MikroTik Routers and Switches and Juniper QFX Series Switches compete in the networking hardware category. MikroTik stands out for its cost-effectiveness and robust feature set, while Juniper is notable for its advanced scalability and innovative design.
Features: MikroTik Routers and Switches offer traffic management, firewall capabilities, and ease of configuration through GUI and CLI, all without requiring additional licenses, making them highly flexible. Juniper QFX Series Switches are recognized for their high port density, power efficiency, and scalability features such as EVPN-VXLAN that enhance deployment capabilities.
Room for Improvement: MikroTik faces criticism for a less user-friendly interface, requiring more network knowledge, and has room for improvement in wireless capabilities and load balancing configurations. Enhanced documentation and technical support are suggested. Juniper could benefit from simplifying its user interface and addressing integration challenges, especially in scalability and storage connectivity. Complexity in deploying and upgrading certain features has also been noted.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: MikroTik's deployment is often straightforward and flexible, especially for small to medium-sized businesses, though users rely on forums due to limited direct technical support. Juniper benefits from comprehensive documentation and reliable support, with regional familiarity potentially varying, but integration processes could be simplified.
Pricing and ROI: MikroTik is known for its low-cost model, absence of annual licensing fees, and longevity, offering substantial ROI for budget-conscious buyers. Conversely, Juniper QFX Series Switches are a premium option with higher costs and require additional licenses for new features, balancing premium cost with enterprise performance. Both solutions present robust ROI, but MikroTik is more cost-efficient, while Juniper provides advanced capabilities.
Other brands might break after three or four years, but with Juniper, I can use it until now, around nine years, and it's still very usable and very stable.
The normal ROI customers work with is five years unless there is a major change in technology.
The technical support of Juniper is very helpful because if we have some big issues, we can raise P1 or P2 tickets, and the response from Juniper is very fast.
Sometimes parts are not available in stock, then you have to wait for replacement time.
Their support team knows their product very well.
I sometimes need technical support from my ISP company, or else I gather information from YouTube.
For any kind of environment, this scalability is extensive.
I would rate their scalability ten out of ten.
It's easy to scale MikroTik Routers and Switches; you can add more and have a cluster.
Juniper has better performance than any other networking product as far as performance is concerned in the router area.
MikroTik Routers and Switches have very high stability.
MikroTik Routers and Switches are very stable.
My personal opinion is that if anyone wants to work with a Layer 3 fabric in a data center, they should choose Juniper because working with ACI and APIC is very complex in the Cisco part.
I would like to see other cheaper plans for the license on the QFX series.
The most important thing is maintaining and enhancing their strong security features.
It would be better for me if I could establish filter rules within MikroTik.
We are a number one, tier-one partner of Juniper. Therefore, we normally get better discounts than with Cisco because we don't have the level one partnership with Cisco.
MikroTik Routers and Switches are expensive, but they are the best products in terms of quality.
The best feature of Juniper QFX Series Switches is the virtual chassis feature because it's very stable in my experience.
They work with EVPN solutions, providing a Layer 3 fabric, which is a very good capability.
MikroTik Routers and Switches are some of the best routers around, security-wise, followed by Cisco.
They simplify the process of creating access lists, allowing me to understand my network's activities effectively.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| MikroTik Routers and Switches | 6.3% |
| Juniper QFX Series Switches | 0.6% |
| Other | 93.1% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 5 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 1 |
| Large Enterprise | 2 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 43 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 16 |
| Large Enterprise | 9 |
QFX Series Switches deliver industry-leading throughput and scalability, an extensive routing stack, the open programmability of the Junos OS, and a broad set of EVPN-VXLAN and IP fabric capabilities. With QFX, you’ll find premier solutions for data center spine-and-leaf, campus distribution, core, and data center gateway and interconnect switching.
Rethink data center operations and fabric management with turnkey Juniper Apstra software in your QFX Series environment. You can automate the entire network lifecycle to simplify design and deployment and provide closed-loop assurance. With Apstra, customers have achieved 90% faster time to deployment, 70% faster time to resolution, and 83% OpEx reduction.
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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