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Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Rackswitch comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 Data Center Networking
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
181
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (1st), Ethernet Switches (5th), AV Over IP Switching (1st)
Rackswitch
Ranking in Data Center Networking
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Data Center Networking category, the mindshare of Cisco Catalyst Switches is 15.6%, down from 22.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rackswitch is 2.6%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Center Networking Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Catalyst Switches15.6%
Rackswitch2.6%
Other81.8%
Data Center Networking
 

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.
it_user1068 - PeerSpot reviewer
Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Rackswitch is very easy to use and perfect for small businesses with small budgets.
Rackswitch consumes less power, eliminates delays, has a low latency, has airflow like the one found in servers for cooling purposes at a low cost and are redundant, is flexible, is reliable, and has a high level of performance. They are also scalable and of very high performance caliber with some already made virtualized.Rackswitch is easy to acquire, deploy and manage. It has an OpenFlow feature that minimizes complexity and allows for easy creation of virtualized networks.They are also fault tolerant, multicast and compatible with switches from other vendors.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features of Cisco Catalyst Switches are that they are very common."
"This is a very stable and mature platform with a proven record of reliability."
"Cisco support is one of the most valuable features."
"The solution highly scalable."
"The solution is perfectly stable; there are no bugs or glitches, it doesn't crash or freeze, and it's reliable."
"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."
"I think it is a reliable and scalable solution."
"The most valuable features include the redundancy one and the spanning tree."
"Rackswitch consumes less power, eliminates delays, has a low latency, has airflow like the one found in servers for cooling purposes at a low cost and are redundant, is flexible, is reliable, and has a high level of performance."
 

Cons

"If they worked on lowering the price, they would be able to attract more customers."
"The price is something we would definitely like improved. It would be nice if it was more economical."
"In terms of performance, Juniper switches have a more user-friendly interface and more features than Cisco switches."
"Cisco Catalyst Switches could improve by having more integration with third-party products."
"Cisco has to lower the price of its products to make them more cost-effective."
"The product could always be more secure."
"We'd like Cisco to integrate with other solutions, including their own."
"The solution is quite expensive for our clients. It's a pain point for some companies."
"Rackswitches are very complex and you must be skilled to configure and use them."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of this solution could be less expensive, and we are on an annual license."
"We pay the licensing fees annually because we have an enterprise license agreement."
"Pricing could be cheaper as well."
"Cisco Catalyst Switches is a very expensive solution."
"The solution provides a good balance between the features and the cost structure"
"The product is quite expensive."
"The new products from Cisco in the market are expensive. My company cannot import Cisco products, so they are mostly unavailable."
"They are a little bit expensive. We are a public institution, so we go through other traders, and sometimes, they put in their own surplus price because it is a government contract. Cisco products are expensive, especially when you compare them to Huawei."
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.
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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
Altus IT, SL-Rasch, COMAS, Balluff GmbH, CANCOM IT Solutions, Kings College London
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Arista, Dell Technologies and others in Data Center Networking. Updated: April 2026.
892,943 professionals have used our research since 2012.