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Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs ThousandEyes comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

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 Nexus Dashboard Fabri...
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
17th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ThousandEyes
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Monitoring Software (12th), Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) is 0.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ThousandEyes is 3.4%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
ThousandEyes3.4%
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)0.6%
Other96.0%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

Upul Abhayasena - PeerSpot reviewer
Robust management tool with an easy setup and room for more features
DCNM is used by one of the airline customers in Qatar to manage many data centers and rack switches running on normal Nexus or NX-OS mode. They required a controller platform to manage these Nexus switches, and thus, they utilized DCNM as a Fabric controller. Given that ACI deployment is very low…
Edmar Silva - PeerSpot reviewer
Excellent monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities while identifying exact issue locations
When I first started using ThousandEyes, I found it challenging to extract useful information due to the numerous options available. I needed some training to effectively troubleshoot. More detailed documentation explaining the metrics and the testing mechanisms would be helpful. The information is there, but understanding exactly what ThousandEyes is testing to make its conclusions can be obscure.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has a very nice dashboard so you can see what's currently happening in the network and the performance of the back story."
"You can integrate all the networks into the software."
"The automation capability is more than enough. It depends on how we consider and integrate the automation engine. We need to ensure the automation engine and then how to perform it. It depends on the policy making, API integration, and other integrations."
"The most valuable feature is the connectivity monitoring."
"Data Center Network Manager is absolutely stable."
"Fabric suite automation is a great feature."
"Monitoring system provides a clear indication of what's going on in the network."
"We use the product to manage access points."
"ThousandEyes gives companies better visibility."
"The company provides excellent service."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the path analyzer, which identifies the node causing the errors."
"From our perspective, ThousandEyes stands out as an invaluable tool because of its deep and extensive capabilities."
"It's fairly easy to set up."
"The most valuable features of ThousandEyes are the full monitoring capabilities and the ability to identify the exact location of problems in the path between the application and the end-user."
"The solution's most valuable feature is network security."
"The most valuable feature of ThousandEyes is user-friendliness. It has been essential for us to have a solution that is easy to use."
 

Cons

"If the customer thinks about using additional solutions, Cisco should make sure they are not left out."
"It's a relatively expensive product for some clients."
"The automation feature could be improved."
"In the next release, I would like to see it merged with Prime and I think that it should be more unified."
"The initial setup is challenging."
"The tool should be more user-friendly and improve AI integration."
"The reporting is not very intuitive and has room for improvement."
"API lacks robustness."
"Presently, it lacks the ability to integrate with other Cisco products."
"It would be nice if the solution covered other areas like server monitoring."
"ThousandEyes could improve the dashboards by adding more features."
"It might be practical to extend monitoring capabilities to include network devices"
"They only offer synthetic requests."
"More detailed documentation explaining the metrics and the testing mechanisms would be helpful."
"I feel it needs more holistic integration. It needs more improvement."
"ThousandEyes should expand its application monitoring to monitor some communication applications."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"On average, Data Center Network Manager's pricing isn't too costly unless you choose a premier license."
"The solution is very expensive."
"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 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."
"The price of Cisco Data Center Network Manager is expensive compared to other vendors on the market."
"In our company, we incur a yearly expense in our company for the licensing part. I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten since it is expensive."
"The solution's pricing is cheap; I rate it a five out of ten."
"The solution is cheap."
"It is a quite expensive solution."
"The solution costs several thousand dollars per year."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

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?
In a mixed architecture where Nexus switches are used as border devices and are connected to a Palo Alto firewall (e.g., version 9.1 or 10.1), you might encounter issues with BGP peering. For insta...
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
It actually depends on the exact purpose or requirements. Some tools are better for only network devices while others are better from a cloud monitoring or APM monitoring perspective. You can check...
What needs improvement with ThousandEyes?
ThousandEyes could improve by implementing a similar incident management system like BigPanda ( /products/bigpanda-reviews ) or ServiceNow ( /products/servicenow-reviews ). Having a dedicated incid...
 

Also Known As

Cisco Data Center Network Manager
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Banco de Guayaquil, Cox Communications, Kuwait Petroleum Italia, Roper St. Francis, University of British Columbia
Wayfair, GitHub, Craigslist, Comcast, SurveyMonkey, Lyft, Box, HP, Zendesk, IO Data Centers, Good Technology, NNTCommunications, Proofpoint, Schneider, Crowdstrike, Avera, Pitney Bowes, InstartLogic, Shutterfly, Shutterstock, Condé Nast, Roche, Jive, Actelion, Brocade, Infor, Okta, JLL, DigitalOcean, Zuora, NetSuite, CloudFlare, One, DemonWare, Quantcast, Carbonite, CareerBuilder, Prosper, Oscar, Slack
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs. ThousandEyes and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,771 professionals have used our research since 2012.