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 43 Cisco DNA Center reviews

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3,550 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]

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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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 For Cisco Prime, outdated interface, lack of support for newer Cisco devices, and limited third-party solution integration hinder its performance.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.

To learn more, read our detailed Network Management Applications Report (Updated: January 2026).

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Network Management Applications

January 2026

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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

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (1st), Network Monitoring Software (18th), 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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AndrewRichardson

Network Engineer at Edmonton Catholic School Board

Has an easy implementation process, but the performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive

The project implementation was easy overall. Adapting Cisco's solutions to our specific environment required effort, as their documentation only covers some network scenarios. The deployment didn't happen all at once; it was staged and controlled to ensure a smooth transition. We started with a small test environment before gradually rolling it out to all campuses. This gradual approach helped mitigate the risk of any issues arising across multiple locations simultaneously, especially on a critical day like Monday morning. We have a team of three executives working on the process. Their job roles included network specialists and a manager. It requires maintenance, which is included in the annual cost. We receive updates and support as part of the renewal process.

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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

"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 product offers an intuitive and automated way to manage user networks. It gives me an insight into the network health."

"Application Assurance works very well."

"The product gives a consolidated view."

"Has a good processing feature with a high level of accuracy."

"It is a stable solution."

"I like that we can easily configure any new hardware. It's also easy to deploy and easy to troubleshoot."

"Cisco is a leading network company."

More Cisco DNA Center pros

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

"Cisco Prime allows us to manage all the wireless controllers and access points."

"It gives you the ability to upgrade switches remotely, schedule the upgrade time, perform backups, and monitor the health of all networks."

"Cisco Prime allows us to do a lot of functions with the users and it is flexible."

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

"What I found most beneficial from Cisco Prime is that it gives you an insight into what your network does, even when you're not actively monitoring what's going on with your network."

"The product's most valuable features are monitoring and configuration."

"The solution provides data that allows us to time travel through logs and perform remote operations or troubleshooting."

More Cisco Prime [EOL] pros

Cons

"They should include UTM features in the product."

"The solution needs to improve the dashboard."

"The network, data center, and SD-WAN are all being treated as different services, but I would like to have only one solution to manage all of them."

"Integration with analytic tools and API integrations would be ideal."

"It seems to be a little bit more centered toward wireless than wired. You've got more options you can do wirelessly than you can with the wired switches, but it works for what we need it to do. We would like to see a little bit more about the traffic, and we're looking at what's out there to see about that. We are looking at something that might give us a bit more insight into the actual traffic. If they had the full functionality on the wired side, as they do on the wireless side in terms of being able to view traffic and everything, it would be good."

"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."

"An area that needs improvement is the integration with other vendors."

"The solution's setup process needs enhancement."

More Cisco DNA Center cons

"If you look at some of the wireless site-survey tools that are available in the commercial space, Cisco should include similar solutions, which would help our on-plant engineers when they're doing a site survey."

"I would love for Cisco Prime to show bandwidth usage and consumption, but I can't monitor bandwidth usage at a given time."

"The reporting feature of Cisco Prime should be improved."

"The product needs to improve its stability."

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

"It should be able to monitor Palo Alto, Juniper, and Check Point products - not just Cisco solutions."

"The solution is not easy to configure."

"The solution needs to include centralized management that aligns with the Greenfield network and its focus on real-time, scenario-based applications."

More Cisco Prime [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"Cisco DNA Center is too expensive."

"We have a three-year license with them."

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

"The tool is medium-priced."

"The solution is expensive."

"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."

"Our licensing agreement is for three years."

More Cisco DNA Center pricing and cost advice

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

"We update the license every five years."

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

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

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

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

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

"The price of Cisco Prime was reasonable because we purchased it as part of a Cisco One package. The package was a bundle of Cisco solutions together, such as Cisco ISE and CMX. The price is reasonable com compared to other solutions."

More Cisco Prime [EOL] pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	25

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
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?

In my opinion, the client history in Cisco DNA Center can be longer than 10 days, perhaps extending to 15 or 20 days. I am using it in a huge factory in Turkey, and sometimes I need to see what occ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Cisco Prime?

The most valuable features of Cisco Prime include its comprehensive functionality as a one-stop solution for basic SNMP port management.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Prime?

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

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Cisco Prime?

We use Cisco Prime for centralized configuration management backups and monitoring.

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Catalyst Center vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 13% of the time

Juniper Mist Wired Assurance vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 6% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 5% of the time

Fortinet FortiManager vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 4% of the time

HPE Intelligent Management Center vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 4% of the time

More Cisco DNA Center Competitors

ExtremeCloud IQ vs Cisco Prime [EOL]

Compared 16% of the time

Fortinet FortiManager vs Cisco Prime [EOL]

Compared 13% of the time

DX Spectrum vs Cisco Prime [EOL]

Compared 12% of the time

NetMaster Network Intelligence vs Cisco Prime [EOL]

Compared 12% of the time

Juniper Mist Wired Assurance vs Cisco Prime [EOL]

Compared 8% of the time

More Cisco Prime [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center

January 2026

Download Cisco DNA Center product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Prime [EOL]

January 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

January 2026

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