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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
6.9
Number of Reviews
101
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

"One of the most valuable features of this solution is performance."
"The solution is strong. Cisco's support cannot be compared to any other solution's support. The tool gives you more bandwidth within your network."
"I think Cisco Enterprise Routers are excellent."
"The product can scale."
"The stability of the solution is better than most other solutions."
"The valuable feature is CLI."
"The performance of the devices is very reliable."
"The solution is easy to install."
"It is a very stable product."
"The most valuable feature is reliability."
"It offers high protection and I like it."
"The most valuable features for us were related to our transition into MPLS technology, specifically for BPN and VPN services."
"Juniper's custom Trio chipset drives their MX routers, offering superior performance. Juniper's design separates the control plane and the forwarding plane, which is a key aspect of their architecture. This separation provides high throughput, maintaining line-rate performance across the MX platform."
"The stability of Juniper is better than Cisco's."
"I have found the most useful features to be layered VPNs, IPsec, VPLS, and firewall filters."
"I would rate the stability a ten out of ten. We never had any issues."
 

Cons

"We would like to see the security improved."
"In terms of room for improvement, I think that there is a need for additional administration."
"Their software-defined paradigm requires significant improvement."
"We'd like to see some better UI."
"I would like to see more boundaries and better performance."
"The main area for improvement with this product is with the price, which is currently very high compared to the rest of the market."
"Cisco has a lot of problems with the graphical interfaces used for management."
"I think that it would be better if they can create menus and instructions in the Ukrainian language."
"The security features could be better."
"The web interface can be improved."
"Juniper have addressed issues with the MX204, but it still has a limited number of interfaces. Ideally, it should support up to twenty or twenty-four interfaces to better serve smaller service providers. Additionally, the MX304 doesn't support subscriber management, also known as BNG, which I believe should be included."
"The pricing is a bit too high."
"In terms of improvement, I would like for it to effectively protect against the broadcast storms, multicast storms, and DDoS attacks."
"The solution could improve by providing enhancements to built-in SDN or SDWAN."
"There is room for improvement in pricing. The product could be cheaper for smaller networks."
"The documentation needs to be updated to reflect the changes made in the latest update."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I have found the price to be expensive for the solution."
"The licensing cost is quite reasonable."
"The price is very high."
"Cisco Enterprise Routers are not the cheapest routers on the market, they are expensive."
"Cisco routers are an expensive product."
"Cisco is way too expensive for small and medium businesses. They must lower their prices in the lower range equipment."
"It is a costly solution."
"I rate the product's price a six or seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is extremely expensive, and ten is very cheap."
"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."
"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."
"An additional license can be purchased for support of a next-generation firewall."
"$300 to $400 is the hardware cost and for licensing cost, it may be around, for support and all, $100 per year."
"We have to pay for the device and licensing. The support service requires additional costs."
"The pricing of Juniper MX Series Routers is okay compared to other technologies."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
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: June 2025.
859,579 professionals have used our research since 2012.