The high penetration of renewable energy resources, such as wind and photovoltaic, as well as the development of power electronics devices play an important role in the development of DC grids. However, the evolution of DC-systems from point-to-point connections to ‘Multi-terminal’ DC (MTDC) networks is not so straight forward. At the current moment there is a large gap in the literature concerning the dynamics, control and operation of MTDC networks. On the other hand, conventional AC networks have been studied exhaustively in the past decades providing for a rich inspiration source. In this paper we are going to establish a comprehensive analogy between the characteristics of conventional AC grids and the emerging DC grids. The key similarities and differences between the two types of grids are identified in an attempt to better understand the characteristics and behavior of DC grids. In the end, the extent to which concepts like planning for operation and control of AC grids can be conveniently extrapolated to DC grids is evaluated.