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Cisco Catalyst Center vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 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

Cisco Catalyst Center
Ranking in Network Management Applications
15th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Ranking in Network Management Applications
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (2nd), WAN Edge (2nd)
 

Featured Reviews

Bharath _Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides visibility and enables plug-and-play features, device onboarding
Most customers have heterogeneous environments. The main drawback of Cisco Catalyst Center is that it can only manage and monitor Cisco devices with a DNA license, specifically the Catalyst 9000 series. Customers often have mixed vendor environments, and platforms like Xtream offer vendor-agnostic solutions. While Cisco's DNA Center does have third-party SDKs that allow monitoring of non-Cisco devices, this approach isn't always practical. Additionally, Kumar mentioned the importance of segmentation, transitioning to SDA, and moving away from traditional VLANs and ACLs towards identity-based segmentation integrated with ISE. Therefore, it's more suitable for customers who primarily use Cisco solutions rather than those with diverse vendor environments.
Igor Van Den Ouden - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables secure and flexible branch connectivity with application-aware routing
The valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN include its security policies and zone-based firewall that are applied to every site, as well as application-aware routing. Security is standard compliant, eliminating config drift that was prevalent before manual configurations. Application-aware routing offers flexibility in using different lines for traffic, depending on the policy implemented.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco performs well in the network space, especially in areas like switching, DNA Center, and wireless, where it is known for its stability."
"The best feature is its availability, easy deployment, and the good support for the solution."
"The architecture and the way Cisco designs it, VXLAN and Cisco Express Forwarding are some of the features I like."
"The integration of Cisco Catalyst Center is fine"
"There is a lot of documentation for the platform, which is an advantage."
"Configuration interfaces are quite easy and intuitive. Being a part of the Cisco environment, Cisco SD-WAN is quite straightforward."
"The most valuable features are manageability, scalability, and simplicity."
"Cisco SD-WAN is a good product."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"Initial setup is easy."
"Cisco SD-WAN is valued for its operational efficiency and ease of operation."
"The segmented traffic it provides is the best in the industry right now."
"It is really easy to deploy and use. It is also easy to use for failovers and designing solutions. The rollout is really quick. It is easy to adjust and roll out."
 

Cons

"The deployment process is pretty complex"
"It is a little more expensive."
"The main drawback of Cisco Catalyst Center is that it can only manage and monitor Cisco devices with a DNA license, specifically the Catalyst 9000 series."
"Regarding the cons of Catalyst, it is a little more expensive. With other vendors, you have one license for all features. In the case of Catalyst, there are many licensing options."
"The only limitation is when integrating with other products due to Cisco's proprietary protocols."
"The solution could be more secure. Security is always a priority for us."
"The integration of Cisco SD-WAN with cloud solutions could improve. For example, if any of the applications are hosted in the Amazon AWS cloud we can use a virtual transit gateway for integrating Cisco SD-WAN."
"The user interface needs improvement. Users should be able to find various features faster without much tweaking."
"In the next release, Cisco should focus on simplifying the configuration of SD-WAN. SD-WAN has a lot of room to grow."
"If you don't have an in-house design team or outsource to a third party with expertise, the setup will be difficult."
"When you buy the equipment, they should already put it into your cloud account. It should already be set up so that we can manage with vBond. We came across an issue where it wasn't resolved in the DNS. We are using Umbrella, so we need to create a VPN IPSec tunnel to Umbrella to enable the users to browse. I would really like to see an internal built-in firewall so that we don't have to go to Umbrella. This functionality might already be there. We are quite new to this solution, and we are still learning about it."
"It would be better if it provided more visibility. At present, we can't troubleshoot in real time."
"The licensing model needs to be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"80 percent reduction in WAN costs. There are no MPLS or P2P circuits left in the organization."
"Cisco is more expensive than some competing products."
"This is not a cheap option but if you move from Capex to Opex, I expect you should have lower costs."
"It is going to be on a yearly basis. There are no additional costs."
"We can only buy three-year licenses, not monthly. The cost seems high for us, especially since we're in Vietnam, which isn't a rich country. But we still like the product because it is good."
"Cisco is more expensive than FortiGate."
"It is much cheaper than other solutions. Most of our clients are the top 500 companies, and they all have a corporate contract."
"It's expensive. If you compare Cisco with Fortinet and Juniper, you'll find that Cisco is more expensive than other vendors."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Educational Organization
45%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Manufacturing Company
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Catalyst Center?
Cisco is average in pricing, neither too costly nor too cheap. It's like the iPhone of the networking industry.
What needs improvement with Cisco Catalyst Center?
Catalyst is a very mature product. The only limitation is when integrating with other products due to Cisco's proprietary protocols.
What is your primary use case for Cisco Catalyst Center?
I work primarily for Catalyst, mainly in data center networks.
What do you like most about Cisco SD-WAN?
When considering the most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN, the decoupling of self-monitoring stands out significantly.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco SD-WAN?
The pricing for Cisco SD-WAN is rated eight out of ten, with some variability depending on the reseller discounts and the size of the enterprise. It is also relatively cost-effective for smaller bu...
What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?
The main area for improvement in Cisco SD-WAN is the lack of documentation, which often lags behind the software releases. This is especially notable since Cisco acquired the solution and is still ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Cisco SD-WAN
 

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst Center vs. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.