Cisco DNA Center vs Plixer Scrutinizer comparison

Cisco and Plixer are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Cisco is ranked #18 with an average rating of 8.4, while Plixer is ranked #75. Cisco holds a 1.0% mindshare in NMS, compared to Plixer’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Plixer users who would recommend it.

Cisco DNA Center

Read 43 Cisco DNA Center reviews

7,244 Views
2,101 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Plixer Scrutinizer

Read 15 Plixer Scrutinizer reviews

1,610 Views
1,191 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Cisco DNA Center

Plixer Scrutinizer

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Plixer Scrutinizer and Cisco DNA Center compete in the network monitoring and security category. While both offer valuable features, Cisco DNA Center has an upper hand in centralized management and comprehensive analytics, ideal for seamless device integration and real-time network monitoring.

Features: Plixer Scrutinizer offers advanced traffic flow analysis, detailed historical data, and Active Directory integration, efficiently handling formats like sFlow and NetFlow. It supports massive data traffic from varied devices, aiding network troubleshooting. Cisco DNA Center stands out with centralized management, LAN automation, and extensive analytics, supporting seamless device integration and real-time monitoring. Its capabilities in managing both wired and wireless environments with automation are notable.

Room for Improvement: Plixer Scrutinizer could enhance its user interface, metadata extraction, and report generation. Its handling of large data traffic volumes could be improved for broader user access. Cisco DNA Center might benefit from a more affordable pricing model for SMEs, streamlined data correlation to reduce latency, and less complex deployment processes. Better integration with third-party tools and flexible licensing options could increase its appeal.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Plixer Scrutinizer is often deployed on-premises with strong user environment control, receiving praise for outstanding technical support and effective assistance during deployment and upgrades. Cisco DNA Center provides flexible deployment options, including on-premises, cloud, and hybrid, catering to diverse enterprise needs. Its technical support is also reliable and known for quick problem resolution.

Pricing and ROI: Plixer Scrutinizer's device-based licensing is cost-effective, providing clear ROI through faster issue resolution and cost reductions. In contrast, Cisco DNA Center is seen as expensive due to extensive features, though justifiable for large networks with long-term value. Its pricing strategy may be too high for smaller enterprises, limiting accessibility.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco DNA Center vs. Plixer Scrutinizer Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center vs. Plixer Scrutinizer

December 2025

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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 Monitoring Software

18th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (1st), Network Automation (2nd)

Plixer Scrutinizer

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

75th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (12th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 1.0%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Plixer Scrutinizer is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco DNA Center	1.0%
Plixer Scrutinizer	0.5%
Other	98.5%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Mahir Öztürk

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.

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Ira Mulyanti

Sales Director at ARGA SOLUSI

An affordable product with great integration capabilities

Plixer Core Platform is a valuable feature and a good software. Plixer Scrutinizer uses NetFlow analysis to monitor whatever is there in a network. Price-wise, Plixer Scrutinizer is not an expensive product. Basically, Plixer Scrutinizer is an affordable product. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that allows for customization, especially in scenarios where customers need new product features. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that can integrate with any other brand or product in the market, so it is not an area of concern.

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

"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."

"The product gives a consolidated view."

"Cisco VXLAN is a protocol that has been around for some time, but the practical implementation and operational capability of Cisco DNA Center bring it to life."

"People like to use the dashboards to get an overview of their network."

"Automation helps configure devices without manual intervention, enabling zero-touch provisioning."

"The monitoring is very valuable to me."

"The most valuable features include AI-driven insights which make troubleshooting much easier."

"The solution helps in user microsegmentation."

More Cisco DNA Center pros

"One feature I found most valuable in Plixer Scrutinizer is the very extensive reporting. Reporting is very flexible, though sometimes you need a little bit of support from Plixer Scrutinizer to create custom-made reporting in a very short time. Reporting is a very strong feature of the product."

"The solution helps to enrich the data context of our network traffic. It allows me to see what applications are most in use on a slightly historical basis, going back a day or week at tops. It allows me to tune QoS or traffic shaping around what's being used. It saves me from having to unnecessarily upgrade, if I don't need to."

"It shows us the saturation of the network of devices. It gives us a clear view of the flows in the network to understand, for instance, planning upgrades in the network to get an idea of what's going on the network on traffic flows. It gives us insight, for instance, on what's going on on our VPN Client. There are a lot of things where it provides very helpful information. It also gives us our security reports with quite detailed information on what's going on in the network, and whether there are data exfiltrations and so on."

"There are other tools out there that will do what Scrutinizer does. But what I have found with Scrutinizer is that it does it very quickly. I've taken 25 million individual data fragments from the different sensors, and it has graphed that and mapped it and presented a picture within 30 seconds. It has a very efficient database algorithm that I am really impressed with."

"One of the most valuable features of Plixer Scrutinizer is the reporting, particularly how easy it is to drill down into the reports. Another valuable feature of the solution is its overall visibility. It's great. I also liked Plixer Scrutinizer in terms of deployment time and that it's very simple to set up. Once you get the appliance set up and connected, the customer starts to see results immediately, versus other solutions where that could take a while."

"Plixer Scrutinizer is an affordable product. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that allows for customization, especially in scenarios where customers need new product features."

"It helps us determine what is going on with our Internet and who is hogging it all up. If we get a real high throughput or a throughput that's going over and getting dropped fairly quickly, we can tell who (or what device) is consuming that traffic."

"The most valuable features of Plixer Scrutinizer are its ease of use, accessibility, and UI."

More Plixer Scrutinizer pros

Cons

"The pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Cisco DNA Center are expensive."

"The solution's setup process needs enhancement."

"Cisco DNA Center should improve its configuration management. It is better to have a dev version before pushing it."

"DNA Center has been on the market for a few years and they need to update it."

"The solution’s security side could be improved."

"The weaknesses primarily involve pricing and the ongoing need for increased bandwidth and data throughput."

"The tool's IoT integration should be better."

"What could be improved is the licensing cost of Cisco DNA Center. It's a little bit expensive."

More Cisco DNA Center cons

"Data retention needs improvement. Data retention is a thing where we are looking for a better way to collect flow data for a longer time to do forensic research on security incidents. By default, data retention is quite low. We need detailed data in safe storage for a longer time, e.g., for a couple of months. An improvement would be a way to export data into a secure long-term storage."

"The visual acuity of how it presents data can sometimes be confusing. It takes a bit for people to spin up how to look at the graphs."

"It would be useful if there was a way to back up the configuration information. E.g., if you wanted to deploy a new instance or disaster recovery, you could quite easily deploy and restore the config, as opposed to having to restore all the NetFlow data. If there was just a button that said "backup config information", that would be good."

"From what I understand it is that the solution is not very scalable in a high volume traffic environment with a large number of flows."

"For updating the Scrutinizer platform, when we have the actual data, it never happens in one day. Every time we have the data, we are obliged to install a new server in order to integrate the old data, and every time it has a problem. Most of the time, we were obliged to scrap all the data because we couldn't transfer it to the new server. So, it would be very good if they could improve this part."

"Though Plixer Scrutinizer has network detection and response, it's an area that needs just a little more rounding out. Another room for improvement in the solution is its lack of SaaS offering which some customers were looking for. My company deals in small to medium businesses, mid-market, and some customers wanted the SaaS feature which Plixer Scrutinizer doesn't offer. What I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is for it to have a SaaS offering because my company also deals with educational spaces and smaller businesses that just don't have the staff that can implement this. If there's either a managed service or SaaS-based offering to just make it a little easier for those types of customers, it would be a great addition to Plixer Scrutinizer."

"Knowing that they're coming out with a new user interface, that is an area where there is room for improvement. There are so many variables. They should limit the variables in the user interface and create some classes, like "simple," "novice," and "expert" to narrow down the variables within it."

"I wish the reporting side was easier to work with, but it does a decent job. I also wish the reporting side was a little more intuitive or they offered more reporting examples."

More Plixer Scrutinizer cons

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."

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

"The tool's licensing may not come across as something that may be friendly for users."

"The solution is expensive."

"Cisco DNA Center is a licensed product with multiple levels of licensing available such as basic, advanced, and essential. I don't have the exact figure, but Cisco DNA Center is costly. For example, the box has information about the essential license and costs a considerable amount of money. You need to pay extra to use advanced features in Cisco DNA Center. My company sees Cisco DNA Center as a solution that's worth the money, which is why it invested in the solution. If you want centralized management for your network, especially when upgrading it, Cisco DNA Center is perfect, but it's more suitable for a large-scale rather than a small-scale network."

"Our licensing agreement is for three years."

"Cisco DNA Center is expensive."

"The solution is a little bit expensive but depends a lot on the customer's usage. If you use it in the right place, you can easily pay for it."

More Cisco DNA Center pricing and cost advice

"We have increased the license over time. We have added more licenses as the network has grown."

"There are no extra costs. It's about $8,000 a year. The bang for the buck (cost) is definitely a plus."

"Currently, the license for Plixer Scrutinizer is subscription-based and at a yearly fee. The price would depend on the amount of traffic you pull in. For example, there are several blocks from a 10K flow, a 40K flow, and a 100K flow, and based on the number of devices that you receive the flows from, that's the license, and it is not a per-interface pricing model, so that is a very strong, very competitive pricing feature of Plixer Scrutinizer. Licensing for the product is also not based on the number of storage, compared to some competing products that are priced based on the amount of storage you need, particularly based on the retention and the amount of data. Plixer Scrutinizer licensing is based on the device, and it's more in the direction of $10,000 because, with just $1,000, you don't have anything."

"There is a recurring maintenance fee after the initial purchase or if we want the license upgrade."

"We just renewed. The pricing is 5,000 euro per year. This is the final price. All tax (20 percent) is included."

"The license is per device. We have 50 devices."

"The licensing cost for Plixer Scrutinizer is in the middle. It's not the cheapest, but it's not the most expensive. Its licensing model is based on how many exporters, how many devices export information to the system. Plixer Scrutinizer has different modules you could add such as the security module which would cost extra."

"Our entire solution, amortized over five years, is in the vicinity of $40,000 to $50,000 a year."

More Plixer Scrutinizer pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	25

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	8

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.

See all answers

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

After evaluating other solutions, we will provide feedback.

See all answers

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...

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Compared 13% of the time

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Fortinet FortiManager vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 4% of the time

HPE Intelligent Management Center vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 13% of the time

Kentik vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 11% of the time

WhatsUp Gold vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 9% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center

January 2026

Download Cisco DNA Center product report

Buyer's Guide

Plixer Scrutinizer

January 2026

Download Plixer Scrutinizer product report

Also Known As

DNA Center

No data available

Overview

Cisco DNA Center delivers powerful centralized security, automation, and comprehensive analytics for enhanced network management. With an intuitive dashboard and integration with Cisco devices, it reduces errors, boosts efficiency, and ensures seamless wired and wireless network operations.

Organizations leverage Cisco DNA Center for network management and automation, offering increased visibility into traffic flows and efficient device provisioning. It supports real-time data transmission, network segmentation, and integrates with ISE. Features like wireless assurance, centralized management, and AI-driven insights into network health promote an efficient network environment while addressing compliance issues. However, improvements are necessary for better third-party integration, affordability, and more user-friendly documentation.

What are the solution's most important features?

Comprehensive Analytics: Provides in-depth network insights through real-time data.
Centralized Security: Unifies security management, offering enhanced protection.
Network Management: Simplifies device configuration and policy compliance.
Automation Capabilities: Reduces human error and facilitates efficient network operations.
AI-Driven Assurance: Delivers insights into network health for proactive management.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Increased Efficiency: Streamlines operations by reducing manual tasks.
Improved Security: Enhances protection through centralized policies.
Cost Effective: Simplifies management, potentially lowering operating costs.
Enhanced Visibility: Offers comprehensive data for better decision-making.

In industries like healthcare, finance, and education, Cisco DNA Center's advanced features facilitate the management of complex network infrastructures and aid in achieving compliance efficiently. Its ability to manage LANs and WLANs supports diverse networking environments including greenfield projects and SPN setups.

Cisco

The Scrutinizer incident response system leverages network traffic analytics to provide active monitoring, visualization, and reporting of network and security incidents. The system quickly delivers the rich forensic data needed by IT professionals to support fast and efficient incident response.

Plixer

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Oxford Networks, Squaw Valley Ski Holdings, UltiSat, Wipro, West Aurora School District 129, SUNY Geneseo College, Bloomington Public Schools, First National Bank of Pennsylvania, Kitsap Credit Union, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County Houston Texas, Carilion Clinic, Banner Health, IDEXX Laboratories, Phibro Animal Health Corporation, Goodwill Industries, Parmalat, Armstrong Coal Company, Flybe, James Walker

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center vs. Plixer Scrutinizer

December 2025

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Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco DNA Center vs. Plixer Scrutinizer and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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