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Cisco DNA Center vs PRTG Enterprise Monitor comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

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
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
20th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (1st), Network Automation (2nd)
PRTG Enterprise Monitor
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
29th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 0.7%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PRTG Enterprise Monitor is 0.5%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco DNA Center0.7%
PRTG Enterprise Monitor0.5%
Other98.8%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

Mahir Öztürk - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Emmanuel Appiah Boateng - PeerSpot reviewer
Network and Security Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Proactive monitoring has reduced network downtime and enables rapid incident response
The main benefits PRTG Enterprise Monitor provides for us include helping us respond quickly to network problems. For our virtualization switches, we normally use a different vendor, but I am not in charge of that particular system. I have not really used the pre-configured sensors feature in PRTG. A different team handles reporting. For now, nothing really comes to mind regarding additional functions for PRTG. I think it is good for what we use it for. I cannot really say much about technical support because I have never had a situation where I have to reach out. I would give PRTG Enterprise Monitor a final rating of eight. I would definitely recommend PRTG Enterprise Monitor to other users. I am an end user of the product. I am quite satisfied with the alerting part of PRTG, as it is quite good.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Technical support is excellent. We have pretty good technical support."
"Cisco VXLAN is a protocol that has been around for some time, but the practical implementation and operational capability of Cisco DNA Center bring it to life."
"The automation features are significant, reducing configuration time. This means outstanding functionality. By deploying the controller automatically, the rest becomes automated"
"The solution helps with the management and orchestration of campaigns. It helps with visibility and analytics. I also like its SDA configuration."
"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 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."
"I like the visibility, instant build, network, policies, and the ability to control access. I also like that you can visualize your whole network."
"It is very versatile in terms of analytics."
"The solution offers perfect real-time bandwidth monitoring and SNMP functionality."
"What I really appreciate about PRTG Enterprise Monitor is that it is very easy to set up, especially the configuration, which is not complicated, and it is very straightforward to go in and change things."
"The product's most valuable feature is network analysis."
"If an event is detected, such as a resource running low on storage or RAM, the product will notify you via email. Upon receiving the notification, action must be taken to address and resolve the issue. The feature I find most effective is its comprehensive nature. It's like having a permanent eye monitoring the network and all its nodes. Instead of manual monitoring, it detects anomalies automatically and alerts us accordingly."
"The product is easy to use and you don't need to have any training. You can use it even if you don't have an IT background."
"I would recommend PRTG Enterprise Monitor to others as it works well with Android devices, and you can try the free version before purchasing."
"From a technical perspective, the product's most valuable feature is SNMP, an open standard monitoring protocol that works across various network devices and operating systems, including UNIX and Windows."
"The product is easy to understand."
 

Cons

"DNA Center has been on the market for a few years and they need to update it."
"The tool's IoT integration should be better."
"It's quite good, however, it's not ideal for smaller organizations as it's cost-prohibitive."
"The initial setup is straightforward except for the issue that this solution is incompatible with switches or access points from other vendors. That is very bad."
"It's a very good product, however, it comes with a very high price."
"The pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Cisco DNA Center are expensive."
"It would be helpful if it could be integrated with a variety of solutions, such as Meraki."
"Requires more focus on the digital side of things."
"There is no unified monitoring in PRTG. It needs a lot of improvement in terms of integration."
"They should work on minimizing false positives by sending alerts promptly and confirming errors with minimal troubleshooting requirements."
"There could be more security features included in PRTG Enterprise Monitor."
"The solution could be improved by including a processing monitor, possibly with a language interface like Lua, allowing for writing custom sensors and processing outcomes of inputs."
"PRTG Enterprise Monitor should include more functionalities and features that are similar to SolarWinds."
"The solution could be improved by introducing security features similar to those available in Teams, as the current version only monitors devices and does not integrate IoT or OT devices."
"Regarding the pricing aspect, we used to pay 5,000 dollars for PRTG Enterprise Monitor. Given that we scaled it up and there's a new pricing model, it increased to 14,000 dollars."
"The licensing policy needs to change. The current model requires customers to purchase a minimum of two thousand licenses, which is not flexible for all customers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing for Cisco DNA Center is a little bit expensive, just like any Cisco solution. Its cost could still be improved."
"Cisco DNA Center is a licensed product with multiple levels of licensing available such as basic, advanced, and essential. I don't have the exact figure, but Cisco DNA Center is costly. For example, the box has information about the essential license and costs a considerable amount of money. You need to pay extra to use advanced features in Cisco DNA Center. My company sees Cisco DNA Center as a solution that's worth the money, which is why it invested in the solution. If you want centralized management for your network, especially when upgrading it, Cisco DNA Center is perfect, but it's more suitable for a large-scale rather than a small-scale network."
"The price could be better. It's a very expensive tool."
"The price of the solution is expensive. The hardware is licensed on the device, but the hardware on the server is expensive."
"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"Cisco DNA Center 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."
"The licensing cost for Cisco DNA Center is not more than that of other solutions."
"The solution is affordable."
"PRTG Enterprise Monitor is an expensive product."
"PRTG Enterprise Monitor's pricing is reasonable."
"The pricing is $2,149 for software without maintenance, and licenses are sold in the minimum bundle of 500 interfaces."
"I rate the product's pricing an eight to seven out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
Healthcare Company
11%
Educational Organization
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
University
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise24
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco DNA Center?
After evaluating other solutions, we will provide feedback.
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 ...
What is your primary use case for Cisco DNA Center?
In my organization, we currently have some Cisco devices such as access switches, and we also have infrastructure, but that is not part of our responsibility. We do not manage that infrastructure. ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PRTG Enterprise Monitor?
I would rate the pricing of PRTG Enterprise Monitor maybe a six. I think a six is fine, as it is reasonable and not expensive.
What needs improvement with PRTG Enterprise Monitor?
When it comes to dashboard customization in PRTG Enterprise Monitor, there are not too many options, and I think that would not be a strong point for PRTG, but for our use cases, we do not really n...
What is your primary use case for PRTG Enterprise Monitor?
I mainly use PRTG Enterprise Monitor for network infrastructure monitoring. I am currently working as a Network and Security Engineer.
 

Also Known As

DNA Center
No data available
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco DNA Center vs. PRTG Enterprise Monitor and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,948 professionals have used our research since 2012.