Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco DNA Center
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Cisco DNA Center is a network management system that leverages AI to connect, secure, and automate customer’s network operations. It harnesses the Catalyst family of switching and wireless through AI-enabled automation that simplifies the IT experience and streamlines complex network operations. Offering operational flexibility, Cisco DNA Center can be deployed on-premises on a physical appliance or in a VMware virtual environment, or in a public cloud service such as Amazon Web…N/A
Cisco Meraki MX
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Meraki MX Firewalls is a combined UTM and Software-Defined WAN solution. Meraki is managed via the cloud, and provides core firewall services, including site-to-site VPN, plus network monitoring.
$595
per appliance
Pricing
Cisco DNA CenterCisco Meraki MX
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
MX64
$595
per appliance
MX67
$695
per appliance
MX68
$995
per appliance
MX84
$1,995
per appliance
MX100
$4,995
per appliance
MX250
$9,995
per appliance
MX450
$19,995
per appliance
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco DNA CenterCisco Meraki MX
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco DNA CenterCisco Meraki MX
Considered Both Products
Cisco DNA Center
Cisco Meraki MX
Chose Cisco Meraki MX
In the market, there are several manufacturers, but the great differentiators of the Meraki MX solution are its robustness, the support, the support of Cisco worldwide, and a management dashboard in the cloud. Simple, with a large number of tools for administration, monitoring, …
Chose Cisco Meraki MX
It’s very similar to Cisco ASA but there are differences in use, first and most important for me is the way you control and manage your network through Meraki Dashboard and online. You can do it in your home without a VPN. The second is that clients like banks and financial …
Chose Cisco Meraki MX
I've used traditional ASAs with and without firepower, newer firepower only Cisco firewalls, and Fortinet FortiGate firewalls. I think Meraki stacks up pretty well to them with most features. I think managing the Meraki is much easier than all of them because of the …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Cisco DNA CenterCisco Meraki MX
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
Cisco DNA Center
-
Ratings
Cisco Meraki MX
7.7
63 Ratings
10% below category average
Identification Technologies00 Ratings7.960 Ratings
Visualization Tools00 Ratings8.160 Ratings
Content Inspection00 Ratings7.560 Ratings
Policy-based Controls00 Ratings7.359 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP00 Ratings7.552 Ratings
Firewall Management Console00 Ratings7.761 Ratings
Reporting and Logging00 Ratings7.363 Ratings
VPN00 Ratings7.560 Ratings
High Availability00 Ratings8.159 Ratings
Stateful Inspection00 Ratings8.255 Ratings
Proxy Server00 Ratings7.834 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco DNA CenterCisco Meraki MX
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

WatchGuard Network Security
WatchGuard Network Security
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI
Score 9.0 out of 10
Cisco Firepower 4100 Series
Cisco Firepower 4100 Series
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI
Score 9.0 out of 10
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco DNA CenterCisco Meraki MX
Likelihood to Recommend
8.2
(84 ratings)
7.9
(90 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(4 ratings)
Usability
8.3
(16 ratings)
8.2
(5 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(45 ratings)
8.0
(22 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.6
(56 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco DNA CenterCisco Meraki MX
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
For the most part I really like DNA and am willing to keep working with it to get it setup and do the things it is advertised to do. The software upgrade feature has worked very well for me and after I am able to get a golden image setup, it seems to work very well.
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Cisco
So most use cases, this product fits. There aren't that many situations where it doesn't, and I've put it inside of banks. I've used it inside of schools, I've used it at normal businesses, big, bigger, and or small, but very small use cases where it has not, and we could not lead with it was at some banks. They did require NetOver VPN when communicating with higher-fed entities. If in the future Meraki could include NetOver VPN, then this would just be an auto-include for most of our deployments.
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Pros
Cisco
  • Ease of automation and configuration templates make the future you very glad you did it!
  • The PnP for switches that allow to boot up and contact the network with a pre-configuration is so amazing. Makes life easy!
  • Integrates well with our ISE platform, they have really made it well worth the cost to have everything with the name CISCO on your equipment. All of their devices work so well with this software.
Read full review
Cisco
  • The appliances are very, very easy to use. You could set one up for basic use with minimal documentation.
  • Intuitive menus in the Meraki Dashboard make traversing your options and finding what you need very easy.
  • Good support options and a healthy knowledge base with well-written guides.
Read full review
Cons
Cisco
  • The configuration template (Cisco Prime User created templates were much easier)
  • The Location based scheme (not all industries can go based on location for buildout)
  • An easier home dashboard to add a new device, instead of having to search through the menus
Read full review
Cisco
  • Firewall Policies
  • Hardware Performance Statistics
  • IPS Performance + Efficacy
  • Limited port counts when leveraging network templates on higher end units.
  • No options for HTTPS decrypt or encrypt visibility
  • No EIGRP Routing
  • No ability to clear ARP table / release DHCP leases through GUI
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Cisco
As we have it in place now, we will continue to keep it at our remote sites. Future expansion is something we are reviewing, and may well start with some of the larger switches as they seem to offer good performance and management at a reasonable price. Wireless is also something we're investing in and their devices are great for that.
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.
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Cisco
The Cisco Meraki MX series is very easy to use. Setting up user VPN access, site to site VPN to tie multiple locations together and managing all your devices. You can even download the latest firmware and install without ever leaving the dashboard. Meraki is the very definition of easy to use
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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.
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Cisco
I haven't ever had a bad experience with Meraki support. On the few occasions where I wasn't understanding the UI or needed some clarification about what a setting actually would do, I contacted them and they were very quickly able to provide help. Returns are simple and fast, too. We had to return a defective device one time and they shipped the replacement before we had even un-racked the one that was faulty. Unlike many other vendors, they didn't ask use to a do long list of scripted diagnostics, they just took my word for it that the device was broken and sent out a replacement immediately
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Implementation Rating
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Cisco
Good product and simple to use.
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Alternatives Considered
Cisco
Meraki does what should be expected at it's price point, but it is geared to SMB. When it comes to enterprise networks, DNA Center is the clear path forward. It allows for more devices than just the ones it configures, it provides more customization and on boarding options, and the control stays within the organization. The DNA Center telemetry provides a more robust reporting than the Meraki dashboard, and again, the data stays on site. I see both being important in their own ways, but Meraki falls short in larger enterprises, and that is where DNA Center shines the most.
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Cisco
I have used Sonicwall and Meraki, and they are very similar and functional, but they go about it in different ways. Meraki is a little more user-friendly with less of a learning curve, but it comes at a little steeper price. I do like the online dashboard of Meraki better, though.
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Scalability
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Cisco
Every network we create will allow us to automatically be attached in the mesh network. The ability for the automatic VPN connections is very convenient and allow us to focus on other configuration points without having to worry about if the VPN will work or not. The GUI showing the VPN is kind of confusing, but as long as it has direct connection to the other Meraki MX units, it will be up.
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Return on Investment
Cisco
  • Efficient time spent elsewhere. I can spend my time troubleshooting other portions of the network instead of housekeeping current gear.
  • Assistance with inventory; it keeps an inventory of all the devices you add to it, so it can serve as an inventory of equipment if that's what you'd like from it.
  • Visibility; we can see more of the status of our gear, if it's unreachable, or if things are misbehaving the dashboard shows that there are irregularities.
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Cisco
  • Network hardware needs to function 100% of the time with no one really ever thinking about it - it just needs to work. Cisco delivers here.
  • The Cisco Meraki MX products are fast and reliable helping productivity.
  • Cisco's support is solid and helpful.
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