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Apstra Operating System vs Cisco DNA Center comparison

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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

Apstra Operating System
Ranking in Network Automation
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco DNA Center
Ranking in Network Automation
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (2nd), Network Monitoring Software (34th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Network Automation category, the mindshare of Apstra Operating System is 2.2%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 9.8%, down from 12.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Automation Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco DNA Center9.8%
Apstra Operating System2.2%
Other88.0%
Network Automation
 

Featured Reviews

HF
Works at wolterskluwer
Highly secure, useful AB test, and stable
I am using Apstra Operating System for some classes and for my personal use Apstra Operating System's most important features are the security and AB test to define what approach we need to take in my company. Additionally, the solution does not take a lot of maintenance. The report data could…
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Apstra Operating System's most important features are the security and AB test to define what approach we need to take in my company. Additionally, the solution does not take a lot of maintenance."
"I find Apstra Operating System very good to use and would recommend this solution to others."
"The most valuable features of Cisco DNA Center are wireless assurance and visibility."
"The most valuable features of the solution are all of its security features...It is a highly scalable solution."
"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."
"Cisco DNA Center is something that I recommend."
"The monitoring is very valuable to me."
"It enables monitoring of various components such as access points, switch cards, and other elements within the company's solutions."
"It offers automation, security enforcement, analytics, and integration with other Cisco technologies, making it a key driver for efficient network operations and compliance with security protocols."
"The biggest lesson that I have learned from working with this solution is that this technology is much easier now."
 

Cons

"The report data could improve in Apstra Operating System."
"It's quite good, however, it's not ideal for smaller organizations as it's cost-prohibitive."
"The product has many features that do not work properly."
"In terms of the clustering part, there are some concerns."
"It's a very good product, however, it comes with a very high price."
"We encountered issues with their response times, which had a big impact on our workflow."
"Cisco DNA Center was a new technology for us, at the beginning, it was not easy to do, but Cisco did a lot of training with us to a level we could handle everything. The team is managing itself now without the assistance of Cisco."
"An area for improvement in Cisco DNA Center is the latency in data correlation. For example, sometimes, when an issue happens, and I check the logs, I can't find the corresponding log. There's a delay in log replication, so this is what needs improvement in Cisco DNA Center. Reporting in Cisco DNA Center could also be improved because it only has a few templates, and you can't customize it based on your requirements. There aren't many options available in Cisco DNA Center regarding reporting, versus Cisco Prime, which has excellent features for different levels of detailed reports. I'd like to see real-time data replication in the next release of Cisco DNA Center, similar to what's done in Meraki. Data in Meraki is real-time with no delay, so data is immediately replicated in the cloud. Currently, there's a lag in Cisco DNA Center, and addressing that lag is the enhancement I'd like to see in Cisco DNA Center. The solution also needs to be more user-friendly."
"One area that needs improvement is the upgrade process."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is competitive."
"I do know that Cisco does offer some really good promotions for DNA Center to bring the costs down."
"The price of the solution is expensive. The hardware is licensed on the device, but the hardware on the server 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 price could be better. It's a very expensive tool."
"Cisco DNA Center is expensive."
"The tool's licensing may not come across as something that may be friendly for users."
"It is an expensive solution."
"The solution is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise24
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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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. ...
 

Also Known As

Apstra OS, AOS
DNA Center
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bloomberg Television, Energy Corporation, A mid-sized financial services company
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat, Cisco, Broadcom and others in Network Automation. Updated: September 2026.
917,884 professionals have used our research since 2012.