Cisco DNA Center vs Meraki Dashboard comparison

Cisco DNA Center and Meraki Dashboard are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Cisco DNA Center is ranked #18 with an average rating of 8.0, while Meraki Dashboard is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.2. Cisco DNA Center holds a 1.4% mindshare in NMS, compared to Meraki Dashboard’s 1.8% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Cisco DNA Center users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Meraki Dashboard users who would recommend it.

Cisco DNA Center

Read 40 Cisco DNA Center reviews

1,434 Views
867 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Meraki Dashboard

Read 52 Meraki Dashboard reviews

3,037 Views
2,235 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Cisco DNA Center

Meraki Dashboard

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Meraki Dashboard and Cisco DNA Center compete in the network management category. While Meraki Dashboard is favored for small to medium-sized businesses due to its simplicity and cloud management features, Cisco DNA Center is more suitable for large-scale enterprises, offering enhanced security and integration options.

Features: Meraki Dashboard is noted for its ease of use with cloud management, multilayer filtering, and integrated analytics. It is particularly suitable for small to medium-sized businesses. Cisco DNA Center provides robust tools ideal for larger networks, enhanced AI-driven security features, and seamless integration with Cisco infrastructure, making it comprehensive for enterprise-level needs.

Room for Improvement: Meraki Dashboard users point out licensing issues, costly pricing, and configuration complexity. Cisco DNA Center users criticize it for high costs and deployment complexities, including upgrade challenges, while also highlighting a need for better integration capabilities and improved reporting features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Meraki Dashboard offers straightforward cloud-based deployment across public and private environments, although users report mixed experiences with customer support, particularly regarding wait times. Cisco DNA Center, being primarily on-premises, poses deployment challenges requiring technical expertise. However, its technical support is well-regarded for responsiveness and effectiveness.

Pricing and ROI: Meraki Dashboard follows a subscription-based model that is perceived as expensive, impacting ROI potential despite its functionality. Cisco DNA Center is also costly, justified mainly for larger enterprises due to its extensive features. Both solutions require substantial investment but can deliver good ROI when fully utilized in the right organizational context.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco DNA Center vs. Meraki Dashboard Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center vs. Meraki Dashboard

December 2024

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Categories and Ranking

Cisco DNA Center

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

18th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (1st), Network Automation (2nd)

Meraki Dashboard

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

11th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 1.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Meraki Dashboard is 1.8%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

AvrahamSonenthal

Senior Network Engineer at Inside Global

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.

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Pete Grimshaw

Senior Infrastructure Developer at a non-profit with 1,001-5,000 employees

It's intuitive and allows you to manage your devices from a single pane of glass

We're refreshing our networks and looking at the new Meraki MX250 firewall, one of the higher-end security devices. We're happy with what the devices can do, but they lack a few features found on older firewalls or competing products. For instance, you should be able to see if something has been blocked by a firewall rule by looking at a live log of traffic moving through the device. It helps you troubleshoot issues and understand if your rules are working. You need to ensure the firewall is blocking the right things. That's unavailable in the Meraki Dashboard. You have to send the logs to a log server. We use SolarWinds locally, but it's not natively built into Meraki. We're also using Cisco ISA and another tool called Smoothwall.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco DNA Center provides operational support, compliance support, security vulnerability detection, and automatic scheduling."

"Automation helps configure devices without manual intervention, enabling zero-touch provisioning."

"It is a stable solution."

"It is very versatile in terms of analytics."

"Application Assurance works very well."

"The best feature of Cisco DNA Center is the visibility page, where you can see everything on the dashboard, and you don't have to be a technical person to view the issues."

"Automation is another key highlight. With automation, you can automate everything through a single port."

"The most valuable features of Cisco DNA Center are wireless assurance and visibility."

More Cisco DNA Center pros

"It has improved my organization in the way that we've got a much better wireless coverage than we had before, and secondly, we have the visibility of all the users."

"I like that Meraki Dashboard is a user-friendly product."

"It's really user-friendly."

"You don't have to be a network engineer to use it."

"It can analyze the traffic that it is picking up from what may be a rogue access point, and it is able to identify those and send relevant notifications."

"The dashboard itself is very simplified and easy to navigate."

"We like the visibility this solution gives us of the infrastructure."

"The most valuable feature is their support, they get better every day."

More Meraki Dashboard pros

Cons

"They should include UTM features in the product."

"Cisco could improve the security side of their solutions."

"The solution's technical support is an area with which my company's clients have a problem. Cisco doesn't provide good technical support unless a user has a big account that Cisco wants to retain."

"The network, data center, and SD-WAN are all being treated as different services, but I would like to have only one solution to manage all of them."

"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."

"Cisco DNA Center was a new technology for us, at the beginning, it was not easy to do, but Cisco did a lot of training with us to a level we could handle everything. The team is managing itself now without the assistance of Cisco."

"What could be improved is the licensing cost of Cisco DNA Center. It's a little bit expensive."

"One area that needs improvement is the upgrade process."

More Cisco DNA Center cons

"Meraki Dashboard could improve integration with non-Cisco platforms."

"There are some issues with the NAT configuration, it is now impossible to some operations with the solution."

"I would like to receive decent notification alerts regarding the license's expiry. Or any help on correcting or optimizing licenses, because in certain circumstances you can add a license but it's the wrong licensing. However, the Dashboard adds the license in some way, and you do not utilize it. You can simply extend the license's expiration date."

"The pricing for this solution needs to be improved."

"The one issue that we have had is that the VPN tunnel would go down unless you worked out with the ISP that you would be using a static IP address on the WAN interface."

"Third-party switches do not necessarily integrate easily with the system and this could be improved to allow for better adaptation."

"You can't really clone or replicate a device, that sort of feature would be useful. You can clone the site but you cannot clone the device."

"The downside to the simplicity is that you can't get as granular as you could with the Cisco APs."

More Meraki Dashboard cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is medium-priced."

"The tool's licensing may not come across as something that may be friendly for users."

"Our licensing agreement is for three years."

"We have a three-year license with them."

"The partnership price is notably high, but it ultimately depends on the chosen business model."

"I do know that Cisco does offer some really good promotions for DNA Center to bring the costs down."

"The price could be better. It's a very expensive tool."

"Cisco DNA Center is too expensive."

More Cisco DNA Center pricing and cost advice

"My view is that it's expensive, but it's the best."

"Licensing for Meraki Dashboard is paid every year, and it's on a per-device model that costs roughly $300 to $400 per device, but that comes with full support and troubleshooting, etc. Compared to similar products, Meraki Dashboard is quite high-end, but the costs you pay are all-in."

"Typically, the license model is for one, three, and five years. They can just be a bit more flexible around it and look into providing an option for 24 months."

"The Meraki Dashboard has more competitive pricing."

"The licensing fees are $180 USD, per AP, for three years."

"From a pricing perspective, they are still expensive."

"I’m not sure of the exact cost, however, it’s my understanding the Meraki WiFi is around $800. That’s for a three-year license. It’s about $150 a year."

"You don't have to pay for the dashboard."

More Meraki Dashboard pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

University

Computer Software Company

24%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Meraki Dashboard?

We greatly utilize the network because we can plug it into the DNS, VPN, or equipment. It's very good. Meraki Dashboard enhances wireless network management. We appreciate its flexibility, as it al...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki Dashboard?

Meraki Dashboard's pricing is reasonable. It is sold yearly, typically for one, three, or five years. I rate its pricing a five out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Meraki Dashboard?

They could improve the product by providing enhanced utilization reports and more detailed independent access reports.

See all answers

Comparisons

Juniper Mist Wired Assurance vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 9% of the time

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 7% of the time

Huawei eSight vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 7% of the time

Fortinet FortiManager vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 7% of the time

Aruba Airwave vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco DNA Center Competitors

ThousandEyes vs Meraki Dashboard

Compared 11% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs Meraki Dashboard

Compared 8% of the time

Zabbix vs Meraki Dashboard

Compared 8% of the time

Mist AI and Cloud vs Meraki Dashboard

Compared 6% of the time

Fortinet FortiSIEM vs Meraki Dashboard

Compared 4% of the time

More Meraki Dashboard Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center

December 2024

Download Cisco DNA Center product report

Buyer's Guide

Meraki Dashboard

November 2024

Download Meraki Dashboard product report

Also Known As

DNA Center

No data available

Learn More

Cisco

Overview

Cisco DNA Center offers a comprehensive platform for network automation and management, providing detailed analytics, enhanced security, and streamlined operations for both wired and wireless networks.

Cisco DNA Center integrates with Cisco infrastructure to deliver efficient network automation and management, helping organizations improve network visibility, security, and control. It supports AI-driven analytics and automated workflows to enhance operational efficiency and reduce errors. Challenges include compatibility with third-party systems, steep learning curve, and complex deployment. Its interface facilitates centralized control, vital for troubleshooting, policy management, and configuration management, with support for zero-touch provisioning and SD-Access.

What are the key features of Cisco DNA Center?

Robust Analytics: Provides detailed insights into network health with AI-driven analytics.
Centralized Security: Integrates with ISE for comprehensive security management.
Automated Device Management: Simplifies device provisioning and configuration transfers.
Wi-Fi Analytics: Offers deep insights into wireless network performance.
Zero-Touch Provisioning: Streamlines new device deployments with minimal human intervention.
Scalable Segmentation: Efficiently segments network traffic ensuring security and performance.

What benefits should users consider?

Operational Efficiency: Automation reduces potential errors and streamlines workflow.
Enhanced Security: Integration with Cisco ISE bolsters security capabilities.
Network Visibility: Comprehensive dashboards and analysis tools enhance monitoring.
Troubleshooting: Real-time monitoring aids in identifying and resolving issues swiftly.

In sectors such as healthcare, finance, and retail, Cisco DNA Center is utilized for its ability to enhance security and compliance, manage large-scale networks, and provide detailed analytics for better operational decision-making. Its support for location tracking and policy automation ensures efficient network management across diverse environments.

Meraki Dashboard is a comprehensive cloud-based platform that offers centralized management and control for all Meraki networking and security products. It provides a user-friendly interface, allowing administrators to easily monitor and configure their network infrastructure from anywhere. With real-time visibility, troubleshooting becomes effortless, ensuring optimal performance and minimizing downtime.

The intuitive dashboard offers a holistic view of the network, enabling quick identification of potential issues and proactive measures. It simplifies network deployment and scaling, with zero-touch provisioning and automatic firmware updates. The robust security features include advanced threat protection, content filtering, and VPN connectivity.

Meraki Dashboard also offers powerful analytics and reporting capabilities, providing valuable insights into network usage, application performance, and user behavior. With its seamless integration and scalability,

Meraki Dashboard is the ideal solution for organizations of all sizes, ensuring efficient network management and enhanced productivity.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Coop eG, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Priefert Manufacturing, Century Care Management, Clifton College, Zürs Ski Resort, Capital FM Arena, MAXI Autohöfe

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center vs. Meraki Dashboard

December 2024

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