We performed a comparison between Aruba Switches and Cisco Ethernet Switches based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Aruba Switches is the winner in this comparison. It is easy to set up, performs well, and has excellent customer support. In addition, it is less expensive than Cisco Ethernet Switches.
"The solution is very stable."
"The initial installation of Aruba Switches is easy."
"The solution's stability is really great. We found it very solid."
"The most valuable aspect for our organization is the CX. It's wonderful."
"The most valuable features are the access point, fire control for clients, majority control, platform control in SSIGF, WiFi networking, and area monitoring."
"Aruba Switches are always innovating to bring new solutions to the market."
"The most valuable feature is the lifetime warranty."
"The most valuable feature of Aruba Switches is its performance."
"Cisco Ethernet Switches are more stable than other products."
"Good and stable operational experience with nearly no loss of hardware and very few software bugs."
"What we love about the Cisco switches is that they are very reliable. You can deploy them and go to sleep, and you can be sure that nothing is going to go wrong. Our initial equipment was installed by a Chinese manufacturer named Fiberhome a couple of years ago. Their switches were called S engines. They worked, but some days, you just wake up, and the switch has popped up. It was a lot of crisis. Therefore, we are in the process of trying to take out all their switches and replace them with Cisco switches. We are getting good results in terms of reliability and even technical support."
"Its performance and reliability are valuable."
"The stability is 100%."
"The product offers very good customer support. It's likely the best in the industry."
"One main feature of this solution is the POE switches."
"We don't need any support from Cisco since there are a lot of materials and training about Cisco available online. I feel Cisco's support is good."
"Aruba Switches cover lots of areas and support automated and IOPS and with the central products, but I think when we look at the solutions overall, IOPS devices are not covered so much in Aruba Central. We are in Croatia and it is a small country, I don't know how its situation is in Europe, America, or Asia."
"If you work for a small business, then Cisco would be best."
"The migration from older to newer products could be improved."
"The main issue we had with the Aruba Switches was that they would heat up easily when placed outside. We have two locations with no cover in the corridor and it's a historical building. We experienced outages on the first batch of Aruba Switches we received, which we never had with the Dell Switches, for example, even though Dell Switches are not as well-known. However, the Dell Switches had been outside for a few years and we never had any issues with them. In contrast, we encountered an issue with the Aruba Switch after only one week of being outside when it shut down in security mode."
"There are some growing pains with Aruba Central. When you first launch the wireless access points or switches, a lot of updates are needed to get Aruba Central ready, especially on the access points, so the initial deployment time could improve. I would hope that I could just turn it on and leave the updates until later on. The switches themselves probably did okay. I'm primarily referring to the wireless access points. There was a lot of back and forth before everything was in sync. It took hours."
"I would say that the customization of the switches could be easier to configure."
"We had an integration team do the setup of the solution."
"The interface could be more user-friendly and the dashboard could be improved."
"The ease of use of Cisco Ethernet Switches could improve. It is different to use them if you do not have prior knowledge."
"The price of the solution has room for improvement."
"Integration with third-party products could be improved."
"The GUI is not that easy."
"I think the price should be cheaper to be able to afford more."
"It would be good for Cisco to provide certification to our engineers for our IT infrastructure. Basically to train and certify our engineers."
"The typical areas of concern for Cisco Ethernet Switches are not technical but cost including support costs. I’ve never liked the fact that end users cannot download security patches without a support contract. I’ve had trouble getting approval to renew Cisco support contracts due to the cost."
"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."
Aruba Switches is ranked 2nd in Ethernet Switches with 70 reviews while Cisco Ethernet Switches is ranked 1st in Ethernet Switches with 128 reviews. Aruba Switches is rated 8.4, while Cisco Ethernet Switches is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Aruba Switches writes "As a managed service provider, it's important to have a solution that can manage everything from one console". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Cisco Ethernet Switches writes "It's a solidly stable product from a leader in the field". Aruba Switches is most compared with Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access, Meraki MS Switches, Ubiquiti UniFi Switches, Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches and MikroTik Routers and Switches, whereas Cisco Ethernet Switches is most compared with Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access, D-Link Ethernet Switches, Ubiquiti UniFi Switches, NETGEAR Switches and Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches. See our Aruba Switches vs. Cisco Ethernet Switches report.
See our list of best Ethernet Switches vendors.
We monitor all Ethernet Switches reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
