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Cisco Catalyst Center vs SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Catalyst Center
Ranking in Network Management Applications
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Network Topology...
Ranking in Network Management Applications
13th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
2.7
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Cisco Catalyst Center is 4.7%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper is 2.6%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Catalyst Center4.7%
SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper2.6%
Other92.7%
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

AR
Network Engineer at Edmonton Catholic School Board
Has improved infrastructure management with customizable reporting and automated deployment
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. Historical data can be stored in Cisco Catalyst Center, and dashboards and widgets can be configured to personal preference. Device deployment can be automated to the point where all someone needs to do is plug it in. Zero Touch Provisioning, while requiring some initial work to set up properly, provides significant benefits. Once configured, it reduces the need for travel by specific network personnel, allowing on-site or other staff to handle device deployment by simply plugging in the cable.
reviewer2687874 - PeerSpot reviewer
Design Engineer at a wholesaler/distributor with 501-1,000 employees
Effective tools simplify network mapping and analysis
I can't really articulate any areas that could be improved with the product right offhand. Just as long as they keep it around, since I know things are going into subscription models. One thing we do appreciate about the tool is that it's essentially a perpetual tool. Once you purchase it and the Engineer's ToolBox, it's been beneficial, serving as another utility tool on the network. I can't think of anything specific offhand for how SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper could improve, because I treat it as a simple utility tool that serves those needs. It scans the network for SNMP and ICMP echoes to map the topologies of the existing network. It's a small utility tool that's very helpful and beneficial, another option for us to utilize, and while there's always room for more features, that typically comes with a cost that we have to weigh.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The features I appreciate most about Cisco Catalyst Center are user accessibility."
"Cisco tech support is one of the best in the industry, which is a strong feature available across their products."
"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."
"Cisco performs well in the network space, especially in areas like switching, DNA Center, and wireless, where it is known for its stability."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco Catalyst Center is automation."
"Cisco Catalyst Center has been pretty smooth with scaling the growing needs of my organization, and it is scaling; we are about to replace all of our switches, so we are anticipating that it will help a lot with that."
"It gave us details like the operating system, device type, vendor, and the OUI of the MAC address, providing deep insights into the clients and users."
"The customer service is very good. They are excellent and efficient."
"It's user-friendly."
"One of the best features of SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper is that it has over 60 utility tools to utilize, so it offers a lot of different features, more than I have time to discuss at this moment, making it a good extra set of utility tools that we can incorporate onto our network."
 

Cons

"Regarding the cons of Catalyst, it is a little more expensive. With other vendors, you have one license for all features. In the case of Catalyst, there are many licensing options."
"Current pricing is too expensive for features that users may not be sure they will use, pricing the company out of the market."
"Advanced hardware replacement services have seen a degradation in quality, with delays in replacement parts."
"The deployment process is pretty complex"
"Some documentation or use cases are not clear enough."
"My customers often complain about numerous software bugs requiring frequent software patches and updates to resolve these issues."
"I have not seen ROI at all."
"To improve Cisco Catalyst Center, I think the dashboard and UI experience is inferior to what I used previously with Ubiquiti equipment."
"This is a relatively expensive product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Government
13%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Educational Organization
12%
Government
11%
Energy/Utilities Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise18
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Catalyst Center?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that licensing is always a pain, as everything involves levels of licensing, so when there are specific features I am looking for, they are ...
What needs improvement with Cisco Catalyst Center?
I would say Cisco Catalyst Center's PNP functionality is not as good as it could be. When the switches come out of the box and we try to configure it, the onboarding is kind of hard where I assign ...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Catalyst Center?
The main use case for us is to centralize managing our switches in one spot. We have a lot of switches to manage, so it's very easy to find that useful.
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper?
I can't really articulate any areas that could be improved with the product right offhand. Just as long as they keep it around, since I know things are going into subscription models. One thing we ...
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper?
In general, I use it for scanning IT and OT devices for networks and laying out their topology mapping. The industry I use it for is manufacturing. We specifically don't use it as our network manag...
What advice do you have for others considering SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper?
The Engineer's Toolset is something I use hand-in-hand with the Topology Mapper, and it complements it well. Regarding pricing and licensing with SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper, I haven't faced...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SolarWinds NTM
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst Center vs. SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.