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Cisco Nexus 9000 Series vs ExtremeSwitching comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 23, 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 Nexus 9000 Series
Ranking in Data Center Networking
9th
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
4.3
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Ethernet Switches (23rd)
ExtremeSwitching
Ranking in Data Center Networking
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (7th), AV Over IP Switching (4th)
 

Featured Reviews

Fakhar Mahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Network Administrator at i2c
Has consistently supported high availability with reliable performance and minimal disruption
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series and the routers are good, but the FMC or FTDs still need some improvement. We have Palo Alto firewalls and Next-Generation Firewalls in our environment. In comparison to the main firewall, we moved from Cisco FTDs to Palo Alto. We still have FTDs in our environment, but the majority of the firewalls have been moved to Palo Alto. They are more user-friendly, give more visibility, and are more efficient. The performance is better than Cisco. With the new features, Cisco is having some improvement for the FTD. I am currently evaluating the FTDs. The new version has better features like the encrypted visibility engine and user-based changes in FMCs, and other things are quite useful for us. FTDs do have limitations and other issues. We communicated that limitation and feature support to the Cisco account manager. We do have support for the devices. We currently have a weekly call with Cisco and they are making progress regarding new versions of the FMCs and introducing new features. The performance of deployment has improved quite a bit compared to four or five years ago.
Shrikant Teggi - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Area Technical Manager at tata elxsi
Excellent support and reliable performance drive positive experiences
We have been working with wireless for the last seven to eight years. At the moment, the customer has decided to go with a different brand. We are only dealing with the wired switches, not the wireless ones. We use ExtremeSwitching only, not Enterasys. Enterasys was the old one. I am not a networking person, so at this point in time I do not have much working experience on the switches. We have a separate team here who are working on these products. We have not reached that stage yet, but definitely in the near future we may use this kind of feature. Recently they have introduced platform one, which is an AI-based automation tool. That is definitely on the cards. Maybe in one year, we may start using that option as well. First of all, the product is robust and they are also coming up with new features. The second part is the support is excellent from ExtremeSwitching. They maintain delivery time and follow through on their commitments properly. The performance we expected, we are getting from ExtremeSwitching. All these requirements we have are being met with the product, features, and support. It is cost effective. I rate ExtremeSwitching a nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is very durable and very reliable, and there has never been any issue with it."
"RealPresence works effectively."
"Performance has been great with no abnormal behaviors detected, and the network remains stable even in failover scenarios, supporting vast environments with high availability."
"Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is quite a complex machine, but we are using a very simple configuration with basic Nexus switching, and we don't have many issues with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series at the moment in our present infrastructure."
"It is meeting our expectations in terms of performance as well as cost-effectiveness."
"They are good. We have been using them for about two years, and we are satisfied with their performance. For our network environment, these switches are working fine."
"The solution can scale."
"The price is low compared to the competition."
"ExtremeSwitching fabric technology is a unique technology used to protect against viruses. ExtremeCloud IQ is a very good and feature-rich solution compared to Cisco, Ruxi Networks, or Huawei."
"First of all, the product is robust and they are also coming up with new features; the second part is the support is excellent from ExtremeSwitching, they maintain delivery time and follow through on their commitments properly, and the performance we expected, we are getting from ExtremeSwitching."
"Some of the most valuable features of ExtremeSwitching are Fabric Attach and BGP, as well as the price point, which are superior in the market."
"ExtremeSwitching is a good, stable platform."
 

Cons

"The SFP modules we are using have had issues. We have Cisco modules, but they frequently heat up or there are packet error issues."
"Cost-wise, Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is very expensive."
"We find that Cisco has been left behind by the other vendors. The other vendors have adopted new technology, and we find Cisco lagging behind."
"ExtremeSwitching's software stability could be improved, as it sometimes crashes."
"The training and resources for learning are lacking."
"The solution lacks a cyber asset attack capability."
"ExtremeSwitching is scalable to a certain extent for SME-segmented IP."
"The solution as a whole has hardware quality issues."
"While it is true of all vendors, there may be a slightly lower reliability standard."
"ExtremeSwitching should provide command lines more readily without needing in-depth searching on their support portal, especially for unique configurations."
"ExtremeSwitching switches are not prevalent in the industry, so it's harder to go online and research how to deploy their APs or switches. There is a broader user community for Cisco and Juniper because they've been around for a while and everybody has a bit of knowledge they can publish online."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The pricing and licensing are good with the cloud."
"The product is expensive."
"On pricing, ExtremeSwitches are going to beat most of the major competition."
"ExtremeSwitching offers very good pricing plans for their licenses. Compared to their rivals, ExtremeSwitching's prices are very affordable and reasonable. This is why our customers are happy to pay for their service critical support. ExtremeSwitching also offers a great portal to track clients, further satisfying our customers. They are always happy to pay for the service every month. The pricing is very reasonable."
"We paid 25,000 to 30,000 INR."
"It is not a subscription-based model, and there is no licensing concept. We have to pay for hardware AMC. We have hardware on our premises and for the hardware support, we have to go for the annual maintenance contract with the partner."
"There is a cost for ExtremeSwitching and if you want the support and maintenance, there are additional costs. My clients typically pay for the support and maintenance annually."
"There is no license required to use the solution. The hardware controller is expensive, and this is why I prefer controlling ExtremeSwitching on the cloud."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
18%
Computer Software Company
9%
University
7%
Construction Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
After the initial integration, the focus has been on support rather than further development. Cost-wise, Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is very expensive. The pricing could absolutely be improved. So far,...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series serves as a core router and core switch for users, and provides interconnectivity between the core switch and the access switch, as well as remote access switch for smaller ...
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
I am a customer of this solution and also a distributor. Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is usually integrated with other Cisco tools or third-party tools, including 3750, 3850, 3650, and 3750 as access sw...
What do you like most about ExtremeSwitching?
The product offers a single management platform for multiple models of switches. The tool also allows users to manage multiple sites from a single dashboard.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ExtremeSwitching?
I would rate the pricing for ExtremeSwitching six to seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with ExtremeSwitching?
Regarding what could be better with the product, I am not aware of how much AI functionality is provided in ExtremeSwitching. Everyone is talking about AI, so there should be AI facilities provided...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Blue Waters
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Nexus 9000 Series vs. ExtremeSwitching and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.