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Cisco Catalyst Center vs Cisco DNA Center comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Catalyst Center
Ranking in Network Management Applications
19th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco DNA Center
Ranking in Network Management Applications
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (19th), Network Automation (2nd)
 

Featured Reviews

Bharath _Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 13, 2024
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.
AvrahamSonenthal - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 12, 2024
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

"Cisco performs well in the network space, especially in areas like switching, DNA Center, and wireless, where it is known for its stability."
"The integration of Cisco Catalyst Center is fine"
"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."
"Application Assurance works very well."
"People like to use the dashboards to get an overview of their network."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco DNA Center is the AI (Artificial Intelligence) that provides us with valuable information."
"It is very versatile in terms of analytics."
"I like that we can easily configure any new hardware. It's also easy to deploy and easy to troubleshoot."
"Cisco is a leading network company."
"The product gives a consolidated view."
 

Cons

"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."
"The deployment process is pretty complex"
"The task failure reporting or provisioning failure reporting could be a little bit better in the UI, with more information given to the user."
"The product doesn’t have good monitoring capabilities."
"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."
"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."
"In terms of the clustering part, there are some concerns."
"Cisco could improve the security side of their solutions."
"They should include UTM features in the product."
"Integration with analytic tools and API integrations would be ideal."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"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 too expensive."
"The solution is a little bit expensive but depends a lot on the customer's usage. If you use it in the right place, you can easily pay for it."
"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."
"The solution is expensive."
"The tool is medium-priced."
"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being 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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
21%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

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?
It is the most expensive when you compare it with other OEMs.
What needs improvement with Cisco Catalyst Center?
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 se...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Catalyst Center?
The solution primarily focuses on visibility into Cisco products and day zero, day one, and day two operations. It enables plug-and-play features, device onboarding, hierarchy definition, and telem...
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?
I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive.
What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?
One area that needs improvement is the upgrade process. The time required for downloading and installing packages during upgrades is too long, often taking around ten hours. This is a significant i...
 

Also Known As

No data available
DNA Center
 

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Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst Center vs. Cisco DNA Center and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
813,418 professionals have used our research since 2012.