Cisco DNA Center vs NetBrain comparison

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4,213 views|2,398 comparisons
88% willing to recommend
NetBrain Logo
1,402 views|897 comparisons
75% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco DNA Center and NetBrain based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Red Hat, SolarWinds and others in Network Automation.
To learn more, read our detailed Network Automation Report (Updated: April 2024).
771,212 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The solution helps with the management and orchestration of campaigns. It helps with visibility and analytics. I also like its SDA configuration.""The automation features are significant, reducing configuration time. This means outstanding functionality. By deploying the controller automatically, the rest becomes automated""Cisco is a leading network company.""The solution helps in user microsegmentation.""The most valuable features of the solution are all of its security features...It is a highly scalable solution.""The product offers an intuitive and automated way to manage user networks. It gives me an insight into the network health.""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.""What's most valuable in Cisco DNA Center is the ability to manage any Cisco infrastructure and device through it. Setup was straightforward."

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"This product has good network monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities.""NetBrain is a very simple tool.""Chain management is a good feature. I don't get it on other solutions.""Enables maps to be drawn out.""A reliable, time-saving tool for providing accurate layer 2 and layer 3 network mappings."

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Cons
"The product doesn’t have good monitoring capabilities.""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.""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.""The tool's IoT integration should be better.""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.""From the recent DNA point of view, there are some stability challenges with Cisco, but very minor.""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."

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"It would be nice if the setup was a little simpler. Also, if the solution could provide more training materials for new people coming into our company so they can quickly learn how to use the functionalities.""Support needs to improve for the installed product and some of the reporting could be more flexible to provide more complete cataloging.""The IP interface brief isn't consistent.""Each device needs to be configured to allow NetBrain to poll for the information it needs, which can be very time-consuming for a large network.""The solution could integrate more automation."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Our licensing agreement is for three years."
  • "I do know that Cisco does offer some really good promotions for DNA Center to bring the costs down."
  • "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."
  • "We have a three-year license with them."
  • "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 price could be better. It's a very expensive tool."
  • "It is an expensive solution."
  • More Cisco DNA Center Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The product is expensive, but less expensive than some of the competition and worth the price."
  • "Licensing is based on a per-device basis, which means that it can get very expensive if you have a large number of devices."
  • More NetBrain Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: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.
    Top Answer:The tool's licensing may not come across as something that may be friendly for users. Customers may not like the licensing part because if you want to have more features, then you need to go for Cisco… more »
    Top Answer:In terms of the clustering part, there are some concerns. I feel like the clustering part is there because it is built on microservices architecture, so by default it is there in the tool. It is not… more »
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    Ranking
    1st
    out of 22 in Network Automation
    Views
    4,213
    Comparisons
    2,398
    Reviews
    26
    Average Words per Review
    465
    Rating
    7.8
    5th
    out of 22 in Network Automation
    Views
    1,402
    Comparisons
    897
    Reviews
    0
    Average Words per Review
    0
    Rating
    N/A
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    DNA Center
    Learn More
    Overview

    Cisco DNA Center is a robust, intuitive network controller and management platform that provides secure, safe access to applications and networks. Cisco DNA Center allows you to take control of your network to increase the effectiveness of your Cisco products, lower your TCO, and improve your ROI.

    Your organization’s network is an integral part of your business’s success. In today’s aggressive marketplace, organizations need a network management system in place that can effectively automate deployments and connectivity, and manage the health of their infrastructure. Additionally, management systems also need to be able to strategically maintain the quality and safety of their systems so that the organization can direct valuable IT resources to concentrate on projects that can improve the overall effectiveness of the organization. An intent-based network controller such as Cisco DNA center will help your organization do that.

    Cisco DNA Center is a group of software solutions that will automate all your virtual devices, provide secure administration of your network, and ensure the best network experience for all users on the network. Cisco DNA Center does away with all the tedious, mundane tasks and simplifies workflow device installations, upgrading from hours to minutes using Plug-and-Play (PnP) and Software Image Management (SWIM).

    Cisco DNA Center’s intuitive, robust assurance feature makes every network point a sensor, continually communicating user connectivity and application performance in real time. This ensures all issues are resolved immediately.

    Cisco DNA Center integrates with Cisco security solutions, Cisco Umbrella, and Cisco Secure Network Analytics, which provide an extra level of extensive security protection against threats. The entire solution can be easily managed from one single dashboard, making Cisco DNA Center a very robust, secure, complete solution.

    Benefits of Cisco DNA Center

    • Cost-effectiveness: Policy automation and remediation minimizes the amount of time IT staff spend managing mundane network tasks.
    • Improved performance: AI/ML automation improves workflow and overall user experience. A clean, crisp dashboard makes management easy.
    • Enhance your network: Cisco DNA Center delivers the latest, most intuitive cloud services and applications to optimize your network.

    • Improved security: Cisco DNA Center utilizes the most robust zero-trust policies based on overall endpoint user behavior to keep networks secure.

    Features of Cisco DNA Center

    • Easy automation: Cisco DNA Center offers zero-touch device deployment, automated quality of service (QoS), automated device discovery, and drag-and-drop policy creation.

    • Clear analytics: Cisco DNA Center offers more than 150 workable insights, such as guided remediation, endpoint tracking, context-guided analytics, and more.

    • Simplified management: Users have complete control from a user-friendly single dashboard that provides a completely transparent view of the network, devices, applications, and services. Additionally, there is integration with Cisco Prime or APIC-EM for the importation of maps or other configurations as needed.

    • Security: Cisco DNA Center provides a highly secure segmentation, encrypted traffic analytics, and robust threat detection and response, and also uses Stealthwatch and ISE integration.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Mostafa G., Network and Data Center Supervisor at a hospitality company, says, “Since using the solution, three or four people can do what 10 people could previously. It has been a benefit to the organization. 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.”

    Nihar K., Managing Director at Allot Group, relates, “In day-to-day operations, especially post-pandemic, the majority of our customers have to work from anywhere. It's not just work from home, it's work from anywhere. Due to this work from anywhere concept, the traditional silos of a network for the data center architecture, managing everything from anywhere, and having that single integrated dashboard for each and every activity while being able to correlate those activities in line with a business objective, has been very well addressed by Cisco DNA. The solution's most valuable aspect is its simplicity and the complete automation of the network workflow, which we can use that correlate with the business. It's not only limited to STXs or a data center. It completes everything, which really helps us.

    Managing today’s networks with yesterday’s manual processes is no longer a viable solution. NetBrain’s network automation platform provides actionable insights into your network to help you make better and faster decisions - particularly when you’re troubleshooting, securing, and making changes to the network.

    Sample Customers
    Information Not Available
    CompuCon, TD Ameritrade, Move Inc.
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider19%
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Hospitality Company10%
    University10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company20%
    Government9%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Healthcare Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company14%
    Government11%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business24%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise61%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise70%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business20%
    Midsize Enterprise10%
    Large Enterprise70%
    Buyer's Guide
    Network Automation
    April 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Red Hat, SolarWinds and others in Network Automation. Updated: April 2024.
    771,212 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cisco DNA Center is ranked 1st in Network Automation with 37 reviews while NetBrain is ranked 5th in Network Automation. Cisco DNA Center is rated 7.8, while NetBrain is rated 7.2. The top reviewer of Cisco DNA Center writes "Practical implementation of VXLAN is good and provides centralized control". On the other hand, the top reviewer of NetBrain writes "Good monitoring and troubleshoot capabilities, improves overall network traffic visibility". Cisco DNA Center is most compared with Cisco Prime, Aruba Airwave, SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, Huawei eSight and Junos Space Network Director, whereas NetBrain is most compared with ThousandEyes, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, SolarWinds Network Automation Manager, ScienceLogic and Forward Enterprise.

    See our list of best Network Automation vendors.

    We monitor all Network Automation 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.