Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Cisco Nexus vs Juniper QFabric comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 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
Ranking in LAN Switching
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Data Center Networking (3rd)
Juniper QFabric
Ranking in LAN Switching
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Cisco Nexus is 8.7%, down from 10.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper QFabric is 2.7%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
LAN Switching Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Nexus8.7%
Juniper QFabric2.7%
Other88.6%
LAN Switching
 

Featured Reviews

DeepakYadav1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good processing power to users
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a four to five out of ten. I rate the stability of the product as four to five out of ten based on the fact that I have checked the tool's features. I also know that there are many more options available in the market, like Palo Alto, Check Point, Fortinet, and other devices, which offer affordable, configurable, and scalable devices that I should plan to buy. Cisco is not providing tools for everything my company needs, but it is a good product. The market competition is high nowadays. Cisco is still handling some old parts. Cisco's old products make up approximately 67 percent of the devices offered in the networking industry. Despite the competition from products like Palo Alto, Check Point, and Fortinet, Cisco is not very scalable, but all its devices are updated regularly.
Suresh Pathipatti - PeerSpot reviewer
Performs well, is easy to set up, and the vendor maintains the product well
QFabric is the core switch. We also have two Brocade switches for the Fibre level The product works fine. It is an excellent product. There are different element systems and different options for each generation of the tool. We maintain the data center and analyze issues. I have no negative…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Cisco Nexus is speed compared to what you would get from a Catalyst Series switch."
"This solution has saved us both time and money because we now have the ability to control all of these telephony devices that are deployed nationwide."
"The most valuable feature is its reliability."
"The VPC feature of Cisco Nexus is great because it provides an active-active way of forwarding the traffic and avoids blocking any of the links."
"We have found that logical tenant segregation to be the most useful feature."
"The most valuable features are the solution is robust, you are able to use it for fabric architecture as well as SPAN on exit with the controller."
"It speeds up the network data transfer time."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is its reliability."
"The most valuable feature of QFabric for network performance is its stability."
"It's user-friendly."
"The vendor maintains the product well."
"The 40 gig backbone InterConneX was valuable for our use case. It is even faster now. QFabric has spine-leaf technology or topology, which basically makes every single hop only one hop away in terms of connecting from one device to another. It is a pretty good and robust solution. It works pretty well in terms of scalability, and their technical support is amazing."
"The solution is stable."
"Juniper QFabric has various advantages including scalability, simplicity, performance, and flexibility."
"The solution is easy to use and has good performance."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the fabric backplane having upwards of 160 GB of communication. It is a top-of-the-rack solution where you have your directors sitting in the main area and then you have your nodes expanded out to your multiple cabinets. It has a very good design and could be your server backbone."
 

Cons

"The solution has room for improvement in terms of the learning curve."
"The GUI interface could be improved to make it more user friendly."
"There is an ongoing problem with the limitation of the TCAM table, which is that it doesn't have enough memory to allow you to be really granular with your policy."
"Stability is not really up to the mark."
"There is always room for improvement."
"I would love to see Active/Active FEX connectivity, which is enhanced vPC, where we could also do a vPC from a server in that type of configuration."
"The only thing to improve is to continue to get better."
"The scalability can be improved."
"It would be nice if Juniper provided the system integrator with training, similar to that of Cisco."
"The pricing structure could be more budget-friendly."
"It works too much on rebooting and there is some memory leakage."
"Improvements could be made to QFabric's life cycle management, particularly in maintaining stable versions and extending product support."
"The disruptive upgrade was an issue for us."
"The stability needs to be improved."
"Having support for all OpenFlow versions would be beneficial."
"I do not use GUI's very much for switch stacks. I am always in the CLI. However, I do know that Juniper in the past has lacked on their GUI's, but they have been working on it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco's licensing structures can be complex across different technologies, for example, unified communications."
"If you compare Cisco hardware to any other vendors, such as HPE, they are more expensive. There is a license to use the solution. If my customer's licenses are about to expire I receive notification from Cisco, this is very helpful."
"Our licensing costs for this solution are approximately $100K a year for the switching part."
"Our licensing fees are paid annually."
"The licensing fees for this solution are approximately $800,000 USD annually."
"We have a three-year subscription for our licensing fees."
"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."
"The solution is expensive."
"The price for Juniper QFabric could improve. There are subscription, maintenance, and add-on feature fees."
"The pricing is high and it is possible to find better pricing option solutions on the market, but the licensing model is quite flexible."
"The price is relatively high, but it offers an advantage over its competitors by providing better performance and functionality."
"In terms of price, the QFabric solution is going to be probably in the middle of the road for a fabric solution."
"The pricing is high."
"Juniper QFabric is a high-level solution but it could be less expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which LAN Switching solutions are best for your needs.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise82
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
 

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?
All solutions are very expensive and not an economy solution.
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?
All solutions are very expensive and not an economy solution. The solution is on-premises and stable. We haven't tried integration with the network software.
What do you like most about Juniper QFabric?
The most valuable feature of QFabric for network performance is its stability.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper QFabric?
Juniper QFabric is not overly expensive. Licensing is required for certain features like vRRP, but setting up a virtual chassis does not necessitate a separate license.
What needs improvement with Juniper QFabric?
Improvements could be made to QFabric's lifecycle management, particularly in maintaining stable versions and extending product support. The rapid release cycle and short life span compared to comp...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
QFabric
 

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
MCB Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Nexus vs. Juniper QFabric and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.