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Cisco DNA Center vs Infoblox NIOS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 18, 2026

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
5.4
Cisco DNA Center offers ROI through time savings despite its cost with a user rating of 4/5 to 7/10.
Sentiment score
8.9
Infoblox NIOS boosts efficiency, reducing errors and costs significantly, with three-year DNS reliability and 300% ROI.
Although Cisco DNA Center is expensive, we have seen a return on investment in terms of time savings.
Sr. Director, Business Development & Sales Operations at connect professional services
This is helping us achieve five to 10 times faster delivery due to the reduced downtime.
Software Engineering Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
We did not have any DNS-related incidents in three years supporting the traffic flow for about 10 million people.
Network Security Engineer at ORANGE MALI
Previously, people spent around 100 hours a month on tasks that were reduced to 10 hours, freeing up time for learning and engaging in multiple projects, increasing from three or four per month to nine or ten.
Lead Network Engineer at Chevron
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
Cisco DNA Center support is generally well-received, though some users encounter delays and desire better documentation and consistency.
Sentiment score
8.1
Infoblox NIOS customer service excels in DNS, DHCP support and offers quick, professional assistance, enhancing user satisfaction.
Overall, Cisco DNA Center rates eight out of ten as a complete solution.
Sr. Director, Business Development & Sales Operations at connect professional services
The support for Cisco DNA Center is good.
Network Engineer at NGN Bilgi ve İletişim Hizmetleri
They supported issues related to DNS, DHCP, and the grid architecture, providing not just scripted answers, but also helping us with configuration, outages, and complex troubleshooting.
Software Engineering Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
if we create a ticket, we receive feedback within two hours,
Network Security Engineer at ORANGE MALI
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco DNA Center offers scalable network management with effective expansion, despite limited IPv6 support and high licensing costs.
Sentiment score
7.5
Infoblox NIOS offers scalable grid architecture, efficiently managing large-scale DNS, DHCP, and IPAM across multiple sites with minimal downtime.
From my experience, we can easily manage numerous devices.
Network Engineer at NGN Bilgi ve İletişim Hizmetleri
The solution is designed for large enterprise companies.
Sr. Director, Business Development & Sales Operations at connect professional services
Regarding DDI, DNS and DHCP at scale, it handles millions of DNS queries per second and huge lease volume without hiccups.
Software Engineering Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Whenever we make replacements or changes, the downtime is really low.
Network Engineer III at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Infoblox NIOS's scalability is excellent for our organization; they are flexible to align with our growth.
Network Security Engineer at ORANGE MALI
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco DNA Center is generally stable, with users praising its reliability despite minor bugs and stability challenges.
Sentiment score
8.9
Infoblox NIOS is renowned for its stability, reliability, and consistent performance, ideal for critical infrastructure and high availability.
When we communicate problems, they solve them effectively.
Network Engineer at NGN Bilgi ve İletişim Hizmetleri
Infoblox NIOS is very stable in our environment, with no unexpected downtime.
Network Security Engineer at ORANGE MALI
It is designed for critical infrastructure, high availability, minimal downtime, and predictable behavior.
Software Engineering Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I evaluated other options before choosing Infoblox NIOS, and I can confirm that Infoblox NIOS is stable.
Network Engineer III at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco DNA Center needs better integration, pricing, UI, stability, deployment, reporting, training, and troubleshooting for improved usability.
Infoblox NIOS needs a more user-friendly interface, advanced dashboards, improved features, better cost management, and enhanced network visibility.
The AI-driven insights have contributed significantly to faster troubleshooting and predictive analytics.
Sr. Director, Business Development & Sales Operations at connect professional services
The client history in Cisco DNA Center can be longer than 10 days, perhaps extending to 15 or 20 days.
Network Engineer at NGN Bilgi ve İletişim Hizmetleri
Infoblox engineers recommend upgrading to NIOS 9.0.5 for enhanced visibility and control, but considering NIOS 9.6 may offer better logging and troubleshooting capabilities, as well as performance enhancements and future-ready integration.
Lead Network Engineer at Chevron
Advanced features such as grid extensibility and APIs require solid training.
Software Engineering Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The missing point I can see in Infoblox NIOS is the load balancing functionalities, where for a DNS A record that has two IP addresses, we need the possibility to monitor those IP addresses to see if one goes down.
Network Security Engineer at ORANGE MALI
 

Setup Cost

Cisco DNA Center's high costs and licensing requirements can deter smaller businesses, appealing mainly to large enterprises.
Infoblox NIOS offers costly yet valued licensing, appreciated for quality, support, and customer assistance in deployment and procurement.
We bought the perpetual plus support contract which provides renewed support yearly.
Software Engineering Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Infoblox NIOS was good, but it is very, very expensive compared to other DNS infrastructure vendors.
Network Security Engineer at ORANGE MALI
Infoblox NIOS pricing feels somewhat higher because I am comparing it to competitors.
Security Presales at a university with 11-50 employees
 

Valuable Features

Cisco DNA Center provides analytics, centralized management, and enhanced security with automation, real-time monitoring, and AI-driven network insights.
Infoblox NIOS offers comprehensive DDI solutions, enhancing network security, scalability, reliability, and operational efficiency with advanced features.
The most valuable features include AI-driven insights which make troubleshooting much easier.
Sr. Director, Business Development & Sales Operations at connect professional services
If there is a problem, I can inspect the situation and see what is happening, which is beneficial.
Network Engineer at NGN Bilgi ve İletişim Hizmetleri
Infoblox NIOS has impacted my organization positively by giving us an overview about how users utilize the internet, stopping many DNS breaches generated by internal users, and helping us to determine the distribution of IP addresses through DNS IPAM.
Security Presales at a university with 11-50 employees
Infoblox NIOS has positively impacted my organization by providing visibility and control over everything. This visibility and control help my team with faster troubleshooting and better security.
Network Engineer III at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The control and automation it puts in place eliminate errors, speed up deployments, and ensure network reliability and stability.
Software Engineering Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco DNA Center
Ranking in Network Automation
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (1st), Network Monitoring Software (18th)
Infoblox NIOS
Ranking in Network Automation
9th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
DDI (5th)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
AS58 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineering Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Centralized IP management has reduced outages and now delivers faster, disciplined network operations
Infoblox NIOS can be improved because there is always a scope of improvement in everything. I would recommend UI simplicity. The UI is powerful, actually, but it feels heavy for new users. A more modern and task-oriented interface would reduce the onboarding time. Advanced features such as grid extensibility and APIs require solid training. Better guided workflows and in-product tips would help teams adopt faster. Reporting and dashboard are very interactive, but I think the built-in reports are functional but basic. More customizable visual dashboards would help managers and NOCs quickly see trends. The licensing clarity feels a bit complex. If the packaging were clearer and there was easier visibility of the feature uses, it would help with planning and cost control. I feel that if there could be any feature related to role-based self-service portals integrated for non-network teams, that would help in reducing the dependency on the network team for other teams. That would help in collaborating better.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise25
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco DNA Center?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it gives some kind of ease in operations, especially since our company is moving from CLI to GUI-based configuration.
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?
In my opinion, the client history in Cisco DNA Center can be longer than 10 days, perhaps extending to 15 or 20 days. I am using it in a huge factory in Turkey, and sometimes I need to see what occ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Infoblox NIOS?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been great because Infoblox NIOS supports multiple licensing models. We bought the perpetual plus support contract which provides renewed s...
What needs improvement with Infoblox NIOS?
Infoblox NIOS can be improved because there is always a scope of improvement in everything. I would recommend UI simplicity. The UI is powerful, actually, but it feels heavy for new users. A more m...
What is your primary use case for Infoblox NIOS?
My main use case for Infoblox NIOS is the services which it offers like DNS, DHCP, and IPAM. It is highly reliable and scales well in the enterprise environment. Infoblox NIOS provides centralized ...
 

Also Known As

DNA Center
No data available
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco DNA Center vs. Infoblox NIOS and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.