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Alcatel-Lucent ClearPass vs Cisco Prime [EOL] 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

Alcatel-Lucent ClearPass
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (19th)
Cisco Prime [EOL]
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Karthikeyan Ravi - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
ZeeshanAli1 - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Good user profiling and BYOD facilities."
"It helps secure IoT endpoints for specific networks."
"As a large organization, it is difficult to individually monitor every device. Instead, we use Cisco Prime to keep an eye on the network and services. We do not use it as a node tool, as we have other tools for network operation centers. When services go down, it can cause issues, we rely on Cisco Prime to monitor and notify us of any service disruptions. We mainly use Cisco Prime Infrastructure for configuration-level tasks."
"The most valuable features of Cisco Prime include its comprehensive functionality as a one-stop solution for basic SNMP port management."
"The most valuable is the assistance for network support."
"The solution helps with the management and support of the enterprise network."
"The dashboard is a valuable feature. It's very clear, and the metrics make it easy to see the current network situation."
"If an AP or any wireless device goes into critical mode, Cisco Prime sends an alert. That is the most helpful feature."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco Prime is the heat map."
"Cisco Prime, from a management perspective, has good reporting."
 

Cons

"There could be in-built end-to-end map integration features for IoT devices instead of using third-party tools."
"Lacks application level visibility on the dashboard."
"The onboarding process could be improved and developed to enhance compatibility for non-Cisco devices."
"Cisco can only be used for Cisco environments and is not compatible with other vendors."
"The product's pricing can be cheaper."
"We would like to see the inclusion of detailed alerts."
"There is room for improvement in the Access layer."
"The reporting could be simplified and the information made clearer to the user."
"Cisco needs to improve Prime's monitoring tab. If any device goes down, there is a 15-second lapse before we know. It would be much better if we were alerted two or three minutes before a device is about to fail, so we can dispatch a field engineer and avoid network downtime. I would like to see a feature that allows you to access the devices directly from Prime's monitoring tab. That would make work easier for us."
"If you think about a centralized monitoring system, Cisco Prime is not good because it does not support third-party vendors like Palo Alto or FortiGate."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Alcatel-Lucent ClearPass is an expensive product compared to other vendors."
"The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive."
"The cost is quite high."
"The solution is not inexpensive but is worth it for large-scale environments."
"I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"Cisco Prime is an expensive solution."
"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."
"If we have a license for Cisco DNA, we can use the same license for Cisco Prime."
"We update the license every five years."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise23
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Alcatel-Lucent ClearPass?
It helps secure IoT endpoints for specific networks.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alcatel-Lucent ClearPass?
Alcatel-Lucent ClearPass is an expensive product compared to other vendors. We have to buy different licenses for specific use cases and support services. I rate its pricing a six to seven.
What needs improvement with Alcatel-Lucent ClearPass?
There could be in-built end-to-end map integration features for IoT devices instead of using third-party tools. They should add a location-tracking feature to the product as well.
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.
What needs improvement with Cisco Prime?
The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive.
What is your primary use case for Cisco Prime?
We use Cisco Prime for centralized configuration management backups and monitoring.
 

Also Known As

Alcatel Lucent ClearPass, ClearPass Policy Management System, ClearPass
Cisco Prime Infrastructure
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blickle and Scherer, Loughborough University, CSF Inox, Caritas Speyer
Mohawk Industries, Universidad EAFIT, Halton Healthcare
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fortinet and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: August 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.