Cisco DNA Center vs Cisco Prime [EOL] comparison

Cisco DNA Center and Cisco Prime [EOL] are both solutions in the Network Management Applications category. Additionally, 90% of Cisco DNA Center users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Cisco Prime [EOL] users who would recommend it.

Cisco DNA Center

Read 44 Cisco DNA Center reviews

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3,457 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Cisco Prime [EOL]

Read 35 Cisco Prime [EOL] reviews

91% willing to recommend

Cisco DNA Center

Cisco Prime [EOL]

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

Cisco DNA Center and Cisco Prime are network management solutions from Cisco. Cisco DNA Center appears to have the upper hand due to its integration with Cisco ISE and enhanced features.

Features: Cisco DNA Center provides robust analytics and security features, offering integrated identity services and a centralized dashboard for simplified deployment and monitoring. Its template-driven configuration and visual and wireless assurance features give comprehensive network insights. Cisco Prime, valued for its stability, includes heat map functionalities and inventory monitoring but lacks in-depth analytics and centralized management characteristics.

Room for Improvement: Cisco DNA Center could improve its third-party compatibility, expand VRF capacity, and strengthen integration with older hardware and other Cisco products like Meraki. Enhancements in error reporting and user interface usability are also suggested. For Cisco Prime, outdated interface, lack of support for newer Cisco devices, and limited third-party solution integration hinder its performance. Improved graphical interface and real-time monitoring could further enhance its effectiveness.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both solutions offer on-premises or cloud deployments, with Cisco DNA Center having a more intuitive deployment process. Customer service is more positively reviewed for DNA Center, though it experiences some delays in support response. Cisco Prime also receives favorable support reviews but has challenges with new product integration.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco DNA Center has a high cost, which can affect smaller businesses, but its features justify the price by delivering significant ROI through time savings. Cisco Prime is more affordable, with bundled deals that can reduce costs, making it a worthwhile investment for large-scale deployments. However, the pricing strategy might be challenging for small enterprises.

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Network Management Applications

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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

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (1st), Network Monitoring Software (17th), Network Automation (2nd)

Cisco Prime [EOL]

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

Mahir Öztürk

Network Engineer at NGN Bilgi ve İletişim Hizmetleri

Client history has helped resolve past network issues more efficiently

I mostly use the client history feature of Cisco DNA Center. I didn't use the real-time monitoring capability of Cisco DNA Center because I primarily used it for client history regarding issues and problems. I don't use it for real-time monitoring. If there is a problem, I can inspect the situation and see what is happening, which is beneficial.

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ZeeshanAli1

Senior Network Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

Robust, cost-effective, and provides good visibility, but the scalability could improve

We are extremely satisfied with the reliability and robustness of Cisco Prime Infrastructure, which we have been using for many years. Compared to newer products such as DNS centers or others, it has proven to be much more stable, which is important for large-scale operations. Stability is a primary concern for us, and we are glad that Cisco Prime Infrastructure meets our expectations in that regard. Furthermore, in regards to Legacy Plus new hardware, Cisco Prime has proven to be a reliable and adaptable solution thus far. Not only can it support older hardware, but it also has the capability to handle new features with the latest updates. If we consider new solutions such as DNS Center, we may have to sacrifice some legacy features that we still rely on. We may need to continue using these legacy features for a few more years due to various reasons such as budget constraints or the site not being a high priority. However, if we switch to a new product at this stage, we may lose a lot of the monitoring and other capabilities that we have with Cisco Prime. We have a close relationship with Cisco and understand that they are not prioritizing investments in Cisco Prime as they are encouraging customers to adopt the Cisco DNA Center. This means that we don't anticipate many new features to be added to the product in the future. While we know that we will eventually have to transition to a new solution, in the meantime, we plan to do a quick refresh of our legacy products.

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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

"It is a stable solution."

"My advice to others is if you are a large enough company to have the Cisco DNA Center technology, you must try it because for a large enterprise or multi-site organization it's impressive and it saves a lot of money and time."

"In terms of software-defined networking, I think it's an outstanding product."

"Cisco DNA Center is something that I recommend."

"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."

"Application Assurance works very well."

"The solution helps with the management and orchestration of campaigns. It helps with visibility and analytics. I also like its SDA configuration."

"In day-to-day operations, especially post-pandemic, the majority of our customers have to work 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."

More Cisco DNA Center pros

"We use Cisco Prime for network mapping and surveys."

"Cisco Prime, from a management perspective, has good reporting."

"Cisco Prime is very good management-wise, giving you the ability to upgrade switches remotely, schedule the upgrade time, perform backups, and monitor the health of all networks."

"Cisco Prime can help customers fix their Wi-Fi issues with scientific and digital data."

"Cisco Prime has been around for a long time, and it keeps getting better and better."

"The VLAN mapping function has been most impactful in simplifying our network management tasks."

"The map overview of our campus environment shows the distribution of RF frequency channels and the distribution of a client, providing us with a great idea of where the busier areas are within our environment to allow us to tweak and tune."

"The endpoint information Cisco Prime generates helps us troubleshoot, and it's also useful for compliance reporting and endpoint identification."

More Cisco Prime [EOL] pros

Cons

"As a user, it would be good if I could plug in controllers, suites, and devices from other vendors to Cisco DNA Center."

"The solution's integration feature can be better."

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

"When it comes to deploying wireless fields, integrating defaults into the DNS interface can be challenging."

"It's a very hard software to learn. It's very deep, and when we first got it, there wasn't a whole lot of documentation on it."

"Cisco DNA Center isn't as stable, particularly with the logs, because it doesn't replicate the exact logs."

"In my opinion, the client history in Cisco DNA Center can be longer than 10 days, perhaps extending to 15 or 20 days."

"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."

More Cisco DNA Center cons

"They can also improve the management of more enterprise devices."

"That is unacceptable and it's the biggest downfall of the solution."

"I would rate the scalability of Cisco Prime a six out of ten. To scale up from a hundred to a thousand devices, the platform needs to be rebuilt logically. This process might require a downtime window and may involve changing the hardware or upgrading to a larger appliance."

"They could consider offering more flexible pricing options for their customers."

"The solution has issues with real time monitoring of devices and NetFlow such as inadequate visualization for reports, sources, and destinations."

"There is room for improvement in the Access layer."

"Now, the complexity has increased, so the quality of work also has taken a slight hit with respect to their TAC support especially."

"Maybe it could be a little cheaper."

More Cisco Prime [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."

"The price could be better. It's a very expensive tool."

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

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

"It is an expensive solution."

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

"I rate the product's pricing an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is very cheap, and ten is very expensive."

"The solution is a little bit expensive but depends a lot on the customer's usage. If you use it in the right place, you can easily pay for it."

More Cisco DNA Center pricing and cost advice

"I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."

"You need to get special quotes from the company for each order."

"I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"If we have a license for Cisco DNA, we can use the same license for Cisco Prime."

"The solution is not inexpensive but is worth it for large-scale environments."

"The cost is quite high."

"The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive."

More Cisco Prime [EOL] pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

13%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Government

12%

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	24

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	24

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco DNA Center?

After evaluating other solutions, we will provide feedback.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?

The deployment of Cisco DNA Center was complex due to the fact that on the data center side, we have a Juniper infrastructure, which created some complexity, though not significant. The deployment ...

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Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center

May 2026

Download Cisco DNA Center product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Prime [EOL]

May 2026

Download Cisco Prime [EOL] product report

Also Known As

DNA Center

Cisco Prime Infrastructure

Overview

Cisco DNA Center delivers powerful centralized security, automation, and comprehensive analytics for enhanced network management. With an intuitive dashboard and integration with Cisco devices, it reduces errors, boosts efficiency, and ensures seamless wired and wireless network operations.

Organizations leverage Cisco DNA Center for network management and automation, offering increased visibility into traffic flows and efficient device provisioning. It supports real-time data transmission, network segmentation, and integrates with ISE. Features like wireless assurance, centralized management, and AI-driven insights into network health promote an efficient network environment while addressing compliance issues. However, improvements are necessary for better third-party integration, affordability, and more user-friendly documentation.

What are the solution's most important features?

Comprehensive Analytics: Provides in-depth network insights through real-time data.
Centralized Security: Unifies security management, offering enhanced protection.
Network Management: Simplifies device configuration and policy compliance.
Automation Capabilities: Reduces human error and facilitates efficient network operations.
AI-Driven Assurance: Delivers insights into network health for proactive management.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Increased Efficiency: Streamlines operations by reducing manual tasks.
Improved Security: Enhances protection through centralized policies.
Cost Effective: Simplifies management, potentially lowering operating costs.
Enhanced Visibility: Offers comprehensive data for better decision-making.

In industries like healthcare, finance, and education, Cisco DNA Center's advanced features facilitate the management of complex network infrastructures and aid in achieving compliance efficiently. Its ability to manage LANs and WLANs supports diverse networking environments including greenfield projects and SPN setups.

Cisco

Cisco Prime products deliver next-generation management by supporting an intuitive workflow-oriented user experience and integrated lifecycle operations across Cisco architectures, technologies, and networks.

Cisco

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Mohawk Industries, Universidad EAFIT, Halton Healthcare

Buyer's Guide

Network Management Applications

May 2026

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