Mellanox Switches vs NETGEAR Switches comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Mellanox Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
18th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NETGEAR Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (4th), AV Over IP Switching (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2024, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of Mellanox Switches is 1.4%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NETGEAR Switches is 8.4%, down from 8.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches
Unique Categories:
No other categories found
LAN Switching
7.2%
AV Over IP Switching
23.8%
 

Featured Reviews

Anil Ergunsah - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 20, 2022
Powerful hardware, reliable performance, and advantageous open-source OS
Mellanox Switches are used for spine-and-leaf topology in data center networks for top-of-rack devices, core devices for infinite bands at speed, and EVPN wasteland solutions. They're very good The most valuable features of Mellanox Switches are the powerful hardware and the software is open.…
BH
Feb 7, 2023
Peak performance for uncompressed 4K video streaming at a very affordable price point
NETGEAR's web interface describes settings with names and sentences which are different from other switch manufacturers. Therefore, you must figure out what each one does before you can use it. If you compare it to Cisco, for example, their web interface is a bit more intuitive. The web interface could also be improved when it comes to multicast settings. Especially, that IGMP is spread to “Switching” and “Routing“ is confusing. At first, it is unclear what needs to be setup where. Support for IGMPv3 querier would be appreciated. Currently, only a version 2 querier can be sent by the switches, which is a bit outdated, since version 3 has been on the market for a few years now. Cisco does support querier version 3 in their small business switches. The ‘how-to’ guides could do with some improvements. We got in trouble following the stacking and Dante set-up guides. If these would have been accurate, we would not have lost three days.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It is a very easy-to-use product."
"The most valuable features of Mellanox Switches are the powerful hardware and the software is open. They're using Linux operating system. You can do and install many things, and it performs well."
"From what I've been told, a valuable feature of Mellanox switches is they're quite user-friendly."
"The most valuable features of Mellanox Switches are the size, power consumption, and the vast amount of features."
"The tool is very configurable because it runs on a Linux operating system."
"The most valuable features of this solution are its functionality."
"The most valuable feature is the fact that Insight is cloud-managed. The whole reason behind it is that there is one central place to manage it. You can pre-configure everything and you can get access to it without having to get onto the client's network. That makes it easy to use and deploy."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is easy to use."
"As far as remoting into it goes, it is very efficient because I can do it from anywhere, through the remote software. I can get right into it, I can change settings really quickly, if a customer needs to add another device into it or if I need to make changes on the VLANs that we created."
"The ease of use of these switches is very good because of the Cisco CLI. If you are familiar with CLI, then you can configure the switch that way. It also has a relatively straightforward web interface. Using the web interface is good for beginners or people who aren't familiar with Cisco CLI. However, having a common command line interface method is great for some of our more advanced guys who are familiar with it."
"SFP, speed, and 10-Gigabit are the most valuable aspects of this solution. We're an architecture firm and we sometimes deal with large files. Anything we can do to eke out even a fraction of a second less time to get something done over the course of a year adds up. If I can get 10-Gigabit running in my server room, which I am right now, even though we're only gigabit to the desktop, due to the client computers we have, I can get more performance from everybody. I'm ready to start bringing in 10-Gigabit Ethernet to the desktop once I get the hardware to do that."
"Since it has a web interface, it is easy to set up. You don't have to take three years of training somewhere for a lot of money."
"The solution is simple to use. I am also impressed with the tool's GUI and CLI."
"The most important feature is the failover, the LACP links. That's the dual set it allows. We have redundant core switches and, if one fails or one network adapter fails, the other one can take over without problems."
 

Cons

"The scalability is working fine at the moment, but there's always room for improvement. As of right now, I don't know of any improvements to suggest."
"Mellanox Switches were easier before Nvidia bought Mellanox and then their new version of the operating system changed. They started with Ennui, and now they only use Linux. If they returned to their previous CLI it would be a good option for starters. The new CLI is more difficult to use but more powerful than the older one. It has its advantages."
"Mellanox Switches could improve by adding some features that can make it easier for integrating the switches in some managing and monitoring platforms, such as Elastic or similar software for monitoring data with the data center in a more holistic way."
"If you compare this solution with Cisco, utilization in Cisco is more popular and it is more friendly."
"The configuration is a bit different from Cisco, and therefore, for me at least, there's a bit of a learning curve."
"The product's scalability has certain shortcomings that can be improved."
"The management of them, itself, is not so good. You have to go between many different browsers, even some super-old browsers, to be able to do it. That is a super pain."
"One thing I have asked for, something that NETGEAR lacks that I would love to see — and from what I understand it's in the works — is a REST API to programmatically interface with multiple switches. That would be a great feature."
"The tool needs to improve its network management. The tool can be also more simplified."
"Support needs to be improved."
"The product could be more robust."
"Netgear switches could be cheaper."
"An area for improvement would be creating a wizard that can do a lot of common stuff. Instead of having some manual configuration for common features, they may want to have a single wizard that could be put in place which would let you walk through creating multiple VLANs and different routes between VLANs in a wizard. Then, you wouldn't have to dig in so deep."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a license to use the switch ports of Mellanox Switches."
"The pricing is very competitive. The licensing costs are fine."
"The price of Mellanox Switches is reasonable compared to other solutions. The price and quality ratio was very good. There is a one-time license purchase that is needed."
"It's an open-source solution."
"NETGEAR is a cost-effective solution when going for a small enterprise."
"The solution is expensive. You need to pay the costs one-time."
"There are two parts to the pricing. There's the pricing of the device itself, which is good. Their licensing model needs work, though. The licensing model doesn't fit the way MSPs do business."
"They are on par with other AV switch manufacturers, e.g., Pakedge, Cisco Small Business Series, and Extreme Networks. Though, they are closer in cost to Extreme Networks. They are more in the mid-range from an AV product price, maybe a bit higher. You can't beat their features compared to other vendors in that product range and capacity. AV specific only, they are mid-range price-wise."
"It is a slightly expensive product."
"They're good value. They're good entry-level switches. I know Cisco generally has a lot more capability. But, for an organization this size, we don't need that. So they're good value for the cost and what we need."
"The price to performance of this solution is very good. When it comes to pricing, as far as I'm concerned, they're very comparable with Ubiquity. NETGEAR has pricing that is as good as it gets. That's why I use them."
"This is a one-time purchase and there are no licensing fees."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
23%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Mellanox Switches?
The most valuable features of Mellanox Switches are the powerful hardware and the software is open. They're using Linux operating system. You can do and install many things, and it performs well.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Mellanox Switches?
The solution is affordable. I rate the product’s pricing as two out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive.
What needs improvement with Mellanox Switches?
The response time of the support could be faster.
How do NETGEAR switches compare with Cisco ethernet switches?
NetGear switches have a lot to offer. They have high availability, zero-downtime stacking, L2 and L3 functionality, and are AV-over-IP ready. NetGear switches also have a command line interface and...
Which switches are better - Ubiquiti Unifi or Netgear?
Ubiquiti Unifi offers a great set of features. For starters, it is easy to configure and implement, and also doesn’t require a learning curve because it is easy to use. It is also simple to reconfi...
What do you like most about NETGEAR Switches?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten. I have not faced any issues with the product whatsoever.
 

Also Known As

Mellanox SN2700
NETGEAR Insight Managed Switches, NETGEAR GC Series, NETGEAR M Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CNPC, Korea Consumer Agency, Nutanix, Roxo Systems, StorPool, Atlantic.Net, INFN, StarWind, NYSE Technologies, Creative Consultants, ENKI
Blaze Networks
Find out what your peers are saying about Mellanox Switches vs. NETGEAR Switches and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
787,817 professionals have used our research since 2012.