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Cisco Enterprise Routers vs Netgate TNSR 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 Enterprise Routers
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
111
Ranking in other categories
Routers (1st)
Netgate TNSR
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Routers (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Cisco Enterprise Routers is designed for Routers and holds a mindshare of 14.2%, down 20.1% compared to last year.
Netgate TNSR, on the other hand, focuses on Virtual Routers, holds 18.7% mindshare, up 17.5% since last year.
Routers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Enterprise Routers14.2%
MikroTik Routers and Switches17.4%
Juniper MX Series Routers12.2%
Other56.2%
Routers
Virtual Routers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Netgate TNSR18.7%
VyOS Universal Router24.3%
6WIND Virtual Service Router (VSR)19.7%
Other37.3%
Virtual Routers
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2759889 - PeerSpot reviewer
Pre-Sales Technical Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Has supported robust enterprise deployments and management while pricing and market reach for advanced features need attention
I'm not sure what improvements could be made on the configuration scale since I'm not involved in complete configuration. Currently, it works effectively and they are incorporating AI adoption. Commercially and financially, the pricing is too high. Customers feel that Cisco Enterprise Routers will not offer the most competitive prices. If they can work on pricing, it would be easier for customers who are considering local products. In India, the government has implemented the Make in India initiative, and Cisco has established a manufacturing unit there. Regarding security products, they need to improve market reach, marketing, and training. While Cisco Enterprise Routers are user-friendly for network and wireless platforms, security product configuration and integration are considered complex compared to FortiGate, Check Point, Sophos, and Palo Alto. They have introduced solutions such as Cloud Defense Orchestrator and Firewall Manager (FMC), but the reach of Cisco security products in India needs improvement.
JL
Principal Network Engineer at HarborPoint Networks
Achieves exceptional performance and programmability with minimal hardware requirements
Netgate TNSR is a fully-featured router that handles all the technologies that we use. It has a very familiar and intuitive command-line interface. Additionally, it includes an API, which makes it easier to use in a programmatic fashion. It has been a very cost-effective alternative to larger router vendors, and we tend to get better performance out of it for the hardware that we use, achieving over four hundred gigs of throughput with very minimal hardware. Throughput is key to us.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Most of the hardware is very stable."
"The most valuable features are that it is more secure and easy to operate."
"The features of Cisco Enterprise Routers that I find most useful for my networking are the enterprise routing capabilities."
"I am pleased with the technical support."
"I am pleased with the technical support."
"Something I like about the solution is all the options it offers and ways it can be configured."
"They are the best in failover switches. Their product line is excellent."
"Cisco Enterprise Routers is reliable and secure."
"It is surprisingly high performance for very little total cost of ownership."
"It is surprisingly high performance for very little total cost of ownership."
"The solution has good performance."
"The solution has good performance."
 

Cons

"The price could be better"
"It can be very expensive, sometimes, to do the jump to the next router for your needs."
"The solution could be more secure."
"The pricing of the solution needs improvement."
"Cisco Enterprise Routers could improve by making their solution more user-friendly. Currently, users need to have extensive knowledge of networking to use them because there is only a command-line interface for the configuration. They should add a graphical interface to allow junior users guidance and more flexibility when doing the configuration."
"It would be better if Cisco Enterprise Routers were more secure."
"The pricing could be improved."
"It only breaks if you're not using an up-to-date version of the iOS or are not doing upgrades."
"The scalability could improve."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's quite expensive for small businesses."
"I would rate the solution's pricing a nine out of ten and it is yearly."
"Cisco is mid-tier in terms of pricing and quite affordable by most enterprises."
"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 price of Cisco Enterprise Routers is good for the service that you get."
"There is a license required for the use of this solution."
"The price should be reduced."
"If it could be cheaper that would be good, but I would rate it as a four out of five for price, with one being very expensive and five being very affordable."
"There is not a license required for this solution but the price should be less expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Marketing Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business46
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise44
No data available
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Enterprise Routers?
It is expensive, but I am not the person purchasing the products; I just handle the configuration.
What needs improvement with Cisco Enterprise Routers?
We do not have any impact for Cisco exactly in protecting sensitive information. The only concern we have across all of the products is the price. Additionally, because it is not integrated with so...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Netgate TNSR?
On the market TNSR is the lowest cost, but don't let that throw you off. It is the best cooked product in its space. You do have to maintain your yearly licenses though, so it's a good idea to add ...
What is your primary use case for Netgate TNSR?
We use Netgate TNSR as core routers and edge routers for peering. We have multiple edge routers, and we set up peering with our service providers and other peers on those edge routers. We also have...
What advice do you have for others considering Netgate TNSR?
I would absolutely recommend Netgate TNSR. It is surprisingly high performance for very little total cost of ownership. I would rate Netgate at least a nine because their product is made very well,...
 

Also Known As

No data available
TNSR
 

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
US Army, TrustCo Bank, Arkansas State University
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, MikroTik, Juniper and others in Routers. Updated: April 2026.
892,943 professionals have used our research since 2012.