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Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus 9000 Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 2026

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
6th
Ranking in Data Center Networking
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
16th
Ranking in Data Center Networking
7th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
4.6
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Dibyendu Das - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at a tech company with 11-50 employees
Ultra-low latency networking has delivered reliable video workflows and critical operations
The support of Arista Networks Platform is quite complex; it is not very easy to configure. It needs a lot of network expertise for token sheddings and different kinds of configurations. It is very difficult to configure because Arista Networks Platform does not have a flexible GUI like Huawei or Netgear; everything is a very CLI kind of mainframe architecture. Scalability at every single step has a huge upgrade cost which is required for port mapping, connectivity, and transceivers certified by Arista Networks Platform, then the fabric upgrades from a software firmware level. Arista Networks Platform should improve commercial aspects to be affordable. There is no path for growth with a perfect score because the focus is more on reducing costs globally.
Fakhar Mahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Network Administrator at i2c
Has consistently supported high availability with reliable performance and minimal disruption
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series and the routers are good, but the FMC or FTDs still need some improvement. We have Palo Alto firewalls and Next-Generation Firewalls in our environment. In comparison to the main firewall, we moved from Cisco FTDs to Palo Alto. We still have FTDs in our environment, but the majority of the firewalls have been moved to Palo Alto. They are more user-friendly, give more visibility, and are more efficient. The performance is better than Cisco. With the new features, Cisco is having some improvement for the FTD. I am currently evaluating the FTDs. The new version has better features like the encrypted visibility engine and user-based changes in FMCs, and other things are quite useful for us. FTDs do have limitations and other issues. We communicated that limitation and feature support to the Cisco account manager. We do have support for the devices. We currently have a weekly call with Cisco and they are making progress regarding new versions of the FMCs and introducing new features. The performance of deployment has improved quite a bit compared to four or five years ago.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Arista Networks Platform's features have significantly improved network visibility and operational efficiency."
"Arista Networks Platform offers straightforward deployment, and has good features. Support for the platform is also good."
"The platform is easy to scale."
"We find the CloudVision switching feature of this solution really useful."
"Arista Networks Platform has really boosted our organization to the extent that our organization does not want to think about any other platform except Arista in terms of access points and switches."
"We use Arista products not only because they are so stable, easy to adopt and configure, but also because they have high throughput ratings (e.g. 40 / 100 / 400 gigabits), making them very scalable."
"We are always surprised about the proficiency of the speed of the technical support."
"If someone uses Arista Networks Platform, I believe they are secured."
"Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is quite a complex machine, but we are using a very simple configuration with basic Nexus switching, and we don't have many issues with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series at the moment in our present infrastructure."
"The stability and reliability of Cisco Nexus 9000 Series are robust, and once you put it on, it does not just fail; that takes a long time, maybe even years."
"Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is very durable and very reliable, and there has never been any issue with it."
"Performance has been great with no abnormal behaviors detected, and the network remains stable even in failover scenarios, supporting vast environments with high availability."
"RealPresence works effectively."
"We are using the core capabilities of Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Ethernet switches, and it is performing well."
 

Cons

"The intent-based networking management, together with the provider of these solutions that are already free, would be beneficial."
"I would assess CloudVision's impact on my network's control and visibility as okay but not exceptional compared to Cisco solutions like the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller."
"The product fails to offer functions related to cloud orchestration, making it in areas where improvements are required."
"They should expand further into campus networks."
"They need to enhance their code and their EOS. They need to improve some security features, and there are quite a number of bugs in their system. So, they need to work on that piece. In the next release, we need to have a modular feature. Instead of providing an integrated solution, they should go for something modular. They need to come up with modular highly scalable models. Even at the chassis layer, I want to see some improvement."
"My company does face issues in terms of interoperability when it comes to the product, making it an area that needs to be fixed."
"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."
"Cost-wise, Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is very expensive."
"I would rate the technical support for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series an eight out of ten. This rating is not because of their lack of expertise, but just the assignment period."
"The SFP modules we are using have had issues. We have Cisco modules, but they frequently heat up or there are packet error issues."
"For Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switches, I think we need to work on the HSRP. Whenever it flaps or something happens, it creates an issue."
"We find that Cisco has been left behind by the other vendors. The other vendors have adopted new technology, and we find Cisco lagging behind."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cost wise, Arista Networks Platform is more expensive than other networking solutions."
"It is pretty pricey for a networking platform. It is on par with Cisco."
"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."
"Arista Networks Platform was cheaper than Cisco. I have heard that the product is affordable for enterprise-sized companies."
"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."
"Arista is very expensive. Not everybody is in a position to spend $70,000 to $80,000 for one switch."
"There is an annual license required to use the Arista Networks Platform."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
27%
Construction Company
15%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise12
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Arista Networks Platform?
The initial setup cost is high compared to others, and I find the initial setup cost to be very high.
What needs improvement with Arista Networks Platform?
Arista Networks Platform is doing quite well in the market compared to their peers, but there is room for improvement in pricing, as it can be expensive compared to some alternatives like Cisco and...
What is your primary use case for Arista Networks Platform?
My main use case for Arista Networks Platform is using it for campus network. I use Arista Networks Platform for campus networking, including core switch, distribution switch, POE switch, non-POE s...
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
At this point, not much could be improved about Cisco Nexus 9000 Series. Automation GUI based is not the core of the 9000, so this is a different device or a different solution. I do not find anyth...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
My usual use cases for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series involve various companies, particularly when they are in need of a new automation solution or just an upgrade of the data center.
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
I am very satisfied with this solution. However, it is more about whether it is actually possible to do the solutions, and normally people already know what they want. They only need to have the ri...
 

Also Known As

7000 Series
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

American Internet Services
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Arista Networks Platform vs. Cisco Nexus 9000 Series and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,270 professionals have used our research since 2012.