Cisco offers DNS features over other vendors.
Pre-Sales Solution Architect at CtrlS Datacenters Ltd
Provides DNS feature but has high pricing
Pros and Cons
- "Cisco offers DNS features over other vendors."
- "The product could be cheaper."
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
The product could be simpler and cheaper.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco Catalyst Switches for over 5-10 years. We are using the 9000 series of the solution.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is stable.
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Catalyst Switches
May 2026
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Catalyst Switches. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2026.
896,803 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Switches are scalable in terms of logical configurations at VLAN. It is scalable because it depends on whether it is a manageable or non-manageable suite.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product is expensive. They charge for support. It comes with many options that are not understandable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Aruba and Dell are offering switches, too.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Co- Founder at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The online support available for the tool is good, but it can be difficult to understand the functioning of the solution
Pros and Cons
- "The benefit of the tool is that it is a stable product."
- "There are multiple operating systems across Cisco's portfolio, which is problematic."
What is our primary use case?
I use the tool in my company for spine and leaf architectures and to deploy new data centers.
How has it helped my organization?
The benefit of the tool is that it is a stable product. You can find enough expertise in the market to hire someone for help if required. Cisco's technical support is great.
What is most valuable?
Cisco Catalyst Switches offer familiarity with operating systems. The operational knowledge that I have gained after working with Cisco for around ten to twelve years is the sole reason I prefer it. The stability in the operations that I get with Cisco Catalyst Switches, the support it offers to users through the articles available over the internet, and the expertise related to the tool available in the market are good.
What needs improvement?
There are multiple operating systems across Cisco's portfolio, which is problematic. Cisco's firewall has some different operating systems, while Cisco's routers have a different operating system, so you might need to have people with different expertise, and the learning curve might be a little high as compared to other network providers, which might have common operating systems across different types of devices.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco Catalyst Switches for ten to twelve years. Currently, I'm not working with Cisco. I have my own startup organization where I provide services related to networking devices.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution. I have no complaints about the tool's stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution.
Around 100 people in my company use the tool.
How are customer service and support?
I have experience with the solution's technical support. I found Cisco's support team to be one of the best in the industry.
I rate the overall tool a seven and a half out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
It doesn't take much time to set up any Cisco device, but again, it depends on how comfortable you are with the tool. From my personal viewpoint, Cisco Catalyst Switches are pretty much easy to set up.
The product's deployment phase initially starts with a discovery and a design workshop. After that, our company mostly automates a lot of stuff based on the design and discovery workshop, where we come up with some artifacts with respect to configuration, and then we leverage some automation tools to deploy it.
The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.
Depending on the size of the deployment, around eight to ten people are required from an operation standpoint, and not more than two people are required to manage the deployment process.
What about the implementation team?
The solution can be deployed with help from an in-house team.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licenses are definitely expensive. There is a need to make annual payments towards the subscription or licensing costs attached to the solution.
What other advice do I have?
Before a user picks up any product or solution, due diligence should be followed. Though Cisco offers many services, features, and functionalities, better solutions might be available in the market. If users need only ten features, it is better to choose a solution that offers only ten features rather than opting for something like Cisco, which offers over a hundred features, making it an expensive product.
I rate the overall tool a seven and a half out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Cisco Catalyst Switches Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2026
Popular Comparisons
Dell PowerEdge R-Series
Aruba Switches
NETGEAR Switches
MikroTik Routers and Switches
Ubiquiti UniFi Switches
Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access
TP-Link Omada Switches
Arista Networks Platform
D-Link Ethernet Switches
Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches
HPE Ethernet Switches
Huawei Ethernet Switches
Meraki MS Switches
Cisco Nexus
MikroTik Cloud Router Switch
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Cisco Catalyst Switches Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Quick Links
Learn More: Questions:
- Would you recommend replacing a Cisco Catalyst Switch by a D-link one?
- Is it necessary to stack power cables while stacking switches in Cisco Catalyst 9300 into HA mode?
- Cisco Catalyst Switch 3560 is not working - looking for advice
- Juniper vs Cisco ethernet switches: Which one is better?
- When evaluating Ethernet Switches, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?
- Which Ethernet switch do you use? Why?
- What are your recommended Layer 2 and Layer 3 network switches if the main consideration is performance?
- Does anyone have statistics on how often a fire occurs in a computer room?
- Why does Cisco dominate the ethernet switching market?
- Juniper EX4600 vs. Cisco 3850













