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Cisco Catalyst Center vs ExtremeCloud IQ comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Catalyst Center simplifies network management and enhances efficiency, providing positive ROI and performance, despite high initial costs.
Sentiment score
6.8
ExtremeCloud IQ enhances productivity by simplifying management, stabilizing Wi-Fi, reducing costs, and offering quick deployment for business growth.
They have a long life.
The best feature is its availability, easy deployment, and good support for the solution.
I managed to support and deploy ExtremeCloud IQ and handle network management without requiring external staffing, thus saving on external hiring costs.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.7
Cisco Catalyst Center's efficient, timely support is highly rated, though hardware replacement delays occur, especially in complex cases.
Sentiment score
7.8
ExtremeCloud IQ offers efficient, responsive customer service with knowledgeable support, though some find documentation and resources lacking compared to competitors.
I had a situation where they were present with us overnight to fix an issue for a customer, demonstrating their dedication.
I would rate technical support nine to nine and a half out of ten.
The software platform is very easy to use.
I experienced effective help mainly remotely, though for some issues, a technical person had to assist on-site.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Cisco Catalyst Center is lauded for scalability, flexibility, and efficient device management, with high ratings for its adaptability.
Sentiment score
8.0
ExtremeCloud IQ offers scalable, seamless network expansion with cloud-based architecture, supporting high-density and smaller-scale applications efficiently.
They have a feature that allows stacking switches together.
Cisco Catalyst Center is scalable and quite flexible, allowing for specific model choices like the 9,000 or 2,000 series based on the clients' performance requirements and bottlenecks.
It effectively manages all the devices I have, demonstrating its capability to scale.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Cisco Catalyst Center is praised for its reliability in networking, boasting strong stability and robust security for critical workloads.
Sentiment score
7.6
ExtremeCloud IQ is stable, with minor firmware issues; updates improve reliability, with newer bands performing well and occasional reboots needed.
They are very stable, not power cycling, and basically maintaining their stability.
They provide a robust and secure solution for critical workloads.
Cisco Catalyst Center is stable, and I would rate it a nine out of ten for stability.
It requires some time to update, which affects real-time management.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Catalyst Center struggles with compatibility, setup complexity, cost-effectiveness, user interface, documentation, threat detection, and mixed vendor support.
ExtremeCloud IQ needs improvements in UI, stability, performance, security, support, and pricing to meet user and market expectations.
My customers often complain about numerous software bugs requiring frequent software patches and updates to resolve these issues.
In the current setup, incidents are always reactionary, and it would be beneficial if Cisco Catalyst Center could proactively handle issues such as bandwidth crunches and packet drops.
Cisco Catalyst Center lacked intelligence in this area and required reliance on third-party appliances like firewalls or threat protection devices.
I needed deep details and more thorough resources.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Catalyst Center, while costly, offers value with high quality and ROI, positioned as a premium networking solution.
ExtremeCloud IQ is competitively priced, offering flexible licensing and reasonable support costs, especially advantageous for educational institutions.
They are also facing competitive pricing challenges from Huawei.
Cost is a major factor when any company is buying, and Cisco's products are pricier even compared to other US-based solutions.
The setup can be somewhat expensive.
The licensing was a challenge due to budget constraints, and I used ExtremeCloud IQ without a license for a period.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Catalyst Center provides robust automation, management, and security for large networks, enhancing functionality and ease of use.
ExtremeCloud IQ excels with centralized management, AI analytics, seamless scalability, and integration with planning tools for efficient networking.
There is a very wide user base providing support, so I almost never have to contact Cisco support due to the vast accessible knowledge base.
Their threat intelligence platform is excellent, including Talos Intelligence, which provides a good database and strong threat insights.
This dual functionality is crucial for monitoring large enterprises, providing a robust solution for IT teams.
The automation and information provided by ExtremeCloud IQ, such as connection status and logs, were very beneficial.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Catalyst Center
Ranking in Network Management Applications
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ExtremeCloud IQ
Ranking in Network Management Applications
10th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (10th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (18th)
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmad Attal - PeerSpot reviewer
Delivers strong analytics and integration capabilities but requires regular updates and training
My customers often complain about numerous software bugs requiring frequent software patches and updates to resolve these issues. Furthermore, the complexity of the solution can be challenging for some customers as they often require extensive training to fully understand and utilize the product. They have concerns about the high number of software bugs and the need for regular updates to address these bugs.
Sriman L - PeerSpot reviewer
One of the best cloud-based wireless solutions that helps manage multiple APs from a single dashboard across multiple locations
ExtremeCloud IQ’s user interface needs to be improved, and its current bugs need to be fixed. Sometimes, AP details, like the AP firmware and the AP hostname, are not updating properly because of a few bugs in the current version, which they might fix in the next version. Compared to the central and other cloud solutions, a couple of bugs still running on these portals need to be rectified. For ExtremeCloud IQ's next releases, I expect to get all the users and the events alerts. Also, if any AP goes down, I should be able to do some scheduled reports specific to the site because it is currently in beta. If any AP goes offline, that's an event. If you want to do the filter for a specific site event, we don't have that filter option. I expect specific site-level and category-level events and alert filters to get reports.
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
16%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Healthcare Company
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Educational Organization
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Catalyst Center?
The cost is relative and depends on the market and one's budget provision. While Cisco provides a good return on investment, they are also facing competitive pricing challenges from Huawei.
What needs improvement with Cisco Catalyst Center?
If they can add a layer of portable hotspots with some licensing flexibility for 20 to 50 users, it would be a great feature.
What is your primary use case for Cisco Catalyst Center?
We use Cisco Catalyst Center ( /products/cisco-catalyst-center-reviews ) for managing switches in our IT infrastructure. Our primary focus has been on utilizing Catalyst ( /products/cisco-catalyst-...
What are pros and cons of Aruba 515 Series AP vs. Cisco Meraki or Extreme Networks?
Depends. I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them. Extreme I am not, so unless they have some feature that I need or want, I wouldn't consider them. Do you have expe...
What do you like most about ExtremeCloud IQ?
The Client 360 feature provides a comprehensive view of your clients and their activities, including the devices they use. Additionally, a feature called Network 360 offers a 360-degree view of the...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ExtremeCloud IQ?
The licensing was a challenge due to budget constraints, and I used ExtremeCloud IQ without a license for a period. The documentation and training courses were also costly, impacting how easily I c...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Aerohive Networks, Aerohive HiveManager, HiveManager, ExtremeCloud , ExtremeSecurity
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Henry Ford Health System, Baltimore Ravens, Brandili, Federal University of Alagoas, CEDAE, Caxias do Sul, UNISC Concurrency, CenturyLink Field, Louisiana College, Cricket Tasmania Stadium, Moscow Internet Exchange
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst Center vs. ExtremeCloud IQ and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.