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Cisco Catalyst Center vs. SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset vs. Splunk Enterprise Security

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Catalyst Center

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/ACisco Catalyst Center provides an intent-based platform for managing enterprise networks across campus, branch, and edge environments. It combines automation, analytics, and assurance to streamline IT operations, improve security posture, and reduce manual tasks. With integratedAI/ML-driven insights, policy-based controls, and end-to-end visibility across wired and wireless infrastructures, Catalyst Center empowers IT teams toproactively detect issues, enforce compliance, and accelerate…N/A

    SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset

    Score7.6 out of 10
    N/ASolarWinds® Engineer’s Toolset (ETS) helps users monitor and troubleshoot a network with over 60 tools for network management. ETS allows users to monitor and receive alerts in real time on network availability and health, and perform network diagnostics for faster troubleshooting and resolution of complex network issues. With ETS users can deploy an array of network discovery tools including Port Scanner, Switch Port Mapper or advanced Subnet Calculator, manage Cisco® devices with specialized…

    $1,585

    Per Instance

    Splunk Enterprise Security

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/ASplunk Enterprise Security is an analytics-driven SIEM that helps to combat threats with actionable intelligence and advanced analytics at scale.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Catalyst CenterSolarWinds Engineer's ToolsetSplunk Enterprise Security
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    One Time Price
    $1,585
    Per Instance
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Catalyst CenterSolarWinds Engineer's ToolsetSplunk Enterprise Security
    Free Trial
    NoYesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco Catalyst CenterSolarWinds Engineer's ToolsetSplunk Enterprise Security
    Considered Multiple Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco Catalyst Center
    CC is a better integrated product with cisco products
    Incentivized
    SolarWinds
    No answer on this topic
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    306 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    11 Answers
    99%
    Would buy again
    109 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    245 Answers
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    9 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    90 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    319 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    11 Answers
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    103 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    83%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    195 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    10 Answers
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    80 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    80%
    Implementation went as expected
    229 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    10 Answers
    91%
    Implementation went as expected
    90 Answers
    Features
    Cisco Catalyst CenterSolarWinds Engineer's ToolsetSplunk Enterprise Security
    Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
    Comparison of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) features of Cisco Catalyst Center and SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset and Splunk Enterprise Security
    Feature
    Cisco Catalyst Center
    -
    Ratings
    SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset
    -
    Ratings
    Splunk Enterprise Security
    8.4
    107 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Centralized event and log data collection00 Ratings00 Ratings7.1105 Ratings
    Correlation00 Ratings00 Ratings8.9104 Ratings
    Event and log normalization/management00 Ratings00 Ratings8.9105 Ratings
    Deployment flexibility00 Ratings00 Ratings7.9106 Ratings
    Integration with Identity and Access Management Tools00 Ratings00 Ratings8.9101 Ratings
    Custom dashboards and workspaces00 Ratings00 Ratings9.8107 Ratings
    Host and network-based intrusion detection00 Ratings00 Ratings7.9101 Ratings
    Data integration/API management00 Ratings00 Ratings7.9103 Ratings
    Behavioral analytics and baselining00 Ratings00 Ratings8.899 Ratings
    Rules-based and algorithmic detection thresholds00 Ratings00 Ratings7.9100 Ratings
    Response orchestration and automation00 Ratings00 Ratings7.992 Ratings
    Reporting and compliance management00 Ratings00 Ratings8.9100 Ratings
    Incident indexing/searching00 Ratings00 Ratings8.0106 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Catalyst CenterSolarWinds Engineer's ToolsetSplunk Enterprise Security
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
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    Medium-sized Companies
    Cisco Meraki Dashboard
    Score9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    IBM Security QRadar SIEM
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Prime LAN Management (discontinued)
    Score7.7 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Catalyst CenterSolarWinds Engineer's ToolsetSplunk Enterprise Security
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.4
    (343 ratings)
    8.6
    (11 ratings)
    7.1
    (109 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.9
    (9 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (4 ratings)
    Usability
    7.9
    (19 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    7.0
    (12 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (4 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (4 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.7
    (33 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    7.3
    (8 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.7
    (98 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Catalyst CenterSolarWinds Engineer's ToolsetSplunk Enterprise Security
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    Would recommend Cisco Catalyst Center to medium to large scale organizations that have many cookie-cutter sites and the resources to properly provision all their devices. I would not recommend to teams that do not have a strong network engineering team that can navigate the various intricacies of the platform.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    I have found the toolset especially useful for scanning subnets to discover devices, and for setting up temporary real-time monitors when we are troubleshooting or setting up new connections. The most useful aspect has been the ability to apply the tools to help troubleshoot and pinpoint intermittent issues. More general tools like Orion often do not have the granularity to detect issues like intermittent packet loss which are especially impactful to applications like Voice. The toolset gives us another level of capability to dig into issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    Based on my experience, Splunk is a strong git for some environments and a poor match for others. The distinction is primarily based on infrastructure complexity and budget. It's perfect for large enterprises with a mix of on-prem/cloud infrastructure. It's not a perfect match for small teams with restricted resources.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • Again, the ease of use of the APIs and the API Explorer provides the tools needed to write these custom workflows that allow us to do a lot of the automation we’re doing now, saving hundreds of hours by using those tools.
    • The product is very intuitive, and there is a lot of support out there in the DevNet community to help with that.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • Various monitoring
    • Stores history
    • Suggests indices
    • Helps to find the SQL query text
    • Helps to see what machines/users the bad queries are coming from
    • Shows current blocking session
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • Writes Powerful Queries: The queries that can be written using the Splunk Query Language are very powerful and highly customizable to meet every need. Ex: Writing queries to search the intersection of two different sources like Network and Endpoint Logs.
    • Offers Dashboard Abilities: Helps build complex panels for Dashboards in addition to providing several out-of-the-box panels. Ex: creating panels to calculate the performance of analysts in a given timezone.
    • Helpful Search Aids: It helps to set up complex custom alerts very easily. The interesting fields section is very helpful while threat hunting. Ex: It shows all the users and the frequency of each in a failed login event. The user list on the interesting fields is useful to look for suspicious logins.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • Within its Tasks - Audit, it can sometimes allow plaintext data, including passwords, to be seen. There should be functionality to detect password usage and appropriately obfuscate the data.
    • Occasionally, Catalyst Center does not sync changes properly within templates, which requires deleting and reconfiguring the template version. Better processes here would be beneficial.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • The unifying component that is intended to be the initial interface to the tools seems clunky. I prefer to start the tools individually rather than using it.
    • The port scanner could use some improvements to make it easier to use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • Improved User Interface Customization: While the interface is generally intuitive, providing more options for users to customize their dashboards and views would enhance the overall user experience. Tailoring the interface to specific roles or use cases could be a valuable addition.
    • Simplified Alert Management: Streamlining the process of managing alerts, such as grouping or categorizing them based on severity or type, would make it easier for security teams to prioritize and respond to incidents effectively.
    • Expanded Threat Intelligence Feeds: Increasing the variety and sources of threat intelligence feeds available within ES would provide a broader context for identifying and mitigating emerging threats, ensuring a more comprehensive defense against evolving attack vectors.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    I think new products are often "half-baked" or over hyped when they release, as was the case with DNAC. We were well ahead of the curve in acquiring it. But as it has matured it is now a fantastic addition to our infrastructure. I think we are easing into a stage where it is hard to envision a large organization NOT having Catalyst Center in place. If for nothing outside of the mapping and troubleshooting aspects; using it as a "source of truth".
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    We are very happy with Splunk and would advise anyone to take a serious look at it. It might look pricey but the rewards Splunk offers seem endless.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cisco
    Cisco DNA Center is going to help us in security, simplicity and ease of administration. Cisco DNA Center is complete management and control platform that simplifies and streamlines network operations. Cisco DNA Center offers a single dashboard for every core function in your network. With this platform, IT can become more nimble and respond to changes and challenges faster and more intelligently.
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    Very easy to use and intuitive. Just be careful with the WAN Killer...it does what it says.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    Maintaining hundreds or even 1000+ SOC use cases is really difficult, considering that the Data sources may not always send the data. A module that detects data freshness issues and detect data format changes would be a great help. the main challenge today using Splunk Enterprise Security is making sure that the detection rules are still working properly given all the changes that occur in data source applications. Also, maintaining the data collects on tens of thousands of servers and more than 100k workstations is a real company IT challenge: the splunkbase forwarder may not support old OS anymore, while these are the most important to monitor. Moving to the Open Telemetry collector has become essential so that only 1 agent is required for both SIEM and application observability.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    I don't think I've ever seen Splunk ES go fully offline or have any downtime greater than a few minutes on rare occasions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    It takes a long time for items to load if you are just generally searching through logs. It is best to use the data models which load faster but can be strange in terms of what is coming from which logs where. Yes, you can look it up, but this also requires familiarity with where things are and how to look them up.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    El soporte de CISCO DNA Center es muy bueno, responden a mis dudas pero no he tenido oportunidad de reportar un incidente o determinar un tiempo de respuesta critico. The support of CISCO DNA Center is very good, they answer my questions, but I have not had the opportunity to report an incident or determine a critical response time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    Our organization uses it regularly. It is reliable, and we keep finding new uses for it
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    It's good when it's responsive, but I've had times where I had to wait quite a while for a response. But these are typically the exceptions rather than the rule. When you do get a response it is always well-informed and appropriate. I would say they've been trending better over time with this.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    I experienced only on-line training, but the trainers were very professional and competent. Maybe it could be more useful if they also have an experience in projects because sometimes they didn't have a real project experience to communicate to the students. Anyway, it was very interesting and I learned many thing that's very difficoult (or maybe impossible!) to have by myself, aven if I have more than 10 years of Splunk activity experience.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Cisco
    It was informative, but the labs were not available long enough for us to get intimately familiar with CCNA before it was closed. The course instructor was well informed and got us as close to ready as she could.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    It was very interesting and I learned many thing that's very difficoult (or maybe impossible!) to have by myself. The only problem was that, when I worked with the Splunk Professional Services, I found some difference between the training contents and the information from PS. In addition is required a long experience on Splunk Enterprise for the data ingestion part, in other words I'm able to work with ES because I'm worling on Splunk since 11 years, otherwise I'd some problem.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    It's a fantatic product and it was very useful the presence of Splunk Professional Services for the Design Phase and the final Health Check.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    Cisco Catalyst Centeris basic zero-touch provisioning out of the box. You just rack and stack the switches, patch 'em in, and the controller pushes the config automatically. No need to console into every single box or spend hours script-running over CLI.The AI-driven assurance and telemetry are top-tier. Instead of getting flooded with useless syslog alerts when a link drops, it correlates the telemetry data to give you proactive health checks. It literally pinpoints wireless anomalies and bandwidth chokepoints before the users even start opening tickets.It handles fabric microsegmentation like a boss through SD-Access and TrustSec. You can easily enforce group-based policies right at the hardware level. It drops IoT gear, guests, and corporate traffic into their own secure buckets dynamically, without you having to manage a trillion messy VLANs and ACLs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    I haven't compared any tools similar to SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset. This might be because I'm pretty biased when it comes to monitoring, and reporting solutions. I've found that SolarWinds provides the biggest bang for the buck in my opinion. I'm sure there are other solutions on the market that compete, but I haven't tried any of them because I've been very satisfied with SolarWinds.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    Splunk enterprise is the only solution that we’ve been able to identify that provides risk based alerting, which allows our SOC to reduce analyst fatigue which would be a huge problem without it. Before RBA, there were thousands of alerts a day and it was impossible to review all of them
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    for my exterience, unit pricing and billing frequency are correct. As I already said, I hint to have more discount flexibility, expecially with new customers, because there are competitors less expensive and very aggressive that are dangerous. In addition the possibility to don't pay the license for the development period could be a very interesting feature for the final customers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    - 8 out of 10 and took 2 for the data pipeline and administration part. Even if you'd like to improve yourself or your team, you have to pay a lot of money and it could be more than GIAC education + cert. - Normalization for Data models and CPU-based searches can be a problem sometimes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Professional Services
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    I had a fantastic experience with Splunk Professional Services: they worked with us in our last SON project (a SOC migration for a very large customer) and helped to build a multi tenent environment even if ES isn't a multi tenant platform. Th Splunk PS was a very professional and competent people, he is italian and was able to speak with our italian customers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • I have used it for upgrading devices, and it's does a great job at that, however out operations team for whatever reason has not adopted the feature.
    • Overall it feels like Cisco Catalyst Center has been huge waste of time. I feel like my time would be better spent on other projects and looking at other products and tools
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • Spend less time downloading free buggy tools
    • All the tools in one spot, so you don't have to look around for tools
    • Get to the solution sooner
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • We have a 100% success rate on all our ES implementations due to the amazing documentation and Splunk enablement on the subject.
    • Our Splunk ES business has grown 100% YoY for the last 3 years.
    • In terms of long term management and maintenance, ES has been highly stable and predictable, reducing our overhead on costly services team for ad hoc maintenance work.
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Cisco Catalyst Center Screenshots

    Screenshot of AIOpsScreenshot of BaselinesScreenshot of PoliciesScreenshot of HealthScreenshot of Network HierarchyScreenshot of PoE

    SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset Screenshots

    Screenshot of Perform network stress tests with Engineer's Toolset WAN Killer. You don’t need to use real traffic for studying network activities, like testing traffic and load balancing. Instead, deploy Engineer's Toolset WAN Killer to help interactively test connections and adjust the IP traffic generated to achieve the desired network load based on your requirements.Screenshot of Quickly troubleshoot your network with enhanced ping capabilities and packet route tracing, among other network bandwidth usage and monitoring tools included in ETS.Screenshot of Using ETS, you can run scans to gain insight into how routers, hubs switches, and other devices are configured by analyzing SNMP queries and viewing MIB attributes. ETS is designed to help you more easily understand whether your network and ports are using appropriate settings.Screenshot of Config Compare, a part of ETS, is built to compare the running configuration of a Cisco router with the startup configuration. With the Cisco configuration compare tool, you can easily detect the changes made to the network, switch, and router configurations that are not committed to non-volatile memory (NVRAM).Screenshot of Manage your IP network from discovery to address tracking. Discover subnets on a seed router and scan the subnet or a range of IP addresses, generate a list of subnets along with their mask, size, range, and broadcast address and actively monitor subnets to identify and track which IP addresses are in use on your network.