Cisco Catalyst Center Reviews and Ratings

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Score

8.5 out of 10

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for Cisco Catalyst Center are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

Ease of Deployment: Users consistently praise the software for its seamless deployment process, which streamlines network setup and configuration tasks, saving valuable time and resources. The intuitive interface and step-by-step guidance have been particularly highlighted as factors that contribute to the smooth deployment experience.

Assurance Features: Many reviewers have highlighted the assurance features as a key strength, emphasizing their role in quickly resolving issues, providing detailed device insights, and ensuring network stability. By offering real-time monitoring and proactive alerts, these features help maintain network reliability and performance.

Trending Capabilities: The trending capabilities of the software are highly valued by users for offering deep insights into network performance trends over time, enabling proactive management decisions and optimizations. Users appreciate being able to track historical data trends easily, allowing them to make informed decisions for improving network efficiency.

Reviews

284 Reviews

Videos

Cisco Catalyst Center Review

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

March 9, 2026

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use this equipment every day.It gives us full telemetry of all our equipment at our remote sites (more than 1,000 branches, each with several controllers and terminals) and allows us to push configurations, backups, and more.This greatly simplifies management and automation by allowing us to organize everything as we wish, all on one URL, without having to connect to multiple sites.It's like an all-in-one Swiss Army knife!I highly recommend it!

Pros

backup
configuration push
user monitoring
sauvegarde
push de configuration
surveillance des utilisateurs

Cons

all in one backup
automation and generalization of configurations
automatisation et généralisation des configurations

Likelihood to Recommend

Hi, the big problems , we got was with the back up , if it was possible with SMB ! and not only openssh or titan server .... Linux are nice but we use mainly windows.

Only that ! otherway perfect !

Be able to restore and push configuration is now too easy

big thanks

Regards,

<i>Parts of this review were originally written in French and have been translated into English using a third-party translation tool. While we strive for accuracy, some nuances or meanings may not be perfectly captured.</i>

Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

A Catalyzing Mix

Rating: 6 out of 10

Incentivized

February 17, 2026

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Cisco Catalyst Center for our entire Campus edge network, utilizing SDA fabric with ISIS and LISP. This in itself addresses many previous business challenges; simplifies network management, easy to expand or deploy new switches: low configuration effort required, once you define the underlay fabric network, the rest is a breeze.

Pros

Fabric Underlay
Visibility
Low effort deployment / scaling

Cons

Port assignment / Manual port configurations are laborious in comparison to 'traditional' CLI method
Compliance and config validation is not consistent, some false positives (though not service affecting)
Client / Device search is far less intuitive than the product it supersedes (prime infrastructure)
Troubleshooting when you have an issue is complex, even for TAC, you often have to reach the Catalyst Center Business Unit before you make progress with an issue.

Likelihood to Recommend

Well suited if:

You need a low effort, reliable SDA Fabric

Are a Cisco Customer already

You have a low skill network team

Less appropriate if:

<div>You don't have/plan to have other Cisco products (ISE)</div><div>You do not have wired 802.1x on your roadmap

You are already automating network configuration yourself </div>

Verified User

Professional in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

8 years of experience

Cisco Catalyst Center aka DNAC

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

February 16, 2026

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Operational Inefficiency: Manual configuration of hundreds of switches and access points is slow and prone to human error. Cisco Catalyst Center automates these tasks via centralized policies. Client Troubleshooting: Using "Time Travel" to see a user's 360° view of connectivity over the last 24 hours.

Application Health: Identifying which business-critical apps (like Zoom or Salesforce) are experiencing latency.

Pros

Centralized config management
Troubleshooting issues reported by users
Quick deployment of config changes

Cons

Unable to back up to SFTP server
Unable to generate tech support files without going to the root
Unable to use Cisco Catalyst Center for licensing CUCM voice servers

Likelihood to Recommend

AI Network Analytics: Uses machine learning to establish performance baselines. If a branch office's Wi-Fi latency spikes, the system doesn't just alert you; it performs a root-cause analysis using an AI Packet Analyzer to pinpoint the exact failure (e.g., a specific RADIUS timeout).Guided Remediation: When an issue is detected, Cisco Catalyst Center provides a step-by-step fix or, in many cases, an "Execute" button to automatically resolve the problem.

Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology (5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

Cisco Catalyst Center

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

February 12, 2026

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

In our organization, we Use Cisco Catalyst Center for automation and assurance SD Access

Pros

Automation
Assurance
SWIM

Cons

I think that there is room for improvement in Cisco Catalyst Center with the CVEs (common vulnerabilities and exposures) Population

Likelihood to Recommend

If asked, I think I am likely to recommend Cisco Catalyst Center to a colleague because, in my experience, the Cisco Catalyst Center is Best suited for SDA (software defined access) Automation and Assurance.

Managing the Cat switches

Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

8 years of experience

Overdelivers on expectations

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

February 12, 2026

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cisco Catalyst Center provides networking both intrrnally as externally. These make sure we have enough capacity on our network. Next to that we use them to test our equipment as well as ciscos. The company I work for is based in NL and we refurbish cisco devices as part of a service we provide for Cisco.

Pros

Networking
Vlan management
Sso security

Cons

Power consumption
Noise
Pretty expensive if you just need a simple switch

Likelihood to Recommend

I think in all cases where good and stable network is needed, we can use these switches. The less approprkate situation is when you're working in cold rooms or even freezer like environment, but I know there are specific models that cover those as well. Next to that, sometimes having a catalyst switch is overkill for the business needs.

Verified User

Engineer in Engineering (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

15 years of experience

Good Product but needs some more updates

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

February 12, 2026

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

In our organization, We have used Cisco Catalyst Center in traditional networking for template use, telemetry etc. and also in SD Access implementations. For site (branches) networking.

Pros

Template provision, but It needs more things to be added
Image upgrade

Cons

Speed
Some times has issues with the device visibility and you have to resynch the device or reprovision it

Likelihood to Recommend

I think I am likely to recommend Cisco Catalyst Center to a colleague because, in my experience, Cisco Catalyst Center is helpful with the telemetry and statistics that it collects.

Verified User

Consultant in Engineering (5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

Cisco Catalyst Center

Rating: 6 out of 10

Incentivized

February 12, 2026

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

For Access Point Managment.

Not enoght scale for Allen devices, even on the biggest on prem modell.

Slow Webinterface, with a lot of clients and devices

Pros

Observebility
Automation

Cons

I think that there is room for improvement in Cisco Catalyst Center with Performance
I think that there is room for improvement in Cisco Catalyst Center with Scale
I think that there is room for improvement in Cisco Catalyst Center with the Service Provider Tech

Likelihood to Recommend

If asked about Cisco Catalyst Center, I think I am likely to tell a colleague that, in my experience, Cisco Catalyst Center is Not suitable for high scale networks

Johannes Bindriem

network operator in Information Technology at DB (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

Cisco Catalyst Center review

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

February 12, 2026

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We've been using Cisco Catalyst Center for roughly 5 years now, so have seen the development in the platform from version 1.3

I work for the University [...], which has a highly devolved campus meaning the central network team do not run the entire network. But where we do, and where we've been able to refresh hardware we've standardized on running SDA deployments. Cisco Catalyst Center is great, we love things like SWIM and being able to have standardisation across the switches, plus the ability to have resilient L3 connections to the edge increases redundancy. We also recently started using ISE to onboard clients onto the network and for micro-segmentation.

One of our biggest gripes is the licensing costs. We have an CX EA but the licensing is complex and could be made far simpler - and cheaper. But I guess something has to pay for all the AI!!!!

Pros

Microsegementation
L3 to the edge - multiple connections without L2 is great
SWIM

Cons

SDA Licensing (not strictly Cisco Catalyst Center)
The UI is busy - it's had for junior engineers to know what and how to do things

Likelihood to Recommend

Campus networking using SD-Access

Michael Warren

Senior Engineering Lead (Underlay Networks) in Information Technology at University of Cambridge (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

5 years of experience

Cisco Catalyst Center inventory and automation

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

February 12, 2026

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cisco Catalyst Center is our central platform for managing and monitoring the wired and wireless network. We use it to automate device provisioning, apply standardized configurations, and streamline network changes, reducing manual effort and errors. Its Assurance and analytics features give us real‑time visibility into client performance, application behavior, and wireless conditions, helping us troubleshoot issues much faster. Catalyst Center also supports identity‑based policies and network segmentation, improving security and consistency across sites. Additionally, it simplifies lifecycle management by handling software image updates and compliance checks. Overall, it enhances efficiency, reliability, and control across our entire network.

Pros

Inventory
EoX report
Automation
Topology
Monitoring

Cons

Topology
deployment
information when error occur or job fails

Likelihood to Recommend

Is very useful to mantain inventory up to date It also powerful to update a lot of device at same time with pre and post check that could be customized. It can manage all license and could be used as single point of contact vs cisto to verify all devices's license.

Verified User

Technician in Engineering (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

Cisco Catalyst Center Review

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

February 12, 2026

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

As Partner we resale Cisco Catalyst Center to Customers manly as the Central Management Platform for there Catalyst Deployments

Pros

Centralized Inventory management
notifiying about EOL/EOS and Security Issues for the Catalyst Family
Mass scale Roleouts of Configchanges and Updates
Detail insides of how the network is working

Cons

Smaller Footprint in Hardware 3 Appliances are not easy to sell for HA
The VM is very huge and more hypervisor support would be nice

Likelihood to Recommend

Larger Catalyst Deployements to replace multiple Monitoring Management Systems in just the Cisco Catalyst Center

Florian Hermann

Technical Expert in Professional Services at Axians (51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

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