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Cisco DNA Center vs OpenText Network Node Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 19, 2025

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 DNA Center
Ranking in Network Management Applications
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (12th), Network Automation (2nd)
OpenText Network Node Manager
Ranking in Network Management Applications
15th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 24.0%, down from 29.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Network Node Manager is 2.6%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmed  Helmy - PeerSpot reviewer
Experience unified visibility and monitoring for enterprise campus and significant time savings and enhanced troubleshooting with reliable support
We have been working with Cisco DNA Center for ten years. Our clients use Cisco DNA Center for unified visibility/monitoring across Enterprise Campus both LAN & WLAN along with Access and fast technical issues troubleshooting The solution provides fast troubleshooting capabilities and fast…
Qusai Abuomar - PeerSpot reviewer
Network performance optimization achieved with comprehensive visibility and effective event handling
The root cause analysis is valuable. The availability and event handling are also very good, as our team understands the events well. Overall, the tool helps maintain the health of the network. It provides visibility for the network device status, link status, and hardware status of devices such as switches and routers.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features of the solution are all of its security features...It is a highly scalable solution."
"Cisco DNA Center provides operational support, compliance support, security vulnerability detection, and automatic scheduling."
"I like the visibility, instant build, network, policies, and the ability to control access. I also like that you can visualize your whole network."
"The monitoring features are very useful for network engineers."
"Cisco is a leading network company."
"The product gives a consolidated view."
"The solution has the capability to scale."
"It gives us automation capabilities for pushing out the configuration to branch networks. It also provides visibility into the health of user network devices."
"Real time network monitoring application: It is very stable, which provides quick root cause analysis (RCA) for any network faults."
"Overall, the tool helps maintain the health of the network."
"We do not have any issues stability-wise."
"The platform has good stability."
"You can utilize the main file from various vendors for integration."
"Most valuable function would have to the internal causal engine and its root cause analyzer which keep us updated on critical errors and incidents in our network environment."
"A good enterprise-level solution."
"It gives us a good overview of what's happening in our networks and the devices in the networks."
 

Cons

"In terms of the clustering part, there are some concerns."
"Cisco could improve the security side of their solutions."
"They can improve the network visibility. Licensing and its maintenance are also needed."
"From the recent DNA point of view, there are some stability challenges with Cisco, but very minor."
"DNA Center has been on the market for a few years and they need to update it."
"The tool's deployment is complex. It also needs to improve its GUI."
"What could be improved is the licensing cost of Cisco DNA Center. It's a little bit expensive."
"Technical support could be better. The price could be better, and it could be more stable."
"The resources utilized could be a bit higher, and that is one of the challenges that isn't optimized"
"Micro Focus Network Node Manager is not the best when it comes to drilling down for more visibility, especially regarding traffic."
"Right now, we have open tickets and they are not closing as expected."
"The solution should integrate with NAC servers."
"We have not had a good experience with technical support from OpenText. Many cases take a month to be resolved."
"They should add AI options in the product's next release."
"Only to improve the GUI."
"Micro Focus Network Node Manager is not powered to drill down for traffic visibility."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Affordability is a problem because it's created for large enterprises only. So, some customers, even if their engineers want the solution, might have problems with budget limitations."
"We have a three-year license with them."
"I do know that Cisco does offer some really good promotions for DNA Center to bring the costs down."
"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"Our licensing agreement is for three years."
"The licensing cost for Cisco DNA Center is not more than that of other solutions."
"The price of the solution is expensive. The hardware is licensed on the device, but the hardware on the server is expensive."
"I wasn't involved in the pricing, but I think it's quite expensive."
"It's an expensive solution."
"It is more inexpensive than other products in the market."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"The solution is priced mid-range compared to the competition."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
We have utilized the software-defined access (SDA) feature of Cisco DNA Center. The AI-driven needs enhancements and Integration and unification of visibility and monitoring to include other areas ...
What needs improvement with Micro Focus Network Node Manager?
The interface is outdated and needs to be more dynamic and faster. It would be better if the product was a single module rather than requiring additional modules and licensing for APIs and extra fe...
What is your primary use case for Micro Focus Network Node Manager?
We use OpenText Network Node Manager i ( /products/opentext-network-node-manager-i-reviews ) primarily for network monitoring and diagnostics in our organization. We use this product for fault and ...
 

Also Known As

DNA Center
Micro Focus Network Node Manager, Network Node Manager, HPE Network Node Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
IPC, Exelon, VivaCom, 
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco DNA Center vs. OpenText Network Node Manager and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
861,524 professionals have used our research since 2012.