Cisco Catalyst Center vs OpenDaylight
Cisco Catalyst Center
cisco.comOpenDaylight
opendaylight.orgSide by side
| Figure | Cisco Catalyst Center | OpenDaylight |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 1 |
| Spec score · Data Center Fabric Software | 7.8 (#2) | 7.6 (#3) |
| Spec score · Software-Defined Networking Software | 7.8 (#4) | 7.6 (#7) |
| Spec score · Data Center Networking Solutions | 7.8 (#4) | 7.6 (#6) |
| Spec score · Network Automation Software | 7.8 (#10) | 7.5 (#16) |
| Founded | 1984 | 2013 |
| Purpose | Cisco Catalyst Center is a centralized network controller and management dashboard for enterprise network operations. | OpenDaylight is an open source SDN controller for centralized, programmable network control and monitoring. |
| Release support | Cisco states that Catalyst Center 2.3.7.x follows a 24-month support timeline, with support for that release listed through June 17, 2027. | The downloads page lists Chromium-SR0, Vanadium-SR1, and Titanium-SR3 under supported releases. |
| Security | Catalyst Center supports FIPS 140-2-compliant cryptography modules, and Cisco recommends deploying it behind a firewall on a private internal network. | The AAA project provides authentication, authorization, accounting, and role-based access control for OpenDaylight northbound interfaces. |
Plans
Cisco Catalyst Center
- Cisco DNA AdvantagePriced on request
- Cisco DNA EssentialsPriced on request
In their own words
Cisco Catalyst Center
Cisco Catalyst Center has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
OpenDaylight
OpenDaylight is a free, open-source SDN controller for centralized, programmable network control and monitoring. Its modular design uses YANG models and MD-SAL to connect applications with network hardware through northbound REST APIs and southbound plugins. Listed protocol support includes OpenFlow, NETCONF, BGP-LS, PCEP, OVSDB, LISP, and SNMP, among others. Clustering, sharded data stores, and leader-based consensus support scaling across nodes. The project describes uses in optical transport, service-provider WAN automation, data center SDN, network telemetry, enterprise network control, and ONAP. Its AAA project provides authentication, authorization, accounting, and role-based access control for northbound interfaces. OpenDaylight is self-hosted and runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows; setup requires Java 21 or later. The downloads page identifies Chromium-SR0 as the current release and lists Vanadium-SR1 and Titanium-SR3 under supported releases. Documentation, Zulip chat, mailing lists, a wiki, and weekly Technical Steering Committee meetings are listed as community resources.