We performed a comparison between Cisco Catalyst Switches and D-Link Ethernet Switches based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell Technologies and others in LAN Switching."The solution is easy to use."
"I like the flexibility of this product."
"I've had no problems with the stability of this solution."
"The hardware and the security are the product's valuable features"
"The solution is already at the cutting edge in terms of innovation."
"They have a robust monitoring system."
"The product is also flexible."
"Perpetual POE is a valuable feature, because when the switch reboots, access points do not."
"There are many good points about this product. Number one, they are very stable, and easy to configure and manage."
"It is a stable solution."
"D-Link has a graphical interface that is easy to use. It is simple enough that our junior technicians can configure the switches."
"It is very stable and reliable."
"It's plug-and-play. There is no configuration necessary."
"D-Link has a good VPN feature and quality of service."
"The main selling point for me was the pricing. Moreover, the performance is good. I haven't had any issues so far."
"The initial setup was very easy and user-friendly."
"The price can definitely be lower."
"The solution was stable 10 years ago, there is room for improvement in this area."
"The cost of this product is very high and not all companies can afford it."
"The solution is expensive. They should work on their pricing model to try to make it more affordable for customers."
"Currently, Catalyst is completely proprietary with Cisco. They should have programmability options, through open-source controllers."
"Cisco should provide customers with a more advantageous licensing model included with the purchase of the equipment."
"The solution’s licensing could be improved."
"The customer service and support need a bit more improvement and a faster response. So, there is an area of improvement."
"The technical support needs a lot of improvement."
"In a future release, the solution could improve by being more secure and allowing the configuration of each port."
"The solution needs to improve layer 2 switches."
"We have issues with the stability."
"This solution is not good for distribution at the core."
"I'd like to see a central management system included as part of their license, not as a separate purchase. Currently, we have to manage switches independently. A central portal for managing all switches and providing visibility would be great."
"The solution needs better local support."
"The solution's web filtering feature could be improved."
Cisco Catalyst Switches is ranked 1st in LAN Switching with 171 reviews while D-Link Ethernet Switches is ranked 12th in Ethernet Switches with 24 reviews. Cisco Catalyst Switches is rated 8.6, while D-Link Ethernet Switches is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Cisco Catalyst Switches writes "Reliable and stable catalyst switch; can be easily installed". On the other hand, the top reviewer of D-Link Ethernet Switches writes "Plug-and-play, zero maintenance, and reasonably priced". Cisco Catalyst Switches is most compared with Arista Networks Platform, Dell PowerConnect Switches, Cisco Nexus, HPE ProCurve and ExtremeSwitching, whereas D-Link Ethernet Switches is most compared with NETGEAR Switches, Cisco Ethernet Switches, Aruba Switches, MikroTik Routers and Switches and Ubiquiti UniFi Switches.
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I wholeheartedly agreee with everything Luis Apodaca has said. My additional comments are as follows:
What is the size of your network, and are you using any features of the Cisco switches?
How many switches are you trying to use and what is the total price difference between the two brands?
Most of the time, people are using cheap switches as plug-n-play equipment without any configuration and without any management. If that is also your case, you may use the cheapest alternative. After all, switch is a switch. And every brand will work with same performance values. Any switch will have most of the configurable/managerial features expected by a small to mid size network project.
However, Cisco support and Cisco durability is outstanding. Cisco didn't earn its reputation without these. Ofcourse, it comes with a slight price tag.
Hard to make a recommendation with zero details about your use case. But assuming your use case originally justified Cisco Catalyst switches (implying enterprise to medium-size business) I don’t recommend changing. The Cisco solution provides a greater feature set that can be very useful in larger environments. However, if the use case is a smaller/simple network there are more cost-effective options.
D-Link would not be at the top of my list though (Aruba, Netgear, Ubiquiti to name a few). I haven’t used a D-Link device in a long time though so I really can’t speak about their current product line which is why I wasn’t going to answer you until Evgeny Belenky called me out.
Hello Mesfin,
Luis has given good directions already.
Without much details, I could say that generally, I wouldn't recommend replacing a Cisco Switch with D-Link.
Thanks.