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Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches vs Meraki MS Switches comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 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

Juniper EX Series Ethernet ...
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
71
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Meraki MS Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
96
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches is 2.8%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Meraki MS Switches is 3.4%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches
 

Featured Reviews

FauzanRahmanto - PeerSpot reviewer
Have achieved lower costs and gained reliability with some room for better scalability
The security capabilities of Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches are comparable to other brands, so there are no additional points for Juniper regarding the security systems. I would rate the price of Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches an eight out of ten. Regarding stability, I would rate Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches a nine out of ten. I would recommend Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches to other organizations because it is easy to use, the command is easy to learn, and it is very stable. I chose Juniper as my primary vendor because it is very stable, reliable, and the price is lower than competitors. I am the person who usually does the maintenance alone. In my office, my two colleagues and I are the network engineers directly responsible for the operation of the EX devices. The number of users in my organization who have access to Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches is around 17 people. Overall, I would rate Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches an eight out of ten.
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 Virtual Chassis, because you have a centralized administration of a set of switches which makes the operation more efficient.​"
"The most valuable feature is that the CLI is the same on all of the Juniper devices, including routers, switches, and firewalls."
"Juniper switches are very good with MPLS."
"The most valuable feature is that Juniper is multiple kernels, so there's isolation, which means you won't get a process that runs away, creating problems across the whole platform."
"We have found the product to be scalable."
"It's easy to use."
"The most valuable feature is switching on our network."
"It's stable and reliable."
"This product has QoS, decent visibility of what's going on, and it's a managed switch."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to orchestrate the network from the cloud."
"These switches are not expensive and their configuration is very easy. You can provision them on the dashboard, then you just connect them to everything."
"Meraki MS Switches have a very user-friendly dashboard and the policies are straightforward for sending them to the devices and blocking sites."
"Meraki does support CLI, but the GUI is purely GUI, which is very easy to access."
"Meraki MS Switches have allowed us to access devices from anywhere in the world through the cloud."
"This is an OK solution for small to medium-sized businesses with no IT staff."
"The most valuable feature is cloud management."
 

Cons

"The price is in the intermediate range. It is not overly expensive, but also not cheap. It could stand improvement."
"Its distribution channel and the ease of availability should be improved."
"They should integrate VPN functionality with the solution."
"All Juniper documentation is terrible."
"The initial setup for Juniper switches is complex. Juniper has a new program that solves that problem a little bit, but it is expensive, so I don't use it. It is Juniper Mesh, Juniper Wire, or something like that where you plug in a switch, and it goes out to their cloud, finds a config, and brings it down. So, you can do everything cloud-based, but there is a fee for that. It is expensive, so I've never used it. If we were starting, we would try to do something like that. It is more for a large enterprise for managing hundreds of switches versus what we're doing. They should make its price more cost-effective or include it for new or smaller companies."
"We are undergoing a migration to software-defined networking. Different vendors have to integrate with each other and we are not seeing this type of capability within Juniper. We are getting left behind in this technology trend by staying with this solution. Juniper is also losing a bit of market share because of this."
"I have found the scalability could be improved in the version I was using."
"In the next release of this solution, I would like to see better integration with software-defined networking."
"They tend to have some weird issues with fiber uplinks."
"It might be perceived as more of a niche product, partly due to its name, as it's still not entirely recognized by the market."
"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."
"The stability of the solution isn't ideal. We've had a lot of problems with the switches. They are unstable and unreliable. We need to reboot them often."
"This is quite an expensive solution."
"The solution could be simplified a bit."
"In terms of troubleshooting, if we get more tools there is an issue."
"The pricing of the solution can be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a subscription payment model or you can purchase licenses on a one, two, and five-year basis. If you want decent support, the solution is not expensive."
"The product's pricing is less and almost half of Cisco's."
"Relatively affordable per switch."
"The solution's pricing is cheaper than that of Cisco."
"We don't need to pay for the solution's features."
"For the QFX5000 Juniper switches, the price is about $10,000, but they would probably sell it for $1,000. Nobody can beat Juniper's pricing when it comes to switches. Juniper out-prices everybody, but they get you on the back end, maintenance, service port, and service contract."
"The price of the Juniper EX Series is reasonable. Cisco is a lot more expensive."
"This solution is cheaper than Cisco or HP switches."
"The price of the solution has room for improvement."
"They can get the price down for small businesses. The way I bought it, I paid hardly anything, and I got all my licensing with it. The firewall appliance is around $900, and the switches are around $150. This is for the device itself. For licensing, I signed at $70 or something like that for the switch. Technical Support is included in this."
"The yearly maintenance fee is $100 and you can purchase the switches used for about $200 each."
"Its price is definitely competitive."
"It would be better if they had a one-time purchase option instead of a subscription model."
"The pricing is very expensive."
"The tool is expensive."
"I don't have an issue with the price of this solution."
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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
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
8%
Retailer
7%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 us. We decided to go with Juniper. Juniper ethernet switches are a lesser-known...
What advice do you have for others considering Juniper Ethernet Switches?
Juniper EX model is ok for the campus network as the ex4300 is EOL in a few years and the new ex4400 is the standard. Now for the QFX model, 5k/10k in CRB mode IP fabric Ethernet switching is horri...
What is your primary use case for Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches?
We deal mostly with Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches products, as we are partners with Juniper products. We work with Juniper wireless. We deal with all the Juniper products and also Cisco and H...
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. Sometimes the switches lose internet connectivity, and we can't do anything to...
 

Also Known As

Juniper Ethernet Switches
MS220, MS320, MS420
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

BlackLotus, Staminus, Community Bank, BAS Group, Cloud Dynamics, Privalia, Fluidata, and Tesla Motors.
Cisco Live Milan, Hyatt
Find out what your peers are saying about Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches vs. Meraki MS Switches and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,632 professionals have used our research since 2012.