Cisco Catalyst Center vs Danbyte
Cisco Catalyst Center
cisco.com
Danbyte
danbyte.netSide by side
| Figure | Cisco Catalyst Center | Danbyte |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 3 |
| Spec score · DHCP Management Software | 7.8 (#9) | 8.7 (#1) |
| Spec score · IP Address Management Software | 7.8 (#20) | 8.8 (#3) |
| Automation | It supports network discovery, zero-touch provisioning, software image management, configuration compliance checks, and remediation. | Danbyte provides native Ansible and Terraform inventory, Jinja export templates, configuration contexts, drift runners, signed webhooks and scoped APIs. |
| Deployment | Cisco describes hardware and virtual appliance deployments, including current guides for VMware ESXi and Ubuntu KVM. | Self-hosting uses Linux with PostgreSQL 15 or newer and Redis; Python, Node and other dependencies are bundled and offline operation is supported. |
| Integrations | Cisco documents integrations with ISE, ThousandEyes, Webex, Microsoft Teams, ServiceNow, Infoblox, and BlueCat, plus generic APIs for other ITSM and IPAM systems. | Listed integrations include Ansible, Terraform, Slack, Microsoft Teams, PagerDuty, Proxmox, VMware vCenter, SNMP, nmap, LDAP/AD and WinRM. |
Plans
Cisco Catalyst Center
- Cisco DNA AdvantagePriced on request
- Cisco DNA EssentialsPriced on request
Danbyte
- Free and open sourceFree
- Self-hosted DanbyteFree
- Danbyte CloudPriced on request
In their own words
Cisco Catalyst Center
Cisco Catalyst Center has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Danbyte
Danbyte is an open-source IP address management, data-center infrastructure management and network source-of-truth platform. It tracks IP space, hardware, cabling, power, virtualization, monitoring and automation in one system. For IPAM, it calculates prefix containment, available space and utilization per VRF, and handles VLANs, DHCP ranges, DNS zones and route targets. Its DCIM tools model rack elevations, device faceplates, ports, power and virtual chassis. Network views include cable and fibre tracing, floor plans, circuits, VPN tunnels and wireless SSIDs. Proxmox VE and VMware vCenter imports cover virtual machines and related infrastructure, with drift reconciliation; active checks, SNMP and nmap discovery help maintain an observed layer. Automation options include Ansible and Terraform inventories, Jinja templates, signed webhooks and scoped APIs. Danbyte can run on user hardware, including fully air-gapped deployments, without telemetry or an expiring license. The free, self-hosted offer includes all features without seat licensing. The Linux quick installer bundles Python, Node and dependencies but requires PostgreSQL 15+ and Redis.