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MikroTik Cloud Router Switch vs NETGEAR Switches comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

MikroTik Cloud Router Switch
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Routers (4th)
NETGEAR Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (5th), AV Over IP Switching (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of MikroTik Cloud Router Switch is 1.9%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NETGEAR Switches is 7.4%, down from 8.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
NETGEAR Switches7.4%
MikroTik Cloud Router Switch1.9%
Other90.7%
Ethernet Switches
 

Featured Reviews

Andriejus Artamonovas - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Specialist at a outsourcing company with 501-1,000 employees
Has supported deeper configuration through traffic mirroring and advanced VLAN setup
The main reason why MikroTik Cloud Router Switch is usually chosen is its raw performance to price ratio. In comparison to UniFi switches, MikroTik Cloud Router Switch can mirror all ports for traffic inspection for further traffic analysis, which UniFi cannot do. VLANs in MikroTik Cloud Router Switch are always useful. The way MikroTik implements VLAN-aware switching at the bridge level is hidden in the configuration. Making CRS work as a simple VLAN-aware switch requires deeper configuration, which is not intuitive. VLANs support individual interfaces not part of the bridge, allowing for double VLANing. You can create a VLAN interface in the interfaces context and also create a bridge interface, add physical ports, create VLANs for that bridge interface, and assign tagged and untagged ports and VLANs. Load balancing is one of the key components. The feature itself is quite efficient and works reliably on MikroTik Cloud Router Switch. The very basic setup is one of my favorites because they have their protocol where I can connect through the MAC address right on Layer 2, and I don't lose connectivity to the switch if I mess up with bridging or IP addressing.
Tomas Devriese - PeerSpot reviewer
Teamleader Av Installers at solufak
VLAN support has improved audiovisual installations and secures network traffic for our projects
Our major use cases include audiovisual installations and we mainly use the AV line for that. We work with the VLAN support feature The best things about NETGEAR Switches are the support they provide and the ease of implementation. The ease of installation helps with network performance. It helps…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This solution is very similar to the on-premises version making it easy to use for those who know the architect."
"They are very well suited for small and medium businesses, and here in Tanzania, in some cases, even some large enterprises are using MikroTik due to the fact that they provide many features at zero cost."
"The GUI is easy to use."
"The main reason why MikroTik Cloud Router Switch is usually chosen is its raw performance to price ratio."
"The solution works very well for us; the performance has been good and it's been stable for now."
"MikroTik is the most stable device; it’s easy to configure, there are no bugs or glitches, it’s reliable, and the performance is good."
"It is easy to set up the solution."
"The router power is the most valuable aspect."
"The solution helps transfer data."
"Netgear has solid, cost-effective switches with enterprise functionality that I am very happy deploying on my network, and on SMB customer networks."
"Since it has a web interface, it is easy to set up. You don't have to take three years of training somewhere for a lot of money."
"NETGEAR has most of the good security features that other switches have and it's cost-effective."
"The interface is comfortable for the new employees of our company. I think it's not a problem because our IT team, with probably only two hundred staff, handles our network well. We've tested our recovery systems, and everything is working fine. I don't remember any accidents or issues on our IT network in the last year."
"You are not limited in terms of stacking ports, and especially, if you're using the 96X as a core switch, the scalability, I could see this being very large. If you're using a type of a hybrid topology with a core switch going out to multiple switch stacks, or something like that, I could see the scalability of this being very good, especially considering the kind of backplane switching capacity on the 96X."
"It's a great price-to-performance solution; I think it's singularly the best price-per-performance we can find, if not just straight performance to begin with."
"They are reasonably priced and have worked pretty well for us."
 

Cons

"MikroTik needs to add some features like IPS, mail security, or antivirus, et cetera."
"Simplifying the documentation would be a good idea."
"Improvements are needed with respect to some of the security, especially for VPN links between vendors other than Cisco."
"MikroTik has a three to five year maximum lifespan."
"The RAM capacity offered by the product needs to be increased, as it is one area where the tool currently has some shortcomings."
"There has to be more development in the OS. It's complex for this switch as compared to others like Cisco. For NetGear and Cisco, it's easy to adapt the VLAN concept but it should be simplified for MikroTik."
"Proper LACP support, more software support for hardware capabilities, true wirespeed Layer 3 routing."
"MikroTik is mostly used by medium and small businesses, so the security is not as robust as Cisco."
"Though the tool's useability is good, it has certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"The solution needs centralized management and centralized configuration."
"Their old firmware was a problem for us and we're still working on it. It didn't apply correctly so it took about half of our switches offline, which meant we couldn't use some of the functionality like the firmware updates. Unfortunately with that firmware, which they've sorted out, if you don't go through all the firmware and make sure it's past that point and back online, that's an issue with them. It's something to cautious about"
"If they could come up with ways to look at metrics on it while the video is capping through the system, that would be nice. There could be some interesting uses for that, but it's a long way off."
"NETGEAR Switches could be more secure. Scalability could also be better."
"The web interface has been a little sketchy on occasion. Sometimes I have to reload the page to get things to show up properly, but the switch itself seems fine."
"The tool is good, but we probably need another model with PoE connections. Our office plans to switch from analog phone lines to VoIP next year, and we need a model that supports this transition and can handle the required technology. Additionally, improved support for newer technologies like Wi-Fi would be beneficial."
"This product lacks a CLI interface."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"MikroTik is really cheap compared to the competitors."
"In Pakistan, if you buy this cloud router, it's approximately $700 for the device."
"They came with the licensing when we purchased them."
"I consider it to be a cost-effective solution."
"The price is competitive."
"The price of the solution is fair and there is a one-time license purchase only."
"I believe the price of the tool is high, but it is okay for the services we get from it."
"This product has a one-time cost and there is no licensing fee."
"Insight pricing is okay. It's very competitive. The costs of the hardware and additional services weren't low because Unify is much cheaper, but the costs conformed to the market. When you look at the hardware specs, the price and the warranty, the complete package was much better than any other vendor. If you consider those three main aspects of Netgear Insight and Netgear Insight devices, and you put them next to Ubiquity or Cisco Meraki, or even TP-Link, in our opinion, it's better hardware, it has a better warranty, and for the price you have to pay, it's a pretty good product."
"It's cheaper than Cisco. For the features it offers, the pricing is good."
"NETGEAR's new product is definitely more expensive than their standard product line. It's a new product line for them, so I'm hoping with the maturity of the product that those costs will come down. The standard product line is considerably cheaper."
"They're good value. They're good entry-level switches. I know Cisco generally has a lot more capability. But, for an organization this size, we don't need that. So they're good value for the cost and what we need."
"I sold someone a SonicWall and they had to redo their subscription every year. It was a $300 or $400 subscription they had to pay every year... With NETGEAR... it's only a $10 or $20 subscription per device for the whole year... and you have your license and you have all your support."
"There are no licensing costs. It only involves the costs of the devices."
"For the price, they're good. If you look at Ubiquity switches (which have cloud features too) or even the regular NETGEAR GS switches, these are still price-competitive and come with the cloud features, which is just amazing."
"The pricing is great. The cost of the hardware is low... There are a few solutions that have a lower cost, but NETGEAR is very value-oriented."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
13%
Educational Organization
12%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
8%
Construction Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business43
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about MikroTik Cloud Router Switch?
The tool has impacted our company's network costs and productivity in a perfect manner and percentage-wise, I can say it is 120 percent.
What needs improvement with MikroTik Cloud Router Switch?
It can be difficult to identify key functions for MikroTik Cloud Router Switch. I experience functionality limitations, particularly when trying to find specific features. It would be beneficial to...
How do NETGEAR switches compare with Cisco ethernet switches?
NetGear switches have a lot to offer. They have high availability, zero-downtime stacking, L2 and L3 functionality, and are AV-over-IP ready. NetGear switches also have a command line interface and...
Which switches are better - Ubiquiti Unifi or Netgear?
Ubiquiti Unifi offers a great set of features. For starters, it is easy to configure and implement, and also doesn’t require a learning curve because it is easy to use. It is also simple to reconfi...
What do you like most about NETGEAR Switches?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten. I have not faced any issues with the product whatsoever.
 

Also Known As

MikroTik CRS Series
NETGEAR Insight Managed Switches, NETGEAR GC Series, NETGEAR M Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Blaze Networks
Find out what your peers are saying about MikroTik Cloud Router Switch vs. NETGEAR Switches and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,286 professionals have used our research since 2012.