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Cisco Crosswork Network Insights vs Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) 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

Cisco Crosswork Network Ins...
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
58th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabri...
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
28th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco Crosswork Network Insights is 0.1%. The mindshare of Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) is 0.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)0.6%
Cisco Crosswork Network Insights0.1%
Other99.3%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

James  Scot - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Specialist at FedEx
Automation has transformed endpoint deployment and streamlines multi-vendor network operations
The best features that Cisco Crosswork Network Insights offers include a single pane of glass, multi-vendor comparison, and the ability to reduce engineer workload. The single pane of glass and multi-vendor comparison features help my team day-to-day because with the single pane of glass, we are able to manage everything at a single place, hence saving a lot of time, and the administration becomes very easy. Additionally, there is real-time network monitoring and analytics, multi-vendor and multi-domain support, scalable AI-driven insights to make data-driven decisions easy, and a modular application ecosystem with open APIs. Cisco Crosswork Network Insights has empowered our team to deploy network devices at customer locations more efficiently than ever before, and it also delivers critical network telemetry, streamlining troubleshooting and reducing reliance on manual processes. Cisco Crosswork Network Insights has positively impacted my organization by enhancing automation for endpoint deployment, hence saving a lot of time, and network usage statistics delivery to the end user's environment has been quicker.
Jagdev Dhaliwal - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Flow monitoring has improved planning for east-west traffic and real-time capacity decisions
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) helps to understand the flows and data plane capacities, which are the primary use cases. Usually, people struggle with east-west traffic flow when they need to decide on firewalls or products. People typically understand north-south traffic flows but usually miss the east-west traffic flows in data centers. I was focusing more on this so that people can accordingly plan, such as after F5, the number of servers, the number of sessions needed, and whether we need to plan the interface for groups from the line capacity perspective. This kind of information was valuable to us. The real-time telemetry feature was beneficial. When experiencing performance issues, I could determine if there were any issues related to flows or areas where bottlenecks were occurring.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco Crosswork Network Insights has been very fundamental and robust and helpful in my organization, empowering our team to deploy network devices at customer locations more efficiently than ever, and it also delivers critical network telemetry, streamlining troubleshooting and reducing reliance on manual processes."
"Cisco Crosswork Network Insights has impacted my organization positively as it has saved a lot of time, reduced management overhead, and simplified operations through a single pane of glass."
"The monitoring capability is the best in Cisco Data Center Network Manager. It helps me improve network management tasks and optimize processes."
"Monitoring system provides a clear indication of what's going on in the network."
"We use the product to manage access points."
"There are many valuable features in this solution: The automation of the ILS, the automation of the small changes, the lands updates, scheduling, integration - basically, the pushing of features that we used to do manually."
"More than good enough as we have new clients everyday connected using this product"
"Stability is not an issue."
"The feature I find most valuable, is the stability of the solution."
"For our purposes, excellent stability is the most valuable feature because we provide services for clients who need a dependable solution."
 

Cons

"Cisco Crosswork Network Insights is not an easy-to-use product and thus requires some training to ensure that it can be used to the best of its capabilities."
"I have not seen a return on investment yet; we are still working on it."
"It would be nice to have the ability to more easily collect information from other software when doing some types of analysis."
"Automation for the RMA process can be added."
"We need better performance and reliability."
"The automation feature could be improved."
"The configuration is too complicated and you have to create templates and use a lot of menus."
"It is not very easy to monitor or to browse."
"I would like to see improved integration with other tools."
"The configuration is too complicated and you have to create templates and use a lot of menus."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The product is licensed with contracts that work on a yearly basis rather than a monthly model."
"We usually opt for a yearly plan, commonly for three or five years upfront. Some customers may not utilize all the features included in the product, and this can lead to them paying for functionalities they don't need."
"The tool is always expensive, but their service, product quality, and support are good. We're happy with it, but it's still an expensive solution. There are cheaper alternatives but no similar platform across all domains."
"On average, Data Center Network Manager's pricing isn't too costly unless you choose a premier license."
"When we purchase a Nexus box, the MDS CM license comes with it."
"I would say that the pricing offers great value for the money."
"The solution is very expensive."
"The price of Cisco Data Center Network Manager is expensive compared to other vendors on the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
53%
Healthcare Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Transportation Company
6%
Government
10%
Construction Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise16
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cisco Crosswork Network Insights?
Cisco Crosswork Network Insights is really good, but we just need to get updates.
What is your primary use case for Cisco Crosswork Network Insights?
My main use case for Cisco Crosswork Network Insights involves Cisco products.A specific example of how I use Cisco Crosswork Network Insights includes Cisco UCS blade servers, Cisco UI, and Cisco ...
What do you like most about Cisco Data Center Network Manager?
It uses push technology, which pushes the changes to all relevant devices to ensure they are updated accordingly.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Data Center Network Manager?
The tool is always expensive, but their service, product quality, and support are good. We're happy with it, but it's still an expensive solution. There are cheaper alternatives but no similar plat...
What needs improvement with Cisco Data Center Network Manager?
I do not believe it integrated well with different infrastructures for hybrid environments. I am uncertain because we have never attempted that in our environment, so they could perform better in t...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Cisco Data Center Network Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Banco de Guayaquil, Cox Communications, Kuwait Petroleum Italia, Roper St. Francis, University of British Columbia
Find out what your peers are saying about Zabbix, Auvik, Datadog and others in Network Monitoring Software. Updated: March 2026.
885,376 professionals have used our research since 2012.