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Alcatel-Lucent ClearPass vs Cisco Catalyst Center comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

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

Alcatel-Lucent ClearPass
Ranking in Network Management Applications
24th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Catalyst Center
Ranking in Network Management Applications
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Alcatel-Lucent ClearPass is 1.7%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Catalyst Center is 3.8%, down from 9.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Catalyst Center3.8%
Alcatel-Lucent ClearPass1.7%
Other94.5%
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Karthikeyan Ravi - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President of Technology at Netcon Technologies India Private Limited
Has an automated feature for user onboarding and supports heterogeneous devices
We use the product for the automated onboarding of corporate users with secure network access. It helps secure IoT endpoints for specific networks. It allows us to control the devices, including posture, endpoint verification, validation, latest patching, and signatures The product’s most…
AadishBahati - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Solution Architect at EchoStor
Unified automation has transformed network operations and simplifies multi‑site management
The learning curve is better with Cisco compared to other products. Everyone has a learning curve because everyone is bringing new technologies, new interfaces, and new ways of doing things. The other products have a steeper learning curve. When comparing Cisco with VMware, I am not comparing Cisco with Arista, Juniper, or HP because those are companies which are doing a very basic level of automation. Cisco is doing way more advanced things. In terms of advanced handling and the advanced orchestration and advanced management plane control that Cisco is delivering, the only competitiveness in advancement is VMware NSX. However, it is really complex. Cisco's platforms are much easier to understand and learn compared to VMware.The only disadvantage with Cisco would be their services and licensing, which is a bit complex and a bit too expensive. Because their services are so expensive, companies end up buying Cisco, but they end up not buying Cisco services to do it. When they turn to external partners, not many people outside know the technology as well as Cisco does. People deploy it, but they do not get the right resources to deploy it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It helps secure IoT endpoints for specific networks."
"I think the best features are the user profiling and the BYOD facilities."
"Catalyst provides a reliable and mature network solution, which has stabilized all features and improved productivity."
"Cisco Catalyst Center's reporting is one of the best features, providing graphs and quick hit analysis in one place instead of having to search elsewhere."
"Whenever something goes down, it's easy for us to look into a problem because before teammates reach out to us saying they're not getting to the internet, we already know there's a problem because of Cisco Catalyst Center, so it's very useful and helps us have less downtime."
"Our customers are very happy with Cisco technology and they suppose it is the best solution for them."
"Cisco Catalyst switches are reliable and stable."
"With Cisco Catalyst Center, it is now controlled in one location and I can easily manage them, ensuring they are all up to date with compliance checks and other requirements."
"Cisco's technical support is excellent."
"One of the most significant features of Cisco Catalyst Center that has improved our network performance is the wireless assurance, which helped us identify issues in the wireless; thanks to the help of Cisco Catalyst Center, we migrated from 2.4 to 5G as we understood where the maximum service interruptions were happening, leading to significant improvement in customer satisfaction, better connectivity, better strength, and better onboarding."
 

Cons

"I think the solution would be greatly improved by adding application level visibility on the dashboard."
"There could be in-built end-to-end map integration features for IoT devices instead of using third-party tools."
"The price to get in the door is quite high."
"Advanced hardware replacement services have seen a degradation in quality, with delays in replacement parts."
"I would assess the stability and reliability of Cisco Catalyst Center as very unreliable. I have experienced plenty of downtime and crashes."
"There is a disadvantage in Cisco Catalyst Center that I see, which is the same as Cisco's disadvantage, being a bug issue."
"I must be honest: there is nothing to particularly like about Cisco Catalyst Center. Every vendor can do what Cisco does today."
"Some features in terms of security should be there, especially in threat detection. Cisco Catalyst Center lacked intelligence in this area and required reliance on third-party appliances like firewalls or threat protection devices."
"There should be tighter cohesion between the web-based GUI and the command line configuration."
"There is room for improvement in introducing auto-heal AI capabilities. In the current setup, incidents are always reactionary, and it would be beneficial if Cisco Catalyst Center could proactively handle issues such as bandwidth crunches and packet drops."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Alcatel-Lucent ClearPass is an expensive product compared to other vendors."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
14%
Government
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Catalyst Center?
We did not purchase Cisco Catalyst Center through the AWS Marketplace as we used the Cisco DevNet always-on sandbox which gave us temporary access to a hosted Catalyst Center environment for testin...
What needs improvement with Cisco Catalyst Center?
I think Cisco Catalyst Center can be improved overall by making the sandbox setups and documentation more straightforward, as it was a little confusing because the DevNet page documentation, contro...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Catalyst Center?
My main use case for Cisco Catalyst Center in the sandbox is to test APIs and integrate network data into the FloodGaurd project, where I tested device inventory, device health, network health, sit...
 

Also Known As

Alcatel Lucent ClearPass, ClearPass Policy Management System, ClearPass
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blickle and Scherer, Loughborough University, CSF Inox, Caritas Speyer
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Alcatel-Lucent ClearPass vs. Cisco Catalyst Center and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.