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Arista Campus LAN Switches vs Cisco Nexus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Arista Campus LAN Switches
Ranking in LAN Switching
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Nexus
Ranking in LAN Switching
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Data Center Networking (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Arista Campus LAN Switches is 2.9%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Nexus is 8.5%, down from 11.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
LAN Switching
 

Featured Reviews

Moshiur-Rahman Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
A switching solution that provides seamless connectivity but has a high renewal cost
We have numerous implementations of Arista switches. Cisco has a significant issue. It cannot maintain its service commitment regarding daily LAN returns, leading to client dissatisfaction. There are substantial delivery delays. Furthermore, Cisco currently charges double for the same product, which impacts cost-effectiveness. We found an issue with Arista Campus LAN Switches regarding license renewals. We have to renew the license every three years, which can be a challenge for customers. Arista, like other vendors, now follows a license-based system. In the past, we could purchase a Cisco system that would run without needing continuous license renewals. However, the current model requires regular license renewals, typically every three years, similar to Arista's approach. The renewal cost for Arista licenses is quite high. For instance, Cisco's renewal cost is about 22% of the total system cost, and Aroware also has a 22% renewal cost. In contrast, Arista's renewal cost is almost 55% or more, presenting a significant challenge for customers.
DeepakYadav1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good processing power to users
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a four to five out of ten. I rate the stability of the product as four to five out of ten based on the fact that I have checked the tool's features. I also know that there are many more options available in the market, like Palo Alto, Check Point, Fortinet, and other devices, which offer affordable, configurable, and scalable devices that I should plan to buy. Cisco is not providing tools for everything my company needs, but it is a good product. The market competition is high nowadays. Cisco is still handling some old parts. Cisco's old products make up approximately 67 percent of the devices offered in the networking industry. Despite the competition from products like Palo Alto, Check Point, and Fortinet, Cisco is not very scalable, but all its devices are updated regularly.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The technology is scalable as much as you want."
"I use the solution for connectivity in data centers and LANs, providing Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity based on network needs."
"The feature sets are pretty cool. They've got almost everything that the competition offers."
"QoS is the most valuable feature because our clients work with VOIP and Critical applications."
"The CloudVision Portal allows us to centrally manage all of our Arista products."
"The solution's most valuable feature is its stability because Arista falls in an industry that is very similar to Cisco."
"This solution streamlines how we have to configure things because we can do everything from one device, whereas if we had individual devices we would have to go to each one and configure them manually."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco Nexus is the performance, flexibility, configuration, and cost. It's not a traditional pricing model from Cisco. They've offered our company a considerable reduction in price. That makes Cisco Nexus now very competitive with other vendors."
"We used older versions of Cisco Cloud. The reason why we switched was just adapting with the times."
"It gives me an unparalleled ability to build out my environment differently than I would have if I was going with another vendor."
"The setup is straightforward. I'd like to see the firmware and code upgradability to be slightly more intuitive."
"The interface is as user-friendly as you can make it."
"Regarding maintaining infrastructure, we have achieved uniformity."
"The VPC feature of Cisco Nexus is great because it provides an active-active way of forwarding the traffic and avoids blocking any of the links."
 

Cons

"We have to renew the license every three years, which can be a challenge for customers. Arista, like other vendors, now follows a license-based system."
"I think there's still room for improvement. Arista Campus LAN Switches are not highly scalable as they are hardware-based. If hardware requirements exceed capacity, the product needs to be changed, which can impact service."
"One of the issues that we have been faced with here in Brazil is that we don't have any list times for delivery."
"I would like to see a version available with eight or sixteen ports."
"It would be ideal if the solution was less expensive."
"The complex setup phase is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"For a very small subset, Cisco Nexus caused port flapping within the applications."
"The only issue that I have with this product is finding help on different commands when I'm trying to make a change."
"Multi contexts would be nice to have to separate different tenants logically and securely."
"Technical support could be better."
"There's a couple of really bad incidents lately. Probably luck of the draw."
"One of our switches died last week and we were able to RMA it. Within four hours it arrived on time and worked."
"If I call during a high volume, I might get someone that just doesn't know as much or it takes a little bit of time and they put us on hold more. Otherwise, it's good."
"In the next release of the solution, I would like to see varying integration between VRF (Virtual Routing and Forwarding) instances so we can integrate BGB into different VRFs in a more organized way. We have some issues with tunnels and VRFs."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is not that good, but our clients value the solution despite the price."
"The only licensing costs are for CloudVision, although the upfront price of the device is not cheap."
"The licensing fees for this solution are approximately $800,000 USD annually."
"The solution is expensive."
"The solution should be more cost-effective in general."
"The license for Cisco Nexus is one year to three years, in this case for the SMARTnet. It is a price per unit, in terms of this specific appliance."
"Every Cisco product is more expensive than competitors on the market, which is just a fact, but from my perspective, it is worth it."
"The subscription model and price could be better."
"This is a very expensive product."
"It's around $160K a year for our license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Arista Campus LAN Switches?
I have cross-checked because this network is a ten-gig network. We are using the multigig switches, which Cisco also has. We found that Cisco's cost is 100%, while the cost of the multi-gig switche...
What needs improvement with Arista Campus LAN Switches?
I think there's still room for improvement. Arista Campus LAN Switches are not highly scalable as they are hardware-based. If hardware requirements exceed capacity, the product needs to be changed,...
What is your primary use case for Arista Campus LAN Switches?
I use the solution for connectivity in data centers and LANs, providing Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity based on network needs.
What do you like most about Cisco Nexus?
The product's initial setup phase is very easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?
All solutions are very expensive and not an economy solution.
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?
All solutions are very expensive and not an economy solution. The solution is on-premises and stable. We haven't tried integration with the network software.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

University of Winchester, AWE, picturemaxx, Medical Mutual, Leonix, CloudEra, National Physical Laboratory, Tri-State G&T, AIS, Morph, SingTel, SDSC, BBC
Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins
Find out what your peers are saying about Arista Campus LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.