Cisco DNA Center vs Zabbix comparison

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Cisco DNA Center

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Zabbix and Cisco DNA Center are leaders in the network monitoring and management category. Based on the analysis, Cisco DNA Center stands out with superior integration and comprehensive network insights, appealing to large-scale deployments.

Features: Zabbix offers open-source monitoring with customizable options, sophisticated network discovery, and low-level discovery without extra costs. Meanwhile, Cisco DNA Center provides strong network automation, centralized analytics, and seamless Cisco device integration, offering valuable network health insights from a single dashboard.

Room for Improvement: Zabbix requires improvements in its user interface, reporting, and documentation; users find setup and dashboard refinement challenging. Cisco DNA Center is noted for its high cost and complexity, requiring better vendor integration and cost-effective reporting enhancements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zabbix supports diverse deployment options including on-premises, hybrid, and public clouds, but often needs technical expertise and community-driven support. Cisco DNA Center is primarily on-premises, with robust technical support despite a complex deployment and steep learning curve.

Pricing and ROI: Zabbix, as an open-source platform, incurs no licensing fees, attractively lowering costs with significant ROI from savings on licensing and support fees. Cisco DNA Center involves high licensing and operational costs, deemed worthy for extensive features in large deployments.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco DNA Center vs. Zabbix Report (Updated: January 2025).

Cisco DNA Center vs. Zabbix

January 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

16th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

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

Zabbix

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

104

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (9th), Server Monitoring (1st), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (1st), Cloud Monitoring Software (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 1.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zabbix is 11.5%, down from 11.8% 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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ASM Naushad Alam

Network Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Allows any number of customizations but lacks functionality for finding root causes

We have not yet purchased the commercial version so have a lack of technical ability. We do not yet fully know the key points or key features of the solution. We just use what we use along with WhatsUp Gold. Based on our use only, stability is rated a seven 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

"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."

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

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

"We have many people from the team who manage a lot of devices. By using Cisco DNA Center, it has taken some of that burden away, we are impressed with it. We did the investment in CAPEX, but in the OPEX was very low."

"It gives us automation capabilities for pushing out the configuration to branch networks. It also provides visibility into the health of user network devices."

"The monitoring is very valuable to me."

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

"We can monitor all devices and get the required information using the product."

More Cisco DNA Center pros

"I have found that the reporting feature in Zabbix is most valuable. Additionally, the solution has given us bandwidth options, we are able to see where problems are. For example, we noticed a problem that occurred because of a bad interface going in the wireless VLAN."

"The most valuable feature is service assurance."

"Dashboard and the customization of the items and triggers are the most valuable features."

"The most valuable features of Zabbix are flexibility and a single interface for different types of monitoring."

"The most valuable feature is the alert and alarm monitoring."

"The most valuable feature is monitoring."

"The solution allows for good integration with other products."

"The product is very stable."

More Zabbix pros

Cons

"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."

"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."

"DNA Center has been on the market for a few years and they need to update it."

"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."

"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."

"The features of Cisco DNA Center and Cisco Prime could have more parity."

"The solution needs to improve the dashboard."

More Cisco DNA Center cons

"Improvement is needed as per customer requirements."

"In the next release, I'm hoping for features targeted towards larger users with more customizable options. Despite this, I think pre-canned reports that can be used straight out of the box would be beneficial rather than having to configure each report individually. Additionally, a deeper dive into software configurations on the machines would be useful, although I understand there may be challenges in implementing this due to scripting requirements. More documentation would also be appreciated."

"The integration of the product is not so easy, especially when it comes to the application database."

"Look and feel."

"There are some features of Zabbix that are not good for reporting. The DX Spectrum solution has better reporting."

"Implementation is always tailored to the customer and the kind of information we need from the client to carry it out can make them very uncomfortable. Sometimes the clients are not ready to share it."

"I would like for this solution to be more cloud-friendly."

"The performance reporting could be improved."

More Zabbix cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing cost for Cisco DNA Center is not more than that of other solutions."

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

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

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

"Affordability is a problem because it's created for large enterprises only. So, some customers, even if their engineers want the solution, might have problems with budget limitations."

"Cisco DNA Center is expensive."

"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."

More Cisco DNA Center pricing and cost advice

"This solution is completely open-source, so it is quite affordable."

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

"We purchased Zabbix for a good price, including support"

"It's free software released under the GNU/GPL license."

"My manager is very happy because it doesn't cost anything."

"The tool's licensing is good."

"Zabbix is open-source so if one wishes to implement it in-house, they must have qualified professionals to set up and optimize databases, Linux/Unix OS, PHP, Apache, and depending on what is monitored, a full-stack network and systems administrator may be needed."

"It is worth every cent to pay or even study to do your own installation."

More Zabbix pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user174738

IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

May 31, 2015

Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor

I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

University

Educational Organization

39%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

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.

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 do you like most about Zabbix?

The template system in Zabbix is very beneficial as it saves time in configuration.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zabbix?

I use the tool's free version.

What needs improvement with Zabbix?

I'm using the free version of Zabbix, and I'd like to see more customization options, especially for setting trigger thresholds.

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Product Reports

Download Cisco DNA Center product report

Cisco DNA Center

January 2025

Download Zabbix product report

December 2024

Also Known As

DNA Center

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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.

Zabbix is an open-source monitoring software that provides real-time monitoring and alerting for servers, networks, applications, and services.

It offers a wide range of features including data collection, visualization, and reporting.

With its user-friendly interface and customizable dashboards, Zabbix helps organizations ensure the availability and performance of their IT infrastructure.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

1. IBM 2. Dell 3. Cisco 4. HP 5. Oracle 6. Microsoft 7. Amazon 8. Google 9. Facebook 10. Twitter 11. LinkedIn 12. Netflix 13. Adobe 14. VMware 15. Salesforce 16. SAP 17. Intel 18. AT&T 19. Verizon 20. T-Mobile 21. Vodafone 22. Ericsson 23. Nokia 24. Siemens 25. General Electric 26. Honeywell 27. Philips 28. Sony 29. Samsung 30. LG 31. Panasonic 32. Toshiba