Cisco Catalyst Center vs ExtremeManagement comparison

Cisco and Extreme Networks are both solutions in the Network Management Applications category. Cisco is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.6, while Extreme Networks is ranked #22. Cisco holds a 7.9% mindshare in NMA, compared to Extreme Networks’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Extreme Networks users who would recommend it.

Cisco Catalyst Center

Read 17 Cisco Catalyst Center reviews

1,133 Views
1,122 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

ExtremeManagement

Read 5 ExtremeManagement reviews

436 Views
392 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Catalyst Center

ExtremeManagement

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

ExtremeManagement and Cisco Catalyst Center compete in network management and optimization. ExtremeManagement is noteworthy for its pricing and customer support, making it suitable for businesses focused on cost-effectiveness. Conversely, Cisco Catalyst Center is preferred for its robust features and comprehensive functionalities, aligning with its pricing.

Features: ExtremeManagement provides straightforward network visibility, streamlined configuration management, and simplified administration, prioritizing user-friendly operations. Cisco Catalyst Center offers advanced analytics, automation capabilities, and supports complex network environments with deeper insights.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ExtremeManagement is known for its simple setup process and accessible customer service, ensuring a smooth onboarding experience. Cisco Catalyst Center involves a more complex deployment due to its extensive capabilities, complemented by detailed support resources.

Pricing and ROI: ExtremeManagement offers a cost-effective setup with strong ROI, aligning its pricing model with features suitable for budget-conscious businesses. Cisco Catalyst Center, while more expensive, delivers a greater ROI through its enhanced feature set, appealing to organizations seeking comprehensive network management capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Catalyst Center vs. ExtremeManagement Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Catalyst Center vs. ExtremeManagement

December 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 881,082 peers since 2012

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 Catalyst Center

Ranking in Network Management Applications

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

ExtremeManagement

Ranking in Network Management Applications

22nd

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Cisco Catalyst Center is 7.9%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ExtremeManagement is 1.9%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Management Applications Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Catalyst Center	7.9%
ExtremeManagement	1.9%
Other	90.2%

Network Management Applications

Featured Reviews

AndrewRichardson

Network Engineer at Edmonton Catholic School Board

Has improved infrastructure management with customizable reporting and automated deployment

Cisco Catalyst Center's reporting is one of the best features, providing graphs and quick hit analysis in one place instead of having to search elsewhere. Historical data can be stored in Cisco Catalyst Center, and dashboards and widgets can be configured to personal preference. Device deployment can be automated to the point where all someone needs to do is plug it in. Zero Touch Provisioning, while requiring some initial work to set up properly, provides significant benefits. Once configured, it reduces the need for travel by specific network personnel, allowing on-site or other staff to handle device deployment by simply plugging in the cable.

Read full review

LuisBrown

Chief Information Security Officer at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees

Mature and robust platform; can be used to manage Cisco switches

ExtremeManagement is excellent. It is a very mature platform and robust in that it covers most of the functionality of the devices. One of ExtremeManagement's advantages over its competitors is that it is capable of managing Cisco switches if you have their on-prem manager. So you can take your legacy Cisco switches and manage them directly in the Extreme platform.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco's technical support is excellent."

"Cisco Catalyst switches are reliable and stable."

"One of the most significant features of Cisco Catalyst Center that has improved our network performance is the wireless assurance, which helped us identify issues in the wireless; thanks to the help of Cisco Catalyst Center, we migrated from 2.4 to 5G as we understood where the maximum service interruptions were happening, leading to significant improvement in customer satisfaction, better connectivity, better strength, and better onboarding."

"Cisco Catalyst Center has greatly enhanced the user-friendliness of configuring Catalyst switches."

"The best feature is its availability, easy deployment, and the good support for the solution."

"There is a lot of documentation for the platform, which is an advantage."

"Cisco Catalyst Center's reporting is one of the best features, providing graphs and quick hit analysis in one place instead of having to search elsewhere."

"I find Cisco Catalyst Center to be a great solution because their hardware is strong, and the platform is reliable."

More Cisco Catalyst Center pros

"The technical support services are good."

"I need fewer people to do implementation and support, and I don't have to go on-site to change the configuration or otherwise support the switch."

"ExtremeManagement brings in the most value by reducing the technical debt to the organization in terms of having to hire personnel to maintain it or contract it."

"The best thing about the solution is that it is all managed from just a single application window. We call this feature a single pane of glass due to the fact that almost all the features are all managed within a single application, or a browser, to be more specific."

"The report model is one of the valuable models. We are able to see all the information concentrated in reports, which is very useful. We are able to get the information about the performance of the equipment and check that everything is okay. You can get very useful information across applications, so we have very good experience with their management solutions. It has many functionalities to simplify the administration and monitor the development of the switches or AP. It is easy to deploy, easy to configure. and easy to develop. Its price is also good."

Cons

"For someone new, the documentation is not very clear."

"My customers often complain about numerous software bugs requiring frequent software patches and updates to resolve these issues."

"The initial setup of Cisco Catalyst Center is complex."

"It is a little more expensive."

"Current pricing is too expensive for features that users may not be sure they will use, pricing the company out of the market."

"There is room for improvement in introducing auto-heal AI capabilities. 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."

"The deployment process is pretty complex"

"My customers often complain about numerous software bugs requiring frequent software patches and updates to resolve these issues."

More Cisco Catalyst Center cons

"It would be helpful if this solution had support for configuring and managing third-party hardware devices."

"There could be better integration with third-party equipment and vendors."

"It would be great to not need an on-premises SiteIQ license for running a Fabric OS cloud or managing third-party devices."

"Some features are quite difficult to configure and they are very complicated to figure out. Maybe the vendors should introduce a more driven configuration that can clarify the processes a bit more to make the processes more clearly defined."

"They can improve the information period. Currently, we are able to have information for only 14 or 15 days, but we would like to have information for an extended period of maybe 30 days. Their technical support can also be improved in terms of the response time to the tickets."

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"It has a good price. There is a good relationship between the cost and the performance."

"The support is billed on a yearly basis, and there are no additional costs."

"While they don't consider it affordable, they don't find it overly expensive."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Management Applications solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

15%

Government

12%

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	12

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Catalyst Center?

During license renewal, the pricing for Catalyst licensing increased significantly. For a hardware refresh, the site switched to Fortinet switching because the cost difference was approximately six...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Catalyst Center?

Cisco Catalyst Center would benefit from different licensing tiers instead of an all-or-nothing model. Some tiers could focus on monitoring and tracking licenses with minimal configuration automati...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Cisco Catalyst Center?

The product was used with Catholic schools because that was their primary infrastructure. This is an enterprise-level product rather than an SMB-grade solution.

See all answers

What do you like most about ExtremeManagement?

The technical support services are good.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ExtremeManagement?

I don't know the exact pricing or licensing details. However, based on feedback from our customers, they haven't raised significant complaints about the cost. While they don't consider it affordabl...

See all answers

What needs improvement with ExtremeManagement?

There could be better integration with third-party equipment and vendors. While ExtremeManagement technically supports monitoring various devices like firewalls, the integration may not be as seaml...

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco DNA Center vs Cisco Catalyst Center

Compared 55% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Cisco Catalyst Center

Compared 15% of the time

Juniper Mist Wired Assurance vs Cisco Catalyst Center

Compared 9% of the time

SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper vs Cisco Catalyst Center

Compared 7% of the time

Aruba Airwave vs Cisco Catalyst Center

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco Catalyst Center Competitors

DataMiner vs ExtremeManagement

Compared 46% of the time

HPE Intelligent Management Center vs ExtremeManagement

Compared 31% of the time

Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista vs ExtremeManagement

Compared 24% of the time

More ExtremeManagement Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Catalyst Center

January 2026

Download Cisco Catalyst Center product report

Buyer's Guide

ExtremeManagement

January 2026

Download ExtremeManagement product report

Overview

Cisco Catalyst Center offers a comprehensive platform for network management, providing scalable solutions and advanced analytics for enterprise-level operations.

Focusing on efficient network management, Cisco Catalyst Center effectively addresses dynamic enterprise environments, ensuring operational scalability and actionable insights through its robust feature set. It emphasizes seamless management with an intuitive interface tailored for professional use, facilitating enhanced network visibility and control among IT professionals and service providers.

What are the standout features of Cisco Catalyst Center?

Automated Provisioning: Simplifies and speeds up network configuration processes by automating repetitive tasks.
Advanced Analytics: Provides real-time insights and trends for network optimization and security enhancements.
Policy-Based Configuration: Ensures consistent network settings adherence with centralized policy management.
Comprehensive Monitoring: Offers in-depth visibility into network performance, facilitating quick identification of issues.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Improved Efficiency: Streamlined operations lead to reduced manual input and increased productivity.
Cost Savings: Automation and analytics reduce operational expenses and enhance ROI.
Enhanced Security: Policy enforcement and monitoring provide robust defense against vulnerabilities.
Scalability: Supports growing network infrastructures and evolving enterprise demands.

Cisco Catalyst Center is widely implemented across industries like finance, healthcare, and education due to its ability to handle complex network requirements. It addresses specific needs by offering tailored solutions designed to enhance operational efficiency and security, catering to professionals managing large-scale IT ecosystems.

Cisco

Extreme Management Center (formerly NetSight) provides access to web-based reporting, network analysis, troubleshooting, and helpdesk tools. Management Center includes wired/wireless dashboards, reports, end-system information and policy, interactive topology maps, application identification, web-based FlexViews, device views, and event logs. NetFlow diagnostics enable assessment of network issues and performance. Search functionality enables you to search for end-systems by MAC address, IP address, end-system name, or user name.

Extreme Networks

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

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Catalyst Center vs. ExtremeManagement

December 2025

Free Report: Cisco Catalyst Center vs. ExtremeManagement

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst Center vs. ExtremeManagement and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Cisco Catalyst Center vs. ExtremeManagement report.

See our list of best Network Management Applications vendors.

We monitor all Network Management Applications reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.