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Cisco Enterprise Routers vs Juniper MX Series Routers comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 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 Enterprise Routers
Ranking in Routers
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Juniper MX Series Routers
Ranking in Routers
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
33
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Routers category, the mindshare of Cisco Enterprise Routers is 19.5%, down from 25.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper MX Series Routers is 13.0%, up from 11.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Routers
 

Featured Reviews

Hafiz Umar Farooq - PeerSpot reviewer
Allows us to configure NAS through Cisco activities and to create GRE channels with different sites
You cannot configure internet policies or other options on Cisco routers. If you have a very limited budget, you can't afford two different pieces of equipment, and you can't afford yearly licensing. I would like Cisco to launch a small business router that has firewall capabilities as well. It would be a great initiative for small businesses. I would like to see two additional features: a remote access VPN with the MFA, multifactor authentication capabilities. At the moment, the ISR series only supports MFA, but not every company likes to use that tool. I think Cisco needs to consider MFA for the remote access VPN and should incorporate other MFA solutions as well. I would also like there to be some firewall features included in the routers. I'm not talking about a full-fledged firewall feature, but a limited set of features that can be used on the small and medium-sized enterprise level. These two features would be a great initiative. I would also like to recommend the licensing feature. Previously, the Cisco licensing model was either a perpetual or annual smart license. Now, Cisco has totally shifted over to the smart licensing feature, and perpetual licenses are about to be eliminated from Cisco. The licensing feature is a bit costly if we compare it to other vendors. The licensing features of the F5 are perpetual, but the support has periodic renewal. The license to use Cisco features like a firewall or the routers are actually yearly based and not perpetual. The lead times are extremely high. Normally, it's six to eight months initially, and they prolong it to up to one year for new device delivery by Cisco. If you say you need a brand new router, switch, or fiber from Cisco within one month, you will never get it, unless some stock is readily available with your vendor. Otherwise, it will initially take six to eight months, and then that will be prolonged to one year. This is what we're experiencing with our clients right now.
Kushtrim Arifi - PeerSpot reviewer
Highly scalable, especially suitable for complex and large-scale network deployments
The "Commit" feature stands out. When you try to commit commands, you have some options like sandbox config, leaving those temporary for 60 seconds. This feature allows you to commit configuration changes to the candidate configuration, and then review them for errors before committing them to the active configuration. Another feature that I like is the integration with Cisco routers. This allows you to connect Juniper MX routers to Cisco routers and have them work together seamlessly. We never have interoperability issues.

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 feature is that we can specify the routing policies for our traffic."
"I am satisfied with the tool overall. Although I haven't used all of its features yet, it's been great for providing internet access to both customers, and employees within the company."
"The most valuable features are that it is easy to use, it is easy to configure, and manage."
"It is a good router that is available with advanced technology."
"The stability is very good."
"The product can scale."
"Its performance and stability are most valuable. We are using it for the last five years, and it is constantly up. It didn't create any problems for us."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of configuration."
"The most valuable feature of Juniper MX Series Routers is its exceptional policy management capabilities."
"Juniper Switches is stable, easy to use, flexible, and has good performance. Also, the technology is good. It has a lifetime warranty and the prices are also very good."
"The full Internet DGP is a valuable feature."
"I would rate the stability a ten out of ten. We never had any issues."
"I think that the extensions are very valuable. The way you can test the configuration before applying that configuration permanently is very helpful. The rollback configuration is also very useful."
"Juniper Enterprise Routers is very flexible."
"The stability of Juniper is better than Cisco's."
"The solution is quite stable. We've found it to be very good. There aren't bugs, glitches, or crashes."
 

Cons

"It would be better if Cisco Enterprise Routers were more secure."
"The installation can be difficult, Cisco equipment is professional-grade and it requires someone with the skills and knowledge to do it."
"The solution could be more secure."
"While the commands are easy to understand, and you will find a mixture, if you put a question mark on them then it will create problems."
"This solution is scalable but it does need some improvements."
"The price has room for improvement."
"We'd like to see some better UI."
"If they can negate or reduce the modem delay, that would be great."
"Juniper must publish more information about Juniper MX Series Routers."
"The integration could be better."
"The solution could improve by providing enhancements to built-in SDN or SDWAN."
"The pricing is a bit too high."
"One thing that the product can do better is clustering. Rather than just having two of them, it would help if there was one cluster to extend to more notes in the cluster itself."
"We'd appreciate it if they had a better GUI. It would be more flexible for the customers that way."
"In terms of improvement, I would like for it to effectively protect against the broadcast storms, multicast storms, and DDoS attacks."
"There is room for improvement in pricing. The product could be cheaper for smaller networks."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Normally, we pay for the licenses upfront. I think it's mostly just a perpetual, once-off license."
"The license of Cisco Enterprise Routers is too expensive compared to other solutions. As we try to increase the bandwidth, it gets even more expensive. There is an annual license needed to use the solution."
"The licensing fee is okay and matches industry standards, which is the benchmark."
"Cisco is mid-tier in terms of pricing and quite affordable by most enterprises."
"Cisco routers are very pricey."
"Cisco Switches are an expensive product in India. Linksys products are cheaper than Cisco Switches."
"The price is very high."
"Cisco Enterprise Routers are not the cheapest routers on the market, they are expensive."
"$300 to $400 is the hardware cost and for licensing cost, it may be around, for support and all, $100 per year."
"The solution is more expensive compared to other solutions."
"The price of this solution is better than other competitors, such as Cisco. We receive a lot of discounts which make the price less expensive and attractive."
"There is a license for this solution and the price is very competitive. The cost is less expensive than some competitors, such as Cisco. There are additional costs for support licenses."
"We have to pay for the device and licensing. The support service requires additional costs."
"An additional license can be purchased for support of a next-generation firewall."
"I would rate it around a three. While I'm not deeply involved in pricing discussions, I believe it is comparatively more affordable than Cisco."
"I would rate the pricing model a seven out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive. It is not cheap."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
University
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How do Cisco Enterprise routers compare with Mikrotik routers and switches?
Cisco Enterprise Routers are very stable and easy to use. They offer a very solid performance and are very secure. They also have a very good, long lifespan. We feel the command configuration is ve...
What do you like most about Cisco Enterprise Routers?
The most valuable feature of the solution is that it makes it possible for users to use encryption and decryption since our company aims to achieve transparency, and without it, the other system on...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Enterprise Routers?
I rate the product's price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price.
What do you like most about Juniper MX Series Routers?
For the Juniper MX Series Routers, it plays a crucial role in our network. They offer numerous features, enabling multiple connections and handling various reports. The routers efficiently manage ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper MX Series Routers?
I would rate it around a three. While I'm not deeply involved in pricing discussions, I believe it is comparatively more affordable than Cisco.
What needs improvement with Juniper MX Series Routers?
Currently, I don't have specific concerns or ideas for improvement. Regarding functionalities, I appreciate the user interface of Juniper Elite. Additionally, I'm exploring the use of Juniper Route...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Juniper Enterprise Routers, MX Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aegean Motorway, Boingo, Chartwell School, Children's Hospital of Orange County , Department of Justice, Explorer Pipeline, Linz AG, National Rugby League, New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Telecom Italia, Transwestern
AARNet Pty Ltd, Allegro Networks, Atlantech Online, Availity, Baloise Insurance, Black Lotus, CATV, Blue Box
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Enterprise Routers vs. Juniper MX Series Routers and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
860,711 professionals have used our research since 2012.