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Cisco Ethernet Switches vs HPE Ethernet Switches vs Meraki MS 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 August 2025, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of Cisco Ethernet Switches is 12.8%, down from 18.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Ethernet Switches is 2.7%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Meraki MS Switches is 3.2%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches
 

Featured Reviews

Myint Aung - PeerSpot reviewer
Exceptional network support and AI integration drive performance while suggesting enhancements for future use cases
I work with both HyperFlex and other Cisco products. I prefer to make online support available because I can utilize my CCIE architect, solution consultant, and engineer team along with our account manager and product sales team. We can clarify requirements and decide how to support you. We should arrange a conference call about Cisco Ethernet Switches where I can invite my architect and consultant to clarify more about the features that are most beneficial for improving network efficiency. Today is AI day, and all the new firmware includes AI to optimize the performance, traffic, and security of Cisco Ethernet Switches. It's performing very well. With many solutions and vendors available, you have to decide on one. I am extremely satisfied with the licensing cost for Cisco Ethernet Switches. For the price of Cisco Ethernet Switches, I would rate it a 7. My overall rating for Cisco Ethernet Switches is 10 out of 10.
Dinesh Upadhyay - PeerSpot reviewer
Experience years of robust features and strong technical support
It is a nice and robust tool where we use HPE Ethernet Switches. It is a lower switch, and we have received good warranty support with HPE switches. The security features of the HPE Ethernet Switches are good. The UI mode is available, and we can easily configure the access list and SNMP. All these configurations can be done here. Users can enable the Layer 3 features.
MajidKhan - PeerSpot reviewer
Remote access enhances troubleshooting with potential for more intuitive interface
We are working with Citrix and router, but in Cisco for Cisco vendor only. We are taking from them since 2015.  The main use case involves some small business customers needing one router, one switch, and two to three access points. It is easy to handle the devices with just a small knowledge of…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product offers very good customer support. It's likely the best in the industry."
"The most valuable feature is the simplicity of the central management system(CMS)."
"In terms of most valuable feature, I would say the user interface."
"The quality of service is one of the main reasons we use Cisco in our organization. It's quite high and very reliable. The switches also end up working for a long time, so there's less need to replace them as often as others. We have some switches in our company that has been running since 2006, for example. They are quite old, but they still work."
"My overall rating for Cisco Ethernet Switches is 10 out of 10."
"Technical support has always been helpful."
"It is a scalable solution."
"Being able to deal with multiple VLANs to segment the network logically is the biggest feature for us. The management of these switches is okay for us. These switches work very well, and they meet our needs."
"The simplicity of the commands is most valuable. The commands are the same for several devices."
"The product's stacking technology is stable and works well."
"What I like the most is the management system integrated with the HP system."
"The solution can scale."
"A very robust solution."
"These switches are very stable, to date I have not experienced any issues."
"HPE Ethernet Switches are scalable, and their software is also quite sturdy."
"he stability is very good on this solution. There have been no bugs, glitches or crashes."
"The most valuable feature is the dashboard because it makes it easy to manage all of the switches. It's easy to turn them up and get it configured."
"It makes the management of SSIDs fairly easy."
"I like the portal, it's really interesting."
"We have no problem with technical support from Cisco."
"It is easy to deploy, maintain, and update. It has been trouble-free so far. I am still a Cisco command-line bigot, but the web interface makes it a lot easier for our help desk to interact with a client. When the clients call in and say that they aren't able to connect, it takes the help desk 10 minutes or less to look at everything in the enterprise or location. They can look at the firewall, switches, or access points in the dashboard. That's why I like the dashboard."
"They're easy to update."
"It is easy to work with."
"Provides good statistics and it doesn't require teaching command lines."
 

Cons

"The technical support should be improved."
"One area for improvement could be integrating a single dashboard for both wired and wireless networks."
"It would be nice if they had higher wattage for PoE+."
"Cisco could also open the API up to work closely with other systems."
"It could be cheaper, especially the DNA license. One DNA license is around $3,000 for a three-year contract."
"From a system integrator's perspective, Cisco must train system integrators, partners, and customers about their services."
"Cisco's equipment is expensive, especially since it introduced the obligatory purchase of Cisco DNA."
"Cisco's pricing can be a concern, particularly with support fees."
"I would like to see the initial setup become easier."
"The installation can be quite complex. However, that may not be the fault of HP and is rather more related to the way our infrastructure is arranged."
"They should continue to work on new features."
"It would be better if they improve the implementation of SD-WAN."
"We'd like better support for situations where we need troubleshooting."
"They should have more control tools for controlling the bandwidth."
"There is room for improvement in the update process, especially the web UI update process."
"Technical support needs improvement, as the response time could be better."
"The scalability and integrative abilities with on-premises systems could stand improvement."
"This is quite an expensive solution."
"In this solution, you are lacking a feature that Cisco Classic has that allows you to save your configuration with a serial cable."
"The solution needs to improve its ability to back up the auto-configuration."
"The reporting could be improved and could be more granular."
"The prices are a little higher than other vendors."
"We prefer Meeraki to be installed only on a local network rather than in a cloud-managed network. Meraki MS Switches are one of our largest categories, with over thirty-five deployed."
"I haven't seen any specific return on investment from implementing Meraki MS Switches, as I can't provide any numbers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive."
"The price of Cisco Ethernet Switches is expensive."
"The solution has different prices depending on the features that you want to have."
"Quality comes at a price. I've been around the block a bit, and I know that good quality comes at a price. However, some of the organizations don't have big budgets, so you have to develop different solutions for them. They don't have the budget to get some of the high-end features. Cisco can consider providing entry-level hardware to suit SMBs."
"Users have to pay an annual licensing fee for Cisco Ethernet Switches, which is expensive."
"I pay a fixed price on it. I'm not the person on the pursing, so I don't really compare."
"We get the SMARTnet and one of the switches has that Cisco ONE licensing. It's probably running about $12,000 a year right now."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
"We have to see only the security part when considering licenses because the licenses upgrade."
"They are affordable and less expensive than Cisco. Their price was the decider at the time."
"This is an expensive product."
"The licensing cost is set up annually or every three years."
"It would be great if certain features, like licensing, were included in the base price of the switches."
"I like HPE switches because you get a perpetual license with the hardware. The initial cost is about the same as other switches, but it starts beating the competitors after three or four years because you don't have to pay for additional annual licensing costs."
"HP switches are priced well."
"This is not an expensive solution."
"I rate the price of Meraki MS Switches a two out of ten."
"Securing licenses and devices for more than a year can make the product expensive. In general, the product is expensive."
"This product is more than the competition, but you get what you pay for."
"The pricing is high and it is where we get the most pushback from customers."
"It would be better if they had a one-time purchase option instead of a subscription model."
"The tool is expensive."
"The pricing is very expensive."
"Extreme switches are more cost-effective than Cisco Meraki Switches."
report
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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
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
10%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Educational Organization
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 HPE Ethernet Switches?
The solution is very stable and easy to use.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Ethernet Switches?
The price of HPE Ethernet Switches is reasonable and less than other OEM brands.
What needs improvement with HPE Ethernet Switches?
The price should be reduced in comparison to Cisco, as sometimes we cannot use the HPE one at the core level, where g...
What do you like most about Meraki MS Switches?
The most valuable features of Meraki MS Switches are their reliability and simplicity.
What needs improvement with Meraki MS Switches?
What could be improved is that when a switch disconnects from the internet, you can't make any changes to that switch...
 

Also Known As

Cisco Industrial Ethernet Switches
HP Ethernet Switches
MS220, MS320, MS420
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Linz AG
Emirates Palace Hotel
Cisco Live Milan, Hyatt
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Netgear and others in Ethernet Switches. Updated: August 2025.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.