We performed a comparison between Cisco DNA Center and Meraki Dashboard based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Network Monitoring Software solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."We can manage the entire system across the network and troubleshoot the pain points."
"What I found valuable in Cisco DNA Center is the Software-Defined Access Network, so the entire LAN network can be centralized and managed from a single dashboard. Cisco DNA Center is suitable for centralized management and lets you deploy switches in a centralized fashion. You can also do multiple switch port configurations simultaneously and segregate your traffic into multiple fabrics. Another valuable feature of Cisco DNA Center is enhanced security through Scalable Group Tags. Cisco DNA Center can be integrated with your Cisco ISE to enhance the port securities, and this paves the way for Software-Defined Networking in the LAN segment, which is the main advantage of Cisco DNA Center. I also like that you can use Cisco DNA Center for data assurance or correlation. The solution shows your network and client health parameters, which I find convenient for troubleshooting."
"The most valuable features were the monitoring, maintenance, and configuration."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco DNA Center is the AI (Artificial Intelligence) that provides us with valuable information."
"The solution helps with the management and orchestration of campaigns. It helps with visibility and analytics. I also like its SDA configuration."
"Application Assurance works very well."
"It is simple to manage and it is all done from a single dashboard."
"It does a lot of things automatically, and that's the big thing with it. They're making the software so that you don't need to be as knowledgeable as me on the switching and routing side to get your work done. If you want, you can have DNA troubleshoot your problem for you and give you solutions or fix it itself, if it was something that's just a configuration issue."
"The best feature of Cisco DNA Center is the visibility page, where you can see everything on the dashboard, and you don't have to be a technical person to view the issues."
"It is very stable and we have been using it for five years."
"What I found most valuable in Meraki Dashboard is that it's well-organized, easy to use, and practical."
"We've been spending a lot less time on tickets and deployments, so we have more time to do other things."
"We find that Meraki has all the features you need to be able to enable complex network protocols for AV equipment. We deal with a streaming product over IP, and Meraki is fantastic at that."
"Meraki Dashboard centralizes control of all our equipment into one cloud-based console, so we can manage it from anywhere. We can resolve problems remotely outside of business hours because it is on the cloud. You can use the dashboard to change security settings or configure routers and switches."
"The most valuable feature is the single pane of glass that gives you multisite visibility."
"The feature I find most valuable is the single pane of glass where you can configure a monitor view, all from one dashboard. For example, on the wireless side, you can configure it under the configuration panel, and then view statistics like location analytics, user analytics, etc."
"The dashboard itself is very simplified and easy to navigate."
"The Wi-Fi side needs improvement."
"They can improve the network visibility. Licensing and its maintenance are also needed."
"Cisco could improve the security side of their solutions."
"We encountered issues with their response times, which had a big impact on our workflow."
"What could be improved is the licensing cost of Cisco DNA Center. It's a little bit expensive."
"Requires more focus on the digital side of things."
"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 tool's IoT integration should be better."
"The weaknesses primarily involve pricing and the ongoing need for increased bandwidth and data throughput."
"The price could be lower because the license for access points is expensive."
"What we would like from the IT perspective is a lot more granular control, more visibility into the packets, into the routing, and things of that nature."
"Something that needs to be improved, is the fact that you if you don't renew the subscription license, it stops working. I would also like to see SSL BPM support for anything else."
"They could offer API functionality for Meraki Dashboard. It will help us develop software immediately using available solutions."
"One area that could use improvement in the Meraki Dashboard is user-friendliness when navigating to port configurations."
"The initial setup is complex and can be made more straightforward."
"Meraki Dashboard could improve the user interface by making it more user-friendly. The configuring can at times be difficult."
"The wait time to speak with a Meraki support engineer is always long, but they get the job done."
Cisco DNA Center is ranked 25th in Network Monitoring Software with 36 reviews while Meraki Dashboard is ranked 9th in Network Monitoring Software with 51 reviews. Cisco DNA Center is rated 7.8, while Meraki Dashboard is rated 8.6. 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 Meraki Dashboard writes "Incredibly easy to use, great troubleshooting and prevention of malicious events". Cisco DNA Center is most compared with Cisco Prime, Aruba Airwave, SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, Huawei eSight and Apstra Operating System, whereas Meraki Dashboard is most compared with SolarWinds NPM, ThousandEyes, Mist AI and Cloud, Zabbix and Auvik Network Management (ANM). See our Cisco DNA Center vs. Meraki Dashboard report.
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