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Cisco Ethernet Switches vs Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access vs NETGEAR Switches 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:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of Cisco Ethernet Switches is 14.7%, down from 18.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is 5.0%, down from 5.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NETGEAR Switches is 8.8%, down from 9.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches
 

Featured Reviews

Pradeep Adhav - PeerSpot reviewer
Network security enhancement with sturdy switches despite high costs
The Cisco Ethernet switches are primarily used as regular core switches for networking, distribution, and access levels. We also utilize Cisco Wi-Fi, VPN, and Wi-Fi controllers The Cisco Ethernet switches have improved our network's security, ensuring it is 100% secure by not allowing any…
Uri Harf - PeerSpot reviewer
Integration with cloud management simplifies network expansion
Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is expensive, and this initial cost can be a barrier, especially for new businesses setting up from scratch. Although the machine is robust and lasts for years with rare technical issues, the initial price can be high. Sometimes, I have to offer alternatives like Aruba or HP, which might be cheaper.
Umang Shah - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient routing and access control with an easy setup
We use NETGEAR Switches for networking, particularly for switch-to-switch connectivity. We connect them with core switches, especially for camera installation NETGEAR Switches have increased the throughput and speed of internal communication, and have improved our network efficiency. The most…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's all-encompassing and can help you in all these different areas. If people realize that they want something that's going to work, that's pretty foolproof, then Cisco's always worth the investment."
"Cisco Ethernet Switches are scalable, much more than Jupiter."
"It's for industry products, so it's easy to use."
"The most valuable feature is the performance."
"The features that I have found most valuable are the core reliability and the switching group. All the features are very generic switching features with high reliability. That is the main key point I can highlight."
"You get good support for Cisco Ethernet Switches versus other products in the market."
"The most valuable features are network monitoring and management."
"Very stable solution with a very low failure rate."
"You can hook all the other components to be monitored. You can create policies and block certain people from accessing the Internet."
"The most valuable feature of this product is its simplicity."
"It works really well, I think the equipment is solid, and the help is great."
"The most valuable feature is the breakability after integration with the FortiGate firewall."
"The tool provides a firewall and good performance."
"The integration with the whole platform, so there's one dashboard for everything. It is one of the most valuable features."
"Integration is good, as well as price and technical support."
"What I really love in FortiSwitch: its usability, the graphical user interface, and the ability to be managed by FortiGate."
"The most valuable feature to me is the modular side of things, being able to replace a module and a transceiver at our beck and call. If something goes down, or a piece of equipment is broken, I don't have to replace the whole switch. I can just replace the part that's broken or the part that is no longer working. I can get them back up and working within a matter of minutes, versus having to replace everything and reprogram everything. It's a huge time-saver."
"The remote management tools are fantastic. The combination of the webpage as well as the app makes life so much easier. I don't need to go and visit sites to do upgrades or any sorts of changes. The firmware can all be deployed remotely. I can see the traffic on each of the switch ports remotely as well, so I can see if we've got problems, down to an individual port. It's very granular."
"Technical support is helpful and quick to respond."
"The big winner for NETGEAR is their modular switch: the 96X version. That is something that you don't see in the market anywhere else, except for Cisco who has it at a high level for a high expense. The ability to customize your own switch with their modules is a big plus for what we do in the market right now. Instead of having to piece together standardized switches, trying to make something work, or fitting the design into the mold, the modular switches are aware that you can make a mark in the industry because you purchased one switch and design with different modules added and removed later on for functionality."
"The tool is very easy to deploy as it is a very basic switch."
"The company provides a lifetime warranty."
"The remote troubleshooting features provide a single pane of glass where I can see my all my clients' equipment. If they're reporting a problem, I can go to the Insight Pro interface online and I can bring up that client and I can see all their devices and the status of all their devices."
"We have a wide range of switches for various applications, including a collection specifically designed for ProAV, as well as Multi-gig Switches, which are also quite well-known or unique."
 

Cons

"There is room for improvement in terms of cost."
"Cisco's equipment is expensive, especially since it introduced the obligatory purchase of Cisco DNA."
"There's are other products that are better for network programmability. Cisco isn't as programmable as some preferred vendors. For example, on iOS 6 products, you have to commit the change directly on the running configuration. If you have a generic product you can do this, so it can improve in programmability."
"Cisco needs to include new features to attract new customers."
"There are instances where the commands you are familiar with might change or be replaced with newer syntax."
"When you contact support, they don't give you the expert at first, they give you the beginner. Only after going around in a circle do they give you experts. Why don't they just give the expert from the beginning?"
"Cisco could also open the API up to work closely with other systems."
"Firewall features should be pre-enabled in Cisco Ethernet switches."
"It would also help if they lowered the cost of their service."
"Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is expensive, and this initial cost can be a barrier, especially for new businesses setting up from scratch."
"The reporting capabilities should be included."
"In the next release, I would like to see more outdoor products."
"I would like Fortinet to make this product easier to configure."
"We've had some issues with Layer 3 FortiSwitch. We can deploy the device in the cloud. However, we can't deploy this solution in complex environments easily."
"An area for improvement would be the segmentation and network in logic networks."
"The solution has SD-WAN but it doesn't have SDN. This should be added."
"Support could be improved."
"There are some design issues on which they really missed the boat. The problem has to do with rack mounting them because the lights and jacks should all be on the front, and the power on the back. The way they did it makes it really difficult to use them in a rack environment, because when the lights are on the opposite side of the jacks... you usually can't see the back side of a rack. You can't get back there to see, so it's just crazy."
"Being able to pass AVB traffic over these switches, that would be a huge add. There are not many switches out that support that. The GS728TP NETGEAR switches used to or still do support AVB, but it would be ideal if the 4300 Series could support it as well."
"The tool is good, but we probably need another model with PoE connections. Our office plans to switch from analog phone lines to VoIP next year, and we need a model that supports this transition and can handle the required technology. Additionally, improved support for newer technologies like Wi-Fi would be beneficial."
"The product's scalability has certain shortcomings that can be improved."
"This product lacks a CLI interface."
"I'd like to see a little bit of slowdown on the firmware updates. They've been doing a lot of them. I don't know if that's just because it's such a new product line, but the firmware updates have been a little annoying because they've been coming once a week. For a switch, that's a little extreme."
"When the power does go out, or if we do a soft shutdown, some of the transceivers or the monitor don't recognize when it turns back on, so I have to physically unplug it and plug it back in and then it works. We're working with NETGEAR's engineers to figure out why that's happening."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Price is a pain point for us. We've lost a lot of bids, and the reason has been that we majorly quoted Cisco devices. Some of our competitors quoted other devices like Ubiquity or Microchip. Some even quoted this Chinese product TP-Link, and they won the bid over us because we quoted Cisco. Meanwhile, the major reason why we quoted Cisco is reliability and stability from day one. They also last longer. The prices could be worked on so that they become more affordable. We had to deploy a city-wide WiFi network, and we were working in conjunction with Google. Because of the price, even Google recommended a product called Ruckus, so we used Ruckus over Cisco. Its price and license were the main reasons. You have to pay to renew the license every year. Even though you also renew the licenses for Ruckus, but they are much cheaper than Cisco. So, while I would recommend Cisco any time, the trouble remains with the pricing."
"The price of this solution is high."
"Its price is a bit higher than other brands. Indian customers are price-conscious. They should improve its price."
"The solution is highly expensive compared to other solutions. The prices get tripled when they arrived in my country of Angola."
"It is an expensive product."
"I pay a fixed price on it. I'm not the person on the pursing, so I don't really compare."
"Cisco Ethernet Switches are expensive, and you have to pay for a warranty and technical support."
"When you compare with other products, they are more or less the same price."
"We signed up for a three-year license for support and replacement."
"The cost appears to be high in comparison to other competing products although with this product you are paying for what you get."
"The product is costly for SMB customers compared to other brands available in the market."
"The product pricing seems to be mid-range."
"The pricing is cheap and only a yearly licensing cost needs to be paid."
"The solution is cheaper than Cisco but more expensive than Huawei."
"The product's pricing is good."
"We have an annual licensing cost. There are no additional costs."
"It is not expensive."
"You get what you pay for. From a price comparison, there are cheaper switch makers on the market that are definitely less expensive than NETGEAR. They give you the same functionality, but they don't come with a name. There are solutions like Ubiquiti that are very good. They have the ease of setup, and I find NETGEAR battling a little bit in comparison to Ubiquiti."
"The price to performance of this solution is very good. When it comes to pricing, as far as I'm concerned, they're very comparable with Ubiquity. NETGEAR has pricing that is as good as it gets. That's why I use them."
"NETGEAR pricing is the best on the market by far. I was shocked when I saw what their price came out as for their subscription. It's extremely reasonable."
"They're good value. They're good entry-level switches. I know Cisco generally has a lot more capability. But, for an organization this size, we don't need that. So they're good value for the cost and what we need."
"The product has the best price in the market."
"They are on par with other AV switch manufacturers, e.g., Pakedge, Cisco Small Business Series, and Extreme Networks. Though, they are closer in cost to Extreme Networks. They are more in the mid-range from an AV product price, maybe a bit higher. You can't beat their features compared to other vendors in that product range and capacity. AV specific only, they are mid-range price-wise."
"The price-to-performance of the solution is very good. You get very performance for a low cost per port. Compared to standard AV switching, NETGEAR is probably the best value out there."
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Comparison Review

it_user82779 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 29, 2014
Benefits of Juniper vs Cisco
Both are decent products. I prefer Juniper for the following reasons: 1) Cleaner separation of data plane from control plane. Higher end Cisco devices are better at this but most of the lower end products still seem to be more integrated than I like. 2) The Hierarchical config design means I can…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
7%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 func...
Which would you choose - Fortinet Fortiswitch secure access or Cisco Ethernet Switches?
We researched Cisco but ultimately chose Fortinet FortiSwitch Secure Access, mostly because of the price. Fortinet F...
In terms of ethernet switches, would you go with Cisco or Juniper?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether Cisco or Juniper Ethernet switches were the better fit for...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access?
With FortiSwitch, you can easily identify who is connected to each port, disable ports as needed, and retrieve confi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access?
The initial cost of Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is high compared to other options. Although robust and rarel...
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access?
Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is expensive, and this initial cost can be a barrier, especially for new busines...
How do NETGEAR switches compare with Cisco ethernet switches?
NetGear switches have a lot to offer. They have high availability, zero-downtime stacking, L2 and L3 functionality, a...
Which switches are better - Ubiquiti Unifi or Netgear?
Ubiquiti Unifi offers a great set of features. For starters, it is easy to configure and implement, and also doesn’t ...
What do you like most about NETGEAR Switches?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten. I have not faced any issues with the product whatsoever.
 

Also Known As

Cisco Industrial Ethernet Switches
No data available
NETGEAR Insight Managed Switches, NETGEAR GC Series, NETGEAR M Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Linz AG
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Blaze Networks
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ubiquiti Networks and others in Ethernet Switches. Updated: May 2025.
851,471 professionals have used our research since 2012.