Cisco DNA Center vs NETSCOUT nGeniusONE comparison

Cisco and NETSCOUT are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Cisco is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.0, while NETSCOUT is ranked #19 with an average rating of 8.5. Cisco holds a 1.4% mindshare in NMS, compared to NETSCOUT’s 1.6% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of NETSCOUT users who would recommend it.

Cisco DNA Center

Read 41 Cisco DNA Center reviews

1,783 Views
1,076 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

NETSCOUT nGeniusONE

Read 49 NETSCOUT nGeniusONE reviews

2,468 Views
1,708 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Cisco DNA Center

NETSCOUT nGeniusONE

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

NETSCOUT nGeniusONE and Cisco DNA Center compete in the network management solutions category. NETSCOUT focuses on deep traffic insights, offering an advantage in network visibility, while Cisco offers advanced automation and integration capabilities.

Features: NETSCOUT nGeniusONE provides NetFlow traffic analysis, packet inspection, and comprehensive features like top-talkers monitoring and dependency mapping. It facilitates effective troubleshooting and proactive performance management. Cisco DNA Center delivers strong analytics, seamless integration with Cisco devices, and automation capabilities, simplifying network management with highlights in wireless assurance and centralized control.

Room for Improvement: NETSCOUT nGeniusONE could improve GUI usability, reduce dependency on physical agents, and adopt better modular pricing strategies. Managing the tool without expert help is challenging. Cisco DNA Center needs pricing considerations and enhancements in configuration management and integration with third-party devices. Users seek better real-time data replication and more user-friendly dashboards.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both NETSCOUT nGeniusONE and Cisco DNA Center primarily offer on-premises deployment with some hybrid options. NETSCOUT often requires dedicated personnel due to complexity, while Cisco DNA Center benefits from its centralized control but demands thorough setup. Customer service for both is generally supportive, although NETSCOUT's complexity may require more frequent assistance.

Pricing and ROI: NETSCOUT nGeniusONE is high-cost but potential ROI is achieved by reducing troubleshooting times and improving network visibility. Cisco DNA Center is also priced high, valued for centralized management, ideal for large enterprises due to the expense. Both solutions contribute to positive ROI by saving troubleshooting time and enhancing network uptime and customer satisfaction.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco DNA Center vs. NETSCOUT nGeniusONE Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center vs. NETSCOUT nGeniusONE

April 2025

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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

12th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

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

NETSCOUT nGeniusONE

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

19th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 1.4%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NETSCOUT nGeniusONE is 1.6%, up from 1.6% 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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Ruslan Melnyk

Business Unit Manager at BAKOTECH

Useful for network performance monitoring

My manager can explain the use cases attached to the product. I am a unit leader in my company, and I don't sell the product directly to our partners or customers. In my company, I manage certain processes and a team while building, developing, and providing them with a direction for the market. NETSCOUT nGeniusONE is a good solution for network performance monitoring since it is not cloud-based. My company sells NETSCOUT nGeniusONE in eight to ten countries. I think the solution is not good for capacity planning, but it is better to help find problems in applications because not every infrastructure is good at managing working applications. I think it is a solution meant for applications. The tool is useful for solving problems attached to applications. The tool's real-time network monitoring capability was used when the product was more reactive. In our company, if we use real-time monitoring, then we need to deal with raw traffic. In our company, if we don't see any problem in the real-time systems, we have the possibility to rely on the tool since it acts like a time machine for us, which can allow us to get back to the areas of problem and solve them. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. For many users, it can be a good monitoring system that can be scaled up in the future. I think it is a good product to start with when working systems in an environment. NETSCOUT nGeniusONE is another tool used to manage raw traffic, and I find it to integrate well into our customers' network. I am not using it actively on the system. I use the tool for network packet brokers. I rate the tool a ten out of ten.

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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

"It offers automation, security enforcement, analytics, and integration with other Cisco technologies, making it a key driver for efficient network operations and compliance with security protocols."

"The monitoring features are very useful for network engineers."

"People like to use the dashboards to get an overview of their network."

"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."

"It enables monitoring of various components such as access points, switch cards, and other elements within the company's solutions."

"The product offers an intuitive and automated way to manage user networks. It gives me an insight into the network health."

"The most valuable features were the monitoring, maintenance, and configuration."

"The solution helps in user microsegmentation."

More Cisco DNA Center pros

"The fact that it's able to capture and store packets from the wires is very useful for troubleshooting with our vendors, when issues do come up. It's valuable that we have that overall data for them."

"With the Vprobes, we quickly identified issues on the application servers, which we normally couldn't, where it usually would be a full circle round between our NOC and server people."

"This solution provides us with increased visibility while conducting IT deployments. E.g., if we have devices which have overloaded or links which have saturated, then this tool tells us exactly what is going on with that link or device. Very few tools do it at this level for things like DDoS."

"The quick drill-down views are similar to Wireshark views. Those are quite nice, with the views on how you interpret some of the data. The granularity of how far you can drill down into milliseconds or microseconds is a very nice feature. It actually stores quite a lot of data in its database."

"The biggest benefit is the ability to do low-level packet inspection. When I say packet inspection, I don't mean looking at payload, but just looking at your communication handshakes and the like. It reduces troubleshooting time because you can get a much better view into the communications path between servers, database servers, web servers, and understand what's going on."

"The packet-based searching capability of NETSCOUT is highly valued as it allows us to better analyze the network."

"The most valuable feature is visibility."

"Packet decode and bandwidth analysis reports are the two most valuable features."

More NETSCOUT nGeniusONE pros

Cons

"They should include UTM features in the product."

"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."

"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."

"We encountered issues with their response times, which had a big impact on our workflow."

"What I want to see in Cisco DNA Center in the future is more support for other platforms so that you can manage third-party products, such as Fortinet."

"The solution's integration feature can be better."

"Cisco DNA Center should improve its configuration management. It is better to have a dev version before pushing it."

"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."

More Cisco DNA Center cons

"The initial deployment is tedious and requires a lot of build, deployment and configuration time. Experience is key to a successful deployment."

"The single pane of glass view is a challenge. I like the graphics, they're easy to understand, but when more digging is required, it's more complicated to get what I'm expecting."

"I would love to have them reassemble fragmented packets. That would be a very big plus in my book."

"Some of the filters could be easier to see and to set up. That's the only thing that I've ever had any trouble with."

"Some help screens would be nice, especially if we bring on new operators. It would be great to see if they have more helpful tips available."

"The GUI has gotten better over time but there could be some improvement in how the GUI is built."

"Another thing that would help out is if they packaged the NetFlow monitor into nGeniusONE. Their NetFlow monitor works with nGeniusONE where you can actually get the netflow of pretty much anything you hook it up to. But it's a separate box that you have to buy. If there was a way that could package that into nGeniusONE, it would be a complete package straight out of the box."

"While it is good, the single pane of glass view is too high level. It is better for management or someone doing sanity checks. A lot of times, I need to go deeper into the additional screens to get what I want out of it."

More NETSCOUT nGeniusONE cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"Licensing for Cisco DNA Center is a little bit expensive, just like any Cisco solution. Its cost could still be improved."

"The tool is medium-priced."

"The product is very costly."

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

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

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

More Cisco DNA Center pricing and cost advice

"This solution has saved us more than $50,000 a month and freed up 30 percent of our bandwidth."

"The product is too expensive compared to other products."

"The scalability becomes very expensive quickly."

"The platform is expensive."

"The price is only for acquisition; it's not a licence."

"The biggest problem we have with this product is the expense."

"It is very expensive, but it's well worth the money."

"Make sure you get the low down on your licensing and understand the licensing requirements before making a purchase, especially when it comes to an upgrade. Make sure that it suits your needs before you commit to it. For example, we purchased ATA at version 6.2.1. At that time, the licensing covered everything we need. NETSCOUT comes out with 6.2.2, stating that in order to upgrade, you had to purchase CyberStream licensing. Now that requires some additional funding from both a capital investment and a maintenance cost. That's something that should have been said, "Well, if you want these additional features, you will need to purchase these CyberStreams." Otherwise, we should be allowed to continue on the basic operations as it is now through the newer releases without being stuck."

More NETSCOUT nGeniusONE pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

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?

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

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?

I would say if it’s an ISP that will build a scrubbing center, Netscout/Arbor is a good solution. In all other solutions, Imperva is a great choice.

See all answers

What do you like most about NETSCOUT nGeniusONE?

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NETSCOUT nGeniusONE?

The pricing is a bit high yet not overly expensive. The cost depends on the size of the customer, as sizing controls the pricing.

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Catalyst Center vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 10% of the time

Juniper Mist Wired Assurance vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 7% of the time

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 6% of the time

Fortinet FortiManager vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 6% of the time

Meraki Dashboard vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco DNA Center Competitors

Dynatrace vs NETSCOUT nGeniusONE

Compared 12% of the time

Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline vs NETSCOUT nGeniusONE

Compared 10% of the time

ThousandEyes vs NETSCOUT nGeniusONE

Compared 9% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs NETSCOUT nGeniusONE

Compared 8% of the time

Ixia Network Packet Brokers vs NETSCOUT nGeniusONE

Compared 5% of the time

More NETSCOUT nGeniusONE Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center

April 2025

Download Cisco DNA Center product report

Buyer's Guide

NETSCOUT nGeniusONE

April 2025

Download NETSCOUT nGeniusONE product report

Also Known As

DNA Center

NETSCOUT nGenius, nGeniusONE

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

The nGenius Real-Time Monitor software provides you with tools to monitor and display information about your network both historically and in real time. The nGenius Real-Time Monitor software allows you to understand your current network usage and to plan for future needs. It also allows you to proactively troubleshoot problem areas in your network.

NETSCOUT

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Cerner Corporation

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center vs. NETSCOUT nGeniusONE

April 2025

Free Report: Cisco DNA Center vs. NETSCOUT nGeniusONE

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco DNA Center vs. NETSCOUT nGeniusONE and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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