Cisco DNA Center vs NetScaler comparison

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Cisco DNA Center

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

NetScaler and Cisco DNA Center compete in the networking and application optimization space. NetScaler takes the upper hand in deployment flexibility, while Cisco DNA Center excels in network automation and analytics.

Features: NetScaler boasts a flexible deployment model supported by its TriScale architecture, offering excellent load balancing and user access control capabilities. It also provides robust traffic management and single sign-on functionality. Cisco DNA Center is recognized for its integrated network automation, providing real-time insights through its robust analytics and centralized network management solutions. It also offers extensive monitoring features and enhanced automation processes.

Room for Improvement: NetScaler needs better integration and intuitive configuration tools, alongside improvements in template and scripting flexibility to match competitors like F5. Stability issues requiring frequent patches are also noted. Cisco DNA Center should enhance its integration with third-party vendors and improve ease of use, as well as addressing challenges with complex deployments and high costs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NetScaler is versatile, supporting deployments across on-premises, public, private, and hybrid clouds, with satisfactory technical support, although support quality varies. Cisco DNA Center offers robust customer support and consistent technical service, primarily for on-premises deployment, but experiences occasional response delays, and its deployment options trail behind NetScaler.

Pricing and ROI: NetScaler is considered expensive, with additional costs for licenses, but customers achieve ROI through its stability and rich features enhancing network performance. Cisco DNA Center, being costlier, often limits accessibility for smaller businesses, yet offers value in centralized network control and is justified by its comprehensive management capabilities and integrations, marking it a worthy investment for larger enterprises.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco DNA Center vs. NetScaler Report (Updated: April 2025).

Cisco DNA Center vs. NetScaler

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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

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (12th), Network Automation (2nd)

NetScaler

Ranking in Network Management Applications

3rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

107

Ranking in other categories

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (1st), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (12th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 25.1%, down from 29.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetScaler is 1.6%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Management Applications

Featured Reviews

AvrahamSonenthal

Senior Network Engineer at Inside Global

Efficiently manages our wireless network and provides valuable monitoring features

The platform's biggest benefit has been in managing our wireless network. Having a single pane of glass to control all wireless controllers and access points and to monitor activity has been a significant advantage. We're a small federal agency with around 300 network devices, so automation is a minor focus. It's more relevant for larger networks. The main benefits we've seen are in inventory management and the potential for configuration automation. However, I recommend using the DNA Centre only for larger networks with over a thousand devices; otherwise, it may not be cost-effective. Before proceeding, ensure that your devices are compatible with DNA Center, as not all Cisco devices are supported. Also, investing in proper training is different from plug-and-play. I rate it an eight.

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DEMİRHAN ÇAVUŞOĞLU

Cloud Consultant at Migros Ticaret A.Ş.

A tool for centralized management including inventory and sales tracking

Citrix ADM has the ability to implement policies to tighten security. For instance, you can restrict access to your network from outsiders or lack necessary security measures such as antivirus programs. Additionally, there's the Delivery Controller, which allows for comprehensive monitoring and management tasks such as remote restarts, maintenance, and registration. Another essential component is the Director, which provides detailed insights into sessions, including identifying session failures, connection issues, user lockouts, etc. It presents a list of problems to address, enabling you to click on them and resolve them efficiently.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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 best feature of Cisco DNA Center is the visibility page, where you can see everything on the dashboard, and you don't have to be a technical person to view the issues."

"What I found valuable in Cisco DNA Center is the Software-Defined Access Network, so the entire LAN network can be centralized and managed from a single dashboard. Cisco DNA Center is suitable for centralized management and lets you deploy switches in a centralized fashion. You can also do multiple switch port configurations simultaneously and segregate your traffic into multiple fabrics. Another valuable feature of Cisco DNA Center is enhanced security through Scalable Group Tags. Cisco DNA Center can be integrated with your Cisco ISE to enhance the port securities, and this paves the way for Software-Defined Networking in the LAN segment, which is the main advantage of Cisco DNA Center. I also like that you can use Cisco DNA Center for data assurance or correlation. The solution shows your network and client health parameters, which I find convenient for troubleshooting."

"It gives us automation capabilities for pushing out the configuration to branch networks. It also provides visibility into the health of user network devices."

"The most valuable features of the solution are all of its security features...It is a highly scalable solution."

"Automation is another key highlight. With automation, you can automate everything through a single port."

"What's most valuable in Cisco DNA Center is the ability to manage any Cisco infrastructure and device through it. Setup was straightforward."

"The product gives a consolidated view."

More Cisco DNA Center pros

"The solution's technical support is good."

"One of the most beneficial features for application delivery is its integration with Citrix Storefront, facilitating user logins and ensuring continuity during data center outages."

"The solution can scale."

"It is a very stable solution."

"The maintenance of the solution is not complex."

"I would say the rewriting and redirection functions are must-have's for us."

"SSL Offload"

"Its customer support service is good."

More NetScaler pros

Cons

"The cost is very high."

"The features of Cisco DNA Center and Cisco Prime could have more parity."

"The solution's integration feature can be better."

"From the recent DNA point of view, there are some stability challenges with Cisco, but very minor."

"Technical support could be better. The price could be better, and it could be more stable."

"There are some software problems from version to version. It takes a long time for DNA Center to recognize the video and control access devices."

"The tool's deployment is complex. It also needs to improve its GUI."

"The product has many features that do not work properly."

More Cisco DNA Center cons

"Mastering it requires significant learning and training due to its complexity."

"It does not have a sandbox cloud service and antivirus. It should have on-prem or cloud sandboxing and antivirus."

"Citrix should offer a demo or free-trial version of NetScaler. Several other vendors do, but Citrix does not. Pricing should also be more readily available."

"Native integration needs to be improved. You cannot build ISE codes natively. For DevOps, integration would be very helpful because it would be a lot simpler from an operational standpoint."

"Citrix ADC can be really complex. It isn't very simple like some other appliances that I've worked with. You need a lot of skill and experience to manage it. I'm not talking about a year or two. You need at least four years to understand it very well. It is not that easy to learn. They should make it a lot simpler for users to understand the management of it. They can also provide some additional training. The material they have on the site is not sufficient enough for you to understand how to manage it. Their training is expensive, and not everyone has the funds and experience for it. Citrix isn't very popular around these parts of the world. So, it can use some more marketing, sales, enlightenment, and advertisement. These could bring more market for them. Basically, there are just a few companies that really go for Citrix. Most of the companies go for VMware because they marketed themselves more than Citrix. There isn't much difference between Citrix and VMware. VMware is a little more robust than Citrix. Citrix has focused more on desktops rather than server virtualization, and that's the advantage VMware has over Citrix. Citrix also needs to educate and inform users about the infrastructure that is supported with a version. Currently, if the customers don't look at the datasheet, they might miss this important information."

"If one device or switch fails, the failover to another device is not seamless which is painful."

"When a new version comes out, sometimes, my existing configuration gets wiped out. They should work on this so that my existing configuration doesn't get impacted with an upgrade to a newer version. There could also reduce frequent firmware upgrade activities and have a stable version so that once we upgrade it, we don't have to upgrade it for two to three years."

"The setup was not simple."

More NetScaler cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is very costly."

"The solution is expensive."

"The price of the solution is expensive. The hardware is licensed on the device, but the hardware on the server is expensive."

"Licensing for Cisco DNA Center is a little bit expensive, just like any Cisco solution. Its cost could still be improved."

"We have a three-year license with them."

"The tool is medium-priced."

"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."

"We get a yearly license at the time we buy the product."

More Cisco DNA Center pricing and cost advice

"In Turkey, everything is good, but it seems expensive for us due to the currency exchange. I don't have a specific rating scale, but if I had to rate the price, I would say it's around a six out of ten."

"I give the price of the solution a seven out of ten."

"I do not have any experience with the pricing of the product."

"F5 BIG-IP is much more expensive than Citrix ADC. For example, If we choose two platforms, Citrix ADC, 3000 version, and we choose F5, F4200 version. F5 BIG-IP has connections, timers, and throughput similar to Citrix ADC, but the price is very expensive."

"Licensing is adequate. I wanted to have a more prominent license, but until I do they don't give enough support. The additional cost would be too much."

"We get value for money. Its price is fair. I don't think it is overpriced."

"It is very pricey, but we get it. If you need the best, money shouldn't be a problem."

"It's an expensive product but it works well."

More NetScaler pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

15%

Educational Organization

13%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

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?

The cost is very high.

What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?

The system is working fine for me currently.

What do you like most about Citrix ADC?

The most valuable feature for us is the application firewalling in Citrix NetScaler, ensuring only valid traffic enters our environment.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix ADC?

After deployment, Citrix Netscaler shifted to a subscription-based license scheme for support, which is slightly more expensive.

What needs improvement with Citrix ADC?

Citrix NetScaler is a robust product, but mastering it requires significant learning and training due to its complexity. While it could be easier to manage, it is like transitioning from driving a ...

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Product Reports

Cisco DNA Center

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Also Known As

DNA Center

Citrix ADC, Citrix NetScaler VPX, NetScaler Console, NetScaler Web Application Firewall

Overview

Cisco DNA Center offers a comprehensive platform for network automation and management, providing detailed analytics, enhanced security, and streamlined operations for both wired and wireless networks.

Cisco DNA Center integrates with Cisco infrastructure to deliver efficient network automation and management, helping organizations improve network visibility, security, and control. It supports AI-driven analytics and automated workflows to enhance operational efficiency and reduce errors. Challenges include compatibility with third-party systems, steep learning curve, and complex deployment. Its interface facilitates centralized control, vital for troubleshooting, policy management, and configuration management, with support for zero-touch provisioning and SD-Access.

What are the key features of Cisco DNA Center?

Robust Analytics: Provides detailed insights into network health with AI-driven analytics.
Centralized Security: Integrates with ISE for comprehensive security management.
Automated Device Management: Simplifies device provisioning and configuration transfers.
Wi-Fi Analytics: Offers deep insights into wireless network performance.
Zero-Touch Provisioning: Streamlines new device deployments with minimal human intervention.
Scalable Segmentation: Efficiently segments network traffic ensuring security and performance.

What benefits should users consider?

Operational Efficiency: Automation reduces potential errors and streamlines workflow.
Enhanced Security: Integration with Cisco ISE bolsters security capabilities.
Network Visibility: Comprehensive dashboards and analysis tools enhance monitoring.
Troubleshooting: Real-time monitoring aids in identifying and resolving issues swiftly.

In sectors such as healthcare, finance, and retail, Cisco DNA Center is utilized for its ability to enhance security and compliance, manage large-scale networks, and provide detailed analytics for better operational decision-making. Its support for location tracking and policy automation ensures efficient network management across diverse environments.

Cisco

One platform for a consistent application delivery and security experience because nobody has time to learn multiple systems to manage ADC deployments. NetScaler is built with a single code base using a software-based architecture, so no matter which ADC form factor you choose — hardware, virtual machine, bare metal, or container — the behavior will be the same.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

ABB Schweiz, Aer Lingus, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Amnet Technology Solutions, Aramex International, Ascenty, Atos, Autodesk

Cisco DNA Center vs. NetScaler