Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches and MikroTik Routers and Switches compete in the networking hardware category. Juniper often has the upper hand in advanced features and complex network handling, while MikroTik excels in cost-effectiveness and basic network capabilities.
Features: Juniper EX Series offers strong management features, advanced protocol support, and unique rollback capabilities that ensure safer configuration changes. Their switches integrate effectively with other vendor products. MikroTik, known for affordability, offers versatile configurations, traffic management capabilities, and robust multi-routing features, providing great value for its price.
Room for Improvement: Juniper faces challenges with pricing, update complexities, and a steep learning curve associated with Junos OS. It also requires enhanced third-party integration and technical support. MikroTik needs improvements in user interface, documentation, technical support, and scalability, along with better VPN integration processes.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Juniper supports hybrid and cloud deployment models but has mixed global support experiences, with some users finding it inadequate in specific regions. MikroTik is primarily used in on-premises setups and its support is inconsistent, often affected by limited local presence and language issues.
Pricing and ROI: Juniper switches are more expensive but are seen as offering a good ROI due to their longevity and reduced upgrade needs. MikroTik is highly cost-effective, favored by budget-conscious buyers, and appreciated for providing significant savings with comprehensive network functions without recurring costs.
Compared to other low-end switches with similar features, these are more robust and offer better scalability, which justifies the higher cost.
I have not faced any hardware issues requiring support due to the stable nature of their products.
I find them very competent.
Local partners and local distributors cannot open direct tickets, but any level of partner with other OEMs such as Cisco can open a ticket directly, which is a connectivity advantage that Juniper lacks.
Their support team knows their product very well.
I sometimes need technical support from my ISP company, or else I gather information from YouTube.
Adding another switch to an existing setup turns them into a single virtual switch.
The EX series supports scalability well, with newer series like EX4100 offering stacking of up to eight switches.
I would rate Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches a seven in terms of scalability as it could be more scalable and requires some improvement.
Even in a big enterprise, MikroTik Routers and Switches can scale very well.
It's easy to scale MikroTik Routers and Switches; you can add more and have a cluster.
They have separate control and forwarding planes, which enhance scalability and stability.
During peak time at nine, the traffic passes through the switches perfectly.
Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches proves to be an equally good switch.
MikroTik Routers and Switches are very stable.
MikroTik Routers and Switches have very high stability.
One area that can be improved is the handling of power interruption, as it can cause the platform to crash.
Some integration with AI could be a good idea since I heard that Juniper already has systems to deploy AI within the EX device, but I haven't had the opportunity to try that.
With other OEMs, customers or partners can directly open tech tickets.
It would be better for me if I could establish filter rules within MikroTik.
The most important thing is maintaining and enhancing their strong security features.
The switches have become more expensive than before.
It is rated high on the scale, and I would say it is definitely on the high side, confirming a rating of one, which means it is very expensive.
In terms of pricing, the Juniper EX Series is cost-effective compared to competitors like Cisco.
MikroTik Routers and Switches are expensive, but they are the best products in terms of quality.
We are using the Juniper MX 104 L3 switches and SRX 1500 firewall since 2019, and we have not faced a single failure.
Juniper EX series switches offer great technology, particularly their Virtual Chassis technology, which is an excellent feature for stacking switches and functions like a single virtual switch.
They feature a separate control and forwarding plane, which enhances performance during heavy traffic and attacks.
They simplify the process of creating access lists, allowing me to understand my network's activities effectively.
MikroTik Routers and Switches are some of the best routers around, security-wise, followed by Cisco.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| MikroTik Routers and Switches | 7.2% |
| Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches | 2.9% |
| Other | 89.9% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 38 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 17 |
| Large Enterprise | 24 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 43 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 16 |
| Large Enterprise | 9 |
Juniper Ethernet Switches are made up of the EX Series product line. These EX Series Ethernet Switches provide branch, campus and data center networks with access, aggregation and core layer switching solutions. The end result is secure, fast and efficient application and data delivery.
Today's enterprise networks increasingly demand mobile access, optimal availability, virtualization, and unified communications. The Juniper Ethernet Switches EX Series caters for all of these requirements, ensuring business continuity, network flexibility and maximum productivity.
Juniper EX Series switches are AI-driven, operated and managed using the Mist AI cloud from Juniper. This gives EX customers simplified operations with insights, anomaly detection and automated troubleshooting, empowering IT teams to deliver the best user experience across the wired network.
MikroTik Routers and Switches provide all the features necessary for network administrators to secure and monitor their networks and are suitable for companies of any size. The solution is ideal for creating Wi-Fi hotspots, connecting multiple servers, setting up firewalls and VPNs, and distributing bandwidth. MikroTik's user-friendly dashboard helps you interact easily with your hardware. With MikroTik's user interface, you can obtain real statistics by user or IP address and monitor bandwidth consumption.
Benefits and Key Features of MikroTik Routers and Switches
Reviews from Real Users
MikroTik stands out among competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its reasonably priced products and its user-friendly user interface, which makes it easy to work and communicate with its hardware.
Parameshwar P., a director at Navyug Networks, writes, "I like MikroTik's GUI. It's completely handy and easy to handle because of its GUI. Despite other brands like Cisco urging me to switch, I didn't because they don't have a GUI. This is the most comfortable thing in my project that anyone can use easily. It’s effortless to maintain MikroTik routers because both screens make it very easy in GUI mode. You can easily interact with your hardware.”
Rodney T., the chief solutions architect at Tech2go Strategic IT Solutions, says, "They are very good at providing the bandwidth for multi-tenants and multi-dwelling units. We're managing Wi-Fi hotspots for hundreds of locations, and the speed and performance are quite there. They also have very cheap 10G products that come with really good and flexible software. They are way cheaper than the top brands, and they're able to deliver the same performance and capabilities."
A principal consultant at a tech services company notes, "The most valuable aspect of this solution is the combination of value for money. They're extremely cost effective, yet they provide you with an extensive feature set of things you can do across the board. Also, they're pretty reliable, as far as equipment goes."
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