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Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Ethernet Switches comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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 Networks Platform
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
Data Center Networking (2nd)
Cisco Ethernet Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
134
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of Arista Networks Platform is 3.1%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Ethernet Switches is 14.7%, down from 18.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches
 

Featured Reviews

MarekSzafrański - PeerSpot reviewer
Affordable for enterprise-sized companies
Speaking about whether the product enhanced our company's data center scalability, I would say that it was a solution that was used in a banking company, where it served as a replacement for Cisco. Though Arista Networks Platform is similar to Cisco IOS CLI, I feel that the former product offers better prices compared to the latter tool. Arista Networks Platform office is more efficient at a lower cost. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. The tool is stable and cheaper than Cisco. I would say that Arista Networks Platform is 100 percent compatible with the existing infrastructure in my company. The impact of the tool's network telemetry on our company's troubleshooting practices was just good for the scope for which I need the product. I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.
Pradeep Adhav - PeerSpot reviewer
Network security enhancement with sturdy switches despite high costs
The Cisco Ethernet switches are primarily used as regular core switches for networking, distribution, and access levels. We also utilize Cisco Wi-Fi, VPN, and Wi-Fi controllers The Cisco Ethernet switches have improved our network's security, ensuring it is 100% secure by not allowing any…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product's implementation phase was easy."
"Arista Networks Platform has a feature that helps with monitoring and management."
"The most valuable features of Arista include low latency, scalability, and sustainability of the products."
"The solution has good load latency. They're the market leader in this aspect right now."
"Arista Networks Platform offers straightforward deployment, and has good features. Support for the platform is also good."
"It's an extremely reliable platform for the network switches we use."
"The solution is scalable."
"The user-friendly policy manager lets us apply different controls for various user groups easily."
"I'd rate the solution ten out of ten."
"Cisco switches are trouble-free. They are reliable, and their performance is excellent."
"Remote access is a valuable feature."
"Cisco Ethernet Switches is a very stable product."
"It's all-encompassing and can help you in all these different areas. If people realize that they want something that's going to work, that's pretty foolproof, then Cisco's always worth the investment."
"The greatest advantage of Cisco switches is their reliability. For example, we bought some 500 series switches back in 2002 or 2003, and they ran 24/7. I never had an issue for seven years."
"The features that I have found most valuable are the core reliability and the switching group. All the features are very generic switching features with high reliability. That is the main key point I can highlight."
"It's for industry products, so it's easy to use."
 

Cons

"They should expand further into campus networks."
"The solution needs to improve their product range."
"Currently, Arista is too costly for its customers."
"The overall price of the Arista Networks Platform is expensive. It should be reduced."
"The solution is quite expensive. One of the negative aspects of it is the pricing."
"The solution needs to accommodate new features."
"A smoother transition between ISPs during failover would improve the user experience by reducing unnecessary notifications and interruptions."
"Something that you will often hear about Arista products is that the price is a bit too high and, like with Cisco, we sometimes have problems with our customers because of its pricing."
"Its management should be improved."
"One thing we did have to work around is, on the broadcast side, we're reliant on the PTP protocol, precision time protocol, and the Cisco switches in general, don't support that."
"If Cisco Ethernet Switches can work both on-prem and in the cloud, it would be an advantage."
"We are less in the Cloud because the Cloud technologies didn't work so well. That happened in all of the companies where I've been engaged."
"Currently, we have to wait up to eight months for a switch."
"This may be something that they are already working on, but it would be an improvement if they could add a layer of security to layer two and layer three to protect the server and to protect the data."
"There are instances where the commands you are familiar with might change or be replaced with newer syntax."
"There could be an improvement in the licensing by reducing the price of the different types, such as essential, advantage, and premium."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Arista is very expensive. Not everybody is in a position to spend $70,000 to $80,000 for one switch."
"The price of the Arista Networks Platform could be less expensive for the hardware and license."
"Network devices are generally expensive. However, during the evaluation, Arista was the most inexpensive vendor."
"I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten where ten is high price and one is low price."
"The customer price for an Arista router is approximately $7,000 USD, while Cisco's is around $18,000."
"It is pretty pricey for a networking platform. It is on par with Cisco."
"If one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the product price as seven out of ten."
"I remember that when our customers were offered the Arista Networks Platform, they used a checklist to compare the prices between Arista and Cisco for their requirements, and found that the prices were almost the same."
"In some of the latest switches, the warranty is not included in the pricing and we have to purchase it separately."
"The price is on the higher side."
"Cisco is quite expensive. In our market, a lot of customers are forced to go with something else because they cannot afford a brand-new Cisco even though they know a Cisco switch will be more reliable."
"These switches are expensive, but they are an excellent buy and definitely have value for the investment."
"The price of Cisco Ethernet Switches here in India is too high. There are other cheaper solutions available."
"The last time I bought a 24-port switch, which was a while ago, I paid about five or six thousand Euros. In this part of the world, that's quite expensive for us."
"The solution is highly expensive compared to other solutions. The prices get tripled when they arrived in my country of Angola."
"We are happy with the pricing from Cisco."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Ethernet Switches solutions are best for your needs.
851,451 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user82779 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 29, 2014
Benefits of Juniper vs Cisco
Both are decent products. I prefer Juniper for the following reasons: 1) Cleaner separation of data plane from control plane. Higher end Cisco devices are better at this but most of the lower end products still seem to be more integrated than I like. 2) The Hierarchical config design means I can…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Educational Organization
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Arista Networks Platform?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Arista Networks Platform?
Arista products are perceived as costly, especially compared to competitors like Cisco.
What needs improvement with Arista Networks Platform?
Currently, Arista is too costly for its customers. Feature-wise, it addresses most customer requirements. However, we sometimes face challenges when integrating with proprietary protocols and solut...
Would you recommend replacing a Cisco Catalyst Switch by a D-link one?
Hello Mesfin It depends on the real scenario, the cisco 2960 is a very good device and they usually have routing functions but there are many different models within the same 2960 line, and on the ...
Which would you choose - Fortinet Fortiswitch secure access or Cisco Ethernet Switches?
We researched Cisco but ultimately chose Fortinet FortiSwitch Secure Access, mostly because of the price. Fortinet FortiSwitch is an ethernet switch solution that provides security and performance...
In terms of ethernet switches, would you go with Cisco or Juniper?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether Cisco or Juniper Ethernet switches were the better fit for us. We decided to go with Juniper. Juniper ethernet switches are a lesser-known...
 

Also Known As

7000 Series
Cisco Industrial Ethernet Switches
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

American Internet Services
Linz AG
Find out what your peers are saying about Arista Networks Platform vs. Cisco Ethernet Switches and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,451 professionals have used our research since 2012.