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Cisco Catalyst Switches 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

Cisco Catalyst Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
5th
Ranking in Data Center Networking
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
181
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (1st), AV Over IP Switching (1st)
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
21st
Ranking in Data Center Networking
9th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
4.6
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

MS
Electrical control system engineer at Dangote petroleum refinery and petrol chemicals
Reliable switching has delivered long‑term uptime, strong PoE support, and predictable performance
Cisco Systems Catalyst Switches are highly regarded for their performance, reliability, and enterprise-grade capabilities. My main reservation, however, is the pricing. The cost of Cisco Catalyst Switches—and Cisco products in general—is relatively high, especially in many African markets where organizations often need to balance budget constraints with required functionality. There are alternative vendors that offer comparable features at a lower price point. While they may not always match Cisco’s ecosystem, stability, or full feature depth, many businesses still choose them because of the significant cost savings. Another consideration is licensing, which can add to the overall total cost of ownership depending on the deployment model and required features. Overall, Cisco Catalyst Switches remain premium enterprise solutions, but when compared with other OEMs, their higher acquisition and licensing costs can be a major deciding factor for cost-conscious organizations.
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

"One of the main features of this solution is it is easy to manage."
"We are satisfied with the solution; it demonstrates good performance."
"They don't ever fail and they have a long service life."
"When it comes to Cisco Catalyst Switches, one can say that the legacy switches are stable."
"We can have multiple Cisco switches, like seven or eight, on a stack for 300 users. So it is highly scalable and easy to manage."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco equipment is reliability."
"If you are looking for something long-term, something to invest in a network infrastructure that is going to stand the test of time, and you want something that is very durable, very predictable, stable, and scalable, then you should go with Cisco Catalyst Switches."
"Overall top of the line solution."
"RealPresence works effectively."
"Performance has been great with no abnormal behaviors detected, and the network remains stable even in failover scenarios, supporting vast environments with high availability."
"Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is very durable and very reliable, and there has never been any issue with it."
"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 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."
"We are using the core capabilities of Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Ethernet switches, and it is performing well."
 

Cons

"The biggest barrier to buying Cisco or using Cisco is the price and also the competition with competitors and with Cisco partners."
"Cisco switches are expensive."
"The solution is expensive. They should work on their pricing model to try to make it more affordable for customers."
"The dashboard was difficult to manage."
"The configuration process is hard."
"One feature that I would like to add is for the following: At times, when I add an access list for a hostname, it doesn't actually add the hostname, it adds the IP address."
"We are not working off the latest version so the switches on the product are very old and that could be improved."
"The product could offer more integrations with other solutions."
"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."
"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."
"Cost-wise, Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is very expensive."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"​The price should go down instead of up. ​"
"Compared to the price of other solutions such as Huawei and HP, Cisco Catalyst Switches is a cheaper solution."
"The price could always be lower."
"The product is quite expensive."
"The licensing, and maintenance fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"They are expensive."
"Catalyst is very expensive."
"The price for Cisco Catalyst Switches is not cheaper than other solutions."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business81
Midsize Enterprise29
Large Enterprise79
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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 ...
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...
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.
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
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. That is the only thing. The HSRP flapping is the issue. Whene...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series serves as a core router and core switch for users, and provides interconnectivity between the core switch and the access switch, as well as remote access switch for smaller ...
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
For the advanced policy-driven approach, we have a firewall already. I have not yet worked on the overlay technology support in Cisco Nexus 9000 Series, but I have worked a lot on the core capabili...
 

Also Known As

Cisco Catalyst, Catalyst
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst Switches vs. Cisco Nexus 9000 Series and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.