Cisco DNA Center vs Nagios Core comparison

Cisco and Nagios are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Cisco is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.0, while Nagios is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.2. Cisco holds a 1.4% mindshare in NMS, compared to Nagios’s 3.0% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of Nagios users who would recommend it.

Cisco DNA Center

Read 41 Cisco DNA Center reviews

1,766 Views
1,023 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Nagios Core

Read 51 Nagios Core reviews

4,414 Views
3,373 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Cisco DNA Center

Nagios Core

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Nagios Core and Cisco DNA Center compete in the network management category. Based on features, Cisco DNA Center holds an upper hand due to its advanced analytics and automation capabilities, although Nagios Core offers flexibility and cost-efficiency.

Features: Nagios Core provides maximum flexibility through its open-source nature, allowing text file configurations and integration with various plugins. It supports comprehensive monitoring of servers and networks with a robust architecture for distributed monitoring and reliable alerts. Cisco DNA Center integrates analytics, centralized network management, and automation, making it ideal for Cisco device deployments. Its seamless integration and advanced automation features enhance user experience.

Room for Improvement: Nagios Core can be difficult to configure and requires significant technical expertise, with limitations in application-level monitoring and scalability. Cisco DNA Center is hindered by high pricing, complex configuration, and challenges integrating with non-Cisco products. Both could improve user interfaces and ease of setup, though Cisco's advances in automation offer benefits.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Nagios Core and Cisco DNA Center mainly operate on-premises with hybrid and public cloud options. Nagios Core setup demands technical expertise and relies on community support. Cisco DNA Center provides a structured support framework but still requires internal expertise for setup, often underutilized by smaller infrastructures due to costs and complexity.

Pricing and ROI: Nagios Core is open-source, offering significant cost savings and high ROI as there are no licensing fees, only investments in expertise. Cisco DNA Center often faces criticism for high costs, including licensing and deployment fees, posing financial challenges for smaller enterprises, but offers valuable features for large-scale environments.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco DNA Center vs. Nagios Core Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center vs. Nagios Core

March 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 839,422 peers since 2012

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 DNA Center

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

13th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

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

Nagios Core

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

6th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 1.4%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nagios Core is 3.0%, down from 3.1% 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.

Read full review

Nishith-Vyas

Tech Lead at STL Digital Limited

Valuable reporting and alert system with room for PDF export improvements

The NetEase reporting structure needs improvement, especially the availability report, which is weak. It should be generated automatically with minimal human intervention and should be exportable as a PDF. Besides that, an integrated PDF export feature for reports is necessary. Also, the alert mechanism and graphing mechanism need to be integrated properly into Nagios Core. Currently, integrating these requires advanced Linux knowledge. Integration of more visualization tools like Grafana and Prometheus for better graphing and visualization is also recommended.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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 solution helps in user microsegmentation."

"What's most valuable in Cisco DNA Center is the ability to manage any Cisco infrastructure and device through it. Setup was straightforward."

"The automation features are significant, reducing configuration time. This means outstanding functionality. By deploying the controller automatically, the rest becomes automated"

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

"The solution helps with the management and orchestration of campaigns. It helps with visibility and analytics. I also like its SDA configuration."

"I like the visibility, instant build, network, policies, and the ability to control access. I also like that you can visualize your whole network."

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

More Cisco DNA Center pros

"Dashboard provides monitor of total assets."

"The good thing about Nagios Core is it covers everything."

"The most valuable feature of Nagios Core is the ability to check the availability of the server for network connectivity. Additionally, the interface is good."

"I like that it's very simple to install, easy to manage and deploy, and easy to use for monitoring."

"Nagios Core is stable."

"Nagios Core is very configurable. Whatever you want, you can do it."

"We use the product to monitor server applications."

"The most valuable features are the reports and the way it generates the report in a graphical manner."

More Nagios Core pros

Cons

"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."

"Technical support could be better. The price could be better, and it could be more stable."

"They can improve the network visibility. Licensing and its maintenance are also needed."

"There are some software problems from version to version. It takes a long time for DNA Center to recognize the video and control access devices."

"The cost is very high."

"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."

More Cisco DNA Center cons

"It's not that easy to install the product itself. Also, the UI is a bit hard for regular users to navigate through."

"Bandwidth monitoring is the pain point for me because Nagios Core does not monitor bandwidth effectively like Cacti does."

"Nagios Core is limited in terms of distributed setups, and there is no central view for remote data centers."

"The dashboard and monitoring features could be improved."

"Making it a little easier to configure and set up from the start would help. There are multiple layers that you have to wade through to be able to set it up, to do it the right way, and to get it to do what you want it to do."

"I would like to see more training videos."

"Nagios Core could improve by adding a user interface. If you want the user interface you have to use Nagios XI."

"Would benefit from aggregations if a particular server goes down."

More Nagios Core cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an expensive solution."

"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."

"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being 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 expensive."

"The price of the solution is expensive. The hardware is licensed on the device, but the hardware on the server is expensive."

"The solution is expensive."

More Cisco DNA Center pricing and cost advice

"We are using the open-source, unpaid version."

"Nagios Core is a cheap solution."

"Nagios Core is free to use."

"It's free."

"The product is cheaply priced."

"It's free."

"We are using the free version."

"I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

More Nagios Core pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Monitoring Software solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

839,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

18%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

University

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

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?

The cost is very high.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?

The system is working fine for me currently.

See all answers

What do you like most about Nagios Core?

What I like about Nagios Core is that it helps me ensure everything is running smoothly by checking the status of hosts and services.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nagios Core?

Nagios Core is a free and open-source product. We don't charge for the product itself, but we charge for the man-hour costs related to installation, configuration, ongoing operation, and maintenance.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Nagios Core?

The dashboard should be improved. It's very simple. I don't have a very clear or specific suggestion. You can change the skin of the dashboard, however, it's good for me.

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Catalyst Center vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 8% of the time

Juniper Mist Wired Assurance vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 8% of the time

Meraki Dashboard vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 7% of the time

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 7% of the time

Fortinet FortiManager vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 7% of the time

More Cisco DNA Center Competitors

Icinga vs Nagios Core

Compared 27% of the time

Nagios XI vs Nagios Core

Compared 20% of the time

Zabbix vs Nagios Core

Compared 16% of the time

Centreon vs Nagios Core

Compared 9% of the time

OP5 Monitor vs Nagios Core

Compared 4% of the time

More Nagios Core Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center

March 2025

Download Cisco DNA Center product report

Buyer's Guide

Nagios Core

February 2025

Download Nagios Core product report

Also Known As

DNA Center

No data available

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.

Cisco

This is IT infrastructure monitoring's industry-standard, open-source core. Free without professional support services.

Nagios

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Airbnb, Cisco, PayPal, FanDuel

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center vs. Nagios Core

March 2025

Free Report: Cisco DNA Center vs. Nagios Core

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco DNA Center vs. Nagios Core and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

839,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Cisco DNA Center vs. Nagios Core report.

See our list of best Network Monitoring Software vendors.

We monitor all Network Monitoring Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.