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Director of IT at a consumer goods company with 201-500 employees
Real User
User-friendly and has good usability and analytics
Pros and Cons
  • "To me, the analytics feature is one of the most valuable in Meraki MX. I also find that it has good usability as it's cloud-based. Another valuable feature of Meraki MX is that it's simple to use and it's user-friendly."
  • "We had minor issues with Meraki MX. We had a couple of RMAs, so that could be an area for improvement, but in terms of how the RMAs went, the turnaround time and getting those back into redeployment were quick. Another area for improvement in Meraki MX is that when you're scaling for multiple locations, you need to use the same model, but the model you'd need is only available for a short time. The specific model you require could be out of stock, or Meraki isn't making that model anymore, so Meraki should improve that."

What is our primary use case?

I've used Meraki MX in warehouses for small medical offices and, recently, dispensaries.

What is most valuable?

To me, the analytics feature is one of the most valuable in Meraki MX. I also find that it has good usability as it's cloud-based.

Another valuable feature of Meraki MX is that it's simple to use and it's user-friendly.

What needs improvement?

We had minor issues with Meraki MX. We had a couple of RMAs, so that could be an area for improvement, but in terms of how the RMAs went, the turnaround time and getting those back into redeployment were quick.

Another area for improvement in Meraki MX is that when you're scaling for multiple locations, you need to use the same model, but the model you'd need is only available for a short time. The specific model you require could be out of stock, or Meraki isn't making that model anymore, so Meraki should improve that.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Meraki MX on and off over the past seven to eight years.

Buyer's Guide
Meraki MX
May 2025
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

As far as stability goes, Meraki MX is pretty good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In terms of scalability, the process of scaling Meraki MX is straightforward.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup for Meraki MX is very straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

I work in a mid-sized company, and I've used Meraki MX in small business and enterprise settings. On the small business side, two people use the product, but on the enterprise side, about twenty people use Meraki MX because of the number of locations and equipment. My enterprise customer had about forty thousand employees and at least ninety locations.

I'd rate Meraki MX as nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Senior Network Specialist at Al Ghurair Investments
Real User
Top 20
Cost-effective, simplified, easy to manage, and reliable with advanced security features and granular visibility
Pros and Cons
  • "It has the most advanced security features, for example, layer 3 and layer 7 firewall capabilities and the end team and IPS protection. It also has IPS, and it has very good functioning of cloning services. You don't actually have to touch the device. If you have multiple companies in different countries, you don't really require this device to be touched. You can get it delivered directly to any office of a country, and then you can simply put your configuration over the cloud. It's very simplified and easy to manage. It gives a very good granular visibility about your network. Earlier, a lot of things were lacking in the network. We were unable to identify where the problem was, but after implementing Meraki MX, we are able to dig down and identify where is the problem. We can easily and quickly identify the sources and the root causes of the issues."
  • "From the improvement perspective, we need more monitoring capabilities. We want to have full-based access visibility, such as, what is happening when something is trying to reach and it is denying. We cannot see some parts of it. The integration of active directory with this product is not very fruitful. It has some bugs or lacks in the functionality of active directory integration. We are unable to identify where exactly and whether it has really applied our policy."

What is our primary use case?

We have migrated all wide area network (WAN) links from the conventional connection to the cloud-managed SD-WAN. 

We have all ranges. We are using the lowest model MX65 and the highest model MX450. We have deployed on-premises and on the cloud because the hardware requires an on-premises placement and then it works on the cloud.

We have more than 1500 users. We have approximately 1500 employees, and we also have guests who are bringing their own devices. Some of the users have got multiple devices, so the number of users increases. When you look at the dashboard, you might find more than 3,000 end-user devices across the group.

How has it helped my organization?

Meraki MX has not only simplified our wide area network connectivity operations. It also gave us a very cost-effective solution. As compared to the most expensive MPLS and leased-line circuits, it works on a broadband connection.

What is most valuable?

It has the most advanced security features, for example, layer 3 and layer 7 firewall capabilities and the end team and IPS protection. It also has IPS, and it has very good functioning of cloning services.

You don't actually have to touch the device. If you have multiple companies in different countries, you don't really require this device to be touched. You can get it delivered directly to any office of a country, and then you can simply put your configuration over the cloud. It's very simplified and easy to manage. 

It gives a very good granular visibility about your network. Earlier, a lot of things were lacking in the network. We were unable to identify where the problem was, but after implementing Meraki MX, we are able to dig down and identify where is the problem. We can easily and quickly identify the sources and the root causes of the issues.

What needs improvement?

From the improvement perspective, we need more monitoring capabilities. We want to have full-based access visibility, such as, what is happening when something is trying to reach and it is denying. We cannot see some parts of it. 

The integration of active directory with this product is not very fruitful. It has some bugs or lacks in the functionality of active directory integration. We are unable to identify where exactly and whether it has really applied our policy. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Meraki MX for more than two years. We deployed this product two years ago.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is there in Meraki MX. The availability is 99%. We have been monitoring the organization for the past two years, and we haven't got any downtime because of Meraki MX. It is either because of the ISP link being down because of non-payment or maybe some issue with ISP link or power outage. We haven't got any problem with Meraki MX itself. 

How are customer service and technical support?

Their technical support is satisfactory. I would not say very satisfactory, but it's okay. We are only covered with the support license. 

They are good up to some extent, but because we have been using these devices or this product, sometimes, we know better than their support team. In fact, we had a problem related to active data integration with Meraki MX during the implementation, and the support team was unable to resolve it. We resolved it ourselves. We would expect better support from Meraki MX.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used the conventional Cisco routers.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. Before deploying Meraki MX, we did a POC for three months, and this POC was successful. In fact, we were given only 60 days, but we took over 90 days to do a complete assessment to see whether this fulfills our needs. When we were sure that this is the right solution for us, we deployed it across the group.

What about the implementation team?

Initially, we required an integrator. There was a vendor who deployed this service, but after the first-time implementation, it was very easy because it's a very quick thing to do. We did not require any assistance from any of the vendors. 

We have got in-house resources. When we get a new device, we don't require any implementation or installation support. We do it ourselves. It's very simple. We've been doing this deployment across the group. Initially, we had about 30 sites. Now, we have 40 sites, and the number of sites is increasing.  

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The license cost depends on the box. We acquired a different product line. We are dealing with MX appliance now, that is, MX6, MX54, MX100, MX250, MX450. Every box has got an identity, and it has got its own specification. Every box has got a different license fee.

We deployed Meraki MX in UAE when it was not a mature product. We took a risk, but we were successful. We saved a huge amount of money after implementing and removing all the MPLS and leased lines. We got a broadband connection because Meraki MX could work on a broadband connection. We have drastically saved a very good amount of money, which was one of the successful things apart from the successful solution.

What other advice do I have?

From the IT perspective, people are more relying on the cloud for cloud hosting. Instead of having the data center on-premises or hybrid, people are moving towards cloud hosting. The integration with cloud managed services is there. We have some services hosted on Azure. We also have some services hosted on Amazon. We have a plugin with the cloud manager, Meraki MX. It has VMS features available so that we can have the security and our own private cloud connected to Amazon, Azure, or any cloud services, which is a future proof solution.

I would, of course, recommend Meraki MX. Everyone should have this cloud management solution. We never had any problems after the implementation. This solution also gave us the confidence to deploy across the group. If we had experienced, for example, sluggishness, slowness, or some unreliability, we would have not continued deploying it. Based on this, I would strongly recommend that any company in the world can deploy this product without any hesitation or doubt. It's very reliable. 

They are continuously updating the firmware and resolving the issues. They're always there to help you out. So, we should not be worried about this product. I would highly recommend that the Meraki MX appliance should be deployed.

I would rate Meraki MX an eight out of ten. It has got pros and cons, but the pros are more.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Meraki MX
May 2025
Learn what your peers think about Meraki MX. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
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Technical Manager at PSR
Real User
Top 5
Helps users to save time but needs to improve its integration capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "Meraki MX has been a stable solution so far, and I haven't faced any issues with it."
  • "With Meraki MX's integration capabilities, users may face challenges since it does not integrate well with other systems."

What is our primary use case?

The product is useful for zero-touch provisioning and implementation. One can configure the tool with SD-WAN, and we connect it to it from anywhere.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is EAP-TLS integration with Meraki MX. Other vendors provide other features in the product. Zero-touch provisioning and everything else is very easy. The tool's support is also good.

What needs improvement?

There is another team in my company that looks into areas associated with the product to figure out where improvements are required.

With Meraki MX's integration capabilities, users may face challenges since it does not integrate well with other systems. If you configure Meraki MX with EAP-TLS, then you may face scalability issues since there are a few things that need to be changed in the product.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Meraki MX for the last three years. My company has a partnership with Cisco.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Meraki MX has been a stable solution so far, and I haven't faced any issues with it.

How are customer service and support?

The solution's technical support is good. I rate the technical support a seven or eight out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The product's deployment phase is easy.

If I consider an average deployment scenario for a big project, the product can be deployed in around 15 to 30 days.

Two to five people are required for the tool's deployment process. At least five people are required for monitoring purposes. Maintaining the solution is easy.

What was our ROI?

Using Meraki MX can help people save time, as it helps reduce downtime. From anywhere, the engineers can connect with the product and check the logs, which is a good feature.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Purchasing the tool's license is easy, but its cost is very high. I rate the tool's price a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is very expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I would like to say that SD-WAN is considered to be one of the market leaders in terms of the tool's SD-WAN capabilities.

I did not face any difficulties with the interface of the product. Using the product's interface is an easy task for me.

The tool's loading period or waiting period of the tool is high and most of the customers are not ready to wait for too long. If only someone requires Meraki, they will go for it. For the tool's regular model, we need to wait for up to six months, which is the main problem.

It can be a good solution for those who can afford it. Iin India, most of the SMBs are not able to afford the tool.

I rate the tool a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
IT Director at SURGICARE CHARITY INC
Real User
A useful and easy to manage solution
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is easy to set up."
  • "It is very expensive."

What is our primary use case?

The solution is useful and easy to manage, and we deploy it on-premises.

What is most valuable?

The solution is very valuable because it always updates firmware or operating systems.

What needs improvement?

The price of the solution can be improved because it is very expensive. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the solution for approximately three years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

How was the initial setup?

The solution is easy to set up. If you are familiar with it, it will take only a few hours to complete the deployment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We have chosen to stop using this solution because the cost of renewal is  expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. The solution is good, but the price can be improved. I recommend the solution to people who can afford it.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Director at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Reseller
Provides good visibility, easy to configure and manage, and good for small businesses
Pros and Cons
  • "Its ease of configuration and management is very useful for us and for other companies that don't have an onsite IT person. It is easy to configure and easy to manage. It is easy to configure the VPN with the Auto VPN feature."
  • "We have been having a problem with the VPN. When the energy goes down and is back again, the VPN link doesn't get established. We have to manually turn off the modems and other pieces of equipment and manually establish the VPN. It has been around one month since we have been having this problem, and we don't have enough support from Meraki to solve the problem."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for the protection of our network and for access to our network Wi-Fi. 

We mainly use two products of Meraki. We use the MX Series router and Access Point MR. MX is a router, and its deployment is installed on-premises, but the management or administration is done on the cloud.

How has it helped my organization?

It protects our network and does content filtering. It monitors our network for threats, and it also monitors the performance of the network. We also use it for the VPN.

The visibility that it provides is very good. It is the most valuable feature of Meraki. It allows us to easily monitor threats, internal users, and internal and external networks. We rely a lot on this facility.

Its ability to provide visibility into threats is good. By using the dashboard, we can watch and be aware of any threats and also take action if needed. 

By using the VPN, we can connect remotely. We have two offices, and we could connect them through the VPN. We could establish a network between two sites, and that has improved and increased communication and productivity. Our remote site is able to access the server remotely.

Meraki has improved our security posture. Before Meraki, we didn't have any security. Now, we are protected by the firewall. It is our first perimeter protection. It has increased security, but we know that we need more security. The maturity of our organization's security implementation is low because we don't have many tools for security. Meraki is at the beginning of our security stack. We use the Meraki firewall, and that's all. We need more tools for security, but the problem is that tools are expensive. So, currently, we are protected by just the Meraki firewall and the antivirus for the endpoints.

What is most valuable?

The visibility through the cloud dashboard is most valuable. We can access the dashboard remotely anytime for configuration and monitoring. 

Its ease of configuration and management is very useful for us and for other companies that don't have an onsite IT person. It is easy to configure and easy to manage. It is easy to configure the VPN with the Auto VPN feature.

What needs improvement?

We use a Cisco LAN switch. Its model is CBS250, and it is a Cisco Small Business switch. It can be easily integrated, but the problem is that the other Cisco products are not in the same dashboard or cloud. Each one has a different management interface. I would prefer if both could be in the same cloud. If we use a switch from Meraki, it will be more expensive. Meraki switches are more expensive than the Cisco Small Business switches. For that reason, we prefer to use Cisco switches. With Cisco switches, we don't have to pay for subscriptions, whereas with a LAN switch from Meraki, we will have to pay for subscriptions.

We have been having a problem with the VPN. When the energy goes down and is back again, the VPN link doesn't get established. We have to manually turn off the modems and other pieces of equipment and manually establish the VPN. It has been around one month since we have been having this problem, and we don't have enough support from Meraki to solve the problem.

Their Technical Assistance Center (TAC) is slow to answer. Their response time should be improved. When we request support, their response time is long and not good. They still don't have the solution to the VPN problem. They established the VPN link, but the problem continues. They don't fix the problem. They just repair it, and the problem persists.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for about five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is currently not stable for us. Its stability is not good. Its configuration could be the reason for the instability. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Meraki has a lot of different products, and it is scalable with Meraki products, but its scalability with another brand is not good.

We have two administrators who are currently using this solution.

How are customer service and support?

Their Technical Assistance Center (TAC) is slow to answer. We called them two times. Their time of response was one hour and fifty minutes for one call, and it was one hour and seven minutes for the other call. Our experience was not good.

When we can get support, their attention is very good, but they haven't been able to find a resolution. The problem is still there.

How was the initial setup?

It was straightforward. It is easy to configure. Meraki dashboard is intuitive. Of course, you need to know about networking, but it is intuitive and very fast to do the initial configuration. It took two hours.

In terms of the implementation strategy, we planned the network, the addresses, and the segmentation before starting the configuration. We planned the ports that should be opened and the ports that must be closed for security. We also planned the rules of the firewall.

We just configured Meraki through the dashboard. In switches, we configured the segmentation and the addresses. In Meraki, we configured the rules of content filtering. We then blocked the required things. The VPN configuration is supposed to be easy, but the problem is that if the VPN goes down when we are using it, it is too complex to bring it up.

Its implementation is very new, and it was done around one month or two months ago. At this time, no maintenance is necessary. If required, our administrators or a third party can take care of maintenance. Once configured, there is no need to change anything. Its usability is very good, and it is not common to make any changes or do any maintenance. It just works.

What about the implementation team?

We used a third party to help with its deployment. Our experience with them was medium. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We just have to pay for the product and the license. We have a license for three years, and it is renewed every three years. It costs $1,200 for three years for one endpoint. 

Meraki had a good promotion for remote workers or remote workforce. The discount is very good. This promotion continues till the next fiscal year of Cisco.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated FortiGate. FortiGate is a very good firewall. It is better than Meraki, but it is more complex to configure and manage. In terms of security, FortiGate is better to integrate. We chose Meraki because of its ease of management.

FortiGate has good visibility and control through its own local interface. If you need to access the cloud, you need to go for another subscription.

FortiGate has good monitoring, visibility, and control, but Meraki is easier. Meraki has fewer security functions than FortiGate. You can monitor more in FortiGate.

The problem with FortiGate is that you need to buy FortiManager to have more visibility, which is a separate license. You can gain visibility of threats inside of the local interface of FortiGate by using FortiManager. 

What other advice do I have?

It is a very good platform for small businesses. It is easy to configure and manage, and it has Talos. It is easy to integrate with other Meraki products. Its contact filtering is also good, and the VPN is very easy to configure with the Auto VPN feature.

It provides good security, but it is not the best. It is for small businesses, and it doesn't have the same functionality as Firepower or other brands, such as Fortinet. It doesn't have the same security as Firepower or FortiGate. I would recommend complementing the security provided by Meraki MX with an endpoint security solution. If you need more security, you can add sandbox security.

I would rate Meraki MX an eight out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Central Services Engineer at Liberty Technology
MSP
Makes it easy to stay on top of everything for security
Pros and Cons
  • "Meraki makes it easy to be secure and know where the holes are to fix them. We have been fixing anything that we have ever found for 20 years. We keep up-to-date with firmware upgrades. We just try to stay on top of everything for security, like maintaining updates and getting rid of old systems. I feel like we're on top of it."
  • "When we do API integrations with Meraki, they have always been hard as well as tedious to build. The data that we want out of the API integrations has been only recently available. Six months ago, it was hard to get someone to build something correctly or useful with Meraki APIs. Recently, they have made more data available on the API, but it is just a start. They need to do more."

What is our primary use case?

Meraki MX is great for WAN networking, e.g., when you have multiple ISPs at the one site or you have a large network that expands across a large physical area, like across a state or county. You use it to have a seamless VPN that you are not managing on devices or if you have a client VPN that needs to be easily integrated into the firewalls. 

Our use case is anywhere from a 10-person company to a full-level enterprise, like a 1000-person company. You can use Meraki MX at any sort of level. They have different models, including for home use for remote workers.

We only sell Meraki. As we get new clients, we switch them over to Meraki. A requirement that we have: If you are a recurring client, then you need to have Meraki MX because it is where we get our ISP data from. We are going to grow. We actively manage 40 organizations on a day-to-day basis as well as another 40 organizations/companies where we work with one-offs. Overall, close to 70 clients will have Meraki devices. 

We are a managed services provider (MSP). I have it at my house. Then, at our headquarters, we have an MX100.

Meraki doesn't have any on-prem stuff for software. We have a local portal for their network stuff, but they are exclusively managed online through a cloud portal.

We are using Hosted ESA.

How has it helped my organization?

Meraki makes it easy to be secure and know where the holes are to fix them. We have been fixing anything that we have ever found for 20 years. We keep up-to-date with firmware upgrades. We just try to stay on top of everything for security, like maintaining updates and getting rid of old systems. I feel like we're on top of it. We are a mature organization in that regard; we are like a spry, almost middle-aged man.

They are integrating with SecureX and have some built-in security alerts that work with Cisco AMP for antivirus. They give us visibility where they need to and don't overstep. I like it when Meraki MX focuses on routing and what a firewall traditionally is, like antivirus and anti-malware. I don't know how much more Meraki MX needs to be doing with that. I understand they are a firewall, but firewalls are for routing, not for base layer.

I check something in Talos normally seven times a day. When I am working a normal day, I get new IPs or domains to review. Talos also feeds directly into Perch, AMP, and so many things. We rely heavily on Talos. I know they feed into Meraki MX as well. So, Talos is wonderful, and we could not do our job without them.

Meraki has always made our security posture better. It has always given us more visibility in general. It has also made the ease of access to secure our network easier. For example, if you compare learning the Meraki certificate to the Cisco CCNA certificate, the Meraki certificate is about a third of the difficulty of the CCNA cert. So, the barrier to entry to manage Merakis is lower in IT than the barrier to entry to manage Cisco ASAs. The learning curve matches that.

What is most valuable?

The site-to-site VPN is really good. It keeps us going when we expand clients. We can just say, "Wherever you are, we can put you behind the same firewall or pipe your traffic somewhere. It is very easy to set up." 

The web console for managing everything keeps everything on Meraki and keeps us from going somewhere else. It is why I think a lot of people like Meraki. Comparing it to SonicWall or even a different Cisco firewall, like traditional ASAs, managing Meraki is a thousand times easier because of fluidity. You don't have to rebuild a table just to change one rule. It's much more readable for a human. All of that ASA stuff and command line are great when you know how to use command line and worked on it for five years. However, if we are trying to train new people who are more used to a GUI on Windows, then Meraki will be a lot easier for everyone to learn, and even for salespeople to get data from it. It's better for the human environment and the human part of all of this.

Webex and Meraki kind of work together. That is the whole layering thing. WebEx is for your team collaboration. We use analytical data from WebEx Control Hub and Meraki to figure out issues with calls. We have to route it the right way, then figure out if the ISPs are giving us packet loss. Almost anything goes out to the Internet 100 percent works with Meraki because you have to troubleshoot the ISP, and Meraki is how you do that.

Meraki MX integrates stuff fairly well. We get the data we want out of it.

What needs improvement?

There is not a lot of configurability for the notifications and alerts in Meraki. There are a lot of alerts to choose from, but no matter how you set them up, they are spam.

When we do API integrations with Meraki, they have always been hard as well as tedious to build. The data that we want out of the API integrations has been only recently available. Six months ago, it was hard to get someone to build something correctly or useful with Meraki APIs. Recently, they have made more data available on the API, but it is just a start. They need to do more.

There needs to be some improvement on the client VPN. They have been promising AnyConnect for years. Right now, they have only a handful of their device list able to support AnyConnect for the client VPN. So, the client VPN and API are where they need to refine stuff. Non-Meraki VPN clients are a problem where you have to share a whole subnet and more than one IP, which is not ideal.

For three years, we have heard that they have been working on AnyConnect. Only within the last year have seen possible betas on limited sets of devices for AnyConnect. It has become hard to believe, "We will see this in six months." They are working on it, but we need this already, which is a problem.

We use several automation tools, but almost nothing does automation with Meraki the way that we want. We are currently working with Solarwinds MSP/NCentral and possibly Symmetric to get more of an API management tool. As an MSP, I set up SAML certificates that are all the same across our 80 organizations in Meraki. That lets us manage them all from one console, which is great, but we still need to go make changes individually. So, we are trying to get to where we have an automated tool that can make changes for multiple organizations or firewall settings at the same time.

We use Meraki MX for harmonizing policies and enforcement across heterogeneous networks, but it is tedious. If you have four sites and all of them are behind their own firewall, then none of them are piping the Internet back to the same central site. They all are branch networks, but have their own access to the Internet. Anytime you change one branch's MX, then you have to do the same change on every MX manually. There is no replicated change between MXs.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution Meraki firewall since day one of working with Liberty Technology, which has been almost three years. Liberty Technology has been using Meraki for closer to 20 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Client VPN is the only unstable thing that we have found.

When we need to do re-audit firmware updates for a bunch of clients, that takes 10 people. Day-to-day, zero to one person maintains it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is very scalable.

For active security, we have about 15 to 30 security tools, like XDRs and firewalls. There are a lot of things that we need secured. We have physical doors, email, networking equipment, phones, and Windows devices, like physical machines. If you just go down the list of hosts, those take different types of security, like hosts for VMs. So, if you layer that, then you have layers of security where these are your base layer. Then, on top of that, you start layering on authentication protocols, like your domain controllers, authentication, LDAP, or wherever you want to have your directory live. We have a few places where our directory can live and switch between. There are different security setups depending on what we want to fallback to or actively use. 

Everyone accessing Meraki is either IT personnel or serving an IT personnel goal. There are also some salespeople who go over inventory, billing, and procurement on the sales side. Anyone in security and working on the network in general can access Meraki. Anywhere in-between the IT director and the IT to our line can access Meraki to do something in it. There are different thresholds in which those people do different things. Tier 1 will just go look and make sure something is connected. Tier 3 will go make sure that things are set up correctly and change things if needed. Engineering will look at an issue if it gets escalated beyond that. That is your normal, typical IT stuff.

How are customer service and technical support?

Most of the time, the technical support works out. One in seven times, I will get a tech working the case where I close the ticket, then reopen it. Every once in a while, you are just going to run into someone who doesn't know what is going on or they don't have enough sense to escalate it. Both of those situations are concerning when we run into them. It doesn't happen too much with Meraki. Sometimes, it is a language issue or you get someone who is in the wrong mindset to fix your issue. If you have an extremely urgent issue, you don't want them to be like, "Hey, I don't know. I don't feel confident." Or, the person already said something, then is double guessing themselves. However, this is not the norm. 

We were looking at CDO for a while. I don't really know what happened there, but the talks stopped all of a sudden, which isn't uncommon for us with Cisco. We will be looking at a product, then they won't get back to us or I won't hear about it again.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

A medical provider had a terrible network going in. We swapped out all their old solutions: Fortinet switches and SonicWall Firewall routers. Sonic Firewall routers' user interface feels as if, with anything you do, that you could be lost at the next second. You don't feel like it is stable. It is very clunky and slow. So, we switched that out, and instantly saw, "We have loops here and bad traffic going this way." We started getting analytics on how we needed to route the network better and where we needed to put actual physical drops. They had a cable between two switches that should have been an aggregate cable or aggregate port, and it wasn't. It was just an Ethernet cable that was piping about a half or third of their organization's network, which was terrible.

A big deal with Meraki MX is phone systems. If you have to maintain a phone system with Cisco ASA, it is a lot harder than maintaining it with a Meraki switch due to the malleability of the Meraki switch, firewall, and router. Because you got to communicate with the phone gateway, and that all comes back on the Meraki firewall.

Usually, the military uses Palo Alto. I might have used Palo Alto at a different job, not this one. My experience with Palo Alto will be similar to any Cisco ASA device. The GUI is not there. You have to do everything with command line as well as rebuild Access tables. That is the only way to modify those things, which is not fun. It is not something that anyone wants to learn or go do. It always has that extra level of effort. Meraki MX removed that. 

Maintaining firewalls will never be joyful, but Meraki has made the quality of life for someone who has to maintain a firewall much better.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. When we are rolling stuff out, it is always fine. When we have redundancy or multiple networks to configure, that takes time and is tedious. However, the setup itself is not complex. There is plenty of documentation on it.

There are two schools of thought on implementation strategy: 

  1. We clone out from a very similar organization, then try to mirror it and switch the hardware, e.g., the actual inventory in the organization. 
  2. We build a new org from the ground up, if it's a small organization, then we just throw Meraki in, and we are good. I find it is easy. There is a standard practice that we are developing. It is so easy that once you have done it once, then you can train someone the first time that they do it. It wouldn't be something you would need documentation to reference, because of how simple it is. It takes one to three hours to set up. If it is a larger organization, then we will take three hours and refine things. If it is one site, then it is about an hour, just to make sure we are not screwing anything up.

What about the implementation team?

For Meraki MX, it takes just one person to set it up. If we are training someone, then it takes two people.

What was our ROI?

The ROI comes from when we switch out phone systems. If you had an AT&T phone system, but switched out to your own Meraki gear and phones, then you would see a giant bill reduction getting off that AT&T contract. This includes your ISP and phones because you don't know what is hidden in that contract. 

Anytime you are working on a very large, physically-wide network, like statewide or countywide, you want it for bandwidth data, unless you have unlimited bandwidth. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Like any Cisco product, the license is really expensive for small business clients. It needs to be cheaper. If you look it up, you might go, "That doesn't make any sense." 

If you want good security, this solution is what you need. It is worth it, even though it is expensive. I do think they should really look at making cheaper options, and not making people who already have the hardware find new hardware to get a cheaper option.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We are always evaluating new products, and this includes MFA. There are multiple types of MFA that we employ for different services. It's not like everything uses every product. It is that there are layers, like your email is probably behind five to six layers of security or different products that you don't even know about.

I have very little experience with Fortinet. Fortinet has almost like a home network GUI, where you don't have a consolidating console for your whole organization. Fortinet does not have a solid cloud console. Meraki's cloud console and interface are just so sleek, and they work. I know where to get the data out of the solution now. It saves everyone time and makes them feel better when looking at something. Meraki has already won the race, but I feel like they have kind of stagnated. They just need to keep going, making every bit of data that they have accessible within one API call or having very clear directions of what to do to get that data. That is not there anymore. It used to be. They were going in that direction, then they stopped. Meraki is good and has a better GUI than anyone else, but they need to get more data visibility in there. 

What other advice do I have?

Duo Security integration is fantastic and really shines, but that is really on the Duo Security team for putting it altogether. Cisco AMP integration is lackluster where it is doing it, but we don't see a lot of what it's doing.

When you use Meraki with an XDR, then you get a lot of good data that way. When you have options to get Meraki for port mirroring with a good XDR, then you will get a lot of data. So, its integration is very good. However, your base insights from Meraki will not come from Meraki itself. You have to integrate Meraki MX with an XDR or Stealthwatch NetFlow analysis. Meraki MX struggles to give you the alerts for data it already has.

Meraki is very future-proof. They are ahead of the curve, but they have slowed down. So, they might average out to where some people will catch up. However, they are so far ahead on where I believe people are going that it is hard to see sometimes.

The ease of use and learning curve are a big deal because you will always have turnover in IT that you have to deal with. The best thing you can do is make something easier for newer people to get into, maybe not some of the more complex things that you can do with Meraki. The big lesson learnt: I don't have to spend days training someone up in Meraki. They can do it pretty quickly in a day themselves.

I would rate this solution as a nine out of 10.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer2401428 - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Specialist- Storage at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Completely cloud-controlled and provide an SD-WAN kind of experience for the customer with multiple WAN provider links to optimize
Pros and Cons
  • "In terms of WAN optimization, it's completely cloud-controlled. Anyone can manage their network environment from a mobile phone."
  • "When it comes to cost, that's a pain point."

What is our primary use case?

It is a complete network security solution, including switches, routers, and everything else. It's a cloud-managed solution from Cisco. 

If a customer wants to deploy a remote office and have things managed remotely, and if they want to have control and provide an SD-WAN kind of experience for the customer with multiple WAN provider links to optimize, then the customer will go for a Cisco Meraki kind of solution.

How has it helped my organization?

In terms of WAN optimization, it's completely cloud-controlled. Anyone, even an IT hitch, can manage their network environment from a mobile phone. That is how easy it is. And users will get an immediate alert if something goes wrong.

What needs improvement?

There are strong and weak areas for each and every provider. 

So, when it comes to cost, that's what the pain is. There are other providers, like Fortinet and all those people. They can provide a more cost-effective solution when compared to Cisco.

So cost is something they should work on, like, to reduce the price.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it for ten years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability an eight out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten. We also deal with other Cisco products. So, I specifically work with the enterprise-level businesses. 

How are customer service and support?

We provide support for this product. 

How was the initial setup?

Meraki is very easy. It's very easy to manage the setup and all that stuff. I would rate my experience with the initial setup an eight out of ten, with ten being easy.

Cloud Deployment:

It is a solution where this can be managed through the cloud, Cisco's cloud. Meraki is the solution. You can manage it in Cisco's cloud. Generally, if you look into any router or that kind of thing, you need to put in the local IP, plug in, and do the configuration. 

Whereas in Cisco, you'll have a user ID and password. All your equipment will be listed in the Cisco Meraki cloud itself, where you can configure everything centrally and deploy it.

Deployment time:

The deployment took a few hours. Management is easy. It's centrally managed through the cloud. I don't see a challenge.

What was our ROI?

Everything is fine. But when it comes to the initial CapEx cost, it's really high.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I would rate the pricing a ten out of ten, with one being cheap and ten being expensive. 

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. However, my recommendation depends on the use case. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
IT-Systemadministrator at Laiqon AG
Real User
Top 20
The solution is user-friendly and practical
Pros and Cons
  • "Very easy to use and navigate."
  • "Could possibly use deeper configurations."

What is our primary use case?

In our company, about a hundred employees are using Meraki MX solution.

What is most valuable?

The solution is very easy to use. It's easier than, for example, FortiGate. 

What needs improvement?

I would say that it could possibly use some deeper configurations, but I am not entirely sure. I'm still comparing it with others.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Meraki MX for several years now

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

My rating of the stability of Meraki MX would be a nine out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

When it comes to the scalability, would give it a seven out of ten. I didn't initially buy it or install it myself, but but we are using still it to this day.

How are customer service and support?


Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?


What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?


Which other solutions did I evaluate?

At our company, we have been using both FortiGate and Meraki MX for some time now. We are still comparing them and deciding on which one we should stick with in the future

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Meraki MX Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Meraki MX Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.