Broadcom StrataDNX vs Cisco Catalyst Switches comparison

Broadcom and Cisco are both solutions in the Ethernet Switches category. Broadcom is ranked #25 with an average rating of 8.0, while Cisco is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.4. Broadcom holds a 1.1% mindshare in ES, compared to Cisco’s 3.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Broadcom users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Broadcom StrataDNX

Read 3 Broadcom StrataDNX reviews

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808 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Catalyst Switches

Read 178 Cisco Catalyst Switches reviews

5,802 Views
2,901 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Broadcom StrataDNX

Cisco Catalyst Switches

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Cisco Catalyst Switches and Broadcom StrataDNX are key competitors in the network switch market. Broadcom StrataDNX might have the edge for high-performance environments due to its feature-rich design, despite Cisco Catalyst's pricing and support strengths.

Features: Cisco Catalyst Switches offer robust security, extensive integration capabilities, and comprehensive management tools. In contrast, Broadcom StrataDNX focuses on scalability, high-performance networking, and large-scale connectivity. The primary difference is Cisco's emphasis on security and management, while Broadcom targets performance and scalability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Catalyst provides straightforward deployment with highly regarded support, ensuring smooth integration. Broadcom StrataDNX, while more complex to deploy, allows for significant customization. Cisco's widespread support network simplifies deployment, whereas Broadcom supports specialized setups.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Catalyst offers competitive setup costs with good ROI from reliability and long-term support. Broadcom StrataDNX involves higher initial costs, justified by its advanced features for demanding environments. Cisco appeals to budget-conscious buyers with a focus on support, while Broadcom targets those seeking performance improvements.

To learn more, read our detailed Broadcom StrataDNX vs. Cisco Catalyst Switches Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Broadcom StrataDNX vs. Cisco Catalyst Switches

December 2025

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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

Broadcom StrataDNX

Ranking in Ethernet Switches

25th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

3.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Cisco Catalyst Switches

Ranking in Ethernet Switches

5th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

178

Ranking in other categories

LAN Switching (1st), Data Center Networking (2nd), AV Over IP Switching (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of Broadcom StrataDNX is 1.1%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Catalyst Switches is 3.5%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Ethernet Switches Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Catalyst Switches	3.5%
Broadcom StrataDNX	1.1%
Other	95.4%

Ethernet Switches

Featured Reviews

Wisely Ng

Senior rPLM and Consulting Engineering, IP and Optical Networks, APAC at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Cost-effective chipset saves resources and offers rich features

The Broadcom StrataDNX chipset, such as the DNX, is quite a generic chipset and from the cost perspective, it is quite cost-effective hardware. When we decide to use such an Ethernet switch, our R&D and headquarters consider using the Broadcom chipset as one of the merchandised chipsets in our system, providing a cost-effective solution to our customers. The cost-saving with Broadcom StrataDNX is one of the critical criteria for using the DNX as one of our hardware chipsets. From the features perspective, it is quite feature-rich, so we can leverage those existing functions on the SDK to develop our own features in our equipment.

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Arun Giri

Unit Nos at Orange

Reliable support boosts confidence while initial setup complexities highlight improvement areas

Challenges I've encountered mostly involve the RMA part for hardware replacement, which doesn't happen regularly, but sometimes I face challenges due to limited parts in India; they offer different model devices as a stopgap arrangement. It's quite difficult to specify features I would want to see in future updates because that varies from model to model. I would definitely recommend Cisco Catalyst Switches to other users. We do maintenance for Cisco Catalyst Switches. For maintenance, we usually need three people from different regions working as a single team; our engineers handle both projects and maintenance, so there isn't a specific engineer just for maintenance. I work with firewalls and next-generation firewalls. Overall, I would rate the solution as an eight out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The Broadcom StrataDNX chipset, such as the DNX, is quite a generic chipset and from the cost perspective, it is quite cost-effective hardware."

"The cost-saving with Broadcom StrataDNX is one of the critical criteria for using the DNX as one of our hardware chipsets, and from the features perspective, it is quite feature-rich, so we can leverage those existing functions on the SDK to develop our own features in our equipment."

"The good thing about the StrataDNX is that the Broadcom family is very interchangeable, so they work well with different optical transceivers."

"Easy to integrate with any of the other hardware platforms."

"The most important features are that Cisco is one of the most robust switches, it is easy to configure, and the documentation is pretty good."

"Cisco comes with built-in software access for network devices."

"It is easy to use."

"The availability of resources for learning about the product and doing evaluation of any issues is excellent."

"The solution works well with analytics."

"The solution is durable."

"The scalability is excellent."

"Cisco Catalyst Switches are very stable."

More Cisco Catalyst Switches pros

Cons

"There is room for improvement in the pricing model."

"The standard features do not provide a full feature set, so we need to create our own features to compensate for those limitations."

"The number of surfaces that can be handled by the chipset could be increased."

"The standard features do not provide a full feature set, so we need to create our own features to compensate for those limitations."

"Any improvements that they make should be in the wireless area of the product."

"I would like to see a graphical user interface for the configuration."

"Cisco Catalyst Switches could improve by having more integration with third-party products."

"The configuration process is hard."

"It should have better security and the prices can always be lower. The cheaper the price, the better but if the quality is good, it's worth it. They also have to improve the firewalling."

"The cost of this product is very high and not all companies can afford it."

"The licensing process should be back to how it was before. Now, you have to register online, and it makes staging a bit trickier."

"Their centralized management could be better. There should be some kind of software for centralized management so that I don't need somebody else to manage it."

More Cisco Catalyst Switches cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"I rate the overall product a six out of ten from a price perspective since it is an expensive tool."

"The licensing, and maintenance fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"The licenses are definitely expensive. There is a need to make annual payments towards the subscription or licensing costs attached to the solution."

"The price can definitely be lower."

"The price of these switches is on the upper end. It is around $3,500 plus for a 24-Port switch. These switches are more expensive than Linksys and TP-Links, but you get what you pay for. If you look at the pros and cons per switch, you can justify the cost compared to a lesser and cheaper brand."

"The new products from Cisco in the market are expensive. My company cannot import Cisco products, so they are mostly unavailable."

"These switches are expensive."

"The solution is probably the most expensive, but users who want the best need to pay the premium."

More Cisco Catalyst Switches pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

22%

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	79
Midsize Enterprise	29
Large Enterprise	79

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Broadcom StrataDNX?

From my impression regarding Broadcom StrataDNX, I can explain that while Broadcom is quite good, it is not perfect in some cases. The standard features do not provide a full feature set, so we nee...

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What is your primary use case for Broadcom StrataDNX?

We use the SDK from Broadcom StrataDNX from the software features point of view. We have our own network operating system to perform adaptive configurations around different chipsets, creating an a...

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What advice do you have for others considering Broadcom StrataDNX?

The Broadcom StrataDNX chipset from the product portfolio is quite generic and not difficult to deploy. For network monitoring, we do not rely on the Broadcom StrataDNX chipset capability. Instead,...

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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 ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Cisco Catalyst Switches?

We are a vendor for the healthcare sector, especially hospitals, and normally, we use a full Cisco solution for stability, especially for the stability of the Access Points and the security of swit...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Catalyst Switches?

For pricing satisfaction, I'd say it will be six to seven because Cisco usually is costly compared to other vendors. Regarding pricing, there is indeed room for improvement.

See all answers

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Ethernet Switches

January 2026

Download Broadcom StrataDNX product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Catalyst Switches

January 2026

Download Cisco Catalyst Switches product report

Also Known As

StrataDNX

Cisco Catalyst, Catalyst

Overview

The StrataDNX product line offers the greatest extensibility and scalability of any merchant silicon switch in the industry, with the ability to scale both tables and buffering with external lookup engines or memory. The StrataDNX chips can also be connected together via DNX fabric elements to build industry-leading switches and routers with hundreds of terabits of bandwidth. The StrataDNX line features a service-rich, carrier-grade programmable architecture to meet the needs of service provider core, metro transport, mobile backhaul, microwave, POTN, access, and data center networks.

Broadcom

Cisco Catalyst Switches are a reliable and scalable network switching and routing solution, focusing on VLANs and VLAN switching. They are used as access switches, distribution switches, and core switches in various environments, deployed on-premises, and used for long connections. The switches are easy to configure, install, and upgrade and offer good pricing.

The most valuable features include warranty and firmware support, stability, security, good performance, flexibility, etc. The Cisco Catalyst Switches have provided a stable solution for the organizations and are widely used, trusted, and well-known in the networking industry.

Cisco

Sample Customers

Hill International, Coty, Banese, Algar Tech

Afni, Anilana Hotels and Resorts, Baylor Scott & White Health, Beachbody, Bellevue, Del Papa Distributing, Explorer Pipeline, Mindtree, Omaha World Herald, Radio 538, Sony Corporation, Telecom Italia, Telenor Arena

Buyer's Guide

Broadcom StrataDNX vs. Cisco Catalyst Switches

December 2025

Free Report: Broadcom StrataDNX vs. Cisco Catalyst Switches

Find out what your peers are saying about Broadcom StrataDNX vs. Cisco Catalyst Switches and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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