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Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Dell PowerSwitch N-Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

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 LAN Switching
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
178
Ranking in other categories
Ethernet Switches (5th), Data Center Networking (2nd), AV Over IP Switching (1st)
Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
Ranking in LAN Switching
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
3.9
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Cisco Catalyst Switches is 22.8%, down from 30.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerSwitch N-Series is 5.1%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
LAN Switching Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Catalyst Switches22.8%
Dell PowerSwitch N-Series5.1%
Other72.1%
LAN Switching
 

Featured Reviews

AG
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.
Mahendra Basera - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr.Engineer at Akara Capital Advisor Pvt. Ltd.
Reliable switching has supported secure audits and simplified long-term data center operations
Deploying Dell PowerSwitch N-Series on HA is very simple and easy. If we face any problem, we have our Dell support team to help us during the installation. They provide L2 engineers for supporting us on configuring the basic level configuration, stacking, and peering with others on HA. They have helped us with any faults or hardware issues, and we have taken high level care packs with three hour response time and same day hardware replacement. When we talk about the deployment of Dell PowerSwitch N-Series, when we extended our data center from starting from scratch, we had at that time nearly 170 physical servers. Then we virtualized it from mixed hardware, as we were using HCL, HP, or old heavy servers. Dell came to us and gave us a good solution with VMware, storage of Dell, and network devices. During the deployment, there were three team members from Dell and two from myself on the networking side, and one or two members from OS and server side. Almost five to six team members were there during the deployment from a hardware to a virtualized environment. The best advantages of Dell PowerSwitch N-Series is that it is very much similar to Cisco. There is a little bit of difference at the command level, and it is easy to handle. It is easy to handle whether it is a CLI base or a GUI base, and it is very easy to configure. It is also reliable. We had a low fault issue, and when we talk of switching level, in a time frame of 17 years, we faced a switching issue only one time, which was a hardware failure. That is it. It is as reliable as Cisco.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The scalability is good."
"We use a lot of security features available with Cisco Catalyst Switches."
"I've had no problems with the stability of this solution."
"Customer support answers on time and resolve any issues I have."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is communication."
"It enables fast data transfer rates, while offering stable and consistent network performance."
"The most valuable feature is how easy it is to use."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of configuring a switch."
"The best advantages of Dell PowerSwitch N-Series is that it is very much similar to Cisco, it is easy to handle whether it is a CLI base or a GUI base, it is very easy to configure, and it is also reliable, as in a time frame of 17 years we faced a switching issue only one time, which was a hardware failure, and it is as reliable as Cisco."
"For a customer, it is easy to configure and to add ports through the LAN the GUI."
"The automated configuration management tools of Dell PowerSwitch N-Series help improve network traffic management."
"Port density and port speed performance are both suitable. It has some appealing intangibles."
 

Cons

"The newer models are not so stable. Other products like 6800, 3750, were stable but starting from 3850 it got worse. We have a lot of issues and a lot of bugs. It's a new product so it's understandable but it should be improved."
"Dell switching is coming up with a solution where you can put your own OS inside their switching infra. That is where they are talking about open networking. We can show that our Cisco is also an open-source. We are open to different switching operating systems if the customer is willing to put it in. We can support multiple operating systems inside the switching infrastructure. It removes the hardware and software dependency on each other. That is where I think there can be room for improvement. Then we can talk about open networking and that is where Cisco can also come up with open networking access."
"The product must provide a better central tool for management."
"Currently, Catalyst is completely proprietary with Cisco. They should have programmability options, through open-source controllers."
"The biggest issue we are having is with bugs and memory loss, which occurs when developing the IOS."
"Cisco is the most expensive product."
"The product could be more user-friendly."
"I would like to see better efficiency. They are powering all the PoE ports 100% of the time instead of powering only when there is a draw on them. It has too many options. Therefore, there is a reasonably high barrier to entry in terms of learning about this stuff. A lot of times, you need to be a CCNA, which is like your ticket into the industry, but it is not the easiest thing to get."
"Customers do not prefer this to connect to multiple cities."
"The disadvantages of Dell PowerSwitch N-Series is that only the booting time is a weak point."
"Instead of competing at the enterprise level with that product, they should probably scale it. With all of the ports, they should develop a good mid-level business to truly scale it and gain adoption before attempting to go after the enterprise."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco Catalyst Switches are very expensive."
"It is reasonably priced because we have already conducted a tender, allowing Cisco and other vendors to compete for the best price."
"Cisco's prices are not cheap, but the stability is worth it."
"If you compare Cisco to other products, Cisco is more expensive. If you choose a 7000 series switch it will be a very pricy system. The support from Cisco is an additional service."
"The prices of Cisco devices are too high."
"Cisco Catalyst Switches is a very expensive solution."
"The price must be reduced."
"I don't know a lot about the price, but they are affordable compared with other solutions."
"You are selling it to larger customers and in larger environments, where it's a less expensive model than Cisco, which is attempting to use the same approach Arista did, but with a completely different programming language."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Educational Organization
6%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Educational Organization
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
University
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business79
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 Dell-Force10 Campus LAN Switches?
We don't leverage the open networking standards of this Dell PowerSwitch N-Series capability. In the high availability direction, better clustering or stack functionality to connect all Dell switch...
What is your primary use case for Dell-Force10 Campus LAN Switches?
The main use case for this product is network switch for all network, including management network, network for the user, and network for the SAN.
What advice do you have for others considering Dell-Force10 Campus LAN Switches?
We don't work with solutions such as Aruba or Cisco. There are routers in our infrastructure, but they are not our responsibility or accountability. We work with servers and storage, specifically s...
 

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
Norwich University of the Arts, Shelby American, City and Islington College
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst Switches vs. Dell PowerSwitch N-Series and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
880,901 professionals have used our research since 2012.