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Cisco Nexus vs Cisco Nexus 9000 Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 2026

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
Ranking in Data Center Networking
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
108
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (3rd)
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 (21st)
 

Featured Reviews

Fakhar Mahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Network Administrator at i2c
Migration between data centers has strengthened core connectivity and simplified segmentation
The biggest problems during migration were corporate issues, including dependencies on other devices such as F5, HSMs, and firewalls from Palo Alto. Everything was connected over the core switches, which made this a quite difficult part to manage and to onboard the teams and to understand the impact of the migration. We encountered an issue where we have two data centers, and unknowingly we were configuring the devices with the same VPC number on both devices. By doing that, we were not able to terminate the lease lines over those core switches. According to Cisco, we had to change the VPC number of one of the data center's core switches since they are in a VPC. We are still waiting, and it has been more than five to six years just to change the VPC number and migrate back the lease line. Now we are having cabin switches for the lease line and then the core switch. That VPC number issue was quite surprising for us. However, we have a very frequent issue with Cisco Nexus, particularly with the SFPs. Every time a port or the SFP heats up, it gets faulty. We have almost sixteen Nexus switches per data center. In a year, we experience one or two port issues per annum. We have standard Equinix data centers with standard installations, but somehow the temperature is always maintained and there is no ducting, yet the ports and the SFPs heat up or become faulty. This is a very frequent issue with the SFP-based port.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like the fact that they are a well-supported product."
"Cisco Nexus meets all of our requirements."
"Cisco Nexus has improved the way our organization functions through the troubleshooting."
"I would recommend Cisco Nexus for large enterprises and the government sector, as they can afford it."
"The seamless integration of Nexus in the data center provides a scalable and stable solution."
"Cisco Nexus has improved the way our organization functions through the troubleshooting. We had issues where we've seen our links saturated. We were able to determine what was being processed on the link."
"If you want something that that is rock solid and you don't have to worry about, then go buy yourself some Nexus 9Ks."
"This is a really good product and something that I'm really familiar with."
"Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is very durable and very reliable, and there has never been any issue with it."
"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."
"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."
 

Cons

"Overall, I wish it was a more intuitive OS."
"They should work to make the pricing more reasonable for the local market."
"Some of the DHCP features need improvement."
"One of the problems we have is that there is no confirmation for when you try to test a system command."
"This solution costs a lot."
"I would like to see the usability improved by simplifying the user interface."
"It would be great if they could make the interface a little more user-friendly, but not trade power off for simplicity."
"The implementation process could be easier, which is something that should be improved."
"Cost-wise, Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is very expensive."
"The SFP modules we are using have had issues. We have Cisco modules, but they frequently heat up or there are packet error issues."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license for Cisco Nexus is one year to three years, in this case for the SMARTnet. It is a price per unit, in terms of this specific appliance."
"All of our costs including subscription, licensing, and support services are bundled together, and the cost is approximately $100,000 USD per year."
"Cisco Nexus is not a cheaply priced product."
"The subscription model and price could be better."
"We have a virtual license."
"The problem with Cisco, from what I see, is that their costs are much higher."
"Costs more than most, but the reliability pays for the difference."
"I don't like the Smart Licensing models that Cisco uses."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise83
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Nexus?
The product's initial setup phase is very easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?
We are a reseller, and we sell products to our customers.
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?
The biggest problems during migration were corporate issues, including dependencies on other devices such as F5, HSMs, and firewalls from Palo Alto. Everything was connected over the core switches,...
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...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins
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Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Nexus vs. Cisco Nexus 9000 Series and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.