No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Huawei Ethernet Switches comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
191
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (1st), Data Center Networking (1st), AV Over IP Switching (1st)
Huawei Ethernet Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
14th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of Cisco Catalyst Switches is 4.5%, up from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Huawei Ethernet Switches is 3.2%, down from 3.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Catalyst Switches4.5%
Huawei Ethernet Switches3.2%
Other92.3%
Ethernet Switches
 

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.
Muhammad Kabir Salihu - PeerSpot reviewer
Deputy Director at NITDA
Cost-effective performance enhanced by security features with easy configurations
I mainly use Huawei Switches and also work with Huawei Wireless. I deal with both Huawei and Cisco Switches, and I find Huawei to be more cost-effective Huawei has helped to save costs and is cost-effective, which also helps save time for the company. The performance of Huawei is good, and it…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The main features of the solution are its reliability and security."
"The solution works well with analytics."
"When it comes to working with Cisco, customers are consistently offered a quality product."
"These switches are very stable, we haven't had any problems, and we also have some old switches that are working for almost ten years."
"I would advise going with Cisco because they have an outstanding support team."
"These are a proven technology and I haven't had any problem with them."
"The operating system is great."
"The product is very strong, much stronger than other options on the market, for example, Dell and HPE, and the software is excellent."
"Scalability isn't an issue."
"This product is competitive technically with the best products in the class."
"The most valuable aspect of Huawei Ethernet Switches is their excellent scalability."
"The most valuable feature of Huawei is that it already provides integration with any automation tool."
"When you buy a switch from Huawei, the switches come along with a lot of features that you do not need to pay extra money for but you can use these features to build out similarly to something like Cisco switches."
"Huawei Ethernet Switches support multiple vendors. You can integrate them according to the network scenario. Their power consumption is low."
"Huawei Ethernet Switches are very scalable - we can add on multiple net servers and integrate with third parties."
"The most valuable feature is the audit systems. I also like that it can synchronize on the alternate configuration of products together at the same time."
 

Cons

"I would like to see hosting multiple applications on the existing IOS."
"Prices could always be lower."
"Needs to improve cloud services and mobile software."
"The product is expensive."
"I cannot say that the pricing is reasonable because it's a little above our expectations."
"Their price should be cheaper. We lose a lot of work because of the price that they have."
"I think one switch should go beyond the 10 gig connectivity to 40 gigs."
"The solution was stable 10 years ago, there is room for improvement in this area."
"The only thing that could be better is the security module."
"Deploying Huawei Ethernet Switches in an organization offers advantages, especially if the decision is made early in the process and the company opts for a single-vendor approach. This simplifies implementation and customization, often resulting in lower prices and tailored solutions from Huawei. However, excessive customization can lead to support issues and challenges in knowledge transfer during employee turnover."
"The tech support is not very good. It's a bit hard to get tech support for Huawei products."
"Integration could be improved. The price could also be lower."
"There are some support issues."
"There needs to be more documentation. If they opened up a bit and shared more information and maybe allowed for YouTube videos about their products and how to work them, it would benefit the users quite a bit."
"We would like to see additional backup solutions, since we have several degrees of backup."
"The solution needs to provide GUI commands."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing could be better."
"Cisco Catalyst Switches is an affordable solution."
"I don't know a lot about the price, but they are affordable compared with other solutions."
"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."
"I don't see any price issue with Cisco. Whenever you buy a quality product, you always have a mindset of paying the premium amount. For any good product, you pay a premium amount, but that also means you are going to recover that premium over a period of time in terms of performance."
"It is worth the money. The product is expensive, but the service they provide is very good, which makes it worth it."
"The price is in an affordable range and everything is included."
"The cost of this solution could be less expensive, and we are on an annual license."
"The price is one of the only issues I have regarding this solution."
"The product is competitively priced in its market."
"From the initial purchase, you will pay for a license and you do not need to pay for a license again. The price depends on the size of the infrastructure."
"We have a one-year license. There are no additional costs besides the licensing fee."
"It is cheaper than Cisco."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"Compared to other brands, I think that the price is quite fair."
"Huawei provides much better performance for the same price, even when taking into account very aggressive commercial policies."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Ethernet Switches solutions are best for your needs.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business84
Midsize Enterprise30
Large Enterprise87
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise20
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Catalyst Switches?
The price is very high. Compared to others, I find the price a bit high when compared to Juniper and Allied Telesis.
What needs improvement with Cisco Catalyst Switches?
I cannot identify specific disadvantages with the product. However, the areas that have potential to be better are the timeline for the system and switch delivery. The delivery timelines for the pr...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Huawei Ethernet Switches?
Huawei Ethernet Switches offer very competitive and aggressive product pricing compared to other brands.
What needs improvement with Huawei Ethernet Switches?
Huawei should focus more on security. They need more products on the security side to improve the security portion.
What is your primary use case for Huawei Ethernet Switches?
The primary use case for Huawei Ethernet Switches is for network purposes, including SaaS services.
 

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
Newcastle University, Jingyang District of Deyang City in Sichuan Province, Southwest China, Glasgow Rangers Soccer Team, RMIT, Insurance Industry Association of Zhejiang Province, China, APT Satellite Holdings Limited (APT)
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst Switches vs. Huawei Ethernet Switches and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.