Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches vs NETGEAR Switches comparison

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4,623 views|4,327 comparisons
89% willing to recommend
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19,288 views|13,717 comparisons
86% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Aug 31, 2022

We performed a comparison between Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches and Netgear Switches based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches users say that if one understands the Cisco ecosystem, deployment is easy. For the more novice user, it can be quite complex. Netgear Switches users relate that it is out-of-the-box easy and straightforward to deploy.
  • Features: Linksys users appreciate that the switches offer great virtualization and micro-segmentation. The switches provide great speed and can handle the demands of the network. Like many Cisco products, the Cisco Linksys Switches can be a bit complex to understand and manage. Many users feel the solution is a bit dated and needs some upgrades to be more competitive in the marketplace. The switches do not scale well at all.

    Netgear Switches users relate that the product is easy to use, stable, and very reliable. Users appreciate that the switches are easy to customize and stack together seamlessly, which saves time and expense. Users tell us web interfacing can be a bit buggy and they would like to see more focus on cloud development in the future.
  • Pricing: Users of both solutions indicate that they are reasonably priced and cost-effective
  • Service and Support: Users of both solutions are satisfied with the level of services and support they have received.

Comparison Results: Netgear Switches come out on top in this comparison based on their speed, flexibility, stability, and scalability. Netgear Switches provide next-generation features, such as small form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceivers, 10-gigabit speed potential, and the ability to easily handle AVB traffic.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches vs. NETGEAR Switches Report (Updated: May 2024).
772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Linksys switches are easy to use. You can pull the switch out of the box, plug it in, and it's going to work.""For a home or small business, the solution offers a very good web interface.""The most valuable feature is basic networking functionality.""It's stable and we never have to worry about it.""Cisco products are always stable.""Integration is much easier than with competitor products because it allows for segmentation inside the network.""I like the firewall. It integrates with AWS. I can use the Cisco product on an AWS server.""It is a scalable solution."

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"The most important feature is the failover, the LACP links. That's the dual set it allows. We have redundant core switches and, if one fails or one network adapter fails, the other one can take over without problems.""Their online portal is one of the most useful features. The portal is very user-friendly, so even someone with not a lot of tech experience can go in and see what's going on with the switch.""The company provides a lifetime warranty.""Valuable features include network monitoring and ease of programming for VLANs, etc. I especially like NETGEAR because it's easy to teach system administrators how to use them, how to look at them, how to make changes to them without having the complexity of CLIs, but still having a CLI should we need it.""SFP, speed, and 10-Gigabit are the most valuable aspects of this solution. We're an architecture firm and we sometimes deal with large files. Anything we can do to eke out even a fraction of a second less time to get something done over the course of a year adds up. If I can get 10-Gigabit running in my server room, which I am right now, even though we're only gigabit to the desktop, due to the client computers we have, I can get more performance from everybody. I'm ready to start bringing in 10-Gigabit Ethernet to the desktop once I get the hardware to do that.""There is a lot of helpful documentation that helps with the configuration process.""The solution is stable.""Technical support is helpful and quick to respond."

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Cons
"The user interface needs a lot of improvement.""Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches should improve its pricing.""The pricing can be a bit unstable.""The solution's support can use improvement because they are not very good at following up.""Endpoints need to be improved.""Some experts say that the price may be lower or that the ethernet switches are complex to set up and manage, maybe because of limited port density, supports, and quality of service, like capabilities.""They just need to simplify the learning curve.""The initial setup was complex."

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"The product could be more robust.""The ‘how-to’ guides could do with some improvements. We got in trouble following the stacking and Dante set-up guides. If these would have been accurate, we would not have lost three days.""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""There is a lack of documentation, and the documentation I have is unclear, so I have to rely on Google for information.""Though the tool's useability is good, it has certain shortcomings where improvements are required.""The tool needs to improve its network management. The tool can be also more simplified.""What I'd like to see is more compatibility with virtual stacking, so that 4300-series switches and 3300-series switches will actually stack together and that virtual switch stacks, themselves, are not limited to just six devices, so that they can create larger loops with more bandwidth and more redundancy.""This product lacks a CLI interface."

More NETGEAR Switches Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It's an affordable price for small companies using on-premises networks where cloud services are too expensive for them."
  • "If you look at the product portfolio from Cisco, it's quite expensive."
  • "The price of this solution is high, but it depends on the number of units that you want to order."
  • "I think that pricing should be more competitive. While the Cisco product is good, the pricing is not competitive. People will end up going with other cheaper solutions such as Arista."
  • "Cisco switches are a little expensive when it comes to the price."
  • "The price of Linksys products is pretty reasonable."
  • "The licensing cost is not bad and is actually very competitive within the product category."
  • "Pricing should be more competitive. There are other switches that are cheaper."
  • More Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The pricing for what you get with the Insight product line is very fair and the value is there, including the annual licensing fees for the Insight Pro for each device... the Insight Pro level, which is their highest level, where you get a lot of features with the Insight, is a bargain. You get a lot of good features for what you're paying there annually."
  • "We used HPE previously. The reason I switched to NETGEAR was because of pricing differences, which are huge, when you go into 10GB networking... The pricing is quite good... The total cost of the deployment was about 11,000 euros or so. If I had gone with HPE it would have been at least twice as much."
  • "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... The cost of hardware and additional services is lower, absolutely. I wouldn't say "low," but we found it to be lower than other options, and that helps us resell this back to customers who are looking at other things like a Cisco Meraki..."
  • "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."
  • "NETGEAR pricing is the best on the market by far. I was shocked when I saw what their price came out as for their subscription. It's extremely reasonable."
  • "The great thing about the Insight product is that the renewable subscription is much cheaper than the competitors in the market. It is not over $50, per year, so customers buy the equipment and don't have to worry so much about the renewable fees that go along with having such access into their switch, with a cloud-managed solution. There are some other manufacturers where you'll essentially pay the same in hardware as you do in software, just for the cloud solution that supports it; just to keep getting the firmware updates and all of that information. With NETGEAR, you can do multi-year and that is something like 90 percent cheaper than if you're looking at Meraki, for example. It is extremely competitive. It's one of the main reasons we liked it so much."
  • "The price to performance of this solution is very good. When it comes to pricing, as far as I'm concerned, they're very comparable with Ubiquity. NETGEAR has pricing that is as good as it gets. That's why I use them."
  • "There are two parts to the pricing. There's the pricing of the device itself, which is good. Their licensing model needs work, though. The licensing model doesn't fit the way MSPs do business."
  • More NETGEAR Switches Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:The product is reasonably priced. It is flexible. We can pay for it monthly or annually.
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer:Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten. I have not faced any issues with the product whatsoever.
    Ranking
    9th
    out of 34 in Ethernet Switches
    Views
    4,623
    Comparisons
    4,327
    Reviews
    30
    Average Words per Review
    379
    Rating
    8.4
    4th
    out of 34 in Ethernet Switches
    Views
    19,288
    Comparisons
    13,717
    Reviews
    18
    Average Words per Review
    426
    Rating
    8.0
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Linksys Ethernet Switches
    NETGEAR Insight Managed Switches, NETGEAR GC Series, NETGEAR M Series
    Learn More
    Cisco
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    Overview
    Linksys Ethernet Switches bring greater reliability and coverage to your home network.

    NETGEAR Ethernet Switches is an Ethernet solution that offers businesses of all sizes the ability to easily set up secure and highly scalable networks. Small to medium-sized companies have the option to choose from three different switching options. The three options that are most appropriate for businesses of this size are the NETGEAR Unmanaged, Plus, and Smart Switch solutions. If you're managing a large enterprise network or a campus network, then NETGEAR Fully Managed Infrastructures is the solution for you. All the NETGEAR Ethernet Switches and solutions are innovative, easy to install and use, reliable, and very cost-effective.

    NETGEAR Ethernet Switches have many features that make them a most effective product. Included in these is the ability to virtually stack IP addresses in such a way that users can scale their network up with ease. These IP addresses are grouped together. Once additional data ports are connected, you have only a single switch to manage and you gain both a much higher level availability of data and a greater level of network resilience.

    Benefits of NETGEAR Ethernet Switches

    Some of the benefits of using NETGEAR Ethernet Switches include:

    • The ability to control and track the performance of your network from a single centralized location. NETGEAR Ethernet Switches has a “single pane of glass” interface that enables administrators to track their network’s data in real time, allowing them to manage everything from one place. If a problem is detected, this management interface will alert the appropriate administrator.

    • A wide array of security features allows you to manage user access, filter incoming traffic for potential threats, and monitor your network for unauthorized traffic. The switches have security capabilities built in in an effort to maximize network protection, while at the same time allowing you to minimize the expenditure of resources required to keep you secure.

    Reviews from Real Users

    There are a number of characteristics that make NETGEAR Ethernet Switches extremely effective. Two major ones are its inherent flexibility and its user-friendly nature. 

    PeerSpot user Kevin W., a network delivery architect at a tech-services company, notes that NETGEAR Ethernet Switches gives users the ability to tailor the switches to fit their needs. He writes, "The big winner for NETGEAR is their modular switch: the 96X version. That is something that you don't see in the market anywhere else, except for Cisco who has it at a high level for a high expense. The ability to customize your own switch with their modules is a big plus for what we do in the market right now. Instead of having to piece together standardized switches, trying to make something work, or fitting the design into the mold, the modular switches are aware that you can make a mark in the industry because you purchased one switch and design with different modules added and removed later on for functionality."

    PeerSpot user Chris W., a system engineer at Diversified, notes just how easy they are to use when he writes, "The ease of use of these switches is very good because of the Cisco CLI. If you are familiar with CLI, then you can configure the switch that way. It also has a relatively straightforward web interface. Using the web interface is good for beginners or people who aren't familiar with Cisco CLI. However, having a common command line interface method is great for some of our more advanced guys who are familiar with it."

    Sample Customers
    Linz AG
    Blaze Networks
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company18%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Government11%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company12%
    Retailer11%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company17%
    Construction Company17%
    Computer Software Company17%
    Recruiting/Hr Firm6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company13%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Educational Organization7%
    Government6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business54%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise32%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise52%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business75%
    Midsize Enterprise8%
    Large Enterprise17%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business34%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise51%
    Buyer's Guide
    Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches vs. NETGEAR Switches
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches vs. NETGEAR Switches and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches is ranked 9th in Ethernet Switches with 70 reviews while NETGEAR Switches is ranked 4th in Ethernet Switches with 51 reviews. Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches is rated 8.0, while NETGEAR Switches is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches writes "An advanced, sophisticated solution that allows for segmentation within networks". On the other hand, the top reviewer of NETGEAR Switches writes "You can stack different models of switches which makes the scalability great". Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches is most compared with Cisco Ethernet Switches, Ubiquiti UniFi Switches, D-Link Ethernet Switches, Aruba Switches and MikroTik Routers and Switches, whereas NETGEAR Switches is most compared with D-Link Ethernet Switches, Ubiquiti UniFi Switches, Cisco Ethernet Switches, MikroTik Routers and Switches and Aruba Switches. See our Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches vs. NETGEAR Switches report.

    See our list of best Ethernet Switches vendors.

    We monitor all Ethernet Switches reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.