and essential. I don't have the exact figure, but Cisco DNA Center is costly. For example, the box has information about the essential license and costs a considerable amount of money. You need to pay extra to use advanced features in Cisco DNA Center. My company sees Cisco DNA Center as a solution that's worth the money, which is why it invested in the solution. If you want centralized management for your network, especially when upgrading it, Cisco DNA Center is perfect, but it's more suitable for a large-scale rather than a small-scale network."
"Cisco DNA Center is expensive."
"Licensing for Cisco DNA Center is a little bit expensive, just like any Cisco solution. Its cost could still be improved."
"Our licensing agreement is for three years."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BMC TrueSight Network Automation?
The compliance management, patching, and OS upgrades are useful features.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BMC TrueSight Network Automation?
The product is expensive. I rate the product’s pricing a nine out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
What needs improvement with BMC TrueSight Network Automation?
The solution could have cheap pricing along with a simple deployment process.
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 needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?
The system is working fine for me currently.
 

Also Known As

BMC TrueSight Automation for Networks, TrueSight Automation for Networks, TrueSight Network Automation, BladeLogic Network Automation
DNA Center
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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Find out what your peers are saying about BMC TrueSight Network Automation vs. Cisco DNA Center and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
841,714 professionals have used our research since 2012.