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Cisco DNA Center vs VMware NSX comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
7.2
VMware NSX saves costs by reducing network needs, enhancing security, and achieving ROI within a year when deployed effectively.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.5
Cisco's customer service experiences range from excellent to inadequate, highlighting issues with expertise, communication, and support consistency.
Sentiment score
7.9
VMware NSX support is generally reliable but varies in responsiveness and expertise, with improvement needed in certain regions.
Our technicians have a good support experience from the company.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco DNA Center offers scalable, flexible network management, praised for ease of configuration despite costly licensing and limited IPv6 support.
Sentiment score
7.8
VMware NSX is scalable across large infrastructures, praised for adaptability, hardware independence, and seamless integration in various environments.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco DNA Center is generally stable, rated highly by users, despite occasional minor issues with logs and database errors.
Sentiment score
8.0
VMware NSX is stable and mature, praised for robust performance and dependability, despite occasional minor upgrade issues.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco DNA Center struggles with compatibility, pricing, training, and features, impacting user experience and system performance.
VMware NSX needs enhancements in integration, automation, deployment, and support to address complexity, pricing, and user-friendliness challenges.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers should consider Cisco DNA Center's high cost and potential licensing fees, but promotions may lower expenses.
VMware NSX pricing is higher than competitors, complex, and may discourage smaller organizations due to potentially unused features.
VMware NSX is a little higher in price compared to the competition.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco DNA Center offers analytics, AI-driven insights, centralized management, and automation, enhancing network operations with scalability and ease of use.
VMware NSX offers micro-segmentation, automation, scalability, and integration, enhancing security and flexibility across virtual environments and clouds.
The most powerful feature of VMware NSX is the micro-segmentation that allows us to separate the different protocols our application works with.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco DNA Center
Ranking in Network Automation
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (1st), Network Monitoring Software (18th)
VMware NSX
Ranking in Network Automation
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
101
Ranking in other categories
Network Virtualization (2nd), Cloud and Data Center Security (2nd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (8th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (8th), Microsegmentation Software (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Network Automation category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 20.7%, down from 24.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware NSX is 5.3%, down from 8.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Automation
 

Featured Reviews

AvrahamSonenthal - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Santi-Lara Garcia - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrates perfectly but must be purchased as part of a bundle package
The solution is only sold as part of a bundle and not as an individual product. Some customers only need vSphere or NSX for their use cases, but account executives focus on bundles so this is a problem. Account executives need to talk with both systems and security staff to get a full picture of the environment's requirements. For example, systems staff have no need for the solution so they will never deploy it.
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824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
 

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.
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...
What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?
There are some very major differences between both the Products and to name a few. -Cisco ACI have physical network gear (9K Switches) where the Code runs in ACI Policy Mode & the UCS server wh...
What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?
Once you know your way around the Cisco ecosystem, using Cisco ACI is not so difficult. It is a global product, so when you change one interface, changes are automatically reflected on every switch...
What do you like most about VMware NSX?
The product has valuable features for security and network extension.
 

Also Known As

DNA Center
VMware Nicira, Lastline Defender
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
City of Avondale, Lumeta, Kroll Ontrack, Heartland Payment Systems, Baystate Heallth, Exostar, Tribune Media, iGATE, NTT Communications, Synergent, California Natural Resources Agency, Bloomington Public Schools, Columbia Sportswear, Join Experience S.A, Schuberg Philis
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco DNA Center vs. VMware NSX and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.